Post knee surgery

Hey everyone.

Sorry it has been quite a while since I last wrote, I have been very busy with finals and knee problems. A lot has happened since my last blog. I'll start with my knee surgery. At the beginning of November, I found out that I had re-torn some of my meniscus and would have to have arthroscopic surgery. On November 27, I had surgery and everything went great. My range of motion is coming along fine, but occasionally it will tighten up and I will catch myself limping. Unfortunately, I will not be returning this season and will be classified as a medical redshirt. This news really broke my heart because. Ever since the day that I originally blew out my knee, on December 30,2008, all that i had thought about was my first collegiate game as a 'Belle. When I realized that this dream would not occur this season, it was devastating but I have come to realize that maybe it happened for a reason, and I should take the time that I have now, to get my knee back to 100%.

This past week was by far one of the most difficult weeks of my life, as far as school goes, thanks to finals. I am extremely happy to have gotten my first semester under my belt, and to have passed all of my finals. I will never start studying the night before a test again! When finals were finished, I traveled with the team to Denton, Texas, to play Texas Women's. It was a tough weekend, because I had never been around the team when they have experienced a loss. It was definitely a learning experience for me to see everyone's reaction after the game. I wished so bad that I could have cried with them and could fully understand what they were going through. I'm not going to lie, watching the games is definitely the hardest part of being injured. As much as I sit on the bench and fantasize about being out there with my teammates, I have to distract myself by cheering them on, because it's all I can do. After our game in Denton, we traveled a little farther to play Texas A&M Commerce. This loss was a little more devastating because we lost in overtime. I have no doubt that everyone will bounce back from these two losses and take what they have learned and apply it in these next two games before the Christmas break. Please come support the 'Belles as we play Northeastern State at 2 pm this Saturday. Go 'Belles!

Lauren Holt

First scrimmage

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been a while since my last blog, but the past two weeks have by far been the most exciting weeks of the pre-season/season. Last Thursday, we had our first scrimmage against Howard and I couldn't have been more nervous. I treated this scrimmage as if it were my first home game and went through the same rituals that I would normally go through during the season.

I made sure that the night before I got at least nine hours of sleep, followed by a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. I then went to my two classes of the day and took terrible notes and didn't pay much attention to the whole lecture due to my excitement. Once I was finished with school, I made my usual ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and took a one-hour nap. I then discovered that Stephen Curry, my favorite NBA rookie, has a blog as well and wrote about his first game of the season. He stated that like me, he was nervous the entire day, but once game time came he knew that he was well-prepared and his nervousness faded. Once I read this, I kept going over it in my head the rest of the afternoon, up until our scrimmage.


Sitting on the bench, watching the upperclassmen play for the first ten minutes, my palms were drenched and my mind was racing. Once it was the freshmen's turn to show what we could do, I began to relax because I knew how comfortable I felt playing with my fellow freshmen. I was very pleased with our overall performance, I thought we played very hard and didn't make too many mental mistakes. I realized how blessed I am to have such an awesome freshmen class and really enjoy playing with them, not just in the game but also in practice the first few weeks. As the scrimmage progressed, we grew less and less nervous and began to play at ease as if we were still on our high school teams. For me, the scrimmage was going well until I pulled down a rebound and landed a little hard on my knee. After this I began to limp and couldn't move quite as swiftly as I could during the first quarter. Once the scrimmage was over, I iced it and went back to my dorm where I stayed up until 1 a.m. thinking about how excited I was about the upcoming season.


I finally drifted off to sleep and woke up the following morning not able to get out of bed because my knee hurt so bad. I called my dad and we met at my phsyical therapy place where I had spent the past nine months rehabbing my knee to normal. My physical therapist, Brett Carpenter, said that I just tweaked my knee a bit and tore some scar tissue that probably needed to be torn. I was greatly relieved to hear this but then became upset at the news that I would have to sit out for at least one week. This meant that I had to miss the scrimmage the following day, plus eight or nine practices. The following day, Coach Brooks talked to me and said that we could look at this as a good thing because then I get a chance to understand the plays better and see everything through a coaches point of view. Although I have hated sitting out of practice the past week, it has amazed me at how different it is to watch practice than to actually play in it. When I was practicing, I would get frustrated because I felt like our offense seemed a little to restricted (I like to drive baseline, which causes our offense not to function properly) but after watching practice this past week, I began (like coach) to get really frustrated when someone would drive baseline or do something that the offense wasn't designed to do. By the end of the first practice I realized how much easier it would be to score almost every possession if we would just run the play! I definitely will remember that when I begin practicing and want to drive baseline. In the end I'm glad that I was able to sit out this week and observe practice, but I definitely can't wait to be practicing again this Sunday and to be able to scrimmage on Tuesday vs. Hardin Simmons. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I will let y'all know how the scrimmage goes if you can't make it this Tuesday. Go 'Belles!

Lauren Holt

Practice has started

Basketball practices have begun and we are off to a great start! We kicked off our official pre-season practices with Midnight Madness this past wednesday. I was absolutely shocked to see the Junell Center full of so many people on midnight in the middle of the week. It was great to see so many people support the men and women's basketball programs, but at the same time it made the whole ordeal a lot more nerve-wracking for myself.

