Hi All,
As I sit in my dorm room and type on my computer for the final time this semester, I would like to take a few moments to reflect on the past academic year. I just completed my freshman year of college, two semesters that seemed to fly by, and experienced a great deal of new and exciting things.
I learned a lot, made a lot of new friends, went to a great deal of Penn State football games (including when I flew out to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl), saw the Penn State Men’s Basketball team win on numerous come from behind occasions and buzzer beaters, went to Madison Square Garden (twice) to see Penn State be crowned champions of the National Invitational Tournament, participated in the largest student run philanthropic effort in the world (THON – a 46 hour straight no sitting, no sleeping dance marathon which raised $7.49 million for pediatric cancer research), saw Sarah Palin speak, shook Bill Clinton’s hand, listened to Madeline Albright, started throwing in field events, competed in field events in Myrtle Beach (and will compete in Oklahoma in June in field events and handcycling), played Wheelchair Basketball on a team for the first time, and improved my skiing greatly.
That is a great way to live life – take the lemons that life gives you and make some delicious lemonade. I would have never done a quarter of the aforementioned things had I not followed the above philosophy.
I think I took advantage of almost everything college could throw my way. I hope that I have half of the great opportunities again when I return to Happy Valley in the fall.
College is truly a great thing – not just for the academics, but for all the opportunities and challenges it presents you with. It prepares you for the game of life.
I challenge all of you to take advantage of the opportunities that life throws your way and see how far you can go.
- Tracker
---------------------------------------------
“Many of life’s failures are people who had not realized how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas A Edison
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Quick Update
Hi All,
It has been steamy out here in Happy Valley over the past few days! I am very happy that my dorm is one of the few that has air conditioning!
This weekend, we had our annual Blue & White Weekend where the athletic department hosted a carnival, football scrimmage, and other events. It was a great weekend and very nice to walk into Beaver Stadium for the first time this semester.
I found out that I got 1st Place in the discus and javelin and 2nd Place in the shot put down at Myrtle Beach. I am very satisfied with that as I was not expecting to place at all!
I also found out that I am going to the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma in June for field events as well as a handcycling race! I am looking forward to that!
Finals week is next week here at Penn State, so we are all starting to buckle down and start studying for our many exams! I have two final exams in class on Thursday and Friday, one exam on Monday, and an exam on Tuesday. I hope I do well!
I also have a home field meet on Tuesday after my exam, so after that meet I will officially be a sophomore! It is hard to believe that a quarter of my college career is over. It seems like just yesterday that I decided I was attending Penn State! It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun!
I will update you after finals week!
- Tracker
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
" You must motivate yourself EVERYDAY!" - Matthew Stasior
It has been steamy out here in Happy Valley over the past few days! I am very happy that my dorm is one of the few that has air conditioning!
This weekend, we had our annual Blue & White Weekend where the athletic department hosted a carnival, football scrimmage, and other events. It was a great weekend and very nice to walk into Beaver Stadium for the first time this semester.
I found out that I got 1st Place in the discus and javelin and 2nd Place in the shot put down at Myrtle Beach. I am very satisfied with that as I was not expecting to place at all!
I also found out that I am going to the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma in June for field events as well as a handcycling race! I am looking forward to that!
Finals week is next week here at Penn State, so we are all starting to buckle down and start studying for our many exams! I have two final exams in class on Thursday and Friday, one exam on Monday, and an exam on Tuesday. I hope I do well!
I also have a home field meet on Tuesday after my exam, so after that meet I will officially be a sophomore! It is hard to believe that a quarter of my college career is over. It seems like just yesterday that I decided I was attending Penn State! It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun!
I will update you after finals week!
- Tracker
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
" You must motivate yourself EVERYDAY!" - Matthew Stasior
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Southeast Wheelchair Games: Day 3
Hi All,
I am back in Happy Valley this morning after a long drive back from Myrtle Beach. We all had a great time and Maggie won all of her heats easily yesterday.
I made a short video of our competition from all the pictures I took and posted it below:
I hope you all have a great week and will post soon!
- Tracker
----------------------------------------------
"Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer." - Marcia Wieder
I am back in Happy Valley this morning after a long drive back from Myrtle Beach. We all had a great time and Maggie won all of her heats easily yesterday.
