Final Blog Assignment (Reflection)

In this professional writing class, I have learned many new things that have helped me to improve my writing skills. In the beginning of this semester, I struggled with my wording, paragraphing, and researching. I also struggled with being able to intertwine other stories, within my main story. This class has helped me to improve these things dramatically. Each and every Sports Literature class that I attended this semester had taught me something new everyday. Now when I read a story, I am able to pick out the way the author structured their piece, the research they used, the different wording that they included, and the way that they intertwined different stories within their piece. I also learned the importance of having other people read your piece, before you turn in your final copy. This is because the people who read your piece can give you their input as to what they think you should add, and they can also pick out grammar mistakes that you may have overlooked when you were writing your piece. Another key thing I have learned is that revision is important because by revising your work, you can make it better.


By being able to notice these things, it shows me what I need to include in my pieces to make them successful. Now when I write my pieces, I include many different sections with different stories within stories. I also now include lots of research, which helps to make my story more interesting. I found these Sports Literature classes to be very helpful in helping me improve my writing capabilities. I find my stories to more interesting than they were before, and I have you to thank for that. Thank you for everything you have taught me! Hopefully one day I might have a story published.

Ronaldinho

Today, when I should have been studying, I was surfing through You Tube. I was looking for some amazing soccer tricks,skills, when I came across videos of Ronaldinho de Assis Moreira. I must say that he is absolutely amazing, and I believe that he is better than David Beckham. The skills and tricks that he can preform are unbelievable.



It is a shame over here in our country, that more people don't watch soccer. Sure at times when you have to go to an elementary, high school, or college game they may be boring to watch; however, the things they can do in the professional soccer leagues are just plain amazing. The only reason I believe that more people over here do not watch soccer because it isn't about knocking someone over, or beating the crap out of them. That is basically what we, as Americans love to see. However soccer is more about mental, and skilled abilities because you are running the whole game without stopping, and you have to be skillful with your feet. It is unfair that our soccer leagues are not as popular because there are many talented soccer players out there.


While kind of on the subject, I think that it is unfair that more than half of our population over in America, do not support women's professional sports. Yes, there is professional basketball, but no one pays attention to it. Very rarely is there any media coverage for it, it is very sad. There is also women's professional volleyball team, that never ever gets any coverage. More than half the people who read this blog more than likely did not know that a women's professional volleyball league existed.

I was extremely excited when a women's professional soccer league was starting to grow, however it did not last long because there wasn't enough support for it. The United States needs to emphasize the importance of women's professional sports, and have them covered more often because by us not having things like those for our young girls to strive for, we are teaching them that girls are not as good as boys. When in fact, girls can be just as good, if not better.

Finals

I came up with a plan that I think that all colleges should allow their students to choose from. I believe that all colleges should give their students the option of whether or not they want to take finals. The last two weeks of school, I believe that all teachers should tell their students what their grades are at that point in time. If you are satisfied with the grade that you have in that class, before finals come up, you should be allowed to say hey I want to keep this grade. The school should allow you to choose whether or not you want to take finals. This is because if your grades are good enough and satisfying enough to you at this time, why stress out over upcoming tests, when you are already doing well in the class. I have thought about this in my previous years at my community college, and I think this would be a great idea. Not only is it beneficial to the students, because they do not have to stress out and they also can go home early, but the teachers can benefit too. This is because if they only have a couple of students who want to take their final, then they only have a few tests to grade. Not only does this lighten up their work load, but it does not stress them out as much when it comes to getting grades in by a certain time. They also get to start their vacation early when they give this option to their students. Therefore these are the reasons as to why I believe that finals should be optional.

Ricky Williams

The big controversy that took place last night on Monday Night Football between the announcers was whether or not Ricky Williams should play. Yes granted he did leave the NFL to go on to a spiritual journey, and he was suspended from the league do to smoking marijuana, but he is still a good player. Right now, Miami needs all the help they can get. I felt that last night, the coach made a good move by playing him. However because he played he got stepped on causing a chest muscle to tare which now sidelines him for the rest of the season. This is Miami's luck this year unfortunately. I am a huge Miami Dolphin fan and I stick with them through the thick and the thin never saying I don't support them because of their record. I feel that I am a true fan because I do not jump on the current winning teams' band wagon. I stick with my team no matter what. Yeah the dolphins are now 0-11 but look at everything they have lost. Their original starting quarterbacks, Chris Chambers, their running backs, and Zach Thomas. Of course they are not going to do well this season. But to say that they are the worst team in NFL history is not far because they have lost quite a few games by only three points. If they were the worst team in history, they would be blown out every game. Last nights game against the Steelers proves that Miami is not a terrible team, holding them till the final minute in the fourth quarter at 0-0. Although many people say that this was only possible due to the weather conditions.

