Life is Goodenough - September 24

Freshmen 2010
(Class of 2014)

Once again we have been blessed with an incredible class of freshmen, Anicia Dotson, Margaret Spaulding, Kirklin Kirkpatrick and Erin Bratcher. Like most fall semesters, the fear and anxiety of the freshmen year causes homesickness and bouts of tears, but the great part of being a collegiate student-athlete is that you already have an inherent family on campus from the very beginning. Our affable upperclassmen have been very hospitable in welcoming our newcomers to the family.

With a swift introduction to college, we have overloaded our freshmen calendars with full class loads, even some night classes, early morning conditioning on the track and in the gym, strength training with Coach Tobi Jacobi, treatments with Tuesday Patterson, laundry duties, individual skill development with our staff, chapel, study hall, hosting recruits, etc. Their organizational skills and collective teamwork have enable them to handle all of their responsibilities so far.

After completing their fifth week of college(yea!), our freshmen class enlightened me on their perspective on “life as a freshmen basketball player” at Charleston Southern. The consensus was that CSU basically “rocks” especially the women’s basketball team. Anicia does miss her momma, while Kirklin misses her whole family and the family dog. Margaret misses face to face conversations with her family as well as her boyfriend. Erin actually spent the month of June with us so she has not been quite as homesick as the others but she does miss her high school friends and her family.

The freshmen acknowledged that time management has been the most difficult transition from high school to college. Staying organized with class assignments, team workouts, and meetings, while having to do laundry and run personal errands without the help of their parents, occupies most of their time. Taking an accelerated night class has been a new challenge for Kirklin and Margaret, however they agreed it has been a great investment since the class will be completed about the same time basketball practices begin. Though their free time is sparse, this group has enjoyed eating in historic downtown Charleston, shopping at the outlet mall, and hanging out at the beach.

Everyone has preconceived notions about beginning new chapters in their lives, especially something as monumental as starting college. Some of those thoughts have been dispelled since the freshmen became residents at CSU. Besides the pleasant surprise that the cafeteria food is really good, Anicia believes that her classes are much better than she anticipated. While Erin and Kirklin are really pleased with how well they are getting along as not only teammates, but also roommates, the personable and caring attitudes of the professors has been very appreciated by Margaret. The group all agreed that the upperclassman have made the adjustment to a new team very easy.

When asked about the best and the worst parts about college, the players commented on only two items that they deemed negative, which were study hall and missing loved ones. The extensive list of positives included awesome teammates, genuine Christian atmosphere on campus as well as in our locker room, beaches, challenging basketball workouts that make you feel good about the work you are investing, friendly professors, and a team that is all on the same page and focused on working together and winning together.

I love these ladies and am so excited to be their head coach and am anxious for our fans and the CSU community to embrace them and support them as they represent their families, CSU, and God on the court this season. GO BUCS!

Life is Goodenough - November 19

A Day with a Super Star

I know I overuse the words “cool “ and “awesome,” but those are the words that I continue to say when people ask, “How was your day with Tamika Catchings?” She is a totally wonderful person, on and off the court, who uses her celebrity platform to help young women to develop in every area of their lives.

We had the privilege of visiting with the four-time Kodak All-American and five-time WNBA All-Star, not by phone or by Facebook, but in person in our Charleston Southern locker room! What a special day for my staff and my players! Also joining us were my daughters and husband, along with the Dubose Middle School girls’ basketball team and the women’s team from the College of Charleston.

Tamika has overcome hearing, visual, and speech disabilities to become one of the best women’s basketball players, not only in the USA, but in the world! She challenged our players to work hard everyday, to exceed expectations, to be coachable and to have a positive attitude toward their teammates. She emphasized teamwork and selflessness along with the important role that every member of a team plays because a team is only as strong as the weakest link.

Tamika was obviously born with incredible natural athletic abilities, but her daily routine of working out on her own one hour before team practice and then again at least an hour following practice has helped her develop into one of the greatest ever. If one of the best players in the world dedicates at least two extra hours per day to developing her basketball skills, why would college players not make that commitment as well? That is a great lesson for all of us striving to be our best at something.

It was also confirming to the coaches in the room for her to reiterate the character fundamentals of success that we talk to our players about daily. Sometimes our players hear our voices so much that they tune us out, so it was such a blessing and hopefully beneficial for our players to hear familiar advise from a superstar.

