A new look at the Juniors

Hi Stanford Fans!

It is crazy being an upperclassman this year. I love my Junior classmates. This is our third year together, and I would not ask for anyone different to spend my four years of college with. Each one of us is very different and this makes us get along so great. To tell you a little bit about each one of us, I wanted to compare each of us to a dog look-alike.

I love dogs. My first dog was a golden retriever named Sami. My family now has a new puppy named Lucy. She is a black lab and no matter how big she is getting, she still thinks she is a lap dog. She constantly jumps up onto the couch and sits right on you. Here are what I think are not only dog look-a-likes for us five juniors, but also similar in personalities.

Bird – St. Bernard

For Bird, I always get a smile on my face when I see her, so I thought a St. Bernard was perfect. When I think of Birdie, I think of a fun-loving, energetic person who’s always putting a smile on people’s faces. When I see a St. Bernard, I just want to give him or her a big hug. They are gentle, lively, and friendly just like Bird.

Lili – Komondor

Now, I chose the Komondor for Lili because of its dread-like fur. However, looking up the personalities of Komondors actually match Lili quite well. Komondors are intelligent, independent, and protective. When I look to Lili, I always know she has something meaningful to say and I know she has my back.

Kailee – Rhodesian Ridgeback

Kailee is tall, athletic, and tan. So I thought a Rhodesian Ridgeback would be a perfect look alike. Looking at the personalities of these dogs, however, also gave a perfect match. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are strong-willed, dignified, and loyal. I know that Kailee always has my teammates and I’s backs and she is always going to be there to fight for herself and her teammates.

Kailee Alternate

Bri – French Bulldog

Bri was a tough one to match. I went with a French Bulldog because she is small and athletic. Bri may be small in size but she does not act small. French bulldogs are easy-going, alert, and playful. Bri is one of the most easy-going people I know.

Karlie – Yellow lab

I just picked a yellow lab for myself because I am blonde and I love them.

And just to throw in some dog pictures for the coaches:

— Karlie

From one family to the next

I absolutely love when people ask about my family because I always have so much to say about each and every member. I could tell endless crazy stories about my siblings and our adventures, ranging from playing roller-basketball in the driveway to creating slip-n-slides into our pool.

It’s safe to say there’s never a dull day in the Sniezek household, granted, there are quite a few of us. To be exact, I have six brothers, two sisters, and two parents. When people discover that I come from a large family, I unfailingly receive a variation of the following question, “can you recite all their names?” I’m sure you were all thinking it as well so here it goes, my parents are Edwina and David, and my siblings in chronological order are Sarah, Edward, John, Joseph, Robert, Michael, Matthew, (myself), and Katerina.

Like I mentioned earlier, I could talk forever about my family, but I’ll try to keep it short. In my very unbiased opinion, my mom and dad are the epitome of great parenting, that’s not to say they’re perfect (no offense Mom and Dad), but they taught my siblings and me what to value in life and the importance of strong morals.

As for my siblings, well I can honestly say they’re my best friends. Since we’re all about a year apart, growing up together was quite entertaining. Imagine having recess all day, everyday with your favorite buddies. That’s how I would describe my childhood.

In many aspects, having a big family is quite similar to being a part of a team. I learned a great deal about communication, leadership, and togetherness, so much so, that I attribute much of my success to my family.

Although I miss them everyday, I know my family is proud of me, as well as my decision to attend Stanford.

And what’s even better, I’ve been fortunate to find a second family here at Stanford, my team.


--Marta

Memories of Four years

Freshman Year

First day on campus. Aly Beebe and I went exploring on our bikes (that didn’t stop us from getting lost on the way to the gym on the way to our first workout), I had only learned how to ride a bike two weeks before (in preparation for college), I ran into pole and crashed. I bent my handle bars and went flying. I walked into my very first workout at Stanford with four or five grapefruit sized black and purple bruises covering my legs. But I haven’t crashed my bike since!

The first time we went to Hawaii, the food was amazing, that was the first time I had experienced the gloriousness that is papua. At breakfast they had this coconut syrup that is just to die for. Two years later and I still remember that syrup, of course the win against Brittany Griner and Baylor at Hawaii was sweeter, but only just.

Sophomore Year

The team trip to Italy was simply amazing. I remember Aly, Amber, Alex and I got completely lost on the first day we were in Rome. But I think that overall the funniest part of that trip was when we were playing our first game. We were about half way through the first quarter and somebody had just delivered some water bottles to our bench, we all took huge drinks of the water, and then almost as one we all choked and spit it out, because unknown to us the water that we were given was sparkling water instead of regular water.

My Sophmore year was also my first year of coffee club, I remember one time Sara James, Mikeala and I walked 30 minutes in the middle of a wind storm before breakfast to get to the cafe. I think that might have been the best coffee I ever tasted…and then we walked back.

The Final Four was pretty awesome as well.

Junior Year

I think that one of the most memorable moments of my Junior year, besides the Connecticut win of course (Amber making the three to tie up the game will always stay firmly in my memory as most awesome moment of all time), is when we finally beat ASU in the PAC-12 tournament. The locker room after that win was crazy, plus I always love it when Bonnie breaks out her AC/DC Dynamite performance.

Senior Year

It’s been great so far, but I think that the best moments are still ahead of me.

Tess Picknell

Secret Santa

This year our team decided to do a Secret Santa gift exchange, we drew names out of a cup during the Gulf Coast Tournament, we were obviously excited about the Holidays coming up.

The plan was to pick a teammate, get them a small gift, keep it a secret, and we would do the exchange in the locker room on the 21st before we all went home. On a team of 14 girls there aren’t many secrets, we hate keeping things to ourselves so we didn’t think that the secret part was going to work, but everyone was so excited about our new holiday tradition and lips were sealed!

I was driving back to campus from Target when we got back from the tournament and I don’t know what came over me but I decided if we were going to have gifts in the locker room we had to have a tree to put them under so I took a sharp U-Turn to the tree lot I had just passed. The man was nice enough to make a little stand for the mini-tree I got out of a stump. It was the best purchase of the year, it brought a little holiday spirit to the locker room and that tree is still green after a month and I am pretty sure no one ever watered it!

The gifts started to appear under the tree as the 21st was approaching but there were shipping dilemmas that required we push the exchange until the 26th when we were back from our short break. Despite the wait on the 26th the team gathered around the tree to open presents, and I can easily say that this was my favorite ever team activity!

I won’t share what everyone got each other or anything like that, mostly because I cannot remember, but it was so exciting to see how happy people were when they opened these small gifts.

It was amazing how perfect people’s gifts suited them! Usually at a gift giving event people give and receive random stuff but our gift exchange was so special because it was so THOUGHTFUL! Gifts were really varied, from clothing to tea kettles, but each one had such a story behind it… something someone had mentioned in the locker room one day, something that had a saying on it that the teammate always says, or just a fun gift.

The gift exchange was so much fun for our team and definitely a tradition that is here to stay!

Happy New Years Everyone,

Kailee Johnson