Whenever banquet time rolls around, it is always a very bittersweet occasion. It is always nice to reunite with the Duck family of course; however, it is also one of the last full group gatherings of the Field Hockey bunch – including the seniors. This year, as usual, we recognized all of the team’s accomplishments as well as those of the fan’s (including the top fans – my Mom’s canavan of people to games actually won part of the top fans – WOOOT MOM!).
I’ll give a very brief run-through of the events that occurred on that morning. Since all of us LOVE to eat, the banquet commenced with the seniors families going to the buffet first, followed by seniors, which then went onto the families of all players, and concluded with the eating of the players. We have a very special tradition where the wonderful families throw a tailgate for us after every game, and after each and every game, the families wait to eat/tailgate until us, players, eat first (even waiting for slow-pokes like me to get changed). So, at the banquet, we recognize that fact and wait on our families who have always waited on us.
After we filled our bellies, Coach Reed talked and then let us players talk about the wonderful group of seniors we have this year (Jessie Ablonczy, Kara Borzillo, Erin Broderick, Megan Clifford, and Liz Zmijewski). We gave our speeches, all of which praised the seniors for being the awesome people they are…but not forgetting to add humor to it because that’s how we always are.
During the speeches that us FHOCers give to the seniors, we also give them a scrapbook so they have the bestest pictures/memories of their time here on this team. Included in the scrapbooks were pictures from Halloween, team trip to Argentina, chubby bunny contests, team pictures, as well as a few pictures of a certain teammate just being plain evil. Items like these I think are the most rewarding to make because it lets us give the upperclassmen a token that they can always keep to remember the times they’ve had here at Stevens.
And, to keep the entertainment going, there were some outrageously funny moments of the brunch – an amazing highlight video was shown displaying the skill of our team and how far we’ve come from preseason. Even watching the video at the banquet, gave all of us goosebumps (maybe I can just change it here to duckbumps) to appreciate the truly remarkable talent of all of us on a whole. In addition to game tape, we also got a glimpse of each and every truly special senior. A ten-minute long tape was made that had the funny moments of each and every senior – including Jessie Ablonczy’s videotaping on the plane ride from Argentina when her and Cliff acted like the Crocodile Hunter, Kara pretending to be Scooby Doo and Erin pretending to be Velma, and of course having the Evil One tripping Coach on tape from Argentina. For that short time frame, my stomach hurt so much from laughing so hard.
After many thoughtful and sincere speeches (and of course tons of pictures which will be shown), the banquet was near over. The Ducks Family 2009 had reunited again – and it was no less pleasurable than everyone expected it to be. The only thing that would have made it truly the best, was if Val was there and that her Mother was safe and healthy. Her presence was missed but even from afar, the mark Val has on this team was felt.
All in all, when one chapter closes, another one opens. Seeing what we accomplished at the banquet made everyone exponentially more excited for the upcoming spring season and regular fall season to begin. I however cannot end this blog without adding a short side-note of what surprises the captains had in store for Coach Reed. Since she will be getting married in the summer, (and has, time and time again, convinced us that she cannot afford for all of us current and past players to attend her wedding), they threw a mach wedding – where she even threw a bouquet of flowers and had a veil. We all hope Coach Reed liked what the captains planned, especially so they’d know our presence will hopefully be felt at her wedding day as well.
<3 Lauren "Grigglet" Griggs
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