Aloha Everyone!
The Oneonta State Soccer team is coming to you from the beautiful island of Maui. We had some complications for our flight and as you last heard, we were waiting in the airport. The flight went well and it felt fairly short compared to being on a 12 hour flight. In less than half an hour, we landed on Maui. The view from the take off was gorgeous because we left just as the sun set. We gathered our luggage, which is a pretty big task when you have 21 fifty pound red bags stuffed to the brim. It was dark on the ride back from the airport so it was a relief when we arrived at the hotel. We received our keys and broke off into our room assignments. You could hear shrieks around the complex as we entered into our rooms. These weren’t just ANY rooms, they were suites complete with their own kitchen, king sized bed and rock paneled shower. It was unbelievable. We passed out early in preparation to scout the island in the morning. Around 9am, the majority of us headed out to the beach to work on our tan of course. Once we arrived, it was nothing but blue sky and sand from there. The lack of tourists made it such a relaxing place to be. Maui definitely kept its reputation for its laidback atmosphere in our book. While most of the team was at the beach, a bunch of us went up and down Front Street (the main street in the area) in search of souvenirs and unique shops. We found a variety of places from Billabong to small art galleries to the Hard Rock Café. Due to our change in plans, we were unable to hold practice. Lucky for us, the local high school soccer coach allowed us access to the school’s field to practice in the evening. It was a ten minute drive up the mountain which provided us with the most gorgeous (and most distracting) view of the ocean. We worked hard and pushed each other for an hour and a half until we couldn’t see the ball anymore. Playing this hard reminded us that not only was this a vacation but a journey that we are taking together. After some team pictures, you could feel the unity and appreciation we have been developing over these last few days. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day. Hawaii is the place to be especially over snowy Oneonta. Some of you parents might have a request to transfer to University of Hawaii this coming semester!!! Once again, we had to crash early because we had another big day ahead of us. Just a quick thanks to all our supporters, parents, fans and coaches for making this trip possible.
Mahalo and Aloha!!!
Lauren McGee #7
