By Shane Donahue, Sports Information Student Assistant
In high school, I never played a team contact sport like football, lacrosse, hockey, or even basketball so I missed out on the locker room experience. My only exposure to the moving team prayer or the fiery half time speech is from what I’ve seen in various clichéd sports movies so the locker room has a mythical quality for me. I dream of a chance to slap Jon Henderson in the face to pump him up, or to stare into Ray Lewis' eyes as he leads the famous “Game time” chant.
Because my athletic career, though long and diverse, lacks a true locker room experience, it’s something I yearn for. I came close to it at Vassar when coach took us to the locker room for a pre-game speech when we played indoors, but something was off. I didn’t feel like the guys in Miracle did after Kurt Russel’s speech, but that’s understandable because tennis requires a more cerebral approach anyway.
I think the problem was that there was no sign with a slogan to touch as we exited the locker room like in Rudy with Notre Dame’s hallowed “Play like a champion today” sign. To fulfill my dream of an authentic locker room experience, I need a sign with a good slogan that I can slap as I exit. It would be similar to the low, nearly record-setting branch of Vassar’s plane tree which I slap during midterms and finals because I heard it’s good luck.
During a hellish week of midterms, I posted a sign with Notre Dame’s famous slogan “Play like a champion today” in the stairwell of my TH so I could touch it whenever I went downstairs. Thanks in part to the sign, I knocked out 3 papers, a midterm, and a presentation.
Inspired by former NBA head coach and blogger extraordinaire Eric Musselman, here’s my categorized ideas for Vassar’s new locker room sign which will come to a vote in the coming weeks:
Coaching adages:
“Your greatest strength is the exploitation of your opponent’s weaknesses via your strengths.”
“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” –Albert Einstein
“Reasons = Excuses” – My 6th grade music teacher
Rhetorical question:
“How does what YOU accomplish today influence your ambitions for tomorrow?”
“IDK what you’ve done lately, what will YOU do today?”
“What skills do YOU have?”
Motivational:
“DESIRE to set a goal. Dedication to pursue it. Determination to overcome the obstacles.” – Archie Griffin via Vassar alum Jim Citrin.
“It’s going down.”
“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
“You can always try harder.” - My friend while coaching 12 year-olds at a tennis camp.
“Motivation is simple, you eliminate those who are not motivated.” – Lou Holtz
Performance-oriented:
“Imagine. Concentrate. Execute. Appreciate.”
“Play beautiful.”
“Smooth is fast. Fast is smooth.” – movie Shooter
School-related:
“You represent Vassar first, youself second.”
“Victory is relative.”
“I am… We are…”
“Vassar is a small, coeducational, highly selective liberal arts institution.”
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Not a Bad Day for Vassar Athletics
By Chelsea Katzenberg, Assistant Sports Information Director
Saturday, October 17. Not a bad day for Vassar athletics. With many teams playing, and results pouring in throughout the day, I watched as the “W”’s and first-place finishes piled up.
Sophomore Johanna Spangler won the Seven Sisters Cross Country Championship, the first Vassar runner in 11 years to do so. Sophomore Alex Bello defended her medalist honors at the Ann S. Batchelder Invitational, capping an impressive fall season of top finishes.
The women’s tennis team put forth a dominating performance at the New York State Championships, sending players to Sunday’s title matches in five out of six singles flights, and advancing doubles teams to the semifinals of all three flights. On Sunday the Brewers will look to defend five of the titles they won last year, and perhaps add a couple more…
Women’s volleyball registered two wins, in a tri-match with Mt. St. Mary and Bard, to extend its winning streak to six. In a soccer doubleheader at Gordon Field, men’s soccer extended its own winning streak to three with a 3-0 shutout of Farmingdale State, and the women’s team followed that with a 3-2 win over Elmira.
Despite a depleted roster, women’s rugby put forth a gutsy effort in a 25-20 win over Dartmouth, keeping Vassar’s playoff hopes alive.
In an extremely competitive and fast race, featuring teams from Division I, II, and III, men’s cross country showed its speed, with four runners clocking in under 27 minutes.
