Guest Blogger: Jameia McDuffie

Hello, my name is Jameia McDuffie. My hometown is Long Beach, California and I graduated from Long Beach Poly High School. I am a sophomore and this season differs from last season in so many ways. As a freshman you're not really sure what to expect. How hard are practices going to be? What's it like to live with your teammates? What's the competition like? What are college classes like? But as a sophomore you know the answers to all those questions and so it makes things so much easier from the very beginning.

I'm very enthusiastic about our team, what we are accomplishing together, and what we can still accomplish. As we prepare for the second half of the season every game becomes increasingly more important to win. The good thing is that while some teams peak early in the season we are just starting to put all the pieces of the puzzle together as far as understanding and applying what TEAM is all about. I think we are just going to keep getting better and better!

Last Saturday we got it done against Portland and the night before came out on top against Mt. Hood. Right now we are in second place in our league are only one game out of first. Before the Mt. Hood game Dave wrote on the whiteboard that if we won we would eat at Outback Steakhouse after the game but if we lost we would have to eat at AM/PM. We were pretty sure he was joking but didn't want to take any chances! We had a pretty good lead for most of the half but lost some of it right before halftime. At halftime Dave told us that for dinner he would recommend AM/PM's jumbo spicy hot dog with mustard and onions. We got the message and came out in the second half and put the game away early. (At dinner I shared a Bloomin' Onion with my roommates and then had the steak and shrimp!! It was delicious!)

The more time we all spend with each other the closer we get. Almost all of us are away from home so we have become more than just teammates to one another. We have really formed a family and so it's going to be really hard when I have to leave here.

Our next four games are on the road before we play at home again. If we are anywhere close to you come watch us play!

Jameia