Day back

Well this Thanksgiving went by extremely fast, it felt like we only had a day off! I had such bad luck when I came back to school today. After I had brought my belongings back upstairs from my car, I went back down to drive my car over to the parking lot. When I got to the parking lot, I checked my car many times to make sure that I was not leaving anything behind that I would need when I got back to my dorm. I was walking back and wasn't paying attention to anything because I was on the phone with my boyfriend, and apparently I dropped something without noticing that I did. Once I got to our back door, I went to grab my key to the dorm and it wasn't there. So I checked all of my pockets, my bag, and I still could not find the key. So someone in my tower, let me in and I came upstairs to see if I had left it in my friends room next to mine. No such luck, so we tried to figure out where I had it last and she suggested that we go see if any RAs are back in our tower. This way we could see if I locked my keys in my room. So we went to the fourth floor, and no one was there. So we went to the fifth floor to see if that RA was there. Again they weren't, so we checked every floor all the way to the tenth. Of course no RAs are there cause that would make this easy. So then we went down to see if the complex coordinator was in ad he wasn't. So we went outside and traced my steps back to my car. Luckily I happened to remember that I walked in a different spot from which I normally do, and there were my keys laying on the grass on the side of the curb! I was so lucky to find those because neither one of my roommates were back until late that night.

A vacation?

I thought when a school gave you time off for a "vacation," that it meant you can relax over the break that they give you. A vacation is given to students so they can relax and take their mind off of tests, essays, and projects. We are supposed to be able to relax and stress free so that we can clear our minds and come back to school with clear minds. However, teachers like to hand out more homework assignments and projects for us to do over break. Instead of enjoying our time off, we have to worry about these homework assignments. I believe that it should be a rule that you are not allowed to give students assignments to do over break, that these assignments should be either given in the beginning of the semester to do, or after break. Yeah school is all about assignments and tests but we do need a break, during break!!!!!! So here I sit on thanksgiving writing summaries, working on a portfolio, and writing a story. I am not able to sit and relax and spend time with my family. Let alone take a nap because of the big dinner or watch some football like normal people are able to do on this holiday. So I just ask, for future benefit that we should be given a break over break. I hate stressing and I should not have to over my vacation time, because I should be having fun and not thinking about school. Let alone not to mention this "three" day vacation is going by quickly. The two day weekend should not count as a five day vacation because we already get those off during the semester!

Clarkson Hockey

This past Saturday, I went and watched the Clarkson Golden Knights Hockey team take on Brown University. This was the second D1 college hockey game, that i have been to. The first time I went, I wasn't sure what to expect because I hate watching hockey on TV because I find it boring. However, it is much different in person. I find it exciting, and I love to see the players smash into their opponents. It is so amazing when they do this, especially when they have a hard hit which send the crowd into a huge uproar of "YEAH". I went with my former high school teacher/coach and her family. The player that we go and watch, is her cousin, who also graduated from the same high school I went to. He has improved so much since last season, that it is unbelievable. He is much quicker and handles the puck a lot better. It is fun to go watch him play. Another player that I enjoy watching is their goalie David. I have never seen a more crafted and talented college hockey goalie, in my life before. He pretty much is the guardian between the pipes. He makes unbelievable stops, which makes the fans go wild. The fan base at Clarkson's hockey games, are unrealistic. I have never seen so many students come out and support hockey. I am used to seeing the fan support be like that for football. These fans are in unison when they cheer at all times, using hand gestures and waving. It is so cool. Well back to the game. Clarkson went on to beat Brown 4-2.

Accidents

I have been doing research for our next paper, and I have found many interesting things. The freak accidents that occur in sports, are unbelievable. A couple of years ago a lacrosse player from Cornell was struck by a ball, in the chest, during a game. It had hit him at the exact millisecond when his heart was not beating, and caused it to stop. In Binghamton, a high school lacrosse player was stick checked (legally) in the chest, and it killed him. Another incident that occurred was a 14 year old boy was warming up for a lacrosse game, where the team was doing a shooting drill. The shot that the boy took, missed the goal, so he went behind the goal to retrieve it. While he was getting it, another player took a shot that missed the goal also, and hit him in the back of the head, where his helmet did not cover. This ended up causing his death. Another incident happened in Florida, where a four year old boy walked in front of a pitch back net, where he was struck in the chest by a ball, and killed right there on the spot. Many people do not think that sports are dangerous, however they need to look more into the dangers of the sport before they play. I think that every sport, should have to have more padding involved when playing, to prevent deaths, and accidents like these.

Saturdays

I'm sitting here in my living room, at home, trying to figure out what I am going to write about for our next story. I cannot think of anything that I can extend to be fifteen pages long. I would love to write about a common sport, which we cannot due. So i figured I might as well write this blog that's due Monday. However, I cannot think of anything to write about for this either. My boyfriend is sitting on the couch watching football. Not only does he love to play it, but he loves to watch it. Every Saturday and Sunday it is the same thing whenever I am with him. Saturdays, are his days to watch college football, and Sundays are NFL days. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love football. I am a huge Miami Dolphin fan, yes I know they suck but I am not one who jumps on the bandwagon and cheers for a team who is doing well. I stick with my team through the good and the bad. However, I can only take so much of watching it. I can watch football for about eight hours. But it drives me nuts having to watch it for forty two. Granted we don't watch forty-two hours every weekend but I know that it is what he wants to do especially if Michigan is playing or the Dallas Cowboys. I don't mind watching those games because those are his favorites but for me the other games don't really matter. It is funny because when I am at his house on Sundays, no matter what, on the TV downstairs the TV channel is on an NFL game from one till midnight. He has two other brothers, so when it is Sunday it is all three of them and their dad out in the living room watching football. It drives their mother nuts because once Sat and Sun come along nothing gets done around the house, so I have that to look forward to for my future.