I made a short video of our competition from all the pictures I took and posted it below:
I hope you all have a great week and will post soon!
- Tracker
----------------------------------------------
"Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer." - Marcia Wieder
Friday, April 17, 2009
Southeast Wheelchair Games: Day 2
Hi All,
Tonight is our last night before we leave Myrtle Beach. We had a great time at our competitions today and I met a lot of really cool people. Before I tell you about the people I met, I'll tell you how our team did.
I threw the shotput, javelin, and discus today. Because I was expecting to be in a lower class, 32 (not 57), I was forced to throw a shotput that was one kilogram heavier than what I was practicing with. (A 4K instead of a 3K). Despite that setback, my best mark was only .08 meters off from my average 3K mark. My mark for that was 3.84 meters. All things considered, I have to be satisfied with that!
Our javelin that we were practicing with was an old model and was deemed "illegal" because the balance point was too far back. It was not my best javelin day, but I managed a mark around 11 meters.
I probably threw the discus farther than I ever have before - it was a good time to peak! My best discus throw was around 11 and a half meters!
My two teammates that threw, Rohan and Jake, all did very well. Both of them should medal in their respective categories! The more exciting thing for both of them today was the powerlifting competition. Jake's best was 315 pounds (a US Record for his weight class) and Rohan set the American Record (North and South America) with a lift of 350 pounds!
Tomorrow, Maggie will race in a series of track heats and she are already pumped for that.
I met a lot of cool people today like Scott Winkler, one of the Paralympic Athletes that was injured in Iraq who competes in shotput and discus. Scott has a great sense of humor and truly enjoys life! He gave us pointers on how to improve our throwing and hung out with us for the whole day. We also met a Paralympic athlete named Orlando Perez, a Puerto Rican Wheelchair Basketball player, who had a great time. He was enjoying everything and tried throwing everything and powerlifting for he first time just for the fun of it! I also had dinner with Lance Landback, the two time gold medal Paralympic swimmer. He was pretty cool, too.
One of the many things I love about the Paralympics is the unity it has among all athletes - it does not matter how good you are, the Paralympic athletes want to mentor you to your own definition of success. We would not have athletes like Scott Winkler, Orlando Perez, Lance Landback, or Maggie Redden (one of the Penn State athletes) come to an event like this if we were able bodied. They would be too busy training for their own, higher level meets instead of coming out to give us a hand.
Tonight, we had dinner with Orlando, Lance, and a few people that we had never met before. We talked about everything from track and field to skiing to how bad the karaoke singing in the restaurant was. It was a great experience!
I will upload pictures tomorrow and update you on how Maggie does!
- Tracker
--------------------------------------
"It's not what you can't do....it's what you CAN do!" - Anonymous
Tonight is our last night before we leave Myrtle Beach. We had a great time at our competitions today and I met a lot of really cool people. Before I tell you about the people I met, I'll tell you how our team did.
I threw the shotput, javelin, and discus today. Because I was expecting to be in a lower class, 32 (not 57), I was forced to throw a shotput that was one kilogram heavier than what I was practicing with. (A 4K instead of a 3K). Despite that setback, my best mark was only .08 meters off from my average 3K mark. My mark for that was 3.84 meters. All things considered, I have to be satisfied with that!
Our javelin that we were practicing with was an old model and was deemed "illegal" because the balance point was too far back. It was not my best javelin day, but I managed a mark around 11 meters.
I probably threw the discus farther than I ever have before - it was a good time to peak! My best discus throw was around 11 and a half meters!
My two teammates that threw, Rohan and Jake, all did very well. Both of them should medal in their respective categories! The more exciting thing for both of them today was the powerlifting competition. Jake's best was 315 pounds (a US Record for his weight class) and Rohan set the American Record (North and South America) with a lift of 350 pounds!
Tomorrow, Maggie will race in a series of track heats and she are already pumped for that.
I met a lot of cool people today like Scott Winkler, one of the Paralympic Athletes that was injured in Iraq who competes in shotput and discus. Scott has a great sense of humor and truly enjoys life! He gave us pointers on how to improve our throwing and hung out with us for the whole day. We also met a Paralympic athlete named Orlando Perez, a Puerto Rican Wheelchair Basketball player, who had a great time. He was enjoying everything and tried throwing everything and powerlifting for he first time just for the fun of it! I also had dinner with Lance Landback, the two time gold medal Paralympic swimmer. He was pretty cool, too.
