SPORTS

Inside the Huddle


Ray Ammons
Sophomore, Engineering
John Caplanis
Sophomore, Communications
Kelly Finnessy
Sophomore, Communications
Chris Miller
Sophomore, Criminal Justice
Question 1: What is the best tailgating game and why?
Beer pong without a doubt. It is the game that champions are made of. I would say beer pong because my friend's family really rocks at it. Nothing with alcohol because I would never, ever touch beer. Definitely beer pong, because whether your team is victorious or not, we all come out as winners.
Question 2: Why is Matt Jones so lazy?
He just doesn't care. He makes a ton of money and has too much free time to spend it on marijuana. I think it is because he plays stoned all the time. Go Steelers. He is a filthy rich burnout who just really enjoys being high.
Question 3: What excuses will University of Florida fans make for the Gator's performance this weekend?
I am sure they will say that it was an early game, on the road and that they had 35 new players. Probably that it was too early and that it was their first road game of the season. The Gator fans will claim that they forgot to wear their jean shorts. They will say their team was not rested enough, especially Tim Tebow, who drank too much milk the night before.
Question 4: What surprised you less: O.J. Simpson's arrest for theft or Mike Tyson's arrest for cocaine possession?
Definitely O.J. Simpson, because it was obvious he was guilty the first time and he got away with it. I was less surprised about O.J., because his ass should already be in jail. Mike Tyson bit someone's ear off, right? I'm less surprised about that guy. Probably Mike Tyson, because I always felt he had the perfect nostril passages for it.

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Swim coach balances team building, caring for cats

By Lori Bero
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As the University of North Florida swim team is about to begin another season, their coach continues a service project that has helped relieve UNF of stray cats.

Beth Harrell embarked on a mission to reduce the number stray cats on campus years ago.

"When I first came [to UNF] I found a sick kitten in a parking lot," Harrell said. "I took it to the vet, nursed it back to health and kept it."

Harrell soon found out through eyewitness accounts of swimmers walking to practice in the morning that a number of stray cats lived on campus.

"I'm not some crazy cat lady," Harrell said. "I just don't like seeing things suffer and seeing the abuse."

Harrell set up several feeding stations for the cats and fixed all the cats she could find.

"As long as they can't reproduce, over time they'll die out," Harrell said. "If people would quit dumping pets, we wouldn't have this problem."

Over the years, Harrell has found 60 cats homes and has neutered and spayed over 100 cats. Currently she has only four feeding stations because it is a costly endeavor. She still fixes any cat she finds.

"It's kind of exciting trying to trap a cat and you know you're doing a good thing," Harrell said. "It's hard, though. I'm having a hard time finding homes now."

Harrell found this to be a rewarding way to do more for her community, since volunteering doesn't fit into her schedule, which is about to kick back into high gear with the upcoming season.

"We have a very tough schedule, so we should have a lot of close meets," Harrell said. "We will really have to swim well to win."

Harrell said her swimmers are in better shape to start the season than they have been in past years. Their attitudes are great, they are working well together and the team depth is better than it has ever been, she said.

The focus for Harrell this season is to become one of the top three in the conference meet by keeping her swimmers swimming fast all year long.

Contact Lori Bero at sports@unfspinnaker.com  --  PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE

Basketball tryout pressures test aspiring athletes

By Ryan Clarke
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Editor's note: Ryan Clarke, a contributing writer for the Spinnaker, is trying out for various UNF fall sports teams. His columns will recap his tryout experiences.

There's an old adage among basketball coaches: "It ain't about the X's and O's, it's about the Jimmys and Joes," meaning scheming and play-calling take a back seat to the talent level of a team.

Sept. 19, I (almost) got a chance to put that thinking to the test, as this reporter (almost) tried out for the University of North Florida basketball team.

At 6:20 a.m., I arrived at the UNF Arena, and in a glorious display of athletic ineptitude, I rolled my ankle as I disembarked from my Honda CR-V. With a face redder than the paint on my SUV, I trudged into the Arena where 10 other hopefuls were already warming up.

I arrived two minutes before the 11 of us met at center court to stretch, but the process of trying out for the team began almost two weeks prior with a compliance meeting. If you think being a student athlete is as simple as running a quick 40-yard dash and having an exceptional vertical leap, think again. You'd better be able to write and have your signature down to a brisk half-second to try out. There were enough forms and papers to fill out to make your 10-page term paper seem like a thank-you note.

After all of this, I was looking forward to putting my soles to the hardwood and getting my shot at making the cut. As we stretched at center court, I could feel my left ankle twitching. Like Ted Ginn Jr. at the NFL combine, I knew my injury could keep me from making the dashing impression I needed to amaze the coaches. After a brief 10-minute calisthenics session, coach Summey ordered us into "layup lines." If you've ever seen a professional, college or high school basketball game, you've undoubtedly seen this drill, but odds are you've never seen the discombobulating display like the one I put on.

In my defense, I'd never done this before. My one shining moment was supposed to be an inside jump shot or a lucky deep 3-pointer. Instead, it was catching a layup, having coach Summey holler "throw it to the guy in the other line," inexplicably waiting for four seconds, turning, following the coach's instruction and chucking the ball at a 6-foot-4-inch small-forward-to-be.

A combination of embarrassment and pain compelled the statement that I knew was inevitable. "Coach," I said, "Why don't I just watch."

Turns out my ankle injury was a blessing in disguise. Standing on the sideline, I got a chance to see just how hard it is to make a good impression in a walk-on atmosphere. At UNF, walk-ons are used as practice bodies. There are rare instances when someone might get some playing time and even rarer instances in which they become consistent contributors (see guard Cortez Riley, who has become a mainstay in head coach Matt Kilcullen's backcourt over the last two seasons).