Weather

Just last week, some of us were walking around in shorts and a hoody. Some people were in shorts, a short sleeve shirt and flip flops. Not even a week later, when you venture out into the campus on your way to classes, you see Michalen Man mascots. People are wearing five layers of clothes!! They are breaking out the gloves, mittens, hats, ear warmers, boots, and winter jackets. Last night, when I ventured out to go to Corey Union, I was dressed warm. I had a short sleeve shirt with a long sleeve shirt on top of it, with a sweatshirt and then a jacket. I was also wearing sweat pants, with wind pants over them. Walking as if I was a padded wall, I also had my gloves on. Well I noticed almost everyone was dressed like I was, until I was on my way back to my room. On the way back, I noticed a guy walking towards me, wearing shorts and a fleece! Here it is, in the beginning of November, where the wind is blowing hard and it is cold and it is SNOWING. I cannot believe that this guy was in shorts. So I looked at him, "It's freezing out and freakin snowing, how are you wearing shorts?" The guy just looked at me like I was nuts to ask him this, and he just kept walking. Yeah OK, sure I am the one that's nuts. I'm not the one in shorts. It just kills me, how some people can walk around in short sleeves and shorts when it is practically winter weather!

Soccer Game

Today I went to a high school girl's sectional championship soccer game right here at our stadium. This just wasn't any high school game and any high school team, but a team that was from where I am from. This team, was Lyme. Lyme is about twenty minutes from my house, which is pretty much in the middle of no man's land. Lyme is a school who graduates under 100 students a year, because their population is so small. I believe that the total population is around three hundred and fifty students. Well today they were playing McGraw, which I think is a bigger school than Lyme is so therefore I automatically assumed that McGraw was more than likely going to crush them. However I was wrong. Lyme scored in the first half and maintained possession of the ball for almost the whole game. They were the ones in control of the game, and that was obvious. Each girl was sprinting to where they needed to be and knew what they needed to do. By looking at this team, you could tell just how well they "gel" together. Whenever someone on the team had the ball, they would not have to look up to see where their fellow teammates were because they knew where they would be. It was unbelievable to see such a small school, from which I have always known, come out on top and be a sectional champion. This is the first time in about twenty years that Lyme has captured the title.

I should be doing a paper

I have been sitting here at my computer for about 5 hours now, and I have not gotten anything accomplished. I should be working on my paper that is due Monday for one of my other classes but I just don't feel like doing that. I know that tomorrow I will regret not working on it, but I just don't want to. So I figured I would get on here and write my blog for Thursday so I can get some work done for Thursday ahead of time. But as I sit here in this chair, with my fingers on the keyboard, I cannot think of anything to write about. This is either because I just don't feel like doing anything, or because my brain needs to take a mental night off. Do you ever just sit down at your computer and blank out not wanting to do anything? I think I would be able to get a lot more accomplished if they never created myspace, facebook, or aim. I find myself constantly checking these things for about fifteen minutes at a time. If I am not on myspace looking at my page, or my friends pages, I am on facebook doing the same thing. But if I am not doing either of these things, I am on aim looking at everyone's away messages just because it gives me something to do rather than homework. I believe that these things were created for college kids as a way to get away from school work but at the same time they cause way to much of a distraction to each and everyone of us. Now that this semester is almost over, it's starting to get to be crunch time and I still do not feel like doing anything but go home, relax and do no school work or no studying!

Is it just me?

Is it just me, or do the weekends seem to go by quicker than the weekdays? All week I look forward to either having my boyfriend come down for the weekend, or making my way home to stay for a couple of days. It seems like it takes forever for Thursday,(when I go home) or Friday(when my boyfriend to comes down here) to get here. Monday through Thursdays seem to drag on and on as if they were the turtle and as if the weekends were the rabbit, in a race. When I left to go home on Thursday, I was so excited just to be home in my own bed and to be able to be with my best friends and my family. Before I knew it, it was Monday again, and I did not want to come back. I believe that the college should give us at least two days off of school (not including the weekends) once every three or four weeks. Yeah true, we have the middle of December off all the way up until January 23rd and that is a lot of time. However, when you are in the semester, people tend to get so stressed and overwhelmed with all of the work being piled on by each subject, that it would be a good thing to let us go home for a couple days to get our stuff together and clear our minds. By being able to do this I think that students would do a lot better in school, and be a lot more focused. Because going home or just relaxing for Friday night, and Saturday night, is just not enough time for us. The weekends go by to fast, and before you know it you are right back sitting in the classrooms.

Procrastination

Procrastination, we all do it. But why do we procrastinate? A majority of us already feel overwhelmed with projects and assignments that are already due. So when we find out that we have something else do that is coming up, we feel as if we need to take a break for a couple days. If we do not take a break, then we will more than likely lose our minds. Or we will do poorly on the project if we start it right away because our minds are already burnout from all of the other things that we have had to do. Some people feel that when they wait till the last moment to do a project, that they do better on it than they would if they would have started it early. This is because people feel they produce better work under pressure. Also that they need that pressure of having to get it done before the next day, just to motivate themselves. This is because if they would have started it early, they would not be motivated to do well on it because they know it is not due soon. For some people, they could never procrastinate because they do not handle pressure well. Which in the end, makes their work turn out poor because they did not have enough time to think about what it is that they needed to get across in the project. For me, it all depends on the assignment. If I know that the project counts greatly towards my grade, I will start it way ahead of time. Otherwise I usually just wait a week before to do it.