Having her spend time with us in our locker room was equivalent to talking in person with Tiger Woods or Payton Manning or even Taylor Swift! So “cool”! She is no doubt my favorite professional athlete; no disrespect to the other professional athletes reading this, but she is truly “awesome” and an incredible role model for all!

“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.” –Florence Nightingale

Life is Goodenough - Oct. 22, 2009

Inspirational Athletes

Being a college coach and an avid sports fan, I love reading stories about athletes who are breaking records, winning games as the underdog, or overcoming obstacles just to play their sport. I am so inspired by the great players who are not just excelling at their sport but who are also exceptional people and role models. Great examples are Florida’s Tim Tebow, arguably the best college football player, who is back from his concussion leading his team better than ever. Indiana Fever’s Tamika Catchings, who is a phenomenal offensive player, was recently named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. In Conference USA, the University of Houston’s Case Keenum, has thrown for over 2500 yards this season and is included in Heisman Trophy discussions. As a coach, you encourage character development through commitment and hard work. You also encourage your players to have high expectations for themselves and to follow the examples of other successful athletes and teams.

Here is a story about a successful team who has absolutely exceeded expectations that anyone had for them. You will not read anywhere else about this team or any of their team members but they have been very inspirational this year for me and many others.

Last season the Dubose Middle School Wildcat Volleyball team struggled to claim a 1-9 regular season record. Their one victory was heavily celebrated because it was one more than the 2007 season. Watching the team was difficult because not many games or even possessions went very well for this young 7th and 8th grade team.

With a good number of returners from the 2008 season returning this fall, expectations were not high for the 2009 campaign. After winning the first 2 matches on the opening night, however, parents and fans alike began to sit a little taller in the stands and cheer with a little more optimism than in the past. To much surprise, the Wildcat team continued improvements on serving and passing and even grew more confident about spiking as the season passed. The number of fans and their enthusiasm grew as the Wildcats rolled over opponents in district play. They fell to a very worthy opponent, River Oaks, in the middle of the season. The concern was how they would bounce back from that loss. They responded by winning the remainder of their matches!

The middle school team, who rarely got a serve over the net one season and finished last, came back with determination and teamwork to finish first this season! At the end of the season, Captain Gabby Grossi, received the Coaches Award. Newcomer, Hallie Colegrove, received the Most Improved Award. Lastly, Captain Bailey Goodenough, was named the Most Valuable Player.

From 1-9 to 9-1. From Last to First. As far as being inspirational-that is hard to beat!

Col 3:17

Life is Goodenough: September 7, 2009

To our Freshmen Parents:
Your daughters are doing great!

Being a college freshman means meeting new people, making your own decisions, managing your time and money, figuring out how to get along with strangers with whom you now share a bedroom and bathroom, learning how to maneuver around in a new city, getting to classes, incorporating time to study and do homework, prioritizing the events your calendar, and so on and so on. Oh, and for my five freshmen, we have also added 8 hours per week for study hall, academic meetings, early morning weight training, conditioning, and individual skill workouts. They will also be expected to attend weekly Bible study, FCA, and participate in community service activities. No doubt they do have busy schedules, but parents, they are doing great! Day by day, your daughters are learning about being responsible and accountable, while fighting through the adversity of waking up early and fighting through soreness and fatigue.

I really like this freshmen class! Though they have distinct personalities and interests, they are similar in their strong work ethic and in their love for basketball. Our freshmen are: Lakeitha Alston, Helen Terry, Shay Jones, Kori Penick and Katie St. Clair.

My freshmen enlightened me in our last freshmen meeting on their perspective of how everything is currently going for them. They were all very honest about the fact that they miss their moms and dads. Not surprising, because we have an exceptional group of parents. They also miss their bedrooms and own beds. Shay was the first to say she misses her mother’s cooking. Katie misses working out with her dad. Kori misses her parents and also her little sister. Lakeitha has the luxury of having both her older sister and her twin sister here at CSU with her; however she does feel a void without her dog.

Though moving away from home is a challenge, Helen believes that the transition has been much easier because everyone on campus is so nice and it has been easy to meet people. Academically, Kori and Shay feel pretty confident that their classes will not be near as tough as they had expected. Katie has decided that having a roommate is fun and Lakeitha has found that it is easy to find good food in the cafeteria.

