Feb. 17, 2015
Vanderbilt’s bowling team left Nashville last Thursday afternoon on a non-stop commercial flight, headed for sunny Houston where the temperatures were in the 70’s. Friends joked that they would miss a day or two of predicted crummy Nashville weather before getting back Sunday evening.
But when the team arrived at Houston Hobby Airport Sunday afternoon after a splendid weekend performance, they found out that Mother Nature doesn’t always play fair. Their flight had been cancelled due to a massive winter ice storm in the Southeast and they were staying put in Houston. They had no hint as to how long they would be in limbo.
Over two days later, they are still high and dry in Houston with the first opportunity to return coming Thursday morning assuming the weather doesn’t play any more dirty tricks. At best, the team will have been gone almost one week. Gilligan would understand.
John Williamson transitioned from his role as head coach to travel agent. It is the second time in two years that his Commodores have gotten stuck trying to get back to campus; last year the team spent two extra days in Kansas City when a huge snowstorm hit hours before the planned departure.
“I spent from 8 a.m. to about 11 a.m. both Monday and Tuesday trying to figure things out,” Williamson said while waiting for the food to come Tuesday night at the team dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse. “I was looking for a flight (there are eight on the team trip, six student-athletes and assistant coach Josie Earnest). Since we couldn’t be certain when we were leaving, I was extending rental car agreements and looking for hotel rooms. We are now on our third different hotel as our second one was at capacity and couldn’t handle us any more nights.”
From the student-athlete side, the unexpected delay posed problems that any Vanderbilt student would understand. For example, Rebeca Reguero is part of a group project and had to join the group’s planning session via phone Tuesday night.
“I brought one textbook to study for an exam that I was supposed to make up Monday,” junior Robyn Renslow said. “With classes cancelled the test has been moved to Wednesday but we still won’t be back so I don’t know when I can take the test. And I have several quizzes this week that I could have prepared for at home but I didn’t bring those books so they will be interesting!”
Academics are a priority and both Williamson and Renslow said the daily plans begin with a snapshot of how much work each team member has to do. Meals are determined in part by the workload (via computer, of course) and also by the per diem provided by the athletics department.
“We receive $35 a day per person,” Williamson says, “so I let the team decide how they want to allocate that. One night we just ordered in and had pizza and Chinese food. Sometimes they like to eat a very nice dinner.”
But it’s not all schoolwork. As he likes to do when time allows on a trip, Williamson improvised an outing to the Johnson Space Center where they saw the original control room for the Apollo space missions and a replica of the International Space Station. Tuesday afternoon the team spent a few hours watching the Oscar-nominated movie “Imitation Game”.
The days are long and allow for bowling practice. Williamson took the team to the same bowling center that will host next month’s Southland Conference Championships Tuesday and will return Wednesday. Their current hotel is the one they will stay at next month.
“Our plan for Wednesday is to get as much work done from our rooms as possible,” said Renslow, one of many Commodores with excellent grade points.
Renslow also mentioned that nobody packed enough clothes for a week so the team has combined its laundry and that has been a project several evenings.
“One thing I learned from last year’s layover in Kansas City is that it is important to keep everyone informed what’s going on,” Williamson says. “That removes a lot of anxiety, just knowing what is in store. We’d all love to get back soon but in cases like this, we will get back when we get back.”