Physical Education

I feel that Physical Education is an integral part of the total education program. Phys Ed is essential to developing physical fitness, a favorable self image, motor skills, and accepted personal behavior patterns. My job is to help kids develop the skills of throwing, catching, hitting, shooting, etc. I think the most important thing for all physical educators to know and understand is that we are not working to turn our students into professional athletes or groom kids to play on the varsity team one day. We are there to make sure that the students understand how important being physically fit is throughout their entire life. We must also work with them to develop the skills that will allow them to be active and, more importantly, successfully active for the rest of their lives. We, as educators, need to encourage lifetime fitness, create an environment so children enjoy physical activity, develop self confidence in our students, and promote sportsmanship by creating an environment of fair play. It is my job to do everything that I can to change the perception of physical education, whether it is in my future school, community or an even larger area. There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing that you helped a student raise their self-esteem by simply teaching them certain skills.

My "Niece" Kaelyn

Well I did get to meet my new "niece" last Thursday after classes. For those of you who didn't read my blog that I wrote a couple of days ago, Baby Time, my best friend had a baby. When I got there last Thursday I basically ran to the elevators as soon as I got into the hospital. My boyfriend was like "Alicia she is not going to go anywhere, you don't have to run." Yeah he was right that she was not going anywhere but I already had to wait a day to see her and I was very anxious to get up there to meet her. I picked up the phone on the second floor and was buzzed into the maternity hall. As I was walking by the nursery, I noticed that the blinds were down, so I bent down as low as possible and peered into the room. There in front of me was a little baby girl, with a pink hat on, laying in the crib basket. I turned to Joe and I was like" I wonder if that is her?" So I continued down the hallway until I was in front of room 205. This is it, I knocked on the door. As I entered the room my best friend, Courtney, told me that they should be bringing in the baby soon because they took her about forty-five minutes ago. Not even a minute later, they wheeled her into the room. She was wrapped tightly into two blankets. There she was looking as cute as can be, sleeping peacefully. As soon as I looked at her, my eyes started to water. "She is so beautiful, look at me I'm crying." Courtney laughed. I was so glad that she was healthy. We had a big scare because a four months ago she had been drinking, and did not know that she was pregnant. The following week, after this occurred, she was told she was pregnant. The doctor said if she kept drinking lots of fluids, it would wash out the alcohol. It did,thank god. The baby started to cry and Courtney picked her up and rocked her. She then handed her to me. I held her for over an hour, and even though my arm fell asleep, I continued to hold her because I had waited so long to see her. When she opened her eyes, i put my finger up to her hand and she grabbed onto it. This was so cute, and it is hard to believe how much you can love something so small, that you have just met. I lover her so much, and I am going to spoil her rotten.

Car Accident

My boyfriend, who is 20, practices and helps coach his former high school football team. This year, is the first year since 2001 that his high school had qualified for playoffs. This last Friday was their homecoming, where they beat a team 43-0 . This team had been through a couple injuries, where they had to move people out of their positions and place them in new ones. They had already lost a running back to a broken foot, and now had their starting quarterback taking over the running back position. Well their other good running back, was lost due to an injury Sat. morning. Saturday at five thirty in the morning, Brent got a phone call from his mother, asking him to bring the jeep home cause she needed it. Well Brent fell asleep at the wheel, went off the road, and flipped his jeep. My boyfriend's brother, who is also on the football team, got a phone call at eight in the morning. However, everyone was getting their stories mixed up and someone told him that the person in the accident was someone else. This person who they said it was, is extremely close to my boyfriend's family. They later found out that it was not him, but another one of their friends. Brent, ended up breaking three bones in his back, and shattered his pelvis. The doctors said they thought he would never be able to walk again due to all of the damage. However, we were told yesterday that he was gaining feeling back in his legs, which rose everyones' spirits. However, the team that has to go on to play Dodgeville without their starting QB and starting fullback and halfback. They have not been having the best of luck this year. The mother, is very upset and feels that this is all of her fault because she asked him to drive back so early in the morning.

Where is the heat?

I woke up this morning and it was about forty-five degrees outside and about thirty inside of my room. Why hasn't the heat kicked on? I messed around with the switch and the dial but nothing happened. I felt as if I was a Popsicle in a freezer, that has been sitting there forever. Waiting to become frostbitten. Why does the school not check into the heating systems before all of the students move into their dorms in August. Yes it is hot then and we should not need heaters, but what happens when it gets cold out like this morning? Half of the campus will be sick if they have to sleep in these cold conditions. If the students do get sick, then they will not attend classes, which hurts the college in the long run. I have talked to a couple of people and nothing has happened to make my heat work. Yeah maybe they have thought about fixing it, but thinking about it will not miraculously make the heater turn on. Our common room heater is working, so we tried to leave the our door open at night to absorb some of the heat, but then you have the idiots on your floor yelling at one thirty in the morning. What the heck are they thinking. I thought fire alarms were bad at six thirty in the morning. I never imagined that people could be rude and yell at the top of their lungs at that time of night. What they do not realize is that some of us here do not go out and party like they do 24/7, but focus on our work. The only way I would not mind their yelling, is if the air coming out of their mouth was warm enough to heat up the whole hallway.