It is an impressive list and it exemplifies the overall effort of Vassar athletics to continue to grow and improve. With the fall season winding down, it demonstrates how teams are working into peak form, putting all the little details together and eliminating mistakes. Remember the day. Saturday, October 17. A pretty darn good day for Vassar athletics.
Saturday, October 17. Not a bad day for Vassar athletics. With many teams playing, and results pouring in throughout the day, I watched as the “W”’s and first-place finishes piled up.
Sophomore Johanna Spangler won the Seven Sisters Cross Country Championship, the first Vassar runner in 11 years to do so. Sophomore Alex Bello defended her medalist honors at the Ann S. Batchelder Invitational, capping an impressive fall season of top finishes.
The women’s tennis team put forth a dominating performance at the New York State Championships, sending players to Sunday’s title matches in five out of six singles flights, and advancing doubles teams to the semifinals of all three flights. On Sunday the Brewers will look to defend five of the titles they won last year, and perhaps add a couple more…
Women’s volleyball registered two wins, in a tri-match with Mt. St. Mary and Bard, to extend its winning streak to six. In a soccer doubleheader at Gordon Field, men’s soccer extended its own winning streak to three with a 3-0 shutout of Farmingdale State, and the women’s team followed that with a 3-2 win over Elmira.
Despite a depleted roster, women’s rugby put forth a gutsy effort in a 25-20 win over Dartmouth, keeping Vassar’s playoff hopes alive.
In an extremely competitive and fast race, featuring teams from Division I, II, and III, men’s cross country showed its speed, with four runners clocking in under 27 minutes.
It is an impressive list and it exemplifies the overall effort of Vassar athletics to continue to grow and improve. With the fall season winding down, it demonstrates how teams are working into peak form, putting all the little details together and eliminating mistakes. Remember the day. Saturday, October 17. A pretty darn good day for Vassar athletics.
Monday, October 12, 2009
McCowan & Me
By Robin Deutsch, Sports Information DirectorFor the past five years, I have had a long standing banter with Vassar men’s and women’s cross country coach James McCowan about my running prowess. Or what he deems as a lack thereof.
I like to regale James about running four Marathons. Three of them were in Boston, where each time I miscounted the number of hills in Heartbreak Hill. The other was New York, where I swore there were hills in Central Park. I was later informed that the trek through that portion of the race is essentially flat. So much for my topography prowess. I do know, however, that each marathon was 26.2 miles.
But ever since my running totals decreased to about .2 miles a week, James likes to refer to me as a “middle school” runner. I believe this has something to do with me complaining about his prescribed workouts and the fact that his routes take me places where my shoes get dirty.
I don’t particularly like my running togs caked in mud, yet several of James’ excursions have ruined two perfectly clean pair of Asics. Well, not exactly ruined them, they’re just not as pristine looking.
James and I started at Vassar at the same time, in the summer of 2004, and became fast friends. Working together to figure out how an obsolete, archaic-dos-based-program functioned to compile results for the annual VC Invitational brought on the type of comradeship that would have made Churchill and Stalin best buds. Many times during the painstaking process of toying with the 2 ½ x 2 ½ floppy discs, I wanted to beat them into a crumpled heap with a sledgehammer. James would laugh and say, “If we only had the manual.”
James actually had me beat at Vassar by five years. A 1999 grad, he was an All-America and NCAA Regional Champion. Understandably, you could imagine my trepidation when, in trying to explain a workout route he wanted me to run, James became exasperated and ran the course with me.
Since running has a significant amount of mental fortitude involved, I was scared s@#%less that he was going impose some serious psychological and physical punishment on me. But he didn’t (thank you to someone above). We ran easy and loose – at my pace – and he entertained tales of my running lore (I did churn out a 1:34 half marathon at the 2000 New Haven race thanks to a sparkling pair of silver Mizuno racing flats and six Power Gels). I was thrilled, albeit nervous, to run a few miles with an All-America and my friend.
The one time I do recall paying attention to coach McCowan’s workout instructions, I was sprinting up a series of steep hills on our old cross country course in 80 degree heat. It left me woozy, nauseas and in severe oxygen debt.
“I said to run the hills at 80 percent,” James corrected me. “Not on an 80 degree day.”
“You said sprint them,” I retorted.
“No, I didn’t.”
“I believe you did.”
“Middle school runner.”
