Archives: Lynn
How My Role Has Changed
Every year since I’ve started with the program my role has changed, whether it be a little or a lot. My sophmore year I was only responsible for the other managers and team equipment. My junior year I added film edits, and well this year my role has changed tremendously.
I am helping with setting up our shootarounds for our overnight conference games, I am getting more involved in drills, I am in charge of our new laptop and learning all the ins and outs to it and the programs we use on it, including a new film edit software, film exchange website, and play drawing software.
Coach Alarcon and I joke that I have five titles: Head Manager, Video Coordinator, Director of Basketball Operations, Student Assistant, and Intern. I love doing all this because I know this is the best experience a 21 year old can get. If I was at a bigger program, I might not get as much experience, this is part of why Lynn is such a great place to be.
I’m doing so much and learning so much that next year I’ll be able to contribute no matter where I go. Looking back, I don’t know if there would have been a better college for me to go to. I have made a mark on the school that won’t be forgotten. I helped start a fraternity on campus, I worked my ass of in the athletic department, I was the first Freshman Class representative in SGA, and just been a leader.
I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I just can’t help it. I’ve used my work ethic to work my way to the top of Lynn and I hope to work my way to the top of college athletics.
Gene
A Great Event
So tomorrow there is going to be a great event that I don’t know if people really know how great it is going to be.
It is the first ever Disablility Month Kick-Off Event at 7pm in the Green Center.
It is important for people to go, because most people stereotype those in wheelchairs or who have any kind of disability without fully knowing.
So I encourage everyone to attend.
Gene
Coaches
I’m watching the Arkansas-Alabama game on CBS and the commentator made a quote that I have found very true in my time in dealing with coaches.
“Good coaches tell their players to do something, great coaches teach their players.”
Since I’ve started working with Coach McMillin, I’ve always stated he’s a great coach, and this quote just validates that. He doesn’t just tell the players to do it, he teaches them how to do it and why they will use it. The players that absorb this are the ones who do big things. Coach Heskett did it as well, and Coach Hayes continues to do it. This is why I feel Coach Hayes is going to do big things in the coaching game.
I’ve really learned so much from every single coach that I have worked with at Lynn because they care. They take time to teach me what is being done and why. They have not been hesitant in giving me responsibility and that means a lot. I will always remember them no matter where I go in life. I owe them so much for what they have done for me.
They’ve let me get involved in film editing, film exchange, practice planning, drills, meetings, and so much more. This has helped me get ahead in my pursuit of being a coach, because now I am more prepared for what I am going to be getting into.
Gene
Another Disagreement
So I rarely criticize what the school does, because I am under the impression of it was a choice to come here and nothing is forcing somebody to stay here.
And this is a time where I disagree not with the action, but the timing. Lynn has instituted summer reading for incoming freshmen. This is understandable, but they just assigned it last week, which is a month before school starts.
Freshmen have enough to worry about when it comes to going away to college. Moving away from their parents, making new friends, meeting people from other cultures, being in a new school, etc. They don’t need to have a book thrust on them just a month before school starts. I feel it would have been more aproppriate to assign this at the beginning of the summer in order to give freshmen more time.
Now, I’m sure somebody from the school will read this and will disagree with me. And this is fine, I’m sure they had a reason for just now assigning it, but this was just my side.
Gene
Congrats to Lynn Baseball
Now I normally right about basketball or about me in general, but I want to change direction for a minute.
Yesterday, I watched the Lynn Baseball team beat Emporia State to win the NCAA Division II National Championship on tv. I was so excited that they won, not only for the players but for the coaches as well. Coach Rudy Garbalosa is not only a great coach but he is a great person. I always see him with a smile on his face when he’s walking around campus. He will shake hands with anybody who wants to, and he deserves this. So Coach Rudy, congratulations to you I am so happy for you.
Dan Wright pitched an amazing game and Tommy Kahnle did a great job closing it out. The team played great defense and had timely hits. It was great to see a good amount of Lynn fans at the game, and not just parents, but students as well.
Again, Congratulations to the Lynn Fighting Knights Baseball team on a great season and finishing it off on top of the college baseball world.
Gene
Life With No Basketball
So for about a week, I’ve been just a “normal” college student. I’ve had class then the rest of the day to myself. This is a very odd experience for me, since I normally have class then practice. The one thing I’ve found is that, I don’t like it.
