ROAD TRIP

Road trips probably account for 50% or more of the college memories and experience. Whether it's playing hacky sack in the airport during a 3 hour delay or playing cards in the back of the bus on the way to Missoula, road trips have been some of my favorite experiences as a player and as a coach.

With that being said, traveling with a 5 year old and 9 month old has made preparation a little more challenging. This weekend my family is headed out on a trip to Idaho for my brother-in-law's upcoming wedding. Rather than fly we decided to drive in order to save money. You would think the smallest of the group, my 9 month old, would require the least but if you are a parent, you know, it seems to be the opposite. By the time my husband had packed the baby bath, stroller, pack and play, and week long supply of diapers, we had a small corner to fit the rest of the family gear!

So... we were on our way. It started off a little scary when my son Justin asked within the first 30 minutes "How much further?!?" we had to go. But soon the trip fell in sink when Brooklyn nodded off and Justin plugged in "Bolt" on the dvd player.

I still don't know how my parents handled these trips when I was a child driving from Colorado to California for spring break. My older brother would constantly torment me in the back and draw imaginary lines for my sister and I to stay clear from. Of course that was only until he would put a finger over to just egg me on. I still don't know why I was such a smart alec to my dad. He would say, "Stop spitting spit wads!" and I would reply, "They're dry wads daaaad!"

After our second stop for potty breaks, diaper changing, and stretching, Todd and I decided to switch and I got behind the wheel. As I entered the freeway, my son says "Thank you mommy. Now we will get there quicker."

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TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

I am beginning a segment called "Take It to the Next Level." Today is an introduction to the weekly blog that I will stay committed to every Friday. I will cover what it takes to get to the varsity team, Division I, and even the professional level.

To start, you must begin with this:

FIND WHAT YOU ARE PASSIONATE & GIFTED AT AND SWING AWAY

1) If you "enjoy" it but don't "love" it, you won't fight for it when it gets hard.

2) If you don't take risks, and instead hope for the "walk", you will miss the perfect pitch.

3) Everyone has a gift. Choose to match your passion with this and the sky is the limit.

SWING AWAY

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Special Olympics

The Special Olympics Montana State Games has taken over Bozeman with more energy than a Cat-Griz football game!

Wednesday night was the kick off as I helped join volunteers in our community feed over 1500 athletes in under 2 hours before the opening ceremonies. What I admire most about these athletes are the attitudes and optimism.

Here are a few examples:

Spaghetti Dinner - "Please tell the cook this is the best spaghetti I have ever had." There wasn't one complaint with 1500 plates! All I saw were smiles, athletes thanking everyone, and people enjoying an evening with family, friends, and coaches.

Power Lifting - My staff helped our strength coaches with the power lifting on Thursday. This included the bench, squat, and dead lift. Here were some routines:
Patrick - INTENSE, he hit his lift and then yelled "WOOOOO!!!!" to the crowd with clenching and pumping his fists.
Glenn - HAM, Sumo-stomp approach before signaling the crowd to cheer him on.
Aaron - GRIZ all the way, with his maroon uniform. I have to admit he was the first Griz to ever win me over while high-fiving us.
Vivian - FOCUSED, she would throw her dead lift down and then step right over it and walk off.
Heather - TOUGH, she would point to her coach, stare down the weights and then smash it.

Sportsmanship - They compete AND cheer on their competitors. I have never seen so many hugs and support in one room. Jacob would hug competitors before he would lift. Then he would hug athletes after they lifted. Ryan had arms as cut as Sylvester Stalone and would high five every judge near him. They were so supportive of each other that our judges, particularly Andrea, began clapping after they completed their lift. How often do you see a judge cheering?

Coaches - These coaches know their athletes better than anyone. They would come to our table after the first lift to tell us how much weight he or she would lift next. I was thinking, are you sure they should do that much? The athlete would squat without strain and I realized they know their athletes better than I do. The coaches challenged their athletes like any other coach would.

Medal Presentation - This was the best part of the day. The athletes would walk up, receive a bronze, silver, or gold, but then strike their POSE. Not one athlete missed the opportunity to be in the spotlight. Whether they skipped, sprinted, or strutted to the podium, we all enjoyed every minute of it.

