Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Shorter College...

I am so proud of the guys' hearts!

The win vs. Shorter was a great team victory. We basically played without two of our starters for the second half. Mix was not feeling well and had missed some practices and did not play and Chris got a couple quick fouls and a T early in the second and had to sit and cheer the team on from the bench. We fought back from 11 points down to come back and win to help us complete a sweep over Shorter this year. It was a huge win!


Friday, February 6, 2009

Roller Coaster


Have you ever been on a roller coaster?  I'm sure most of you have.  Some people love them and others can't stand them.  I kind of like them but usually get a little motion sickness when I ride them a lot.  If you have followed our season, which if you are reading this blog I'm guessing you have, you are probably following where I'm going with this.  I feel like we have been on a roller coaster this season.  We have had lots of ups and downs.  We play great one night and play with a lot of passion and energy and the next night it is almost like watching a different team.  We may shoot the ball great one night and then the next night it seems like we can't get anything to fall.  A quick up followed by a quick low.

One thing I have strived to attain since graduating college and entering the "real world" is balance.  I believe balance is the key to being a health person.  Balance in the physical, spiritual,  and social aspects of life.  I mentioned in a previous blog about how Kenny talked about bad things happening to everyone and that the way you handle them is what makes you different.  In sports and life there are going to be ups and downs.  It feels like our ups and downs are one after another, much like a roller coaster.  The good part of this is that we have been able to bounce back after a rough night and play well.  We have not stayed down for long.  The flip side  of that is that we have not been able to stay up very long either.  My hope is that we are able to figure out how to play at a high level at the end of our season when it counts the most.   Teams that get hot at the end of the season are the ones that do a lot of damage.  

We struggled last night vs. Southern Poly.  They are a good team and played well against us.  I was proud of Josh, Bentley and Zach last night.  When they came in they played hard.  Josh took a charge and hit a nice floater on a fast break.  Zach hit a three.  Bentley grabbed a couple of rebounds and made a free throw.  


Monday, February 2, 2009

Coach Haarlow's 100th Win

If you read my post after the AUM game you could probably sense my frustration. The first hint might have been the title "Frustrating night." I knew we needed to play with a lot more passion, energy and togetherness if we were going to beat a tough Faulkner team. Fortunately we did just that. Our guys were ready to play on Saturday. DT gave a little motivational speech to the team before the game about having the attitude of a winner, playing together, encouraging teammates, and our men responded by coming out ready to play. Our defense was much better. We forced 20 turnovers and only had 15. I'm guessing that does not happen to Faulkner very often with the kind of pressure defense they play. It was fun watching our guys compete. Bentley, Zach, and Josh made sure our bench was positive and gave us a lot of energy. Stevo had a nice two handed dunk with authority after a nice block by Lee who had some family at the game from Mississippi. Ferg and Dave also had a couple of nice rejections. Ferg led us in scoring with 23 and we also got 10 from Mixer and Crawford. It was a nice win for our guys and our program, not to mention our coach...

The win on Saturday gave Coach Haarlow his 100th win! This is Coach's seventh year as the head coach at Berry and his 100 wins are the second highest total of any Berry men's basketball coach, trailing only Larry Taylor's total of 159 over 14 seasons. Coach Haarlow said that he would celebrate the win like a wild man by saying good night to his kids, spending some time with his wife, and going to bed.

Another big challenge awaits us on Thursday. We play Southern Poly who was at the top of our conference before having to forfeit some games due to playing a player who was not eligible. They currently hold the same record as us in the SSAC at 5-6.

Kenny Herriot- Motivational Speaker

Last week we had a guest speaker at Berry College by the name of Kenny Herriot. He has a pretty amazing story. Kenny was a successful fitness trainer, boxer and manager when he suffered a freak motorcycle accident in July 2000 which left him paralysed from the waist down. He was only traveling 15 mph but hit a diesel slick and his bike came out from under him. Kenny was determined to regain his fitness and independence after the accident. He took up wheelchair racing in 2002 and in an amazingly short period he rose to the top echelons of the sport, taking all Scottish records from 400m to the marathon, and the British marathon record.

He talked about how your life can change in a heart beat and that when he says that most people automatically think about negative things happening. But your life can change for the better in a heart beat as well. Kenny has made the most of a tough situation through a positive attitude and lots of hard work. He has two quotes that he focuses on when he speaks to people...

"Bad things happen to everybody - its how you handle them that makes you different."

"Nothing slows you down like negative people."

He is currently training and about to embark on a journey across the United States from San Fransisco to New York in The Great Lemon Ride. This 3,500 mile journey is a way for Kenny to raise awareness for Alex's Lemonade Stand which is a charity that was started by a little 4 year old cancer patient named Alex back in 2000. She decided she was going to start a Lemonade stand and give the money she raised to the hospital to help kids like her. Her little lemonade stand continued to grow and others across the country and world caught on and started their own. When Alex passed away at the age of 8, she had attained her goal of raising 1 million dollars. Alex's mother also spoke to the group at Berry and shared Alex's story.

If you would like to visit Kenny's web site here is the link...

http://www.kennyherriot.co.uk/

If you would like more information on Alex's Lemonade Stand visit...

http://www.alexslemonade.org/home