James and I are forever asking things of each other. He likes to borrow photographs, proof sheets, the office color printer/scanner, my laptop computer. I like to hold those things hostage for a team sweatshirt. Begrudgingly, we both agree (insert big smile here) to part with our precious objects. We’ve never actually had to wrestle the goods away from each other, but I do believe upon our last exchange I heard James mumble something about the next time he takes me out running.
This space isn’t necessarily the place to analyze the intricacies of James’ coaching philosophy. For one thing, I don’t totally understand his rhetoric (somewhere between Phil Jackson and George Sheehan) and secondly, I don’t follow how an Anthropology major turns himself into a heckuva cross country and track coach.
Every now and again I meander down to the Atrium in the Athletics & Fitness Center to listen to James’ practice monologue. I am thinking it might inspire me to increase my weekly mileage from .2 to 1.2. One of my more recent visits found James in the midst of dispersing the season’s new training gear.
“You must have smelled the stuff from upstairs,” he said with a big grin growing across his face.
“Nah,” I replied. “You must have sensed that I haven’t updated anything on the Web that involves either cross country or track in weeks.”
The Fall Athletics season has a turbo-charged feel. Short and tight and intense and explosive and over in a snap.
McCowan & Me have been through 5 ½ years of them now. I believe I am speaking for both of us when I say we’re still having a blast. Together. Coach and Middle School Runner.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Art of Photography & Multimedia Too
September 29, 2009
By Robin Deutsch, Sports Information Director
Click.
Got the athlete in the picture. But not the head.
Click.
Darn. Wrong player.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
Blurry. Too Dark. Too Light. Perfect!
Taking good action photographs are one of the most enjoyable things about covering college athletics. Well, when they come out, anyway.
The new athletics Web site was designed, in part, to take advantage of the outstanding action photos that are taken by our photographers at Stockton Photography. The ladies behind the cameras are Carlisle and Jeanette. To say that their work has exceptional value and meaning to the Athletics Department and for the entire college is like saying a rake is useful when you need to gather up a lawn full of leaves.
This year, the Sports Information Office has augmented the work of Stockton Photography by capturing same-game photos for selective contests involving field hockey, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and men’s tennis. More sports will follow. I hope these photos have enhanced our coverage and when possible brought a sense of “real time” to the stories that accompany these images.
The beauty of having Stockton Photography as our longtime partner is simple: It affords YOU the opportunity to purchase these images at extremely reasonable prices. The quality and customer service are straight from a Five Star French Restaurant. Perhaps this has something to do with Jeanette being a Vassar graduate.
Be sure to visit the Vassar Athletics portion of the Stockton Web site at:
http://www.stocktonphoto.com/vassar/
The Sports Information Office has added a few additional multimedia and social networking wrinkles to our coverage this year. Much like our photography efforts, videos and interviews from selected events will be available at our YouTube Channel (VassarSportsInfo) and embedded into pertinent stories where applicable. You can check a video out at this link: You Tube Channel
Vassar Athletics has also joined the social networking community with our own Facebook page, which can be easily found by typing “Vassar College Athletics” into the search box on your Facebook page. Then simply click the “Be A Fan” icon and you’ll join more than 500 fans who now follow the Brewers through Facebook. Our friends in College Relations are setting up a Twitter page for Athletics as well, taking the feed straight from our Web site to your apparatus of choice. Now you have it: Our photographic and multimedia offerings for 2009-10.
Now if someone could help me out with my ISO and Aperture settings ...
By Robin Deutsch, Sports Information Director
Click.
Got the athlete in the picture. But not the head.
Click.
Darn. Wrong player.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
Blurry. Too Dark. Too Light. Perfect!
Taking good action photographs are one of the most enjoyable things about covering college athletics. Well, when they come out, anyway.
The new athletics Web site was designed, in part, to take advantage of the outstanding action photos that are taken by our photographers at Stockton Photography. The ladies behind the cameras are Carlisle and Jeanette. To say that their work has exceptional value and meaning to the Athletics Department and for the entire college is like saying a rake is useful when you need to gather up a lawn full of leaves.
This year, the Sports Information Office has augmented the work of Stockton Photography by capturing same-game photos for selective contests involving field hockey, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and men’s tennis. More sports will follow. I hope these photos have enhanced our coverage and when possible brought a sense of “real time” to the stories that accompany these images.
