As a team bonding experience, Coach Sisk decided to plan a surprise trip for our entire team. It was a surprise, indeed. Heading to the C.O.P.E. Course in Mississippi, we passed cars on the highway with baby doll heads on the front and back of cars, and we saw pigs and chickens randomly playing outside the front yards of different Mississippi homes. Right off the bat, all of us girls were “majorly” excited to start this infamous course that we heard great things about.
Sophomores Marcela Fonseca (low) and Lindsay Dvorak (high) tackle the high course during the Tulane women's tennis team's trip to Camp V-Bar.
We get out of the van and start spraying bugs spray religiously all over ourselves. This however did not keep the vicious love bugs away. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!!! The first activity we almost successfully completed was being blindfolded and guiding our partner around while giving specific directions. While some of us were not communicating, we learned that it is important to talk to each other so we would not end up bumping into any trees. We then all walked together as a team and attempted to guide each other through different obstacles while also wearing a blindfold. Although we were not that talkative in the beginning, Coach and Richie were pleased to find out that we guided each other successfully up over mattresses and down under branches all the way back to the van.
All of us learned that all of these tasks related to what we do on the tennis court. It is important to communicate to your partner on the tennis court so they know where or when to hit the ball. We did not know, however, that in the next activity, Marcela would become quite violent!
In the next bonding activity, we all gathered in a circle while coach was in the middle. Coach would have to fall onto all of us while she would “trust” us to catch her and push her to another person in the circle. While passing her around the circle, Marcela could simply not hold up Coach and pass her to another teammate and accidently scratched her neck and dropped her. Coach got up and had blood all over her neck and body. The ambulance came and took our poor Coach away and we were all in complete shock… No I’m only kidding. She did have a small scratch, but with some anti-biotic cream and a big band aid, she was just fine.
Driving over to the next activity, we saw hula hoops and different blocks of wood. While holding hands and passing different colored hula hoops to the right and left, it got very confusing and we all started to get very frustrated. The point of this activity was to not necessarily pass the hula hoops at a fast pace, but to slow down and think before passing the different colored hula hoops to different places. We learned that this activity related to tennis as well. On the court, it is incredibly important to sometimes STOP and THINK about what is happening during a match. Sometimes, things may not go as planned and one may need to re-adjust their strategy to start competing or even beating their opponent
All of us needed to then fit all of us together on one square block. The first large block was easy and we fit all 10 of us on it. The next “iceberg” or block was a lot more difficult. After adjusting our strategies to fit all of us on the block, we finally sang through the whole song of “Row Your Boat” and we successfully completed this task.
Members of the Tulane women's tennis team learn the importance of trust and communication with one another during a blindfolded trust walk.
A couple of activities later, we finally ended up at the FINAL ropes course. It contained our harnesses, helmets, long ropes, unstable leg swings and a zip line. Eager to start, Lindsay was the first to complete the high course while others were trying to prepare themselves to conquer their fear of heights.
I remember Lindsay going before me and Emma Helisten and said, “I’m about to start peeing my pants!” After she said that, I knew we were all in for an even bigger surprise. I have to say that this high course was much harder then it looked.
We did not have a traditional tennis practice that day, but it was a practice of its own. We used a lot of upper body strength to get across a large rope climb and Stephanie, our trainer, would be OH SO PROUD! The zip line was my favorite part of this activity. The feeling that you get when zipping along this long cable line is simply unbelievable. It was exhilarating and simply a life of its own. I was personally scared to let go of the rope while on the zip line but some of our instructors went on it upside down. The best was when Hila went on the zip line. The first two seconds of the zip line, she had a scared looking face and then her facial expression instantly shifted into a smile and she gave us all a big thumbs up.
Coming to the end of this activity, some teammates along with Coach were scared of doing it because of their fear of heights. All of us were so proud of them because of the fact that they overcame their fear of heights and completed this task with all of us. Not one teammate was left out and we all felt like we accomplished this entire course together.
This course came with bugs, tears, bruises and many different learning experiences. While we all were not so excited in the beginning to go through the ropes course together, I can say now that we were all very happy that we went through this experience together as a team. Emma Helisten quoted when we came together at the end that; “I learned a lot of different things about my teammates today and I am very happy that we did this.”
The Tulane women’s tennis team will be coming on strong this fall. After this C.O.P.E. course experience, we will be ready for just about anything.
ROLL WAVE!!
Emma