Baby Time

It was 5:30 yesterday afternoon ( Wed), when I got the phone call. My best friend had gone into labor. I became very anxious and very upset at the same time. Here I was stuck at college, an hour away and unable to go home. This is because I had a test on thursday, that I needed to study for. The only thing I wanted was to go be there when she was having her. I wanted to be in the waiting room, when the doctor would come out. But no, I was stuck here. Infact, I am still stuck here. It is Thursday, and I am so anxious I just want to leave now, but I can't. This is because I have two more classes to go to until I can go home. Her name is Kaelyn Janet. She is seven pounds, twelve ounces. Two of my friends who had went to see her yesterday, had sent me a picture, and she is so adorable. As soon as I saw the picture I feel in love with that cute little chubby face, and button nose. I will tell you what, that baby will be so spoiled by me. She is practically my niece. Her mother and I are so close, that I know I am an aunt. It is amazing how much a baby, when brought into this world, can change the life of everyone around them. Even though they cry, scream, and you have to change their diaper, they bring such a joy to your life. So I sit here waiting impatiently for my next two classes to start and be done with. Of course since I want to leave so bad, these classes will seem twice as long.

D1 Sports cause of depression?

As athletes, we all dream of being able to play for a division one college someday. I know that I have, but I have always wanted to come here to Cortland. So are division one sports, all that they are cracked up to be? On of my best friends, was recruited out of a community college by a division one college, to go play volleyball. At first when she was being recruited, she was estatic. This is because she everyday she lived, breathed, and slept volleyball and being get her college education paid for by playing volleyball everday, was her dream. When she got to the school for her preseason, it was mostly about conditioning, and they very rarely touched a volleyball. However, she let it go and realized that this is what you do in preseason and that once they got started they would be able to at least pick a volleyball up at practice. A few weeks later, the games started and that is when things started going downhill. School work started piling on and there was not enough time between practices and games, to get them done in time. Every morning for volleyball they were required to get up at five in the morning, and begin running at six. After their run, they would have to go and work in the weight room until seven thirty. Then they were to go to classes, if they had them, right after. Around four o'clock everyday is when they would start practice, where they would continue to run. Practice would not get over at night until six thirty. Only leaving the players with a couple hours to do their homework, study, and try to get some sleep. However, this took a huge toll on all of the players, especially my friend. She started not getting enough sleep, became over tired, and eventually became sick. Her school work began to slip, and everything went downhill from there. As soon as her grades started to fall, and the coaches found out, the whole team had to run for these grades. It had gotten to the point where volleyball was no longer fun, and her health had gone down. She was losing weight constantly, and began getting depressed. This was all do to the pressure, and demand of a division one sport. She eventually ended up transfering out to a division three school, where she is doing a lot better. So my advice to you, if you are looking at playing for a D1 school, make sure you know what you are getting yourself into, and make sure you can handle it.

A cruel but not intentional joke

Ever since I was eight years old I have always wanted to have a Siberian husky puppy. They are my favor tie dog of all time. My dad however, said that after our dog passed on that we were not going to get anymore animals because he was sick of being the only one taking her out at night. Yes I can agree how that would get to be a pain in the butt, but while she was alive I was not old enough or brave enough to take her outside at night. Especially because we lived out in the sticks where there were lots of wild animals. However as I got older, I would have not been scared to do this. Anyways, every time my grandfather asked me what I wanted for my eighteenth birthday I told him how much I wanted a Siberian Husky. I would tell him "come on gramps, I'm your only blood granddaughter. I really want a Husky." Every time we would get together for family events I would always bring up wanting a Husky for my birthday and my grandpa would just chuckle. He would say that he can't get me a dog because he would not go against what my dad said about getting another dog. Well my birthday rolled around, and the family was coming over for our tradition birthday celebration. I was sitting in the recliner in the living room when I saw the back door to the porch open up. All of a sudden I saw a dog carrier crate. So I ran jumped over the table and opened the door. I was already in tears because I was so excited that my grandfather had actually gotten the one thing I have wanted most for the past nine years. Well when he walked in and set it down, I opened the door only to find a Siberian Husky stuffed animal sitting in there. I had gotten so excited to only have the dream ripped away in a matter of seconds. I was so heartbroken, and very upset. I was so upset that I made my grandfather sad. He felt very bad, but now when we look back on that day we laugh even though it was an unintentional cruel joke to play. But I still love my grandfather a lot.

How are sports important?

How can you love a sport so much? Most people believe that sports are a waste of time and money. That they do not help you in your future. This is where they are wrong. When you play a sport you learn so much, that you need to know how to do in the future to get you by. You learn the importance of teamwork, cooperation, and communication. All three of these things are so important to your future because no matter what work environment you are in you need to know how to work with your peers. You need to be able to communicate and let people know how you feel about something. You need to be able to cooperate with your co-workers by taking in their opinions positively and not shoot them down. Being a part of a sports team teaches you life lessons. When you lose a game, it teaches you how to understand what you need to work on for the next time a competition arises that you need to defeat. It teaches you discipline, and respect for your team and coach. When you are a part of a team, you are a part of a family. A family that works together and stays together to work through the toughest situations. A family that helps you get through the loses and celebrate the wins. It is such a good feeling and a great opportunity that I believe everyone should be a part of some time in their life. I have played sports since I was 4 years old and now that I have gotten to a four year school, I do not have any time to participate in the activities that I love most. I miss being a part of a team, a "family." I miss being able to accomplish tasks with other people, now I feel that without that feeling of a team, that I am in this world alone. Even though I am alone, I feel that I am prepared for this outside world because of everything sports have taught me.

