Hey, Bear fans!

We're back in Berkeley for the beginning of the spring semester after an awesome winter vacation. After spending some time at home with our families for the holidays, the team reconvened in Oahu for our 2016 training trip.

Training trips are a pivotal part of any team's season, and it's no different for us. Between intense pool and ocean workouts, the team managed to explore a significant amount of the island through shave ice trips, hikes and multiple different boogie board and surfing locations. There were days spent at the North Shore ogling some awe-inspiring 20 foot waves and eating at a team favorite shrimp truck, and there were days spent laying on the sand in Waikiki doing absolutely nothing.

In the pool, we worked a lot on race relevant swimming and the small things, like relay starts and finishes, to tune up for our upcoming dual meets and championship season. The team also had an opportunity to host a swim clinic for some local club teams in Oahu. We split up team members in to specialty stroke groups, and got to share some of our favorite drills and lessons about the sport with swimmers of varying ages and experiences. Seeing these swimmers constantly smiling and sharing with us why they love to swim was a great reminder of why we've continued in this sport, and why we love it, too.

This week, we're competing with the men's team against The University of Arizona and Arizona State in back-to back dual meets on Friday and Saturday. These are the last competitions we'll host at Spieker this season, so come out and support!

As always, GO BEARS! We'll catch you next time.

- Valerie Hull