Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

Coming into work this morning, imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner and saw this! There's gotta be 20+ geese in this photo. AND there were at least another 10-20 to the right that didn't make it in the photo!

Despite them looking like they're moving out of the way, they definitely weren't. I took this photo after I had been sitting there for a bit waiting. Most of them were on the median to the left and then decided that instead of staying there they were going to go right into my path. (Oh and the ones on the right... yeah, they definitely were going to the left. So yeah, they were in the way too.)

That's 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

SAAC Blog

Since we've had success and good feedback with this blog, we decided to start another one in athletics.

We figured that one for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) would be a good fit, especially since a lot of students have jobs and internships this summer.

We're going to try to update it at least twice a week and have a lot of input from the student-athletes that participate in SAAC.

Check it out here: www.umessaac.blogspot.com.

No worries... I'm still here

I know I haven't posted in forever and don't worry, I haven't forgotten about all my Hawks fans and followers :-) Despite it being the "off-season," there really is no off-season in the sports world.

It doesn't matter whether you work in professional or collegiate athletics, there really is no down time. One of my new favorite phrases that I heard Stan say the other day was: "In June and July we catch up and in August we fall behind."

That phrase is so true that I've caught myself saying it to others. As far as men's basketball goes, April through October has down time. And really all I mean by that is that there are no games scheduled. Even though it is June 7, most of the guys are on campus taking summer classes and working out in the weight room and gym. One of these upcoming days I will post some pictures of the guys that I've snapped of them working out.

In our office, I am not just limited to men's basketball as I am also the contact for softball and track and field. The track and field season is still going on (they compete at the NCAA Championships Wednesday!!!) so my 2009-10 season doesn't "end" for another week or two. Even when their season is done, I need to go through each sport and recap what happened this past season and update everyone's profiles and bios. There's a lot of things to wrap up before we can move onto the next season.

And despite the 2009-10 year essentially still being in session, we have already geared our sights towards 2010-11 as we are starting to work on volleyball stuff. They begin practices in just two months! (And I know that time'll fly by!)

I've already started the production of the team posters and schedules cards and at this point that means getting the creative juices flowing and starting to design/layout the posters. I don't want to set any deadlines, but be on the lookout for posters starting in late August! (Don't hold me to that!)

Graduation

I took this photo as I came in this morning... the bleachers are all pulled out, chairs line the court and the stage is set, that must mean one thing.... graduation is tomorrow! This picture is definitely the calm before the storm.

The Hytche has been busy with all different kinds of UMES employees getting ready for the big day.

The Athletics offices are used as dressing/coat rooms so everyone here has been busy cleaning and making things presentable. This has been a great opportunity for us to throw away and clean up all the things that have collected in our office over the year. It's so refreshing to have a clean office.

Luckily, we've been given the day off tomorrow and advised to stay away from campus because it's going to be crazy busy.

Best of luck to all 2010 graduates. Neal was in the office the other day and he was absolutely giddy that everything was finally over and he'll be graduating. I know he's worked hard for it, so CONGRATULATIONS NEAL!

UMES Cares Field Day

Yesterday afternoon the UMES Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) hosted their Inaugural "UMES Cares Field Day" at the Garland Hayward Youth Center. Read more about it on the UMES web site here.

It was a great day... filled with food, music, games and a ton of fun. I know I can speak for the student-athletes and the youth in saying we cannot wait for next year's event!

I was hoping for my photos to turn out awesome to find out later that the settings on my phone were messed up! So this is the last batch of phone photos that should be bad... everything should be fixed from now on!

The GHYC kids made this banner for the day... they did a great job! I love how they tried to replicate the Hawk logo... it sure isn't the easiest logo to try to draw!

Tyler and Pop manned the grill the entire afternoon. They did a wonderful job making the burgers and hot dogs!

Tim was one of the head guys in charge of the games committee. He did a fantastic job preparing for the day and keeping things organized. I know he was stressed out at times, but everything went smoothly!

Neema Connor, Director of Compliance, is shown here during the sack race. She was a hoot to watch... especially with her expressions!

Harry The Hawk even showed up for a few minutes! The kids loved this!

Dancing to one of the many popular songs of the afternoon

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there... especially the awesome moms of all our players and staff.

Sports moms are one of a kind and sometimes have to be away from their kids for long periods of time - whether it be for practices, road trips, or when your child goes away to college (or to work for a team away from home). The life of athletics can be difficult as families can be separated during holidays and odd times of the year.

I know many moms (and dads/families) that travel out of their way to attend a game and support their kids. Many of these moms make it to every game, every season. This travel can be stressful with money/travel expenses and spending a lot of time in cars/planes. I know your kids appreciate it a ton and love that you come to cheer on the Hawks.

And to my mom, thanks for all you do. I know I'm a thousand miles away and don't get to see or talk to you a whole lot, but I appreciate you and love you a ton. I wouldn't be where I am today without your love and support.

2009-10 Athletic Banquet

Last night was the annual Athletics Banquet and Awards Ceremony. It was a great event and major props go to Mr. Davidson, Stan Bradley, Sharon Brummell, Neema Connor and everyone else that was involved in making the night go smoothly.

Prior to the event, Coach Blaine was convinced that the team was going to win the Quantum Leap Award (goes to the team that made the biggest improvement from the previous season). Luckily, he wasn't a disappointed man leaving the banquet as the team did win that award. Great job to the coaching staff for all the hard work they put into making the guys better players, students and people.

There were also plenty of individual awards on the evening. Kevin White was presented with a personalized ball for breaking the school single-season assists record while Hillary Haley was named the Josten's UMES Male Sportsman of the Year.

Each coaching staff honored their team's Most Improved Player (Tyler Hines), Coach's Award (Josh Bright), Rookie of the Year (Freddy Obame Obame) and Player of the Year (Kevin White).

Many of the guys also received SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) and academic honors. Mark Robertson and Tyler received certificates for being members of SAAC. Mark, Tyler, Freddy, Tim Burns and RJ Tucker were awarded Scholar Athlete Umbrellas for their work receiving a 3.0-3.6 GPA.

Congratulations to all on your accomplishments! You all did a great job this season and I know you've been working hard improving for next year.

(We haven't gotten photos back yet and I was too busy to take any, so I will post some once I get them.)