It was my first time to ever play a basketball game (even though it was only five minutes) in what will be my new home for the next four years. Since Midnight Madness we have had practice every day since (including weekends) and I think we have been doing a great job. I'm finally catching on to all of the plays and everyone is starting to gel. I'm especially looking forward to our first scrimmage next Thursday where we will finally get to scrimmage against someone that is not wearing an ASU practice jersey.

With all our hard work and preparation, as well as a new mind-set, we all truly believe that this is going to be a great season for the 'Belles. I hope everyone has a great week, and congrats to the ASU football team! Go Rams!

Lauren Holt

The end of the beginning

Hey everybody! Sorry it has been a while since my last post, it has been a very busy two weeks. Since I am one week late on my blog entries, I'll start by telling you the events of last week. Last week our challenge was by far the most difficult one we have had to endure, (yes, even more than the swimming!) Our challenge was a court work-out where our goal was to sprint 20 down-back down-backs in 25 seconds or less for the first ten, and 26 seconds for the second set of ten, with a 30 second rest in between each one (with a one minute break between the first set and second set of ten). Myself and a few others didn't get to attempt this challenge due to injuries, but I think I speak for the injured crew by saying that it was extremely difficult to watch our teammates complete such a difficult challenge, and that we are extremely proud of them.

On top of this challenge, we had to run two miles at 7:00 a.m. Tues.-Thurs. because some of us didn't get our Academic Progress Reports signed in time (myself included, sorry team!). So, I guess you could say that we are in pretty good shape! This past week has been much easier, because our conditioning consists of a pool work-out where we get to play fun games, such as water polo. Tomorrow for our conditioning, we will "save" each other by completing the challenges for one another. For example, I didn't get to complete last weeks court challenge, so my teammates will divide the 20 down-back down-backs amongst one another, in order to "save" me. Not only does this go for the injured people, but for the people who didn't make their times in the previous challenges. I will be sure to let y'all know the results of the "saves" next week! Until then, have a great weekend!

ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL BASKETBALL PRACTICE BEGINS!!!!


Lauren Holt #33

The best is yet to come

We are finally into week four in school and to be honest I am still adjusting. Last week was a very busy week between school and basketball. Our challenge last week was to run 12 suicides on the football field (from the touchdown line to the 50, back to the touchdown line then the full 100 yards and back). I wish I could say that I completed this challenge, but due to problems with my knee I had to sit this one out (but don't worry I'll get to make it up!)

This week proves to be a MUCH bigger challenge for me because we are swimming :(. I am hands down the worst swimmer EVER. Last week, due to the rain, we had to go to the indoor swimming pool to do our work-out. And wow! it definitely was a work-out. I typically came in 2nd or 3rd to last because I have no technique what so ever haha. On top of that my legs are much much longer than my torso, and my feet are so big and probably weigh 50 lbs. This combination equals TERRIBLE swimmer haha.

If one player does not complete the challenge on Friday in a given amount of time, then they can be "saved" by other players on the team. I hate to say it everyone, but I'm probably going to have to be saved haha.

Basketball is going well. I am learning our new offense and defense and beginning to slowly adjust to it. I am a huge fan of running a four-out, one-in offense because forwards truly get to play everywhere. I am so excited about basketball season starting soon! It is exactly one month away! I hope everybody has a great week, and please pray that I don't drown this Friday!

Lauren Holt #33 (new number!)

So sore!

So today was day two of conditioning and weights, and I am so sore that I am waddling everywhere on campus. I have to admit that the conditioning, weights and gym work make high school basketball look like recess, but I know when game time comes, I will be prepared.

School is going well, but once you get past the first week of introductions that consume your entire class period, you are finally hit with a load of homework. It will be nice to have this three day weekend to catch up on everything, and to see my parents, who unfortunately I haven't had much time to talk to.

For the past few years I have really looked forward to moving out and living on my own and as much as I hate to say it I really miss home. I especially miss my momma's cooking and spending time with my dad. Hopefully, I will get to see a lot of them this weekend. Well I hope everyone has a great week and if you see me waddling across campus and spending 20 minutes to get down a flight of stairs you know why. Haha.

So today was day two of conditioning and weights, and I am so sore that I am waddling everywhere on campus. I have to admit that the conditioning, weights and gym work make high school basketball look like recess, but I know when game time comes, I will be prepared. School is going well, but once you get past the first week of introductions that consume your entire class period, you are finally hit with a load of homework.

First day of school

Today was the first day of school and it was definitely a rude awakening. Since I practically did not go to school for the entire second semester of my senior year ( I was "homebound" because I had to rehab my left knee for at least three hours a day) today made me remember what it was like to actually attend class and receive homework.

Once I got out of all of my classes, I had to go to the Junell Center to meet up with my teammates to fill out paper work and watch a video on banned substances. And yes it was as boring as it sounds. I pretty much fell asleep through out most of the video until I was informed that 5 Hour Energy was a banned substance. I was pretty bummed considering that I take it before every practice and every game, I guess I'm somewhat of an addict haha.

Once I was done signing my life away the team decided to go play some pick up games in the practice gym. Regardless of how tired I was, it felt great to play my first full court pick up game on my knee again. It's hard for me to imagine that only seven months ago, I was sitting in the bleachers, envious of my teammates because they were able to just run up and down the court. Therefore, I try to remind myself everytime that I'm gasping for air and telling myself to quit, that I'm lucky to even be able to stand without the aid of crutches. Well that pretty much wraps up my super exciting day haha.

Have a great week!