Hey! I'm back.

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since my last blog. In the past few months I have completed my second finals week, watched the seniors walk across the Dimple on graduation day, and spent a few precious weeks back home in Colorado enjoying family, friends, and the wonderful mountains.  Now I find myself back in Massachusetts and back on campus (a much emptier version) to do some summer research. In the next five weeks I will be immersing myself in lab work in the beautiful Mars Science Center. Under the guidance of one of my Chemistry professors I get to help with two government funded research projects. The two projects, though very different, are both interesting and could be very influential. The first project involves looking at hot springs and river samples from the Himalayas in order to better understand the carbon cycle. It is currently thought that this area acts as a sink for carbon dioxide, taking it out of the atmosphere, but it is possible that the carbon dioxide being released through the hot springs is offsetting the amount being taken in. The second project focuses on samples from a little farther south in Antarctica. For this project we will be analyzing ice core segments and comparing our findings to satellite data in order to figure out if our lab method of determining when the sea ice is melting and freezing can be used to go further back in time (father than the satellite data).

Lab work won’t be my only focus this summer, however.  I will also be working in the gym trying to improve my game for the upcoming season. Thankfully, being on campus provides not only a place to lift and shoot, but it also brings me close enough to my teammates to play some summer league games as well. Should be a busy summer!

Tomorrow we head out to Woods Hole on the Cape to help receive the shipment of ice cores!

Week 18

Hey all,

I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who helped donate to the Play 4 Kay fund. There was a great turn out for the game and we ended up raising 680 dollars!  

This is the last week of regular conference play.  At the start of the season when Coach told us that we were about to begin a 19 week process, the end seemed so far away.  Now that week 18 is here it is unbelievable how fast the time went by. We only have two games left in the regular season. This Wednesday we will play our last home game against MIT and on Saturday we will play away at Mt. Holyoke.

Wednesday will be an important game not only for our playoff chances, but also because it will be the last time we will play at home with our three seniors Kris, Nic, and Gabbie. I think every group of departing seniors is remembered in a different way. As a freshman, I will always remember this group of seniors as “my seniors”. They were the ones that took Abbie and me under their wings and helped us adjust to college life. Without them I would have been lost. I probably still wouldn’t know how to use the library printers or how to order something in the stir fry line if it wasn’t for them showing me how.  At this point in the season our chances of making the playoff are slim, though not impossible. But no matter the outcome I hope the seniors realize how much they mean to all of us and how much we will miss playing with them and having them around. Ten years from now it’s not likely that I will remember how many games the team won my freshmen year, but I will remember the seniors I played with.

Play 4 Kay Wednesday February 8th

Hey everyone,

I am still minus one working computer at the moment so this week’s blog will be kind of brief in order to give me some time to get a little bit of homework done and hopefully catch part of the Super Bowl game as well. Coming up this Wednesday, at home, is our Play 4 Kay game. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund is an organization created to help the fight against breast cancer. The team will be wearing pink shoes and headbands during the game to help raise breast cancer awareness. Donations to the fund can be made at the game or online at play4kay.org. Once on the site click on the Donate to Team button and search for Wheaton College to donate. Our goal is to raise 500 dollars for the foundation, but a donation of any amount will help!

Wednesday is also one of the most important games of the season as we take on Wellesley College looking for a win to help keep us in the run for a NEWMAC playoff spot.

6 more to go

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the delay on this week’s blog. My computer suffered a minor injury over the weekend, therefore, I am writing this blog from the lovely Wheaton College Library (it’s only a Monday night so it wasn’t hard to find an open spot). Last week we had two tough away games at Coast Guard Academy and Smith College. We split the games, winning at CGA and losing a hard fought game at Smith. Entering the season I wasn’t sure what to expect from away games. Now, at this point in the season, I have played in enough gyms to realize that each one carries its own unique atmosphere. Each different gym, whether it’s playing on Wellesley’s raised court within a field house or playing in front of group of amped up cadets, carries a challenge. But what I have found is that even though the atmosphere of an away game is usually not in our favor, the energy brought to the gym makes the games exciting and even more fun to play if we can play through all of the madness. With three very important road games left, it is crucial that we play through whatever challenge playing away poses. Next up: WPI. 