One of the many things I love about the Paralympics is the unity it has among all athletes - it does not matter how good you are, the Paralympic athletes want to mentor you to your own definition of success. We would not have athletes like Scott Winkler, Orlando Perez, Lance Landback, or Maggie Redden (one of the Penn State athletes) come to an event like this if we were able bodied. They would be too busy training for their own, higher level meets instead of coming out to give us a hand.
Tonight, we had dinner with Orlando, Lance, and a few people that we had never met before. We talked about everything from track and field to skiing to how bad the karaoke singing in the restaurant was. It was a great experience!
I will upload pictures tomorrow and update you on how Maggie does!
- Tracker
--------------------------------------
"It's not what you can't do....it's what you CAN do!" - Anonymous
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Southeast Wheelchair Games: Day 1
Hi All,
I am writing from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the Penn State Ability Athletic Team's suite on the 18th floor of a hotel on the beach with a balcony that has a view of the vast Atlantic Ocean.
This is my first time traveling on a trip to a competition and staying overnight and I must say that it is a great experience. We left Happy Valley yesterday at around 4:00 PM and drove a little less than half way before we stopped in Richmond, VA for a bit of a rest. This morning, we drove the final five and a half hours before arriving at Myrtle Beach. It was a very tight squeeze in the van as we had five people, five suitcases, a few backpacks, two wheelchairs, two throwing chairs, and a racing wheelchair.
When I got here, we registered for the competition right away and myself and another new athlete, Jake, had to be classified. Jake's classification was pretty cut and dry because his is an above the knee amputee without any other complications and he was very happy with his classification.
I was classified in a much higher category than I expected (about 15 to 20 classes higher) and tried to appeal it. When I went back down tonight, they were able to move me down one level. They said that my disability, Arthrogryposis, has symtoms that are all over the place and I was very hard to classify. This means that I will have to throw a heavier shotput than I was practicing with and that I will have much stiffer competition than I would have had if I got into the lower class.
Tomorrow, we have our throwing competition at 9:00 AM at a local high school. Myself, Jake, and a double amputee, Rohan, are throwing the javelin, shotput, and discus. Then, tomorrow night Jake and Rohan have a powerlifting competition. On Saturday morning, our final athlete, Maggie, has a series of wheelchair races to participate in.
I will update my blog tomorrow night to let you all know how we do representing the Nittany Lions!
- Tracker
---------------------------------------------------
"We all have our own little quirks. Some of our quirks are just more visible than others." - Anonymous
I am writing from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the Penn State Ability Athletic Team's suite on the 18th floor of a hotel on the beach with a balcony that has a view of the vast Atlantic Ocean.
This is my first time traveling on a trip to a competition and staying overnight and I must say that it is a great experience. We left Happy Valley yesterday at around 4:00 PM and drove a little less than half way before we stopped in Richmond, VA for a bit of a rest. This morning, we drove the final five and a half hours before arriving at Myrtle Beach. It was a very tight squeeze in the van as we had five people, five suitcases, a few backpacks, two wheelchairs, two throwing chairs, and a racing wheelchair.
When I got here, we registered for the competition right away and myself and another new athlete, Jake, had to be classified. Jake's classification was pretty cut and dry because his is an above the knee amputee without any other complications and he was very happy with his classification.
I was classified in a much higher category than I expected (about 15 to 20 classes higher) and tried to appeal it. When I went back down tonight, they were able to move me down one level. They said that my disability, Arthrogryposis, has symtoms that are all over the place and I was very hard to classify. This means that I will have to throw a heavier shotput than I was practicing with and that I will have much stiffer competition than I would have had if I got into the lower class.
Tomorrow, we have our throwing competition at 9:00 AM at a local high school. Myself, Jake, and a double amputee, Rohan, are throwing the javelin, shotput, and discus. Then, tomorrow night Jake and Rohan have a powerlifting competition. On Saturday morning, our final athlete, Maggie, has a series of wheelchair races to participate in.
I will update my blog tomorrow night to let you all know how we do representing the Nittany Lions!
