The Official Blog of OC Athletics
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
In this podcast, OC women’s basketball coach Stephanie Findley discusses the prospects for the Lady Eagles as the 2007-08 basketball season approaches.
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Monday, October 08, 2007
Well, basketball practice is in full swing, but, like baseball, we’ve had our own hardships finding a place to hold our workouts. It’s been almost 100 days since we lost one of the goals on the main playing floor in the Eagles’ Nest. Oh, you haven’t heard? One of our basketball goals crashed to the floor in July and we are still waiting on a replacement. We’ve really been working hard on our half-court defense in anticipation of playing our home games on one end of the court! We wouldn’t have to worry about fast breaks or presses at home, but that could hinder us on the road. But seriously, the goals are due to be installed in a little over a week (they’re both being replaced). In the meantime, we’ve been practicing in the rec gym and over at Memorial Road Church of Christ when we’ve needed to work on a full court.
We have already started some of our community service projects. This past weekend, we participated in the Oklahoma Christian Academy/American Cancer Society Relay for Life. I am amazed at the effort it takes to organize this event, and it is done totally by a great group of high school kids from Oklahoma Christian Academy. They plan it from beginning to end and then start again on the next year. It is so much fun to watch them plan, organize, implement, problem solve, sell, communicate, lead, and work as a team to accomplish such a worthy goal - and yet they can’t clean their rooms at home! The transformation is unbelievable. I am always encouraged by this event as I see cancer survivors and hear their stories ... and as I see the teamwork involved in walking to raise money. It is a wonderful time of fellowship, fun, and making a difference. I would encourage all campus groups to get involved next year. It is a time of bonding as a team while making a difference - just as those transformed teenage kids from OCA are doing!
Coach Stephanie Findley
Sunday, October 07, 2007
OC Baseball Fans,
If you happen to drive by our field this week, you’ll see that our grass is really taking off and is very green. I mowed the infield for the first time by hand and it really looks good. It is still a bit bumpy, as is the case with new sod, but we have Martin Lane scheduled to come in on October 15th to top dress the new grass with sand to smooth out the surface.
I delivered our final dugout plans to the contractor on Friday and we hope to be starting their construction in the near future. Mike Hancock has graciously agreed to assist us with the construction of the dugouts and a concrete wall at the base of the backstop that will extend from dugout to dugout.
I also met with baseball alumnus Jackson Greene, a local fence contractor, and he and I will team up on the design and construction of the outfield fencing. The outfield fence will have that old ballpark appearance and feel of vertical wood slats with a small gap between the boards. It reminds me of the early baseball stories from major league parks where they recalled small boys who would stand on the outside of the outfield fence and watch the game through the gaps in the fencing; they called them the “Knot Hole Gang.” The boys would watch and wait with anticipation until a player hit a home run and then would chase the ball down when it came over the fence.
The team had a six-inning intrasquad scrimmage on Friday, our first since our scrimmage against Northern Oklahoma College. I was encouraged by our hitting. I feel like our pitchers also are improving, but I thought they threw far too many pitches. We need our pitchers to be more aggressive early in the count and get ahead of the hitters. I like our aggressiveness on the bases and the overall team speed. We plan on scrimmaging again on Monday and finishing up practice on Thursday before we break for fall break. Please check back again with us next week as we continue to update our progress on our team and facility.
Take care and God bless,
Chuck White