Aug. 14, 2001

This report was filed by Sunny Nicholas, a senior from Fullerton, Calif. For other diaries from various players as the trip progresses, click here.

Hello from Japan! This little message is for all of our friends and family in the states who are supporting our team while we train over 6,400 miles away. I would first like to say that this has been an incredible experience for the entire Baylor volleyball program.

I was asked to share about our senior class in my journal entry. This should be very easy because I spent virtually all of my time in the past three-and-a-half years with this group of girls. There are six of us ... Tatiana Kenon (Tata), Kirsten Berg (KB), Carol Selman (K-Rol or Roller), Dana Chuha (Chew-bug), Kimmy Scott (Kim-bo) and me (Sunny Buns)!

We have all grown so much since we started our careers at Baylor. I still remember our first day of Baylor volleyball camp our freshman year. After our first session, we were all so sore that we could not sit down or stand up without pain! It is so funny to look back now, but at the time, we all wondered what we were getting ourselves into. We really had no idea of the friendships we were about to build as teammates. Who would have thought we would go to Japan and make it through the three-and-a-half to four hour training sessions because of each other's support? Well, that is exactly what is happening right now.

We are currently training harder and at a much faster pace than we ever have before. The trivial things such as soreness, tiredness and adjusting to the different food and sleeping arrangements don't seem tough at all because of the support of my teammates.

This is the last set of "double-days" for the senior class. It is so hard to believe that three seasons have already come and gone, and that this is our last go-round. This trip has offered us a chance to improve our volleyball skills as well as our friendships. I'd say we're a pretty close-knit group, but living in the same room has brought us even closer. As the most experienced group of girls on the team, we seniors will be expected to carry the younger girls toward our team's goals this season. Playing such excellent Japanese teams so early on in our season has given us a taste of what we'll have to face in the coming months. I know we can do it! Everyone has been so encouraging throughout the entire trip.

I'm still in awe that we were given this opportunity. It is amazing here. The people, the buildings, the food, the miniature-sized cars ... it's all incredible and I am so glad that I've been able to share this experience with the other five fabulous seniors. We've come so far. The other night, while our team was at the Karaoke club, the six of us got up and sang "End of the Road" by Boys2Men. It was sort of silly, but we had a blast up there, we all sang off key! I felt a bond between us. It's been three-and-a-half years in the making, but I feel the past six days have brought me closer to all of them than all of the "double days" of the past three seasons combined! It's going to be a great season!

Sic 'em Bears!
Sunny Nicholas

p.s. I love you Mom, Dad, T, Lauren, Gunther, Remedy, Oreo and Dave! See you soon.