- Tracker
---------------------------------------------------
"We all have our own little quirks. Some of our quirks are just more visible than others." - Anonymous
Friday, April 10, 2009
My First Track and Field Meet
Hi All,
I am very excited. On Wednesday afternoon, the Penn State Ability Athletics team departs from Happy Valley on a 12 hour drive to Myrtle Beach. This is our biggest meet of the year and I can't wait to get down there.
I will be throwing the javelin, shotput, and discus for this meet. Some of our athletes will be wheelchair racing and weight lifting as well. It should be a fun time had by all!
I will update you when I get back!
Happy Easter and Passover!
- Tracker
---------------------------------------
"Just do it!" - Nike
I am very excited. On Wednesday afternoon, the Penn State Ability Athletics team departs from Happy Valley on a 12 hour drive to Myrtle Beach. This is our biggest meet of the year and I can't wait to get down there.
I will be throwing the javelin, shotput, and discus for this meet. Some of our athletes will be wheelchair racing and weight lifting as well. It should be a fun time had by all!
I will update you when I get back!
Happy Easter and Passover!
- Tracker
---------------------------------------
"Just do it!" - Nike
Sunday, April 5, 2009
WE ARE....NIT CHAMPS!
Hi All,
What a week here in Happy Valley. The Penn State Men's Basketball Team won the first championship of a national tournament in program history. While it was not the NCAA, the NIT still gives students a team to rally behind.
On Tuesday, our team headed to Madison Square Garden to play Notre Dame. Over sixteen busloads of students (myself included) made the five hour voyage from State College to New York City to watch Penn State beat the Irish! We were all excited after we won!
On Thursday, our competition was a bit stiffer. Over 36 busloads of students (myself included again) made the trip to Madison Square Garden to watch Penn State knock off Baylor in a come from behind 69-63 victory to win the NIT Championship! It was such a great experience to watch my team hoist a trophy and cut down the nets in the mecca of all sports, Madison Square Garden!
On top of that, the #40 recruited player for 2010, Taran Buie, brother of our co-captain, Taylor Battle, committed to Penn State after we clinched the NIT championship! We are so excited for what our program may become - Penn State will always be a football school, but basketball is definitely on the rise!
As far as my life is going, I am in the middle of the final stretch of tests before a break before finals week. I have been averaging three to four tests a week and can't wait for the summer to have the burden of school lifted off of my shoulders. College is fun, but is also a lot of work. It is all about maintaining that balance of work and fun - I had my fun last week with Penn State winning the NIT and now it is time to start buckling down for the home stretch of my freshman year!
- Tracker
------------------------------------------------------------
"Numbers, you can beat numbers sometimes. Records can be broken, but legacies, they live forever, and that's what I want to leave with." -- Jamelle Cornley (Penn State Forward; Senior)
What a week here in Happy Valley. The Penn State Men's Basketball Team won the first championship of a national tournament in program history. While it was not the NCAA, the NIT still gives students a team to rally behind.
On Tuesday, our team headed to Madison Square Garden to play Notre Dame. Over sixteen busloads of students (myself included) made the five hour voyage from State College to New York City to watch Penn State beat the Irish! We were all excited after we won!
On Thursday, our competition was a bit stiffer. Over 36 busloads of students (myself included again) made the trip to Madison Square Garden to watch Penn State knock off Baylor in a come from behind 69-63 victory to win the NIT Championship! It was such a great experience to watch my team hoist a trophy and cut down the nets in the mecca of all sports, Madison Square Garden!
On top of that, the #40 recruited player for 2010, Taran Buie, brother of our co-captain, Taylor Battle, committed to Penn State after we clinched the NIT championship! We are so excited for what our program may become - Penn State will always be a football school, but basketball is definitely on the rise!
As far as my life is going, I am in the middle of the final stretch of tests before a break before finals week. I have been averaging three to four tests a week and can't wait for the summer to have the burden of school lifted off of my shoulders. College is fun, but is also a lot of work. It is all about maintaining that balance of work and fun - I had my fun last week with Penn State winning the NIT and now it is time to start buckling down for the home stretch of my freshman year!
- Tracker
------------------------------------------------------------
"Numbers, you can beat numbers sometimes. Records can be broken, but legacies, they live forever, and that's what I want to leave with." -- Jamelle Cornley (Penn State Forward; Senior)
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