Todays Society is not like it used to be

I remember stories my dad would tell me about when he was younger. How he would be able to wander off somewhere in the village, and not have to be home till dark. He would be able to go off anywhere in the village by himself. Parents back then did not have to worry as much about someone kidnapping their child, as they do today. Now a days there are murders,rapists,kidnappers,theives, out prowling villages, towns, cities and homes looking for their next victim. In today's society you need to lock your doors at night, not take home made goodies from people at Halloween time, always keep an eye on your child 24/7. If you were to take your eyes off of your child for a split second, and you were not in your home, they could be taken from you without you knowing. It's sad to think that our world has come to this. That everyone you meet right away, could possibly be seen as a threat to you and your family because you do not know them well enough. Every time you turn your television on, you are constantly hearing about someone gone missing. The people who have gone missing range from any age from 1 months to 80 years old. How scary is that? Our children today, have to live somewhat of a sheltered life because of all of these harmful things out in our world. I would have loved to grow up and had society be just like how my dads was. It was not as scary and everyone trusted everyone. Villages were all closely nit with each other, and everyone knew everyone and it was not a big deal. You can't send your child to the store by themself or let them play in the village without any type of supervision. This is because you have no clue who is lurking in your village looking for the next victim.

Fire Alarms and loud people.

In our pamphlet for Cortland, they did not mention anything about a 6:30 am fire alarm. Yes I know that it's mandatory, but who seriously makes popcorn at 6:30 in the Morning on a Tuesday? Yes maybe they were drunk but the rest of the building would greatly appreciate if you would cook things starting at the time of nine in the morning. There is nothing like waking up to the loud and annoying ringing of a fire alarm. Or better yet, getting the crap scared out of you because you are not expecting it. Yes I'm glad and happy that we have fire alarms for our safety, but seriously I hate it when people are stupid and set them off on purpose. I believe that everyone caught pulling the fire alarms should be fined and have it be mandatory to write a twelve page paper on why not to pull the fire alarm. Yes this is a lot of punishment for pulling one, but I can guarantee that everyone in the dorms would see it as fit. So they would not have to get up in the early morning for stupidity. This would be a better crack down on those who do this for fun. For now, since we really cannot put a stop to people randomly pulling the alarms I suggest packing a fire alarm bag. In this bag you should pack your socks,a pair of sweat pants, a sweat shirt, your car keys, wallet, cell phone, and car phone charger. Why the wallet, car keys, and car phone charger? This is because if there really is a fire you will have your money for the emergency, you will have your car keys so you can leave and go home because let's face it you are going to go home and say whatever to school cause your dorm just burnt down. Packing the car phone charger is obvious because if your phone charger for your wall just burnt, then you will have a source of power for your phone so you could make the necessary phone calls!

What is stress??

What is stress? Stress is the emotional and physical strain caused by our response to pressure from the outside world. In easier terms that college students would use to describe stress is when teachers assign essay after essay or when teachers overload you with work. I get stressed out to easily, and everyone that knows me can vouch for that. The thing I hate most about papers is when they have to be like twelve pages long, and you have to cite them. This is when I get really stressed out. Citing is so hard and time consuming. This is because you have to spend so much time at the library looking up resources. Plus if you make one little tiny error in the citation, some teachers fail you for it. That bugs me so much because if you mess up, it's not like you did it on purpose. Plus it's not like we didn't cite it at all and took credit for it. Another huge stressor is when the teacher does not explain how they want you to write the paper. As if we know what they want and don't want. Then we end up getting a bad grade because when we asked them what they wanted they did not really give us a good explanation. This does not happen in all of my classes but there are a few that i have been in previously that were like that. We should be able to express ourselves in our papers without being marked off for them. So besides papers, is when tests come into play. I believe that every teacher should have to give you some form of a study guide to follow to be prepared for their tests. This way you do not spend wasted time studying the stuff that is not important in that class. Plus if all professors did this, it would take a lot of stress off of the students. This would make success in the classroom tests much better. Plus I know that as a teacher you cannot base tests around all of your students' other classes but when you know pretty much know the whole campus will be distributing tests that week, put it off till the following week. This is because your class might be the one that the student is like i have so much studying to do for other classes, that I'm not going to bother studying for this one. It's just one class, and I'd rather do better in the other ones. If teachers did these they would help students out so much that college life would be a lot better I think. I'm sure many other students can relate to this and feel the same way. I was really stressed out just now so getting all of this out in the open has made me feel a little bit better.

