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Events:

Baseball: 3/3 vs. Dallas @ 2 PM 3/4 vs. Dallas @ 1 PM 3/7 vs. Cardinal Stritch @ 7 PM 3/20 vs. Hardin-Simmons @ 3 PM Lacrosse: 3/2 vs. Whitter @ 7 PM 3/6 vs. Merchant Marine @ 4 PM 3/9 vs. Trine @ 7 PM 3/12 vs. Drew @ 7 PM 3/19 vs. Concordia (WI) @ 7 PM 3/23 vs. Birmingham Southern @ 4 PM 3/25 vs. Oglethorpe @ 11 PM 3/30 vs. Rhodes @ 7 PM Softball: 3/24 vs. Austin College @ 1&3 PM 3/25 vs. Austin College @ 12&2 PM 3/31 vs. Hendrix College @ 1&3 PM Tennis: 3/2 vs. Huntingdon (W) @ 3 PM 3/21 vs. St. Catherine (W) @ 4 PM 3/23 vs. Southeastern OK. (M&W) @ 3 PM 3/25 vs. Hendrix (M&W) @ 8:30 AM

3/29 vs. UMHB (M&W) @ 3 PM

Five Pirates Attend NCAA ConventionFive Pirates Attend NCAA ConventionFive Pirates Attend NCAA ConventionFive Pirates Attend NCAA Convention

“To study hard implies character in the student, and to work hard at a sport which entails severe physi-cal exertion and steady training also implies char-acter.”

Theodore Roosevelt, Outlook, March 31, 1900

This phrase has been greeting visitors to the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis, Indiana since it opened during the Final Four Men’s Basketball Tournament in 2000. Five lucky Southwestern student-athletes were invited to attend the 2012 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis this past January and were also fortunate enough to experience the Hall of Champions.

Shae Seagraves, Abigail O’Connor, Taylor Wright, Stephen Montes, and Dan-iel Ayala (left to right) made up the group of 18 SCAC student-athletes in attendance thanks to a generous

grant program funded by the NCAA. Those Pirates found an enormous amount of truth in former president Theodore Roosevelt’s words and felt that his phrase was very telling of their experiences as Divi-sion III student-athletes.

Although the NCAA convention was a fun, in-sightful, and wonderful ex-perience, it was also no joke! Everyday was a hus-tle to get from one meeting to the next and started much earlier than most stu-dent-athletes would like. The most interesting meet-ings were the ones de-signed around providing student-athletes with the best experiences possible while in college. The SCAC and Southwestern students all agreed, as discussed

over meals with zero price limit, that much more thought and planning goes into creating what we expe-rience in our four years (typically) of undergraduate work than we ever imag-ined.

As discovered by the many meetings we listened to during our time in Indian-apolis, there is virtually a committee of some sort for every possible reason or category. There are groups put together to ensure gen-der and racial diversity, groups in place to provide high profile student-athletes and programs with protect-ed media coverage, groups of faculty athletic represent-atives (F.A.R.s) to help maintain the balance be-tween work and play, and groups for everything in be-

tween! It was a very humbling experience to know that all of these people were here, battling snow flurries, and sitting in forums for a week just to give student-athletes the best ex-perience possible. Continued on pg. 3

In this issue

The Road to the Pros P.2

One Swipe Day P.2

Top 5 Baseball Movies P.3

FRAs and SU Students P.3

I S S U E

V O L U M E

03

F E B R U A R Y

2 0 1 2

03

The Road to The Road to The Road to The Road to

the Prosthe Prosthe Prosthe Pros

By: Dishon Issac

Senior defender for the Pirates

men’s soccer team

“One Swipe

Day” Shows

Some Love

The second annual “One Swipe Day” event, created by men’s soc-cer coach Don Gregory, was another success! On Valentine’s Day the Pirates helped show some love to the Georgetown community by donating one meal from their meal plan, with one swipe of their Pirate card, to the GISD Eagle Locker Program. This program helps feed several homeless students in the school district.

