Relay for Life

Friday night was the annual Relay for Life event. We had a great turnout from all teams! I'm attaching some photos that I took with my phone, but will definitely post the links to the story and photo galleries that we will make on the main web site (www.umeshawks.com). I'll also see if any of the guys took some photos and I know for sure that Tyler will want to post a recap. Maybe some of the other guys will join in on the discussion?

Mark and Tyler

You can't really tell, but that's a long stretch of UMES Athletics teams and supporters in their pink camo shirts.

Coach Blaine holds the infamous "Spirit Stick." Anytime someone would walk around the track they needed to carry this and a passport in order to get spirit points.

Each tent had various candle torches with names of people who were either being honored or memorialized by that team. Here is Coach Brown's wife's torch. It was great to have her on board in addition to the numerous other ones we had at our site (additionally, Coach Brummell and a ton of family members and friends).

Thought for the Day

UMES Basketball Thought for the Day: "Mental is to physical as four is to one."

Thought of the Day

UMES Basketball Thought for the Day: "3 C's. Concentrate, Communicate, and Compete!"

Relay for Life

Relay for Life is going to be a special day for me as this is a time that the community can fight against cancer by walking laps and being involved in various activities. Our team participated last year and I know I can speak for everyone in that we really had a blast. We met people from the local high schools and other students and student-athletes from Salisbury University.

(Oh and the funnel cakes... to die for. If you attend Friday night, I highly suggest that you buy at least one!)

This day will be even more special for us (and myself) because there are numerous people in our lives that have survived cancer. Coach Brown's wife and Coach Brummell will be on hand at the Shorebirds Stadium and we will honor them as survivors as they beat cancer. It is also a year ago today that my mom-mom was diagnosed with cancer and in May my mother was also diagnosed. Both are survivors that fought hard.

My grandmother on my father's side is currently fighting for her life with pancreatic cancer. This is a very hard topic for me, but I know that everything will be okay.

Having loved ones that are affected by cancer makes this day a lot more amazing to us than others.

Please see our team's web site for more information on how you can help UMES Athletics fight cancer. (http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=25997&team_id=750118)

Also, if you attend Relay for Life Friday night, please stop by our tent and say hi! We'll have plenty of goodies on hand and we love to meet our fans and the community!

-Tyler

Thought of the Day

"Every time you help your teammate, you help yourself."

Relay for Life

This coming Friday UMES Athletics will be participating in the annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life event.

Representatives from every team (if not all team members) will be there throughout the night, make sure you stop by and say HI! We'll also have schedule cards, Harry The Hawk autographed cards, temporary tattoos, stickers, and MORE!

I'm posting a few pictures from last year's Relay... the guys definitely had tons of fun and cannot wait for this Friday.

Fighting cancer is a team effort. The impact we can make together is much greater than what any of us could do alone.

At the American Cancer Society Relay For Life, our team will camp out overnight and take turns walking around the track to raise money and awareness to help the American Cancer Society save more lives from cancer. By joining or donating to our team, you will be a part of a life-changing event that gives everyone in the community a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that takes too much.

Please make a donation, or join our team and help us create a world where cancer can no longer claim another year of anyone’s life.

Fighting Hawks Teampage: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=25997&team_id=750118

If you're on Facebook, be sure to check out and RSVP to Harry T. Hawk's event page: UMES Relay for Life Wicomico County

Team Pictures

Every year we have a few days devoted to taking pictures - headshots, poster photos, team photos, locker room shots. This year's theme is "Ruling the Court." On Friday we went to the courthouse in Princess Anne to take out poster picture. We wore our new white home jerseys and they're really nice.

In the picture, Coach Allen was dressed as a judge while all the other coaches looked like attorneys and lawyers in their black suits.

The picture turned out really nice, we can't wait to see the poster.

Get ready for UMES basketball as it's going to be a great year. We really will "Rule the Court."

-Tyler

Thought of the Day

"Teamwork is the essence of success."

Schedule Poster

Earlier today the team and I headed to the courthouse to take the picture for this year's schedule poster.

The team's theme is "Ruling the Court." Let me just say that we got some cool shots of the guys and also a bunch of Coach Allen dressed like a judge. I'm excited to see how this looks printed.

I know the team had a great time, especially Coach Allen. I think he mentioned that he was going to use some of the photos for his Christmas card this year. :-)

Photo Day 2

The uniforms did not arrive from Russell until earlier this week so the guys weren't able to take their uniform head shots until this morning.

They also took a team photo on the bridge, which is now the new header of the blog.

Josh Bright poses for his head shot

Louis Bell, JoJo Swift, Mike Spence, Kevin Williams

Thought of the Day

"It's supposed to be hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. The hard... The hard is what makes it great."

Pre-season workouts

Right now is the most important part of the season as we prepare for the long road ahead. Two and a half months of morning runs, pick-up games, battling in the weight room and building team chemistry.

All the hard work we as a team put in now, we will always look back to in March when we are playing in the MEAC Championships. That is when all the hard work will pay off and we will remember that.

If you don't believe me when I say how hard we're working, come to the Hytche between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and you'll see that it is no joke.

-Tyler Hines

Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy Birthday to redshirt senior Tim Burns! Have an excellent day!

Coach Allen on the radio

Earlier today Coach Allen and I went over to the WESM studios on campus to tape a public service announcement that will be airing the rest of the month.

Coach taped about a one minute segment discussing prostate cancer in preparation for a free screening and education event on Sept. 29 at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center.

Coach sure is a pro at this kind of stuff! He didn't want to do a dry run or anything, "let's just do it."

Tryout Meeting

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team invites current UMES students to attend a tryout meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 7.

The meeting will be held at 6 a.m. in the front lobby of the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center and is open to those who are serious in trying out for the team.

This will be the only meeting for tryouts this year. If you have any questions, please contact assistant coach Mike Blaine at (410) 651-8155 or mblaine@umes.edu.

9/02/10

This has absolutely nothing to do with basketball, but Happy 9/02/10 Day! Yeah, don't get it? 90210... like the TV show! I thought this was funny :-) If you knew me, you'd understand. I do enjoy the newer version of the show, but it's definitely all about the old-school episodes! (Yeah, I was about 5 when this show came out - you can thank my older sister for engraving it into my brain.)

(I have a weird feeling Coach Mike Blaine might like this too.)

Workouts

Today is the first official day that the guys can work out. I checked them out in the arena while they were doing some plyometrics (which I'm pretty sure I'd kill myself doing) and then headed over to the weight room. They're looking good... definitely getting stronger.

The guys rotated between doing ropes exercises and jumping/footwork drills

This is posted in the weight room - the vertical jump heights of some NBA (former and current) players

Tim Burns

Tyler Hines

Mark Robertson

Coach Peery tapes freshman Kevin Williams for an upcoming strength/weight conditioning video

Coach Blaine's Words of Wisdom

With the start of the new season approaching, Coach Blaine is deciding to post a daily words of wisdom - or something that comes out of the team/individual practices/workouts. This man always has some sort of quote or wisdom, so this will definitely be an interesting addition to the blog.

The first words of wisdom:

"It is not always enough to simply do your best, sometimes you must do what is required." Winston Churchill

In other words, there are standards of doing things and sometimes simply doing your best isn't good enough.