"Courtside" with Effran Bryant

Who can believe it? The time has come for the 2009-10 basketball season to get started. After seeing all the support from the student body and the Stephenville community the other night at Midnight Madness, I know this is going to be a very exciting year for this basketball team.

The crowd brought so much excitement to Wisdom Gym on Wednesday night. The Sound and the Fury marching band was in attendance keeping the noise to extreme levels. With every dunk and shot made the crowd went crazy. I just know with support like that, the wins will come so much easier in our schedule.

The way they changed up the structure of Midnight Madness this year was both fun and humorous. It was the first time we have ever had a little competition between the Texans and TexAnns. Sonya Sundberg and I competed in an old-fashioned, three-point contest. The audience got behind both of us, but what can I say, she got the best of me on that one.

I am happy the fans finally got to see firsthand the new transfers and freshmen the coaching staff brought in for this season. I am very excited to know the intelligence and enthusiasm these newcomers have brought meet the standards and pride of the returning nucleus from the 2008-09 basketball team. And with the experience of our coaching staff, this could be one of those special years at Tarleton State.

Coach Chris Reisman and Coach Jabarr Adams have worked very hard with us this preseason. The coaching staff changed a lot of things this year because of school starting later in August. We have showed in the first couple of practices that we were more than ready to start Coach Reisman’s two weeks of basketball boot camp. All the credit - and I must not lie here – goes to working with Coach Rod Cole in the weight room. That has helped all the players change their body structure and become better athletes in the strength department.

October is almost gone and November 17th isn’t that far away, but we still have a lot of work to do before we start worrying about the season and home opener against Dallas Baptist.

More next time…

"Courtside" with Sonya Sundberg

Well, Midnight Madness has come and gone. Last night we kicked off the season with… a little dancing... and of course some basketball as well. We spent the day preparing for what we were going to do when we came out and that is what we came up with. If you weren’t there, we came out in two's and met in the middle and did a little dance routine with our partners, then with two groups on the opposite side we came together doing the Remember the Titans walk. It was a blast and just proved even more to me how fun this year is going to be. Our team chemistry is great and just continues to grow every day. After a little fun dancing we were introduced and played a little 5 on 5 scrimmage. The guys took the court and we cheered them on as they dunked and danced.

After the guys were introduced and they scrimmaged, we had a special event for the first time ever, a three point contest between the Texans and TexAnns. One member from each team was chosen to represent the team. There were fifteen balls each, five balls on each rack with the last ball being the money ball. Effran Bryant shot for the Texans and I shot for the TexAnns. I got the pleasure of going first and made seven. Poor Effran was having a bad shooting night and came up just short. It was a lot of fun and hopefully will continue to be a tradition that is passed on throughout Midnight Madness.

With Midnight Madness ending around one in the morning we woke up about 5 hours later and had our first practice this morning. It was great to get the entire team out there working together for the first time this season. We are really going to be something special this year if we continue to work hard!


Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us at Midnight Madness! We appreciate you all so much and can’t wait for the first exhibition game to get here November 10!

Go TexAnns!
Sonya

"At the Net" - with Shay Gracy

WE WON!! WE WON!! WE WON!!! It is such a great feeling, being able to walk away with a win and know that we earned it!!! As you can see, we won Saturday against Southwestern Oklahoma!! We beat them in 3 sets!! We played hard and never let down!!! The atmosphere on the court was awesome!! Everyone was talking and having fun!! Like I stated earlier we made a pact to talk and hold each other accountable, and I think it worked. We are 2-2 in conference now, and still have a long season in front of us!! Saturday's win was what we needed!! It got our confidence back up and refreshed our memory of what it feels like to walk away with a win!!!!

We have practice this week before we travel to Topeka, Kansas!! The practices this week are very crucial and we need to be in tip-top shape when we compete in Kansas. I know we can do it - we just have TO do it!! We will be facing two teams that we have played and did not walk away with the win!! This time it’s going to be different!! We have come along way and we are a better team now!!!

Outside of the volleyball court, school has been a little stressful for everyone!! We have been traveling a lot and trying to stay on top of our work, but it can be difficult at times!! Therefore, whenever we have any free time it turns into study time!! Which of course, its not a bad thing!!!

Thanks for all the support from everyone!!!


Shay