The ‘Bucs broke last year’s total of 356 swipes with 367 this year! Sodexo is also donating 100 meals to the cause. Contribu-tions from 17 faculty members and a gener-ous donation from the men of the Kappa Alpha Order made “One Swipe Day” another successful event!

A special thank you to head athletic trainer Glenn Schwab and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for providing sandwich fixings for the students who donated a meal so that they didn’t go hungry as well. Be on the lookout for “One Swipe Day” on Valen-tine’s Day next year so we can continue to show some love!

I prepared for the In-foSport Pro Combine and San Antonio Scorpions try-outs by training with men’s soccer assistant coach, Zach Pope, and later by myself. I would wake up around 8am Monday-Friday to meet with Pope. Most of the time we would start off with a 2-3 mile run or sprints, followed by an hour long session in the weight room or some ball work. Coach Pope killed me! I would often finish our workout and just lay on the ground exhausted. I did this for about a month until my first tryout with the San Antonio Scorpions. The hard work paid off and I was invited back to a private training session in Febru-ary.

After this, I immediately began training for the In-foSport Combine, but this time on my own. I would go to the gym for an hour or so when I woke up, then run 3-4 miles, and later in the day I would do ball work. There were times that Coach Pope tested me by saying something had come up

and he wouldn’t be able to train with me that day. But I passed his test by training on my own. Pope, through-out my training, reminded me to not be naïve about the tryouts/combine and

that I was about to enter a dog-eat-dog world. This helped because Coach Pope used to play profes-sional soccer for the Chica-go Fire and the Austin Az-tecs. I took his advice but I’m a little hard-headed and have extremely high expec-tations so I still hoped for the best.

The combine started January 3rd and was an awesome experience! The first day we were assigned our teams and a pro coach.

The next day we split

our team in half and played a series of 7 v. 7 games. I was satisfied with all of my play. Later that day we had an 11 v. 11 full game and I didn’t do so well that time around. The last day con-sisted of another 11 v. 11 game and an All-Star game. We were told the All-Star game consisted of players chosen by the coaches who they thought were either the best or wanted to see more of. I was disappointed be-cause I wasn’t selected to the All-Star team but that didn’t stop me from giving my all during the last game. I thought that was my best performance to date.

The coaches during the process rated us and are posted their ratings to the website within 2 weeks of the combine. This experi-ence was a way to see where I stand and I feel confident that I have what it takes to make it. For me, there is no difference be-tween the college and pro-fessional mentality. I just continue to give it all I have every time I step on the field.

2

“The hard work paid “The hard work paid “The hard work paid “The hard work paid

off and I was invited off and I was invited off and I was invited off and I was invited

back to a private back to a private back to a private back to a private

training session in training session in training session in training session in

February.” February.” February.” February.”

Top 5 Baseball MoviesTop 5 Baseball MoviesTop 5 Baseball MoviesTop 5 Baseball Movies

5. “Little Big League” (1994)

A 12 year old owns and manages the Minnesota Twins...awesome. “A Bill Hay wood should be allowed to speak his mind to an umpire.”

4. “61*” (2001)

Even though we hate the Yankees, we agree this movie should be on the list. Mickey Mantle parties his way into the home run race that his rather boring roommate, Roger Maris, ends up winning.

3. “Field of Dreams” (1989)

“If you build it, they will come.” If you don’t get that, then you have homework .

2. “The Natural” (1984)

Roy Hobbs makes his major league debut at twice the normal age of a rookie. He only goes on to be the best player in the league and literally knocks the cover off the ball. This is definitely a winner Bobby (if you don’t get that joke you really need to watch the movie).

1. “Major League” (1989)

A broke-down catcher from the Mexican league, a Voodoo power hitter from Cuba, a loudmouth base stealer, a prima-donna 3rd baseman, and an ex- convict pitcher combine to win the pennant in perhaps the funniest baseball mov- ie ever.