I mentioned earlier that we are heading towards the end of our long season. The first day of practice back in October seems so far away. It’s an odd feeling watching the spring sports teams just starting to dive into their seasons while we are getting to the most important part of our own season. At the same time it’s nice knowing that we have already put in the hard work of preseason and now it is time to stay focused and finish strong. There are six games left and every one of them is important.

Beginning of the new semester

Hey everyone,

 Last week’s games couldn’t have been more different. On Wednesday we took on MIT. Even though we started the game strong on a 9-0 run we were just never in the game mentally or physically. We made mistakes that MIT was able to take advantage of which led to a loss. Going into the Springfield game on Saturday we knew that we could not make these same mistakes. In the loss to Springfield earlier this season we saw a large lead taken away in the end. This time around I think we were better composed and played a tough game all the way through which led to a win. With only eight games left in the season we need to play every game with the same intensity and composure as the Springfield game.

With Winter Break finally coming to a close I am glad to announce that we have finally received snow here at Wheaton!!! I started having doubts that I would ever see snow during my first New England winter when it hit mid January and there was no snow and it felt like spring outside… But snow did arrive and just in time for classes to start. My first semester of balancing basketball and classes went well. Even though my schedule will be a little more demanding this spring I at least have a better idea of what is heading my way. However, there is still two days of break left! Just enough time to finally order my books…

January Break

Hey all,

With January Break and NEWMAC play now in full swing, life is pretty busy (even without classes). This last week has been very eventful. Coming off a tough loss away at Springfield and a win at home against Mount Holyoke last week, we headed off to Wellesley on Wednesday looking to get another win. The game was very physical, but we were able to grind it out in the end and come up with a big conference win. After the game, as is tradition, we stopped in downtown Wellesley and got ice cream. This was the first time the team has stopped for ice cream in three years because we only make the stop after a win. Hopefully we can make this stop for the next three years too!

On Saturday we took on Clark University. Like the Wellesley game, it was a grind all the way through. Clark is a very talented team and the game went back and forth many times. Towards the end we had the lead and Clark was able to work their way back to a one point advantage. I think that earlier in the season we would have let this get to us mentally and wouldn't have been able to get ourselves back on track. But we have really grown as a team since our first games and on Saturday it showed. I think the team did a really good job of staying composed under pressure and did a great job of picking each other up when needed. Because of this we came away with a crucial win.

Using today as somewhat of a rest day, we were able to make it to a Norton 4th grade girls' basketball game. The girls are big supporters of our team and love coming to our games so it was nice to repay the favor by dropping in on one of their games. Even though I feel like its been such a long time since I was that age it was wonderful watching them play because it reminded me of why we all play basketball, because it is fun. We may feel more pressure at this level, but it is still the same fun game we played when we were ten. At half time of the 4th graders' game we made our way back to campus for a quick walk through on our game against Tufts tomorrow. Tufts is a good team that will challenge us and even though it is a non-conference game it will be a great opportunity for us to get better.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day we will be holding a can drive for the Mansfield Food Pantry at the game tomorrow. So if you are planing on coming to the game bring a few cans!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! After the Puerto Rico trip it felt good to spend some time at home. It was so nice to catch up with my family and friends back in Colorado and to sleep in my old bed. Although I wish I could have spent a little more time at home, I was happy to arrive back at Wheaton on December 30^th. After a few days of hard practices we started off the New Year with a competitive game at Springfield College. Even though we didn’t come away with a win in the first game of 2012, we played great team basketball. It’s tough to lose a close match like the Springfield game, but I think the loss sparked something in all of us; making us want the post season that much more.  Coming off the Springfield loss, we captured a win at home against Mount Holyoke. There was a great turn out  at the game thanks to the support of family and friends of the team. Even though its hard not to be able to see my parents at every game, like in high school, the other families do an amazing job of making both me and Abbie feel like we are back at home. Hopefully we can turn this one win into a streak with solid play in our upcoming games at Wellesely on Wednesday and against Clark on Saturday. In the mean time, the team continues to find different ways to occupy our time and still make it to Chase on a fairly empty campus until classes resume on the 25^th.