Now, this is probably because I got into a routine and loved it, but this is a routine I don’t know if I could get used to. I have to have something to do, or I feel like I’m wasting valuable time. During the season, at times it may seem like I have very little personal time, but this is way too much. I prefer to have the amount that I have during the season since it means that I’ve got something important to do.
I have been able to reflect on life a little more and start planning for after this year, and I will say that I am proud of the way my parents raised me, since I have been able to plan for the future, I have found I can graduate in December, as long as I take one or two summer classes. I would then spend that second semester possibly being a volunteer with the basketball team and start really using my contacts to try to get my next step in my dream to become a coach. My advisor, Ted Curtis, has done a wonderful job with helping me make sure I have my classes in order and just being somebody I can talk to.
Well, all in all, things are good, but life with no basketball isn’t anywhere near as good as life with basketball.
Gene
Congrats
So a couple of days ago, I was walking out of class and saw Mrs. Stefanie Powers, the teacher who taught my orientation class, or back in the day FYE, and was talking to her a little bit and she told me that she nominated me for an award, but that wasn’t the biggest news.
She told me that she recently found out she was pregnant, so as I know she reads my blog. Stefanie, Congratulations! Not only from me, but from John, Charlie, and the rest of your FYE classes. We all know you will make a great mother!
Also, I would like to congratulate Luke Postorino. Soon he will be ending his Lynn career after 3 great seasons. I will miss you dearly Luke. You have been a great player, great team leader, but more importantly, a great friend. Even with the joke you, Evan, and Pete pulled on me, your still my boy!
Gene
Couldn’t Ask for a Better Friend
Wensday night, I was going through some small personal issues and my roommate since freshman year, Anthony Ruggiero, noticed after I sent a small text message. He asked what was going on and I told him, and he didn’t hesitate and put things in perspective and started making jokes, immediatly bringing a smile to my face. He told me to check my email when I got back, so I did, and one was absolutly perfect for me. I was called “So you think you are having a bad day” and it very quickly made me feel a thousand times better. The other one was just full of interesting and funny facts. All this really made me realize that as much as I make fun of him for being lazy or stupid, I couldn’t have asked for a better roommate or friend.
He and I have had so many funny memories and he is somebody that I will always be ther for anything he needs. Everybody should have their own Anthony Ruggiero.
Gene
Mono
So this past Friday, I woke up and scratched my neck and realized something wasn’t right. I felt the right side of my neck and realized my lymph node was swollen. I went to the nurse and she gave me earth shattering advice on what to do, go see a doctor. I went on our road trip to St. Leo, and when we got on the bus, I was burning up while everybody else was cold.
The day we got back, I went to a walk-in clinic at a local CVS and asked the nurse for a mono test just to be on the safe side. So she reads the directions then administers the blood test. She tells me its positive, that I’ve come in contact with it, but doesn’t seem very sure about it. That afternoon my mom called my cousin who is a pulmanoligist in Miami to get me an appointment to figure out if I really do have it and what we need to do from there.
The next morning, I went to Coach’s office and told him what was going on and he told me to stay away from the team for a little bit until we know what is going on. I didn’t realize how bored I would get. I got into such a routine of going to practice that not going is almost driving me insane. I’m debating about going to the game tonight because I feel like I’ll just start trying to work. I’m hoping that my cousin tells me I just need an antibiotic or something so I can go back to practices.
Man, mono sucks. Well, back to laying in bed.
Gene
My Thoughts On J-Term
So, this year, Lynn introduced J-Term, it is a two and a half week semester where we take one class that is more innovative then regular semester classes. I think it was a really good idea, but I was talking to a couple friends the other night and have some changes.
First, it was supposed to be seniors got first choice, then down the line, but with trips, it was first come first serve. Trips were being filled before registration started. Also, I feel that there could have been classes more designed towards the real world. As much as I love the Reflections on Pinstripes class I’m in (yes, its all about the Yankees), I think I could use my time more wisely. I could be learning more from our coaches and getting more training so I’m better prepared for the coaching profession.
Had I really thought about what I was going to take for J-Term, I would have done an internship because it would have been less class work for me to do, and allow me more free time with my friends.
J-Term is great, because it brought my friends back early and allows for more fans at our games than we would have had. Talking with Duck (our Head Athletic Trainer) it means that some of the spring sports will start up earlier.
