Eleven
The Wade Level
Quick report from the first Fall Chalk Talk.
For those that weren't at the Chalk Talk, you should try to make plans to be at the next one if you can. It was well worth the inconvenience of having to get to MCL Cafeteria Banquet room at 12pm Noon. I DO wish that these were back around downtown (Clabber Girl, Dede, Hulman Center, etc.)...
$15 for lunch buffet and a wait staff to fill drinks.
Darian Westerfield MC'd theevent.
3 coaches were invited to give some team assessments for the season so far. All 3 coaches spoke very well and had a fantastic positive outlook for where they are currently, and what the conference season had in store for them. As of now, all 3 sports are off to the best start for well over 10 years.
Erika True (link) - Women's Soccer
The Sycamores started their season 0-2. Losing the two games by a total of 2 goals (including to the dreaded BSU - or ISU-Muncie). They have since rolled off 5 consecutive wins (school record is 6) including 2 double over-time victories. The Sycamores have had two MVC Defensive Player of the Week winners already this year.
The team is still very young (14 freshmen) and 1 senior. Coach True is looking forward to seeing some of the freshmen begin to contribute to the team this season.
The Sycamore Soccer team is an outstanding group of students as well. Coach True has a lot of good things going in the program, including getting the players involved in promotion of ISU, women's soccer and community involvement. Here is an example of the type of attitude and character that the team has:
Student Athlete Journal - Sycamore Snippet (Link)
Traci Dahl (Link)- Women's Volleyball
Coach Dahl was beaming with pride for her Sycamore Volleyballers... This year's team has performed in 3 invitational tournaments going 3-1 for second, 2-1 for second and last week earning their first tournament win going 2-1 in Akron, Ohio. Their record currently stands at 7-5.
Coach Dahl's team is also very young - having only 1 Senior.. and coach Dahl had nothing but praise for 2 Sycamores in particular. Morgan Dall and Kiya James have stepped up to lead the Sycamores in statistics as well as court presence.
Trent Miles (Link) - Men's Football
Coach Miles was as charismatic as ever... even while having a "back injury" he suffered while playing "pony" for his daughter the night before. (ok, it was just sore..)
The coach summed the team up with these simple words: We are a better team.
Coach's attitude was overwhelmingly positive... stressing that the coaching staff has moved from teaching the players how to compete with other teams, to teaching the Sycamores how to WIN.
As everyone knows, this is a young Sycamore team as well. The entire football team sports 8 seniors.... however, this is no longer an "inexperienced" team. Many of the sophomores and juniors had to start as freshmen, so they have a couple years experience already - and now they have some size as well.
Coach was relieved to be able to talk about football at this talk, instead of trying to put a positive face on and talk about the quality of players that they have trying to learn the system. He still has quality students (and people)... it was just nice for him to be able to be excited about talking about the team and how they can compete and win.
Coach is looking forward to the conference schedule this year - and says that there are no teams on the schedule that "scare them" any longer. He absolutely feels that they will compete day-in and day-out through our conference schedule. Coach had a lot of good things to say about the players, and told us that we are in for a treat watching Fouch and Shakir Bell for a couple more years. Fouch has the benefit of having a stronger offensive line in front of him and it will allow him to use his "pocket knowledge" to deliver the ball.
Overall:
I came away from the Chalk Talk with a positive feeling about the direction of ISU Fall Sports... and then attended the President's Fall Address and had an even better feeling about the direction of Indiana State University as a whole.
Good things ARE happening at ISU - and in Terre Haute, Ind.
For those that weren't at the Chalk Talk, you should try to make plans to be at the next one if you can. It was well worth the inconvenience of having to get to MCL Cafeteria Banquet room at 12pm Noon. I DO wish that these were back around downtown (Clabber Girl, Dede, Hulman Center, etc.)...
$15 for lunch buffet and a wait staff to fill drinks.
Darian Westerfield MC'd theevent.
3 coaches were invited to give some team assessments for the season so far. All 3 coaches spoke very well and had a fantastic positive outlook for where they are currently, and what the conference season had in store for them. As of now, all 3 sports are off to the best start for well over 10 years.
Erika True (link) - Women's Soccer
The Sycamores started their season 0-2. Losing the two games by a total of 2 goals (including to the dreaded BSU - or ISU-Muncie). They have since rolled off 5 consecutive wins (school record is 6) including 2 double over-time victories. The Sycamores have had two MVC Defensive Player of the Week winners already this year.
The team is still very young (14 freshmen) and 1 senior. Coach True is looking forward to seeing some of the freshmen begin to contribute to the team this season.
The Sycamore Soccer team is an outstanding group of students as well. Coach True has a lot of good things going in the program, including getting the players involved in promotion of ISU, women's soccer and community involvement. Here is an example of the type of attitude and character that the team has:
Student Athlete Journal - Sycamore Snippet (Link)
Morgan Wendlandt - Sycamore Soccer said:
Traci Dahl (Link)- Women's Volleyball
Coach Dahl was beaming with pride for her Sycamore Volleyballers... This year's team has performed in 3 invitational tournaments going 3-1 for second, 2-1 for second and last week earning their first tournament win going 2-1 in Akron, Ohio. Their record currently stands at 7-5.
Coach Dahl's team is also very young - having only 1 Senior.. and coach Dahl had nothing but praise for 2 Sycamores in particular. Morgan Dall and Kiya James have stepped up to lead the Sycamores in statistics as well as court presence.
Trent Miles (Link) - Men's Football
Coach Miles was as charismatic as ever... even while having a "back injury" he suffered while playing "pony" for his daughter the night before. (ok, it was just sore..)
The coach summed the team up with these simple words: We are a better team.
Coach's attitude was overwhelmingly positive... stressing that the coaching staff has moved from teaching the players how to compete with other teams, to teaching the Sycamores how to WIN.
As everyone knows, this is a young Sycamore team as well. The entire football team sports 8 seniors.... however, this is no longer an "inexperienced" team. Many of the sophomores and juniors had to start as freshmen, so they have a couple years experience already - and now they have some size as well.
Coach was relieved to be able to talk about football at this talk, instead of trying to put a positive face on and talk about the quality of players that they have trying to learn the system. He still has quality students (and people)... it was just nice for him to be able to be excited about talking about the team and how they can compete and win.
Coach is looking forward to the conference schedule this year - and says that there are no teams on the schedule that "scare them" any longer. He absolutely feels that they will compete day-in and day-out through our conference schedule. Coach had a lot of good things to say about the players, and told us that we are in for a treat watching Fouch and Shakir Bell for a couple more years. Fouch has the benefit of having a stronger offensive line in front of him and it will allow him to use his "pocket knowledge" to deliver the ball.
Overall:
I came away from the Chalk Talk with a positive feeling about the direction of ISU Fall Sports... and then attended the President's Fall Address and had an even better feeling about the direction of Indiana State University as a whole.
Good things ARE happening at ISU - and in Terre Haute, Ind.
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Go Sycamores!