Bellarmine Track and Cross Country Star Prevailing Despite Setbacks (pt. 2)

This was uncharted waters for the young Hickey who at the time was a sophomore who had never accomplished such a feat.

“You can’t imagine, it was amazing.” Hickey said, “I was nervous though, I was a very low seed, but the coaches told me it was a learning experience, most were seniors and I was just a sophomore. They just told me to do my best because I was capable of doing well.”

However, as the expectations grew, injuries to her hamstring hampered her performance on the field, leaving teammates room to step up, and Hickey frustrated on the sidelines and unsure of her future.

This article is the one from the Bellarmine athletics site that gives a preview for the season that just ended, as you can see by this Hickey was expected to the one of the most relied on runners.
http://www.bellarmine.edu/athletics/news.asp?id=397

Bellarmine distance running Coach Kris Horton had nothing but praises for the now junior, Hickey.

“(Katie) is very positive, talented, and hardworking,” Horton said, “sometimes she works so hard I have to put a leash on her. She is always doing something.”
He also acknowledged her accomplishments from the past season. Even then she was fighting injuries, as well as being young against many older competitors.

“All the coaches kept telling Katie to keep her sights set on nationals.” Horton continued, “She did have her setbacks (referring to Katie’s nagging injuries), but every time she raced, she raced well.”

Next time I will conclude my postings on Katie, they will include more from Katie herself, as well as some of her off the field activities.

Jimmy V's Arthur Ashe Award

Jimmy V had many memorable moments throughout his career. He is a man that succeeded in all of his dreams that were on his "little-white note card." Although, the greatest thing about Jimmy V is not what he did for himself, but the impression he left on millions of other people.

When Jimmy V was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 1993 inaugural ESPY's, he changed the lives of many. The Arthur Ashe Award is an honor that goes above performing well in an athletic event. It is given to people involved in sports that have had to overcome issues bigger than losing a game. It is handed out at ESPN's annual sports awards show as one of the main honors.

Jimmy V's legendary acceptance speech was full of advice, encouragement, and humor that caught the attention of everyone that was tuned in. During the speech Jimmy V stated, " I'm a very emotional and passionate man. I can't help it. That’s being the son of Rocco and Angelina Valvano. It comes with the territory. We hug, we kiss, we love." After that emotional confession, there was not a dry-eye in the audience as Jimmy V was giving one of the last speeches of his life.

Even though he had a horrible time getting to NYC because of health issues, no one would have been able to tell by the way he presented himself on stage. He appeared at his prime, and that is one of his characteristics that makes him such a hero to so many people.

On April 28, 1993, Jimmy V passed away with a challenge for the people in this world. "Try if you can to support, whether its AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease."

The Jimmy V Foundation is a brilliant charity that hopes to continue to raise millions of dollars for cancer research. Because of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and ESPN, Jimmy V was able to get his message out to millions of people.

Coach David Smith

Bellarmine women's basketball coach, David Smith, has had a very successful career with many accolades under his belt. He recently has gotten his most prestige honor yet, being part of a list of the best NCAA women's coaches. I have had the honor to play under him for a season. He is a very aggressive coach that deserves every honor that he receives.
There are many different requirements that must be completed to receive this noble honor. The list took all Division I, II, & III coaches into consideration. The requirements are as follows:
* Coached a national championship team
* Elected to the Hall of Fame
* Won 500 games
* Coached three teams to the Final Four
* Post a career winning percentage about .700 with at least 150 wins
Coach Smith received the honor because of his winning percentage of 70.9 (499-205). Being a part of the team, I hope to help him get in with more than one category. He is one win away from his 500th win. Hopefully we can accomplish the victory for him early in next years season.Even though as a team we are anxious for the mark, he does not feel the urgency. " My 500th win is just a number. If it was my last year then I could see why I would be a little disapointed,"Smith stated. "But I have many years to come and hope to reach my 600th and 700th wins."
He also came close to surpassing other prerequisites; he has taken four teams to the Sweet Sixteen. He even got close to a national championship in 1996 with his Shippenburg team that ended with a national runner-up finish.
Coach Smith is obviously a very successful coach with many more good things to come. He is in a league with Tennessee's Pat Summit and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma , who join him on the list. The honors that he receives also help with the recognition that the players and the school get. So as a small community here at Bellarmine, everyone needs to continue to support the athletic programs and the good things that come out of it.