For a walk-on to make the team, he has to do something impressive, and he has to do it with a coach watching him. The team you scrimmage with is comprised of four other walk-ons who you've probably never met and together you are tasked with scoring seven points. Sound easy?

Some day, try running up and down a 94-foot line nonstop. There are no TV time outs, no half-court offensive sets, no time to set up a 3-2 defense. There are no second chances. You get one shot to make a good impression on the watchful eyes of Kilcullen and his staff. No excuses are accepted. The only score you need to be worried about is the one that you're going to get from the coaches. Basketball is a team sport, but during tryouts, the good of the team is sacrificed for the good of the one. The best players separate themselves by never, ever stopping.

Contact Ryan Clarke at uspinnak@unf.edu  --  PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE

British player leads UNF soccer

By John Weidner
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Eleven members of the 22-man Osprey soccer team are from outside the United States. One of these players is sophomore captain Matt Hollyoak, who played for the under-18 national team in England before coming to the University of North Florida.

This year Hollyoak will take on the responsibility of leading the team as its defensive captain - something he says will be a big challenge.

"It's hard for me because a lot of the other guys on the team are older and have more experience," Hollyoak said.

As one of the leaders of a young UNF team, Hollyoak sees a lot of potential for the Ospreys. "Overall, we are a very good, quick and skillful team," he said. "We are just a really young team and need time to learn how to gel together as a singular unit."

Hollyoak was recruited by UNF out of high school and saw a lot of things that drew him to come and join the Ospreys.

"When I came down to visit, I just loved the campus and the location," he said. "I was also really impressed by the athletic facilities - especially the stadium, which is the fifth-biggest soccer stadium in the United States."

While living in England, Hollyoak won the Centennial Shield tournament against all of the other European nations. For him, playing for UNF is a much different situation than playing for his nation.

"When I was on the national team, I was playing for my country, so it was a lot more intense," Hollyoak said. "On the national team you are playing for the pride of your country in front of much larger crowds then in collegiate games."

Hollyoak said the Ospreys have huge diversity in their style of play, due mostly to the variety of the players' origins.

"Not only does each person bring their own separate style to the game, but what makes it really cool is it creates a lot of cultural diversity, which makes it really unique and fun atmosphere for us to play in," Hollyoak said.

Hollyoak has a lot of confidence in what the team is capable of accomplishing.

"We definitely want to finish at the top of the conference this year," Hollyoak said.

Contact John Weidner at sports@unfspinnaker.com --  PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE

Men's soccer unable to ground Eagles

By Renee Robarge
CONTRIBUTING WRITER


Media Relations

Freshman goalkeeper Andrew Calise defends the goal against Georgia Southern University Sept. 19.

Georgia Southern University came out with a 1-0 win Sept. 19 against the University of North Florida men's soccer team (1-4-0) in Statesboro.

The Ospreys lost their third consecutive bout on the road by one goal in the game against the Eagles.

The first half went scoreless by both teams, but UNF out-shot GSU 9-5 before halftime.

The Ospreys' leading shooters were freshman forward Akil DeFreitas with five attempts and junior midfielder/forward Shareef Rajkumar with three shots on goal.

The game's only score was in the 55th minute by GSU's junior forward Daniel Smith with a give-and-go from junior midfielder Scott DeVault.

Florida led in overall scoring attempts against the Eagles 13-9, as well as corner kicks at 10-6, in GSU's first win against the Ospreys since 1991.

Freshman goalkeeper Andrew Calise kept the net warm and started his fifth straight game, while sophomore Taylor Unsinger was out with a rotator cuff injury.

Head coach Ray Bunch said doctors don't know when Unsinger's return will be, but they will need to operate on his shoulder.

"He's just in too much pain right now to play," Bunch said. "I don't know if he'll come back."

The Ospreys will return home Sept. 28 after playing five consecutive road games tallying four straight losses.

Bunch said his team was more composed against the Eagles than in past games, and he just needs to get all the new players on the same page to be able to play as a more cohesive unit.

Bunch, who is in his 17th season leading the Ospreys after starting the men's soccer program at UNF in 1991, said he isn't too worried about the place his team is in and thinks they will be able to bounce back.

"Soccer is just one of those games," Bunch said. "We had six one-on-one chances, and they only had two good chances. One of theirs happened to get in."

Bunch said he wasn't as upset about the fourth loss on the road as people expected him to be, because he thought his team played well.

"[The game against GSU] was the best we've played all year," Bunch said. "We just need to stay positive and not panic when we're down."

The Ospreys will face off against the newly instated Atlantic Sun team University of South Carolina Upstate at home at 7 p.m. Sept. 28.

Contact Renee Robarge at sports@unfspinnaker.com --  PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE

Rock your body

A guide to physical health and exercise at the Dottie Dorion Fitness Center



Contact Brett Morgan at sports@unfspinnaker.com --  PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE

At the Dottie Dorion Fitness Center, certified trainers like Trey Vollmer can help customize your workout and guide you through the fitness process.
Together with your trainer, it's important to formulate a plan specific to your body and lifestyle. Setting goals and pushing yourself will maximize your capabilities.
When toning the midsection, the abdominal machine accentuates the upper and lower abdominals and the obliques.
The fitness ball is a tool that lends itself to various workouts. This "superman" exercise builds lower back muscles by extending the arm along with the opposite leg.
Stretching is imperative to a quality workout. Beyond helping in avoiding injury, it provides maximum flexibility, which increases performance.
The Weight Training Progress Chart helps in recording your progress. It serves as a guideline for your daily routine.