Blog Posts From Active Team Sports Tagged With college

Let's Lose the Female-Athlete-is-Prissy Stereotype

guest — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:17:13 GMT

In no way do I condone the actions of Elizabeth Lambert, the University of New Mexico soccer player who was caught on video being violent toward BYU players during a Mountain West Conference tournament game.

Lambert nearly yanked a woman’s ponytail right out of her scalp, punched one girl in the back, another one in the head and did some over-the-top tackling in one game. She was obviously playing on tilt and should’ve been red-carded numerous times or removed from the game by her coach. Television cameras started watching her every move because she was that out of control. It was horrible.

But her Internet fame—videos of her acts had more than a million views on YouTube—came with jokes about women’s sports and the intensity that the BYU and New Mexico players were showing. That’s where I really shake my head.

ESPN.com’s Graham Hays said it best--women's sports aren't catfights. They're competitive. And it’s about time mainstream America accepts the fact that our female athletes aren’t worried about breaking a nail.

I was surprised by some people’s reaction, but perhaps my perspective is unique. My wife played Division I soccer, and I went to all of her games for four straight years. Big-time women's college soccer is a rough sport. Players are athletic, big, fast—and most of all, physical.

My wife was one of the smaller players out there, and she had to compensate by being tougher. She gruesomely broke her elbow in high school and still has problems with it, but kept playing. In college, she got a black eye in practice and a concussion during a game. She had trouble walking between many of her matches because of ankle and shin injuries caused by players kicking the daylights out of her while battling for the ball. I went to visit her at her apartment one day and she had an air cast on her right foot—and she played a full game two days later.

Funny thing is, my wife was relatively injury-free compared to some of her college teammates. One of them badly broke her leg in a game, another one tore up her ankle. Pretty much all of them spent their college days in a training room getting ice baths. Offseason knee surgeries were common.

After watching the Lambert video, I concluded that a red card should have been issued in four of the incidents. I then showed the video to my wife. She shrugged her shoulders at a couple of the tackles, acknowledged that the ponytail yank and the face punch should’ve been a red card, then deadpanned “they’re making too big a deal out of it.”

Probably so. While I view Lambert’s actions a little more negatively than my wife does, we agreed on this—if this was a men’s soccer game between BYU and New Mexico, the actions of one out-of-control defender playing rough with opponents wouldn’t have generated one million views on YouTube. It probably wouldn't have cracked 100,000.

Why do you think that is?

Maybe someday, we’ll figure out that female athletes are deeply invested in their sport, and they want to win just as bad as the boys do. Maybe someday, we’ll realize that competitiveness brings out physical play, and physical play can light a short fuse and unfortunate incidents will occur in the heat of battle--just like the boys.

And just maybe, we’ll get to a point where we're OK with the girls playing hard—and it won't be worthy of one million views on YouTube.

A Playbook for the Rest of Your Life

guest — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:49:33 GMT

Through my experience playing in the NFL and being a union

representative for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I saw first-hand what

happens to athletes when their playing days come to an end and they

haven't prepared for their second career. A very small percentage of

athletes make it to the pros. Of those who do, a smaller percentage

play long enough to retire comfortably for the rest of their lives.

In the NFL alone, the average career is only 3.5 years. You don't qualify

to become an unrestricted free agent (where the big contracts are

usually signed) until you have played four years.

There are a lot of sad stories about pro athletes who didn't prepare themselves

enough for life after their sports career is over. Don't let that

happen to you. It is a long shot to play professional sports. However,

going to college, playing the sport you love and getting a great

education will provide you with an incredible experience that will carry

you through the rest of your life.

No matter what sport you play, your coach develops plays that you use to help the team win. Most

teams have a playbook. Being a student-athlete and trying to have a

game plan for college requires its own "playbook." The NCAA has done a

great job trying to take the burden off of athletes and parents by

creating a game plan to follow. The process to get into college can be

overwhelming. However, using the Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete is a very smart thing to do.

Have you gone to NCAAStudent.org site? It is a really cool interactive site.

It is essentially a playbook with information about being an NCAA

student-athlete.

The site itself was designed to look like a playbook. It is a three-ring binder that "is dedicated to helping you

understand the balance between academics and sports required of every student-athlete for a successful life in school, and out. Here you can learn about the NCAA, download the Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, and discover how you can go pro in something other than sports."

When you go to the site, the first words that you read are: There are over

380,000 student-athletes, and just about every one of them will go pro

in something other than sports.

I really enjoy the emphasis that the NCAA has put on "going pro" in something other than sports. The

inside folder pocket has an envelope with pictures that open to the

television commercials they have played.