Bobby Valvano's Background

I am going to be doing my feature article on the Jimmy V Foundation. Jimmy V's brother,Bob, recently came and spoke in my Sports and Media class. I hope to be interviewing Bobby Valvano one-on-one so I can get some inside scoop on how exactly the foundation works and how it got its start. The following is a little background of B.Valvano. He speaks about life and how to be good at giving an interview. I learned alot and he gave very vital information. Not only did he give good information, he is very experienced and the following biography is what I personally learned from Valvano's speech.
Bobby Valvano is a very ambitious, hard-working, and successful man. Since he graduated from Junior Wesleyan College, he has held titles that few people can claim. He began the first chapter of his career by becoming the youngest ever Division I coach. For 20 years he bounced around between Divisions I, II, and III, coaching basketball. Once he completed that chapter, he began doing what he is currently doing today; a little bit of everything. He currently is a host for ESPN radio, which airs on 420 stations across the country. In his free time from that, he participates in many other sports related events. He hosts a golf show, commentates NCAA basketball games, and writes a column for the New Albany Times. Valvano is full of experience and knowledge that anyone could learn from.
One of the main things that has brought Valvano so much success is the characteristic that he is unbelievably versatile. Employers can count on him to successfully produce, regardless of what they are calling upon him to do. Valvano stresses the fact that to strive in the communications field, a person must have a wide range of talent. Even if a person has more ability in one area, they have to at least be willing to learn other aspects of a job. Not only is that true in the communication world, it is true in most parts of life.
Valvano broke down the basics of how to be good at his job. Although his radio station has a lot of factual information, probably the most crowd-appeasing portion is the interview fragment. With experience, he has become more knowledgeable about the key elements of interviewing. One key to a good interview is being able to listen. When an interviewer gets a response; many times the response leads into another question regarding the original question. That sequence leads to a better story or broadcast.
Another characteristic to a good interviewer is he/she has to be brave. The best stories are when the interviewee gives interesting information that has not been reported yet. For that information to be given, the tuff questions must be asked.
Like Valvano said, the media are the eyes and the ears of the public. When a person is performing an interview, they must hold into respect how important the information is to the public. The interviewer must be prepared and professional during the meeting. There is a ladder of respect that each interviewer needs to climb when attempting to get a story. Normally the more respect that is shown, the higher up the ladder the interviewer climbs.
Valvano has a very impressive resume. He knows what it takes to win over an employer, and understands what many company's are looking for. The things he said employers are looking for are a smart, passionate person that is willing to learn and be open-minded.
He talked about a lot of things that we have learned about in class. We had a whole section about interviewing, and he made it very clear through experience on how to go about getting a good one. Within most things in the media, a person has to be objective. It is important not to mix too much personal opinion into stories that are written. We learned in class what an important attribute that is when reporting.
There are many things that I can do to help myself enter Valvano's profession. I am currently in the process of trying to get an internship with a media network. I am a strong believer in using every resource that is available. In this profession, it is very much about who a person knows or builds relationships with. Throughout the process of the whole ordeal, I have learned that I have to be brave and dive into what is going on around me. I have had to overcome a little bit of shyness that I have to hopefully set myself up for a successful career.
"Pick what you do with your time because you can't get it back," stated Valvano. That quote is very relevant to everything in life. I was impressed with Valvano and all of the advice that he handed to us. I think that he gave myself and the rest of the class a lot of inspiration to go out and get the job done regardless of what field we end up in.

The ten simplest things you can do to get healthier:

10. Walk to class! It is not that far and it will take you five more minutes. If you walk to and from Anniversary Hall to Kosters Commons, you will have walked one mile.

9. Drink water with one meal instead of a coke, you will be surprised, I promise.

8. Take a multivitamin before bed or when you wake up. Depending on what type of vitamin you choose depends on your benefits.

7. Eat fruit, nuts, or dried fruit if you have a craving for something at two in the morning.

6. Eat breakfast, I know, another five minutes taken up in the morning. If you do eat breakfast, you won’t eat as much at lunch.

