SOL 28/31: Water Polo Bus Rides

I wake up with my adrenaline pumping. Even though its around five in the morning I feel wide awake. I roll out of bed and throw and throw on some baggy shorts a tank top and my baggy hoodie. The rest of my house is silent as I make my way silently downstairs. I grab a piece of fruit and throw on my shoes. I then hear scuffling sounds behind me and see my dad coming down the stairs. For a big guy he doesn't make much noise at all. Nodding to each other we silently make our way outside to the cool air. The rest of the world is asleep around us but I feel more awake than ever. Tonight I will be in Albuquerque playing at a Water Polo tournament. I make my way to the car and when my dad turns it on it roars into the pitch night. We pull out smoothly and make our way to the meeting spot in the Best Buy parking lot at I-25 and Colorado. I look up and see our giant charter bus waiting there. Kids, parents and coaches swarm around getting ready.

After a brief goodbye I grab my stuff and run up to the bus saying, "Hey" and "Good morning coach."I throw my suit case underneath and immediately make my way to the back end of the bus. I sit about five rows from the back with my good friends Georgia, Andrew and Margaux. I sit next to Georgia and the other two are right behind us. We joke and laugh and say dumb things because it is way to early in the morning. After couple more minutes we pull out leaving the parking lot. A couple of the older kids run up and grab the bagel buckets so everyone at the back gets first pick. I grab a chocolate chip bagel with the strawberry cream cheese. I sit there sting and talking as we pull on to the highway.

Even though I am a younger kid, ever since I joined the team I was a "cool kid" and always got to sit with the older kids. Talent buys your way into that group. This group had a lot of privileges. We always got to go first for meals, we got the back of the bus and we get to choose our roommates first. It was always fun being one of the "older kids" even though I was younger than everyone else.

As I was saying we are driving along and we like to mess with each other. Now the bathroom on the bus is in the back so every time someone from this group got up (unless they were a girl) got pants and most likely locked in the bathroom till the next person came who needed to go. It was all fun and games. These bus rides are truly a ton of fun.

After talking, listening to music, laughing, playing on phones we finally make it to the lunch break. Here we stop for about forty five minutes and usually treat ourselves to high quality food such as; McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Sonic, Burger King… After forty five minutes off eating as much food as our wallets and stomachs can hold we hop back on the bus to ride another four-five hours. By the time we get there we are all feeling 100% phenomenal. We get there, change into our suits then hop in the pool to warm up for our first game.