I certainly was not aware of the Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete

when I was in high school and there wasn't an interactive website for

me to review. The site and its design effectively simplify the

information.

This playbook discusses:

Amateurism-Eligibility Requirements
Academic-Eligibility Requirements
Core Course, GPA, Tests, Special Conditions
NCAA Eligibility Center
Questions to Ask as You Consider Colleges
Information for Parents and Guardians
Details for High School Counselors and Athletic Administrators
Recruiting Regulations

The media gives a lot of emphasis to professional athletes and thus every

kid wants to grow up to be one. I can tell you personally that although

it is a great experience, it sometimes is not all that it is cracked up

to be.

So check out the site, read it, download the playbook

and follow it. I am confident that if you follow the plays in this

playbook you will be successful.

College Softball Players Carry Opponent Around Bases

guest — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:35:41 GMT

An injured Kirk Gibson hitting a pinch-hit walk-off home run off in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Joe Carter crushing a walk-off home run to win the 1993 World Series. Becky Marx sending one over while trailing UCLA to tie the game and get University of Michigan back in the title hunt at the Women’s College World Series. These home runs are seared into my memory. They repeatedly make highlight reels and are iconic in the world of sports. But a home run in the recent Western Oregon and Central Washington softball contest perhaps should be celebrated above all.

A post-season appearance hinged on the outcome of the game. Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her career. Tucholsky came to the plate in the top of the second inning of the second game with two runners on base and a 0-0 score. She had just three hits in 34 at-bats this season, but she drove a pitch over the centerfield fence.

In her excitement, she missed first base on her home run trot and reversed direction to tag the bag. She tore a ligament in her knee in doing so and crumbled to the ground. While she crawled back to first base, her two teammates crossed the plate, leaving her the only offensive player on the field.

The umpires confirmed that the only option available under the rules was to replace Tucholsky at first base with a pinch runner and have the hit recorded as a two-run single instead of a three-run home run. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while she was an active runner would result in an out.

And then an opposing player, Mallory Holtman, asked if it would it be OK if she helped carry her around and touch each bag.

"Honestly, it's one of those things that I hope anyone would do it for me," Holtman explained. "She hit the ball over her fence. She's a senior; it's her last year…I think anyone who knew that we could touch her would have offered to do it, just because it's the right thing to do."

Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began perhaps the longest and most crowded home run trot in the game's history.

Accompanied by a standing ovation from the fans, they finally reached home plate and passed the home run hitter into the arms of her own teammates. Then Holtman and Wallace returned to their positions and tried to win the game.

Central Washington did rally for two runs in the bottom of the second, but Western Oregon held on for a 4-2 win—the winning run a result of one of the most astounding acts of sportsmanship I have ever seen.

Check it out, and add this home run to the list of most memorable ones you have ever seen:

Who is Kenny George?

guest — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:42:38 GMT

Who is Kenny George? Well, if you caught even a couple minutes of Wednesday night’s game between University of North Carolina and University of North Carolina-Asheville I am guessing you know who he is. Kenny George plays basketball for UNCA and also happens to be the tallest player in the country at 7’7” and weighs a solid 360 pounds. I will add that with his shoes on, a size 26, George rises to an impressive 7’9”, as if 7’7” wasn’t impressive enough. To say George stood out amongst the other players would have been an understatement. Not only did he stand out due to his tall stature but he also put up 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in 24 minutes coming off the bench for the Bulldogs. Despite a solid effort by George, the attention after the game still fell on Tar Heel star Tyler Hansbrough and the aggressive dunk he threw down over a stunned George, but what can you do.

George is having a great junior season for the Bulldogs and is currently leading the nation in blocked shots, but the ride hasn’t been easy for George. His size has brought serious drawbacks on and off the court. George has struggled with injuries caused mostly by the considerable amount of stress his joints take on a daily basis. He is too tall to fit into a driver’s seat, which leaves him depending on friends and family for rides. Also, he gets 12 pairs of shoes a year from Nike, which are made special for him since the largest athletic shoe made is a size 23. Clearly, the journey to becoming the nation’s leading blocker has been by no means easy, but George’s future is bright and he hopes to one day play in the NBA. Most would say he will almost certainly get a chance to live his dream considering most teams would want to use his size to their advantage.

There have been a multitude of very tall and very successful players that have gone through the NBA. At 7’7”, Manute Bol is the tallest player to date to ever appear in the NBA and had a very accomplished career playing for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat. Shawn Paul Bradley is yet another player whose 7’6” height helped him to become a noteworthy NBA player for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks. Both of these players faced adversity because of their height, but were able to turn it into a positive in order to succeed. I hope George will continue to do the same and follow in the footsteps of the exceptionally tall players who have come before him.