"TRANSFERS!"

A lot of students transfer colleges and here at the Mount, we've seen our fair share of them. Last year, Juli Phelps and myself transferred here from Cincinnati Christian University and Kenyon College. This year, we have two more transfers (seen above): Carolyn Holt who transferred from Defiance College and Codie Gerwe who transferred from Transylvania University. It's a little more interesting for them to play at the Mount because they both transferred from schools in our league (Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference) so we have to play their former schools twice during the season. Transfers transfer for a number of different reasons. I transferred to MSJ after my freshman year because it's a school that's closer to home, offered the degree that I was interested in and also still allowed me to play basketball. Much to my parent's chagrin, I didn't make this decision until late July before my sophomore year of college... after my tuition deposit at Kenyon had been paid and schedules had been set. EEK. My parents weren't really happy with the late notice, but they understood that my decision was something I had been thinking about for a long time and they supported me 100%. I'm happy with my decision. My life wouldn't be what it is now without the switch. I needed the change to be a happier, healthier person. I miss the atmosphere, the people and the life I had at Kenyon a lot but I also love the people here at the Mount that I've met and become friends with and the opportunities that I have now because of transferring.

Getting into trouble... as always

We told the Olive Garden staff it was Coach's 50th birthday party and this is what happened...

Wittenberg Holiday Tournament: Dec. 29 & 30

Leah had them sing "Happy Birthday" to coach and she was really scared of getting in trouble and having to run at practice on Monday.
Tricia and Codie

3 of our freshman =]
Leah, Katie Jo and Lindsay

Gina and Chelsey waiting for dinner at Olive Garden

Codie and Leah are "getting big" in the weight room and it's beginning to show!

Kat and Leah

Abby, Lauren and Gina

Fabulosity Factor???

On our team, we have quite a number of interesting individuals. I've already talked about the style choices of one member, Kat O'Neill. Another individual that I'd know like to pay homage to is sophomore Amberly Rison. Now, Amberly has quite the personality. We like to refer to these commanding traits as our team's "Fabulosity". Her shiny black headbands (as in the picture above) are just one of her trademarks. Today in practice, Amb wore tall white and pink striped socks. Yet another example of what Kat would call "fashion-forward" thinking. Along with Amberly, Chelsey Doellman brings a lot of "fabulosity" as well. I think she'll tell you that straight to your face (I may expand on this in another blog. Lord knows I could fill one talking about Chels =]...) Now, Amberly may be a handful off the court (ask her roommate Brooke Sowards), but her moves on the court are pretty 'fabulous' too. Don't let her blonde hair fool you, this girl has got some basketball smarts. Her grace and finesse as she drives to the basket will amaze and awe you. Come out to our next game to check out Amb and the rest of our 'fabulosity' in action. We could use the support =]

Ok... so if you know whose feet these are... then you know why I'm blogging LOL. This is Kat O'Neill. She has this weird 'obsession' or 'infatuation' if you will with old Grandpa shoes. She proceeds to wear these shoes to class, the training room, games and wherever her velcro and Chuck Taylor's will let her. I have no problem with the Chuck's and jeans but Converse low-cuts and basketball shorts with Kat's pale legs is not the greatest thing to look at. I know Kat doesn't care what people think about her 'style' and this blog is not bashing Kat. I'd just like some comments on if you've seen this or anything like it on a friend, teammate, or whatever or you'd just like to comment on Kat's so-called style.

AAAAHHH another loss...

So, after another nail-biting finish, we lost again tonight to Transy by a score of 80-78. We were up at one point in the first half by 13 before they edged their way back in and we were up 2 points at halftime (35-37). They took the lead to start the second half and we went back and forth the rest of the way (most of the time us coming back)... until the final minute of the game when I hit a 3 pointer that cut the Transy lead to 1. Then, we fouled them. They hit some free throws, then we drove, got fouled and made a free throw. And they were ahead by 2. We fouled their player with 6 seconds left and she missed both shots and we went the length of the court and didn't get a shot off before the buzzer sounded. Disappointing? YES. Another loss. Every game, I believe we can win. It's just getting more disheartening each game to walk away with another 'L' tagged to our record. 2 of my best friends were at the game and they said we played so good and they thought we were going to definitely win. I said 'thanks' and the 'yeah, i thought we were gonna win too.' but the truth is i'm so tired of losing! 2 points or 30 points doesn't make a difference. A loss is a loss and we have the most of them in our league. I know we're not that team that just rolls over and lets people beat them and we'll fight to the end of every game, but for once, we need to come out on top of a nail-biter. Get some confidence back in ourselves. We know we're a good team. We can take the top teams like Transy and Manchester down to the wire but we can't find what it takes yet or put together a string of offense and defense to seal a victory. I'm praying that Saturday is different. I've played Hiram twice in college and both times won handily. I just hope that Saturday we come in with something to prove. We can't play down to any more teams and we have to bring our 'A' game the rest of the way if we want to change our season. I know we can do it. We just have to believe it. More blogging to come about some lighter subjects with the team and hopefully, they are more fun and get a few comments. =]

Big game tomorrow

Tomorrow, we are playing the #1 team in our league, Transylvania University. It's a big game. Huge actually. Currently, we are the last place team in our league. Not because I think we have the least talent or the worst anything.. we just haven't been able to put it all together. We took the defending champions down the wire, into overtime and lost, and we've lost 2 very close games. We need to win this game tomorrow. Our team needs to believe we can win and we need to go out on the court and really play together and play inspired.

MSJ Womens Basketball

I'm going to form this blog around the MSJ Women's Basketball and our season. This is my second season on the team and my third year playing collegiately. Last year is over. Thank God. We have an entirely "new team." Even with a lot of the same faces, we have a new attitude. It's refreshing to be around players who want to be at practices, who want to get better and push each other and to have players who will do anything for the team. Our team is still young as is the season and we each have individual growths that accompany our collective growth and incumbent victories. I have no doubt in my mind that our season will turn around soon enough and we will grow leaps and bounds from where this season began. Although it's a little ironic considering the season did start with a win... so not that badly. This blog will document the visible growth that I see and may later include some commentary or testiment to team growth by one of the coaching staff. I hope this blog will inspire something or someone. It could be someone in the class, on the team, maybe even inspire me. I have no idea yet what the season holds but I'm anxious and excited to see what God has in store for us and I'm excited to share his blessings with everyone else through this blog.

New Media Class

I'm starting this blog because of my New Media in Sports class. I'm interested to see what I can do with this blog and where my reach will extend to. I'm excited to see what the impact of my blog will be (if any) and what I learn from this course and other various networking sites, my favorite site being TWITTER =]