Although they miss high school activities and the comfort of being around their long time high school friends, they are enjoying the new freedoms that college offers. They are enjoying living on campus, having awesome teammates, and being recognized already as CSU women’s basketball players. With each workout, they are appreciating hard work even more and consider it a blessing and a great opportunity to represent Charleston Southern University on the basketball court.

This is a talented group a young ladies who will help our team have another record setting season. Parents – thank you for sharing your daughters with our program and CSU and I am so excited for our fans to get to know them as players very soon!

Work as if you were serving the Lord, not as if you were serving only men and women. Eph 6:7

Life is Goodenough - June 25, 2009

Our team is having a great summer with camps, summer school, and work outs with our strength and conditioning coach, Tobias Jacobi. Coach Jacobi has a very creative and inspiring method for training which has motivated our players to get the most out of their workouts with him. This month our team has grown together through workouts, late-night bowling, going to the movies, afternoons at the beach, community service and studying together. Summer school will be over next week and the players will have several weeks to go home and enjoy some summer with their families before the fall semester begins in August.

Our last camp was so much fun! We had an awesome group of campers between the ages of 5 and 13. If anyone is interested in attending a girl's basketball camp, we have one last camp beginning this Sunday afternoon (June 28). For more information check out our website: csusports.com. For your enjoyment check out our latest camp photos!

Life is Goodenough - June 13, 2009

Camps have begun! I love this time of the summer. We have awesome campers and our players make camp so much fun. We employ our players who are in town for summer school to be instructors for our camps. Being a coach at camp affords our players a great opportunity to be teachers and mentors. The more you teach a subject the more you usually learn about it yourself. Our players really benefit from observing the game from a sideline perspective as a coach. We have two more camps in June. One begins on Monday June 15 and the final camp begins June 28. We have room for a few more campers so any girls looking for a place to improve on their basketball skills are welcome to join us for camp. The brochure is on our website. Enjoy the pictures!

Life is Goodenough - May 7, 2009

It is very quiet around our office these days. The players have all completed final exams and have gone home for the month of May. We will have all ten returners and our five new freshmen in Charleston for summer school. This is an invaluable opportunity for the freshmen to make the transition from being a senior in high school (most awesome and supreme students on campus) to a freshmen in college (scum of the earth, affectionately known :-) ) The experience is similar to summer camp - take a couple of new classes, meet new friends, eat in the cafeteria, sleep in the dorm, participate in unfamiliar workouts, then go home. It’s long enough to possibly discover homesickness, yet short enough that the players are back home before they really need their parents to come visit. We have ascertained that having the freshmen in college for just one summer term, empowers them with confidence and courage about returning in the fall and beginning college for “real.”

As a staff, we are very excited about the 2009-10 season. But before we look forward, let me backtrack one more time into this past season. The 08-09 season did not bring us as many wins as we had anticipated, however we were blessed with a great team of young women who accomplished many goals this season through their hard work and perseverance. Our team led the Big South in points scored per game, assists per game, and 3 pointers made and attempted per game. We established a new CSU and Big South record for 3’s made and attempted in a game (17 of 39), and 3’s made in a season (260). Among all Div I teams in the country, we placed third in 3 pointers made per game (8.9) Kelsey and Pam both completed the season ranked respectably 23rd and 29th nationally for 3’s per game. Breaking a record set by Hall of Famer Crystal Carpenter, Kelsey also established a new standard for 3’s made in a season with 76. Katie, being out for 9 games with a torn mcl, was ineligible from being included in the national stats, where she would have placed 6th among the nation’s leaders in 3’s per game. Because of our loyal fans, we also finished 2nd in the conference in home game attendance.

Our team was well represented with All-Big South honors. Tina DeCarvalho was on the All-Academic team. Pam was selected 2nd team all-conference, while Kiki and Ali were recognized on the five person all-freshmen team.

Every team endures adversity and hardships throughout a season and we definitely had our share. Pneumonia, strep, foot hand and mouth disease, wrist surgery, torn mcl, knee surgery, shoulder surgery, stomach virus, and even I had two surgeries, just to name a few of our trials. However, our team and staff kept our sites on excellence and glorifying God through our actions and through our season. This was yet another season to learn from mistakes, enjoy successes, foster relationships, and grow through the many experiences in which we were blessed. And I speak on behalf of our team when I say thank you to all the many people who support, pray, and encourage our team. You are so appreciated. Have a great summer!

Rejoice always. Pray continuously. Give thanks in everything for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thess. 5:16-18