The Freshies First Week in BG

From L-R: Jessie Tammerlano, Chrissy Steffen, Simone Eli, Allison Papenfus

It was a hot, summer, June morning when Jess, Allison, Chrissy and I arrived on campus just prior to Freshman Orientation. After meeting with the coaching staff, the four of us, parents included, headed over to begin what we found out to be a 12 hour day of BGSU. As orientation strolled along, we continued to find some ridiculously dumb things, quite funny, while we tried to entertain each other through such a long day and process. While sitting in the “Housing” Meeting . . . Jess, Chrissy, Allison, and I received a text message from Coach Eckert. It consisted of. . “Hey fresh meat, your new shoes are in your locker, as well as BG T-shirts, and shorts. Remember no complaining about sizes, Coach Miller cannot stand when girls complain.” So, as the four of us sit in the back of the meeting, which was filled with no less than 400 people, we decided, well, hey. . Why not go try on our new stuff. . I will admit it was I who influenced all three to do so. So, we ducked our heads and hurried out of the meeting, hoping to go unnoticed by the mass of people. . However, we soon found it was not the mass of people we need to be worried about. We rushed into the coaches’ office wanting to get the password to our new locker room, but as anxious as we were, it wasn’t before long when we found out it probably wasn’t a good idea to skip out on an O-Reg meeting. So while the four of us are begging to be told the password, Coach Poole pops her head into the door and says. . “Shouldn’t you four be in the housing meeting?” Of course our reaction was to blame it on Coach Eckert because, well, it was his fault. So after checking out our new gear, we returned to the meeting, with optimism of not being reprimanded for leaving. We eventually found that Coach Miller had posted on Twitter. . “The freshmen are on campus and have been the first group to skip an O-Reg meeting, seems like this group is going to be a handful.” As comical as that may come across, the four of us were still VERY worried.

Anyway, after a very interesting first day. . . “move-in” day rolled around, and we were all PUMPED to get things started. As stressful as it was, move-in was great, as well. Chrissy and I share a dorm room, with Allison and Jess right across the hall. Right off the bat, we met lots of new people on Main Street and got a taste of the college life for the first time. Saturday afternoon we met with the team, for some “BKB” bonding. Slagle had made us a scavenger hunt that was equipped with things like: finding someone to let us take a picture of his feet, ordering McDonalds in a British accent, doing a 1 minute dance, and other things of that crazy nature. With Jess and I’s team winning, the four of us quickly discovered that the girls on the team are probably made up of some of the FUNNIEST people anyone could meet. But the fun was over for now, as we were welcomed Monday morning, at 6:30 AM, to weight lifting. The four of us could hardly open our eyes to make our way over to Sebo, but we did so. We soon met Adam, who really tested how thick our skin was, the moment we walked in. Aside from the immediate pain of the warm-up, alone . . . we finished workout day 1, with the certainty in knowing that it was going to be a great next 4 years. We have now been on campus for a week, going to class, weight lifting, playing pickup, as well as enjoying the new friendships we’ve all made. Overall, so far, Jess, Allison, Chrissy and I have had the times of our lives getting to know BG and its people in the short time we’ve been here. We look forward to representing Bowling Green Women’s Basketball program in the tradition they’ve built over the past years, on and off the court.

-Simone Eli