Five Pirates Attend NCAA Convention, continued

The week concluded with a celebration of student-athletes past and present who would be receiving ei-ther the Elite Eight or the Silver Anniversary Award. Although not many Division III athletes were recognized, as we all agreed they should have been, it was still quite surreal to sit in a room with so many famous athletes who were just as committed to the student-athlete experi-ence as we were. It was here that President Roose-

velt’s quote rang in our heads with even more clarity than when we had read it the day before.

“To study hard implies character in the student, and to work hard at a sport which entails severe physi-cal exertion and steady training also implies charac-ter.” Roosevelt, along with many other people we met at the convention, did not make any distinctions be-tween Divisions I, II, or III. Despite the fact that this

way of thinking is not shared by everyone in both the ath-letic and academic commu-nity, we as Division III stu-dent-athletes still felt em-powered by our experience at the NCAA Convention. We play for the love of the game and truly know what it means to be a student-athlete, with the emphasis on being a student first, in a year where the NCAA was sadly defined by many who failed to maintain those ide-als.

FRAs in the

Lives of S.U.

Students

By: FRA student, Scott Kelly

The Fitness & Rec-reational Activities clas-ses at Southwestern University are very im-portant. They provide students with the op-portunity to exercise in addition to promoting a healthy life style. There is a fairly wide selection of FRA classes to choose from. The school offers every-thing from ultimate fris-bee to bowling and weight training to rac-quetball. With the many different classes availa-ble, every student should be able to find something that they are interested in doing.

Despite only having to take two FRA cred-its, many students take extra courses because it gives them a break from their core classes or as a way to blow off some stress from their day to day lives. They also get students to be active and exercise which is extremely im-portant to a person's health. In my experi-ences, the coaches that teach the classes are always very knowl-edgeable about their classes and are always willing to help.

3 Roommates, teammates, and friends Nate

Shipp (pictured left) and Chris Webber

(pictured right) compiled a list of their top 5

favorite baseball movies and why they love

them. Shipp is a senior infielder and Webber

is a senior pitcher for the Southwestern Pi-

rates baseball team.

Thank you Pirate Boosters!!!

On behalf of the Southwestern University Athletic Department and our

student-athletes I want to welcome you to the Pirate Boosters! This is a

special initiative on the part of Pirate Athletics to enhance the quality of

the athletic experience that our student-athletes receive and your mem-

bership is helping to make that happen! I look forward to joining you as

we proudly cheer on our Pirates!

Dr. Glada Munt

Director of Intercollegiate Athletics

Southwestern

University

Pirate Boosters

Ronda Seagraves

1001 East University Avenue

Georgetown, Texas 78626

Phone: 512.863.1384 Fax: 512.863.1393 Email: seagravr@southwestern.edu

Pirate Boosters Newsletter Volume 3, Issue 3 February 2012

National Champion

Dave Stones

Anonymous

Marvin Henderson

Linda Kay Robinette

Stephen Freshour

Conference Champion

Dr. Glada Munt

Garrett Motors

Ted & Martha Cleveland

Walter & Susan Doane

James Allen Smith

Walter & Susan Doane

William Kelly

Matt & Phyllis Lynch

Jim Hunt

Glenn Schwab

All-American

Denis & Marilyn Nonaka

Debbie & Jeff Webster

James Allen Smith

Carl & Molly Nichols

Bert & May Bentley

Marvin Henkes

Bob & Rhonda Seagraves

S.C. Saenger

Karen Hanson-Flowers

Jack & Linda Thibodeau

All-Conference

M. Cathy Taylor

Stewart & Becky Williams

Darron & Brandi Eschle

Robert & Michelle Mueller

Keith & Karen Bartrip

Sharon Meyer

Ruth Kathleen Todd

Larry Bryant

Bethany Gusmer

Roberrt & Michelle Rodgers

Mark Millan

Charles Gordan

Curtis Vaughan III

Christopher Hooper

Varsity

Susan Sivon

Lizette Tandy

Brandon Hobratschk

Joey & Lori Presnall

4