Your Vote Matters

By: Aimee Adams

With the presidential election right around the corner, college campuses across the US are urging students to vote. What is the deciding factor for most college students’ votes; are they taking their vote seriously?

Beringia Zen, a Religious Studies teacher at Avila University, asked her Catholicism class, “How many of you are voting?” Nearly every hand in the class shot up. Zen proceeded to ask, “How many of you think your vote counts?” Five fingers is more than enough, to count the number of students who left their hands raised.

If students believe their votes’ don’t count, then why are they voting? Keiana Moyer, a junior at Avila University, said, “I’m voting for the candidate that is going to keep me in school.” Moyer was referring to governmental financial aid. When asked if Moyer believed her vote counted she said, “I don’t think my vote alone counts; no.”

Brittanie Grado, a Mizzou graduate, said her vote along with every individual’s vote, absolutely counts, “If it didn’t matter I wouldn’t bother.” When asked if students should vote even if they aren’t fully informed on the election, Grado said yes and further explained to say, “People have some sort of opinion based on a belief if they are actually considering to vote.”

Shelby Fletcher, also a junior at Avila University said, “I’m voting for Obama.” When asked if she followed the election closely, Fletcher replied she had not.

Curtis Churchman, a sophomore at Avila University said, “Yeah, I’m voting for Romney because Obama had his time.”

For a majority of college students, their votes are decided by word-of-mouth opinion, or whom their parents vote for. To some, a blind vote is worse than not voting at all. If students came to the realization that their vote matters, blind voting could be prevented.  One vote might not count, but one vote from everyone does count.  

Voting is a privilege that many individuals don’t have. Grado said, “I feel like it’s my duty to vote because there are people who have sacrificed their lives to make this country what it is and it would be a dishonor to them if I didn’t.” College students need to know that their vote does matter. If they believed that their vote could make a difference, there might be a lot less blind voting and a lot more well informed voters. 

Social Media- The Outside World’s Inside Scoop

By: Aimee Adams

On September 24, 2012, Brandon Redmond, a member of the Avila University Men’s Basketball team, tweeted about getting suspended from the team, along with Bopp Churchman and Justin Reed. Redmond unleashed some serious frustration via twitter. These outbursts caused an outbreak of rumors amongst the Avila Campus.

            With Eagle Madness right around the corner, Redmond’s tweets had Keiana Moyer (a member of the Avila University Glitter Girls Dance team) anxiously searching for a new dance partner. Every Year at Eagle Madness, the Avila University Glitter Girls perform a guy girl dance.  Each girl from the team is required to dance with a student-athlete. After reading Redmond’s tweets, Moyer knew her coach, Cindy Freeman wouldn’t allow her to dance with Redmond, assuming he was no longer an athlete at Avila.

            Two days after the tweets were written, Redmond, Churchman, and Reed had an official meeting with head basketball coach, Rodney Perry. Perry discussed the player’s actions, which led to their recent suspension. At the end of the meeting Perry withdrew the punishment and allowed the players to keep their place on the team.

            Shortly after the meeting, Redmond deleted the tweets from his twitter account. However, the deletion of the tweets didn’t delete the uproar they caused.

Darrian Miller (former KU running back)

            The popularization of social media has affected Sports teams across the board.  The Kansas University Football team was banned from using all social networking sites in 2011. Darrian Miller, former running back for the KU football team explained the reason the team was banned from using social networking sites was because a player got injured at practice and immediately began tweeting about it. Tuner Gill, the 2010-2011 head football coach believed social networks were a distraction to the team and an unnecessary source of team information open to the pubic. Because of these beliefs, Gill banned all team members from using any kind of social networking sites. The players were less than pleased with Gill’s decision; “I don’t believe it benefitted us in any way. It brought more attention to the team not having it than when we did have it,” Said Miller.

            The universalization of Social Media has caused as many upheavals as it has praises in the sports world.  When the world has the resources to read one’s every move, it can be good or bad. In the case of the Avila Basketball team and the KU football team, social media did more harm than good.

"My Day Off" Workout

By: Aimee Adams

Kaleigh Sheridan-left Rosemary Virgoni- Right at Thursday Workouts    

According to about.com, “The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes.”

Being fatigued and overworked is anticipated from a majority of student-athletes. Rosemary Virgoni, member of the Avila University Glitter Girls Dance Team, said, “I expect the high physical demands that come along with being a collegiate athlete.” This expected work ethic might just be what is driving athletes to a poor performance. Virgoni said, “Last year before Nationals I got mono because my body was so fatigued that practice was doing more harm than good.”

If coaches gave athletes appropriate rest days between workouts and practices, more athletes would be capable of performing at peak ability on game days. Rather than giving athletes that day off, coaches assign a “day off workout.”

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Avila Glitter Girls Dance Team members participate in mandatory workouts. The team has regular practice: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays (along with games on Saturdays.)  Kaleigh Sheridan, also a member of the Avila University Glitter Girls, said, “I don’t mind all of the working out, but it does get really stressful towards nationals.” Sheridan and Virgoni joked around trying to mimic their “zombie-like” performance during the 2012 UDA Nationals Competition. The saying, “fight through the fatigue” should not be the pre-game huddle speech coaches are giving, but too often, it is.

The overworked athlete isn’t discriminatory to one sport; this happens among the majority of Avila Athletics. Bopp Churchman, a member of the Avila University Basketball team and Courtney Morgan, member of the Avila University Softball team, both said they have practice the day before a game. Morgan said, “Honestly, the practices before a game are so light they’re pointless.” Most athletes would appreciate having a night off to de-stress and rest before a big game. However most coaches cram in a last-second practice that prevents students from completing previous responsibilities, keeping them awake when sleep is most crucial for them.

According to huffingtonpost.com a good nights sleep improves memory, curbs inflammation, sharpens attention, helps maintain a healthy weight, lowers stress, and prevents depression. A Stanford University study found that college football players who tried to sleep at least 10 hours a night for seven to eight weeks improved their average sprint time and had less daytime fatigue and more stamina.

The benefits of a day off and a good night sleep is a necessity very few student-athletes get to experience. If coaches really had their athletes’ best interest at heart, a day off would be top priority.