The beauty of having Stockton Photography as our longtime partner is simple: It affords YOU the opportunity to purchase these images at extremely reasonable prices. The quality and customer service are straight from a Five Star French Restaurant. Perhaps this has something to do with Jeanette being a Vassar graduate.
Be sure to visit the Vassar Athletics portion of the Stockton Web site at:
http://www.stocktonphoto.com/vassar/
The Sports Information Office has added a few additional multimedia and social networking wrinkles to our coverage this year. Much like our photography efforts, videos and interviews from selected events will be available at our YouTube Channel (VassarSportsInfo) and embedded into pertinent stories where applicable. You can check a video out at this link: You Tube Channel
Vassar Athletics has also joined the social networking community with our own Facebook page, which can be easily found by typing “Vassar College Athletics” into the search box on your Facebook page. Then simply click the “Be A Fan” icon and you’ll join more than 500 fans who now follow the Brewers through Facebook. Our friends in College Relations are setting up a Twitter page for Athletics as well, taking the feed straight from our Web site to your apparatus of choice. Now you have it: Our photographic and multimedia offerings for 2009-10.
Now if someone could help me out with my ISO and Aperture settings ...
Friday, September 25, 2009
Outside the Box Score: Vassar Women's Soccer Nearly Holds off No. 5 William Smith
September 25
By Tyler Maland, a junior student-worker in the Sports Information Office
Executing a game plan can be elusive. The instinctual nature of competition can trump tactical strategy at any time. An injury, or a well-prepared opponent, or even a freak play, can disrupt the intended course of a game plan.
At the women’s soccer game on Friday, I felt at times like I was watching Dean Smith’s Carolina Tarheels close out a second half with the time-devouring four corners offense.
The Brewers’ first Liberty League test was powerhouse William Smith, the same team that knocked Vassar out of the playoffs last year. The apparent game plan was logical. Play tightly, and limit the Herons’ offensive chances. Start league play with a shutout and, at the very least, a tie. For the majority of the game, Vassar’s execution was exceptional.
Against the nationally fifth-ranked Herons, Vassar built a seemingly impenetrable wall in the first half. Utilizing just one free-ranging forward, the Brewers packed the defense and allowed William Smith to control the possession of the game, aiming instead to limit shots and runs. They did just that: William Smith did dominate the ball in the first half, but managed just two shots on goal.
Vassar hardly looked threatening, its forwards smothered by three towering defenders each time they got a touch on the ball in William Smith’s half of the field. The Brewers rarely strung passes together, instead clearing the ball out as if asking the Herons to “take it back” before trying again at the goal. But then again, how crisp did Michael Jordan look when he stood stagnantly in the corner as Smith’s unbeatable (and unexciting) offense closed out game after game? With a scoreless first half, Vassar’s execution was perfect.
The second half saw things open up a bit. William Smith managed eight shots, and Vassar four. Vassar started to push offensively, and the time of possession evened out. But overall, the pace remained the same. The Brewers’ defenders, backed by freshman keeper Ali Higgins, cleared ball after ball, and a Herons’ offense that had outscored opponents 10-4 in its first six games remained stupefied.
But in the 83rd minute, William Smith forward BreLynn Nasypany found space on the back side of the Vassar goal and headed a cross easily into an unattended net. There was the disrupted game-plan. There was the 1-0 deficit, and eventual loss, that would tell nothing of Vassar's near-perfect execution in the box score. There was an 0-1 start in a conference where every game matters.
There are no moral victories or almosts in the standings sheets. But really – eight minutes and overtime away from out-executing the fifth-best team in the country? Almost.
By Tyler Maland, a junior student-worker in the Sports Information Office
Executing a game plan can be elusive. The instinctual nature of competition can trump tactical strategy at any time. An injury, or a well-prepared opponent, or even a freak play, can disrupt the intended course of a game plan.
At the women’s soccer game on Friday, I felt at times like I was watching Dean Smith’s Carolina Tarheels close out a second half with the time-devouring four corners offense.