5. Go to bed before midnight half of the week. You will look refreshed, replenished, and ready to go.

4. Plan ahead; write that 10 page paper a little at a time. It won’t cause you as much stress.

3. Eat dessert in moderation, or eat dessert only at lunch or dinner.

2. Try a new activity, Frisbee, kickball, shoot a basketball at the SURF with some friends after class. This will relieve some of your stress, and gain some physical activity. A 30-minute exertion of exercise is all you need for one day.

1. Last but not least, and probably the simplest, laugh. That’s right laughing releases endorphins that cause all kinds of good things. Stress relief, it burns calories, it boosts your immune system.

Getting Healthy at BU Continued

What do students need to get involved?

Suggestions, suggestions? Anyone, anyone? Over the past semester BU has obtained a nutritionist. Just one more feature Bellarmine has to help you be healthy.

Denise Burd, a part-time nursing teacher, has offered her services to Bellarmine. She is willing to provide you with a meal plan for a week, advise healthy food options on campus, and assess the foods you are eating regularly.

If you would like to speak with Burd sign-ups are located in the SURF at the front desk. She is available Wednesday and Thursday noon until 2 p.m..

Bellarmine also has opportunity of getting a personal trainer. You heard me, you can have a staff member from the SURF make you a work-out plan.

Besides all the obvious work out possibilities there are always simple daily routine changes you can make to be healthier. On a campus that has park like settings students should walk more.

Alice Kimble, a registered nurse on BU’s campus told me about some healthy options BU has to offer, and some changes she feels should be made.

“[I think there are] plenty, of healthy options in Koster’s. The salad bar and fruit is always fresh. People choose to eat the stuff that looks appeasing but high in fat, but healthy choices are available” said Kimble.

She then told me that the majority of things offered are high in fat but it’s because of the high demand. Surprisingly there are options offered everywhere, the café, Koster’s, and even the vending machines.

“Average college students doesn’t care about it [their health] now. Things we eat now tend to effect us in our 60’s. Nursing and Physical Therapy majors usually are the ones that care the most.”

I then asked Kimble what she would like to add to campus to make BU more

healthy. “I would love to see a mandatory class for freshman, lifetime wellness
class, that dealt with nutrition, and health topics in general.”

Lastly Kimble told me that if people “moved more, and ate less” we would be better off. “Eat four Oreo’s, instead of eight.”

Get healthy at BU

Calling all BU students, it’s spring and it’s time to get healthy. Getting healthy and staying healthy on campus isn’t as hard as some may think.

You are in your late teens, early twenty’s and having the time of your life, you are at your prime, on your way to success. You are on top of all the latest news, style, and in the best shape of your life. Or are you?

What you are about to read may astonish you, but the majority of American
college students are just like the rest of the United States population overweight, and unhealthy. So where does Bellarmine students fall into that category? Are you healthy?

On a campus where many students think the majority of the student body is athletes. One would think the student body is very healthy and in tip top shape.

According to Athletics Director Scott Weigandt only a quarter of incoming freshman classes are athletes. The majority of campus may be involved in some sort of activity but we are not all athletes. For students that aren’t athletes there are ways of being and staying healthy.

Bellarmine’s Campus are we healthy or not?
How does BU rank against other colleges on the health scale?

Bellarmine may be smaller in campus size and student body numbers but BU has just as much as those other university’s. We have the SURF, intramurals, various choices of athletics to get involved in, and numerous student activities. Just see for your self and click on healthy involvement to see all the activities BU has to offer.

If you still are not convinced click on following links to compare Bellarmine to
University of Louisville,University of Kentucky, Spalding University, Spencerian College, and Jefferson Community College on how much they offer.

Weigandt, commented that he feels his athletes are in good physical shape for the most part, “but there is always room for improvement.” Most people can agree they feel comfortable with their health but they could do more.

I asked sophomore Ian Tracy a Physical Therapy major, and sophomore Jason Schreck a Psychology major about being healthy, and what they thought contributes to a healthy college student. “[Am, I healthy?]No, but by its choice, bad food tastes good.” said Schreck

What is something that would compel you to get healthier? “[To have the] will to work out.” said Tracy

Both Tracy and Schreck said they were once involved in intramurals but lost interested. “Yeah, dodge ball, maybe volleyball, I can’t really remember.” said Schreck