The ones you need in your life most

What is a best friend? Everyone has different opinions on what a best friend is. To me, a best friend is one who is there for you when it seems that the whole world has walked out on you. They are the ones who are there to listen to you, support you, help you, and always be there for you. When you find your true best friend, it makes life a whole lot better. Throughout my life I was always told that in High School would be where I met all of my best friends, that I would have for the rest of my life. Sure when I was going through High School, I had great friends, but never a best friend that I could go to and talk to about anything and trust them not to say anything. So after High School I attended a Community College that was only about 8 minutes down the road. This was where I met my true best friends. The really weird thing is that out of my five best friends, three of them are from my rival schools. When playing High sports, the thought of becoming best friends with the ones who were your rivals, was not even thought of. This is because you think you would never want to be their friends, because of the tension on the playing field. However, I do not know how I would live without these five girls because they are a huge part of my life that I would not change for anything. If I was given the opportunity to go back and change where I went to college, I would not even think about it. It stinks meeting your best friends at a two year school and then having to split up and go your separate ways, but I believe that it tests how true your friendship really is.

Adjusting to transfer life.. how hard it really is

When you are transferring from another college and you have two years under your belt, you figure you are ready for this big step. You do not realize how much harder it is at a four year. There are chores you have to do that you might not be used to doing because your parents used to do them for you. When I say this I mean doing your laundry, and getting you things you need from the store. Even how much you'll miss your parents' cooking, and especially the leisure of having convenient parking and not having to walk 2 miles to get to your car when you need to go somewhere. All of these things hit me hard after my boyfriend and parents left me here. It stunk, I was and still am overwhelmed with all of this work. One of the hardest things was not really knowing anyone because the only people I knew liked to go out and party. Which I am not really into that much. It was so lonely for a while until I started meeting people on my floor. Without my suite mate I really do not think I would have made it through the first week. I live with an RA, yeah a lot of you think that sucks, but it doesn't. She's down to earth and really supportive. It seems like homework never ends, like the black hole. For the last two weeks the only reason I have wanted to go home is because it is so stressful with the workload and I miss everyone like crazy. It is hard being thrown into a new place and adjusting so quickly like most professors expect you to do. I would say besides going through the agony of breaking my leg, this is the second hardest thing in my life to adjust to.

Why Do We Need Physical Education

I can remember in High School hearing a majority of the students complaining about P.E. "Why do we need gym? I think it's stupid, It has nothing to do with what I'm going to do with the rest of my life." Generally the people who I caught saying this were either a little overweight, or the girly girls. I will not ever understand why people say they do not need Physical Education in their everyday activities. Physical Education is not only about teaching students how to play sports, but teaching them how to lead a healthy life style. These days more and more children are becoming obese. This is because of the latest technology that we have in this world today. Don't get me wrong I love technology and I have no clue how I would live without most of it. But I'm talking about PlayStation,Game Cubes, Game Boys, Nintendo 64, computers, television. All of these are distractions which inhibit today's children from going outside and being active. They would rather sit in front of television or a type of game cube and play it all day. Some parents do let their kids play these things all day. When they do this, they are usually snacking also. This is not healthy for our young generation, because if they do not learn to lead a healthy life style then they will not have such a healthy future. But since we cannot go around and tell every child that they need to stop playing games 24/7 or sitting in front of a TV, Physical Education in the school setting is the best way to make sure that children now a days are getting their needed exercise. Some parents are good about getting their children outside, but others seem to not understand the importance of being outside and active. I'm not talking about running the mile of running outside, but playing games outside with the neighbors. Hide and seek, hopscotch,soccer, tag, and more games like these. Our role as Physical Educators is to show our students how important it is to be active. But we not only have this problem in grades 7-12 but even in college. At my community college I would always hear students complaining about having to take two physical education classes the whole two years they were there. That is terrible, it's like they are asking them to give up 2 years of their college careers for it.

Ever Have A Coach, that made you dislike I sport you once loved?

I'll never forget my junior year in high school basketball. To this day, I cannot pick up a basketball without thinking of that coach that completely ruined the sport for me. When I was younger, basketball was my second favorite sport. I loved to play it, I loved everything about it. What I loved most, were the crucial parts of the game. By this I mean fourth quarter, one minute left and your down by five. When situations like these game around, we were at our maximum potential to try and get those five points. Well the devastation began around the third week of varsity practice. If you made one little mistake the coach was in your face screaming at you. He was the type of coach that would put you down, he was the coach who would get to you. He would say, "my dead grandmother can run faster than you, what the hell are you thinking, you want my glasses, you can't do anything right, things like that. One of the girls who was a year younger than me told me that after one game they lost, he told them they were better off sitting at home playing with their barbie dolls instead of coming to the game. It's coaches like these, that we do not need around. Coaches like these, ruin things for people. If you are planning on coaching at some point, think of how you would feel in their position if you ever say something negative to them. If you have to point out something they are doing wrong, point out something they are doing right before you tell them something is wrong. For example- Kristin you are doing a great job getting low and sliding your feet, but if you put your hands up and try to take away a pass , your defense will a little more have more effect. We don't need coaches in our society that are constantly putting kids down, making them feel that they are worth nothing. In order to mold the leaders of tomorrow, we need to be positive and build their self-esteem.

Dodgeball not suitable for Physical Education Classes???