Our Bozeman Police Department helped present the medals, but one officer may not know that Aaron added rabbit ears behind his head for the picture. Let me also tell you to look out Buzz... He dead lifted over 400 pounds. WOW!

My nephew Tyler is now 15 years old and has Down Syndrome. I remember when he was born and my dad telling me why we call these children "special." He said they understand how to appreciate and live life to its fullest whereas the rest of us often make that a challenge.

We can certainly learn a lot from their spirit, optimism, and attitudes. What a "special" week for me. I got more out of it than what I was able to give! Great job to all of our athletes this week!

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DONKEY BASKETBALL

Misconceptions of Bozeman, Montana

These are my favorites:

Things to do:
"cow tipping"

Shopping:
"Do we have any?"

Eating:
"Your back yard-shoot it or pick it"

#1 answer to "what comes to mind when you think of Montana
"HORSES"

Well, to fix the misconceptions, here's what I have come to find.

Things to do:
concerts (Carrie Underwood, John Mayer, Elton John), Music on Main, Sweet Pea Festival,the GREAT OUTDOORS can cover more than I can write

Shopping:
Old Navy, Gap, Buckle, and yes we do have a mall with much more

Eating:
If you like a chain-Outback is my favorite
If you like local-I would suggest Looie's Down Under for their sushi

Not only do we have HORSES but we also have DONKEY BASKETBALL

Check out the picture of my husband representing the Central Valley Fire Department for a local fundraiser. There isn't a more caring community that gives back to what brings such a wonderful quality of life.

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FINALS WEEK

Yes, it's finals week, and at MSU it seems to be as stressful as the conference tournament. Our student athletes take great pride in the classroom as they consistently land in the Top 15 in the WBCA Team GPA polls.

So, what determines academic success anyway? Is it your overall GPA? I would say that is one measure of success but not necessarily the best indicator for the individual and or team. Here are two questions to consider.

1) If you compare school's overall GPA's across the board, it still doesn't compare the majors, resources, etc. For example, we have a student athletes in Nursing, Math, Business, Pre Physical Therapy, etc.

2) Do you compare individual success by their GPA and or classroom curve? What if one student is just naturally bright? What if another student works 10 times harder in the class to get the same grade? What if one student has 2 jobs to pay for their family while going to class?

Here's how we treat academic success, exactly like we do athletic success.

Our mission statement is to "Put yourself, your teammates, and MSU in every possible situation to be successful and persevere in those situations." That is my definition of success.

Let's break the mission statement down:
Put yourself in a situation to be successful.
Study, antonym-procrastinating. Focus when you study. Antonym-mixing in guitar hero, having phone handy for texting, having friends over. Take advantage of resources: tutors, classmates, professor. Antonym-figure out on your own.

Put your teammates and MSU in every possible situation to be successful.
Jamie Thornton tutoring math to half the student athlete body. Antonym-not my problem, telling your teammate who is studying you need them on the drums.

Perseverance
Maybe you bomb the first test. You find a better way to prepare, ask your professor what some learning options they might suggest. Get some help. Study more. Be proactive and not embarrassed. There are a variety of ways to learn.
Antonym-I am not smart. I give up.

As long as you are giving your education your best effort, you will have a 4.0 on our team. Great job!

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SENIORS

I was asked in a comment to fill you in on our graduating seniors. Anne Phippard, our "honors" student has been accepted to attend University of Washington in the fall to go to graduate school. She is a pre-physical therapy major, and the one I would want to be working with if I ever got injured. She has been an exceptional leader for this program and will make us all proud.

Mara Hoefer has gotten an offer to play professionally back home in Germany. She has recently been awarded another academic honor by the Dean of the Business department. If you ever run into a professor from the business department they will rave how wonderful she is. To see this kid go from limited skill to a professional contract is absouletly amazing. She didn't even know what the "Mikan Drill" was three years ago when we signed her.

Nubia Garcia is finishing up her photography degree this fall and already looking into professional contracts overseas. We have an agent ready for her to take her international and play for as long as she can. With her degree I have a feeling she will be working behind the camera and in front of it next year.

We are so proud of these senior's successes, but I have a feeling they will make us even more proud with their future success. The sky is the limit for these kids.

Oh, and I guess they aren't kids anymore, but I will will always call them that.

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