The Brewers’ first Liberty League test was powerhouse William Smith, the same team that knocked Vassar out of the playoffs last year. The apparent game plan was logical. Play tightly, and limit the Herons’ offensive chances. Start league play with a shutout and, at the very least, a tie. For the majority of the game, Vassar’s execution was exceptional.
Against the nationally fifth-ranked Herons, Vassar built a seemingly impenetrable wall in the first half. Utilizing just one free-ranging forward, the Brewers packed the defense and allowed William Smith to control the possession of the game, aiming instead to limit shots and runs. They did just that: William Smith did dominate the ball in the first half, but managed just two shots on goal.
Vassar hardly looked threatening, its forwards smothered by three towering defenders each time they got a touch on the ball in William Smith’s half of the field. The Brewers rarely strung passes together, instead clearing the ball out as if asking the Herons to “take it back” before trying again at the goal. But then again, how crisp did Michael Jordan look when he stood stagnantly in the corner as Smith’s unbeatable (and unexciting) offense closed out game after game? With a scoreless first half, Vassar’s execution was perfect.
The second half saw things open up a bit. William Smith managed eight shots, and Vassar four. Vassar started to push offensively, and the time of possession evened out. But overall, the pace remained the same. The Brewers’ defenders, backed by freshman keeper Ali Higgins, cleared ball after ball, and a Herons’ offense that had outscored opponents 10-4 in its first six games remained stupefied.
But in the 83rd minute, William Smith forward BreLynn Nasypany found space on the back side of the Vassar goal and headed a cross easily into an unattended net. There was the disrupted game-plan. There was the 1-0 deficit, and eventual loss, that would tell nothing of Vassar's near-perfect execution in the box score. There was an 0-1 start in a conference where every game matters.
There are no moral victories or almosts in the standings sheets. But really – eight minutes and overtime away from out-executing the fifth-best team in the country? Almost.
Friday, September 18, 2009
In Search of the Next Great One
By Robin Deutsch, Sports Information Director
Sports pundits are always searching for the next Great One. They’re not unlike slot machine players who drop quarter after quarter into a bottomless tray, snap the magic lever forward and then helplessly pray that three bars miraculously all stop in harmony, signaling the Great Quarter Payoff, or Jackpot.
We all remember our first Great One. Our first great romance. Our first great automobile, or pet, or teacher or coach or boss or whatever you remember making your soul feel great.
Vassar has had its share of Great Ones. They arrive on the athletics stage as freshmen with little fanfare and expectation. They transform into greatness with remarkable ease. The Great Ones all share something in common, an intangible bond: They all make being a Great One appear effortless.
When he was a freshman, former basketball star Lawrence Avitabile was granted one trip around the Liberty League until his considerable talents were no longer a secret. Next time through the league he was double teamed on every offensive possession. Avitabile was still named the league Rookie of the Year.
When she was a freshman, nothing short of draining the pool could contain swimmer Emily Love. At the Liberty League meet held just two months into her career, Love was named Rookie of the Meet. She would earn All-America status five times in her career.
When he was a freshman, fencer Andrew Fischl displayed such majesty in Epee competition that he qualified for the NCAA Championships. He repeated that distinction last year as a sophomore.
When she was a freshman, cross country runner Johanna Spangler raced with a maturity and confidence that was a marvel to watch. In the six months following her high school graduation, Spangler was competing in the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
With the athletics season into its third week, there are already signs that the next Great One resides in our midst. Freshman volleyball setter Hilary Koenigs has already been named the Liberty League Rookie of the Week twice. Ditto that for men’s cross country runner Yaron Teich. Women’s cross country runner Katie Holmes has earned the distinction once.
Freshmen tennis players Andrew Guzick and Josh Kessler had impressive debuts and each have a glorious future ahead. Whether weekly awards will follow remains to be seen, but it’s improbable that recognition won’t follow each player sooner than later.
Freshmen dot the rosters of every fall Vassar team. More will follow for the winter and spring teams. If history is any indication, the aforementioned freshmen will rekindle memories of Avitabile and Love. There are a plethora of athletes that will fall nicely into Fischl and Spangler’s path.
We will continue to search for the next Great One. We will pull the lever of a mythical slot machine, watch intently as three bars rotate in circles and then stop in succinct alignment.
We will have hit jackpot again.
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