Today in my Motor Development class, I learned about games that are highly recommended not to have your students play in Physical Education. The game that almost everyone loves to play in PE, is the most recommended not to play. This game, that I am talking about, is dodge ball. Why is this you ask? The reasons include liability issues and psychological torture. If you have your students playing dodge ball, and someone gets hurt, nine out of the ten times the Physical Education teacher is sued. This is because the Phys Ed teachers are seen as not providing a safe environment for their students to be a participating in. So where does psychological torture come into play? Well first it begins when you pick two captains, to pick their teams. Generally as it usually goes, the non-athletic ones are always picked last. This causes psychological torture because not only does it lower their self-esteem on being last but then they get picked on by others for being last. Once you get the game started, who generally is the first target? Once again, the non-athletic kids. This is horrifying, because they all come after you, yo get ride of the weakest link first. This causes psychological torture because the non-athletic kids become scared, and afraid to continue playing the game because they are always the ones to be targeted first. Unfortunately, in today's society no matter what type of game is being played, the kids who are not athletic always get targeted. Some other games that they say are not good to play because they single kids out, is duck, duck, goose and all forms of tag. So how can we have our students play anything and have fun? The key to this is to alter the games so the students do not become singled out and targeted.

Soccer, Achieving what no one was thought possible of us that year.

In the beginning of my sophomore season at our junior college, no one expected us to be good. This was because the previous three years we had the most terrible winning records a team could have. My freshman year we went 3-12. That's right, we were the bad news bears. The start of our sophomore season we went 1-1. Everyone at our college expected us to have a crappy record, and did not expect us to go as far as we did. We were a lot better than anyone thought we would be. We ended up 10-8 -1. We qualified for the sub-regional where we had to play at Alfred, who we lost to in the beginning of the season 3-2. We were all thinking we were going to be done right then and there. That's what everyone thinks when they come to play a team that has already beaten you. However, we were out for revenge. When we played them in the beginning in the season, they were dirty players. They were always looking to take people out, so we wanted to come in and prove we were better than them. When we showed up the field was under about an inch of water. Every time you ran you would slip on the mud, or if you were the goalie, like I am, you'd get stuck in the mud in front of the goal. We ended up shutting them out by a score of 3-0. We were so excited and overwhelmed, that we had beaten them. This put us in quarter finals where we were to play Delhi, a team we beat in overtime 3-2 earlier in the season. The disadvantage to this was we had to go and play on their field. when we got back to school everyone was shocked that we had gone as far as we did. We were getting all sorts of attention from people who doubted us. During regular season when we played Delhi on our field, they thought that it was going to be an easy win but we came in and fought with them. We won with 5 minutes left in the 2nd overtime. So when we showed up to play them on their field, they were ready. There were at least 200 people there watching. Even though there was no snow on the ground it was lightly snowing on and off. We held them from scoring in the first half, as they did the same to us. Our girls were making great shots but they would either hit the tip of the cross bar and go over, or they would bounce back into the field. The downfall to the game happened in the second half when a girl scored. the goal should have not counted because she was way offsides. Well we ended up losing 0-2, ending our season. We were all upset because if we would have won this game we would have been in the final four. However, we got farther than everyone had ever expected that we would have. We realized that no matter how many people think you will fail at something, does not mean you will. That when people say that about you or your team, you can use it as motivation to prove them wrong.

Injury

When I was a junior in high school, I went through one of the hardest years of my life. I was playing varsity softball, when something unexpected changed my life. During our first game of our season, I slid into home plate and scraped up my whole right leg. I had my sliding guard on the wrong leg. After I did that, my coach told me that I needed to change the guard to my other leg before the next game. Well naturally I didn't because I was stubborn, and it was the smartest thing I had done so far that day. We won our first game and we started the second one fifteen minutes later. In the bottom of the third a girl was stealing second base, so as I started to see her running I covered second base. As the catcher threw the ball to me, I noticed I was going to have to move away from the bag four or five steps to get it. While I was attempting to catch the ball, I had one leg planted into the ground and the other in the air. That is when it happened. The girl slid into my planted leg, breaking my tibia and fibula. The pain was excruciating, I had no idea what was happening. I was rolling around, on the field, holding my leg. As I was doing this I recall the umpire telling me to be still, and wait there until my coach got to me. What seemed like hours for her to get to me was actually a matter of seconds. When she came to me and asked what it felt like, I told her that, "it feels like bones knocking together." So they carried me off of the field, where I had to wait for an ambulance for twenty minutes. When they got over to me, they had to cut off my cleat, sock, and sliding guard. Looking down the only thing I could see at that point was what looked like a softball protruding from my leg. When I got to the hospital the doctor told me that the only thing that saved my bones from breaking through the skin, was the protective black sliding guard wrapped around my leg. This sliding guard would have not been there, if I would have listened to my coach. With the luck I was having that day, I had to be taken by ambulance to my hometown to have the surgery done. This was because there was not an orthopedic doctor on call at that hospital. I ended up having a titanium rod and screws put into my bone. It was the most painful experience that I've had up to that point in my life. I was out of school for a month and a half, so they sent a tutor to my house so I could keep up with the work. Once I got the ok from my doctors to go back to school, I had to be in a wheel chair. This injury played a huge role in my life, it taught me to not take advantage of the things I have. When I say this, I mean everyday most of us are able to walk, to run, to jump, etc. We never stop to appreciate how lucky we are to be able to do these things. There are people in this world, who have either never had this pleasure or will never have the pleasure of doing these things again. Unfortunately it sometimes takes dramatic experiences like these, to realize how lucky you are to be able to do these activities.