Gettingto Know the Man Behind

the Mask

e saw him at football and basketball games, incitingthe participation of the crowd, but never knew who was actually behind the mask Freshman Ryan George, from Columbus, Ohio,was revealed as the manunder the costume

George took over thereigns as themascot mid-football season after the original mascot, Josh Brown, was injured in an incident involving fans ata game George, who served asa mascot inhigh school, inquired about theposition right after theaccident. George filled in as the mascot until Brown recovered and then the two alternated mascot responsibilities.

When asked about the response hegot from fans,George stated, "Some little kids are scared Some run uptome and justwant a highfive." He alsoexplained,"The students usually respond surprised and proud of me for being the mascot."George took hisresponsibilityas the mascot seriously,statinghisjob was, ". .tointeractwith thefans; to keep them entertained with the game."

The link between the Liberty nickname "Flames" andthe eagle mascot had always been ambiguous tostudents. The nicknaine "Flames"was chosen bystudentstoreflectLibertyUniversity's motto, "Knowledge Aflame". In1980, the eagle wasselected asthe official mascot because of its association with the patriotic school colors and the school name. Inrecent years, Liberty Athletics teamed up with student input andanadvertising agency to come up with alogo that tied the two together.

The Liberty Flames mascot continued to rally the crowd and bring excitement toathletic events Themenbehind the mask took turns instilling school spirit inthefans that came to support their School Q Bg Todd Mittamii ad SefaU EdfotialStaff

Ryan George changes intothe mascot costume before agame Insidethe average mascot costume, temperatures can soar up to 40 degrees above external conditions • ESPN2.com

The mascot proudly poses with LUFootball fansduring ahome game The average mascot loses 8.6 pounds per performance due totemperature conditions -ESPN2.com

Helping toenergize the fanswith both school spiritand pride,the mascot makes hisrounds during the Homecoming Parade Liberty University's 17Division 1 athleticprograms are represetned by the Eagle ESPN2.com

According toDr Edward McFarland,director ofSports Medicine and shoulder surgery at Johns Hopkins, "More than halfofallmascots have been stricken with aheat relatedinjury, forty-four percent of mascots suffer from lower back pain and almost afifthhave sustained knee injurieswhile working." ESPN2.com nee upon a time,a group ofgirls had a dream totraveloutofthe heartofVirginiaand pursue a courtbeyond theBlue Ridge Mountains.It began with a dream,asstated inthe 2004-2005

•g^JA/omen's Basketball Outlook, "This senior class'aspirations are farloftierthan winning their J^y^ggnsecutive Big South title,and the school's ninth-straight title. They want to do what no other Liberty women's team has done,and that'swin a NCAA tournament game." B j I

To no one's surprise the Lady Flames Basketball team captured their ninth straight Big South Conference Title, but thatwas justthe beginning ofthisCinderella story. After conquering the Big South, Liberty went into the Chattanooga Regional of the NCAA tournament as the 13 t h seeded team and was matched up against 4th seeded Perth State inthe first round; *

The game, played in College Park, MD, saw the team pull off the biggest upset in University history as they defeated Penn State 78-70. With this victory,Liberty became the firstbasketball team -men's or women's - inthe Big South Conference history towin an NCAAstoumament game

The team celebrated the win but looked forward to the next round,where they were once again the underdogs, matched up against 5th seeded DePaul The Lady Flames limited the nation's highest scoring team to 32% shooting from the field.Senior Katie Feenstra recorded her 49 t h double-double, scoring 29 points and gathering 13 rebounds as she led the team to itssecond tournament victory and another upseH^_#i^

A reporter for ESPN was interviewing Coach Green after Liberty clenched a spot in the "Sweet Sixteen"and summed up the nation's reaction,saying,"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you thiscoach,but you're not supposed to be here!"

As the tallest player in the tournament, Feenstra got a lot of attention from the media but she wasn't alone. Fellow teammates Rima Margeviciute, Daina Staugaitiene, Kristal Tharp and Stephanie Walker,proved the leadership oftheSenior classwas akey component todrivingtheUniversity toits first NCAA victory and Sweet Sixteen appearance Stephanie Walker saw herown fairytalecome trueby being able to actively contribute on the court after making a comeback from a string ofinjuriesthat hampered her four-year career atLiberty.

The second consecutive upsethad theUniversity'sname flashed all overthecountry innewspapers such asUSA Today and the Lady Flames were honored with theopening pictureand storyon ESPN.com. Sophomore forward Karolina Piotrkiewicz said of the media hype, "This is greatbecause we're doing big things W e came there [as] 'little Liberty'- nobody knew who we were,and then we won."

The victory brought the Flames against itsmost fierceopponent yet.Six chartered buses carried Liberty Students to Chattanooga, TN, where the nationally and regionally # 1 ranked Louisiana State University beat Liberty by a score of 90-48 The whirlwind ofexcitement was over,and the dust settled on a proud Liberty University team. Liberty had waited 9 years to see the Lady Flames go beyond just attending the Big Ojjjanceand finally the dream had corrietrueasLiberty serenaded its way intothe Sweet Sixteen The Flar|ps had made it to the NCAA, TourfflflTient before,but thiswas the firsttime theglass slipper fit, and Cljperella definitely made/ther presence known at the Big Dance. Of allthe media hype, national attention and band-wagon enfjiusiasm, Feenstra declared the best part was, "The Lord was glorified."

Margeuviciutescored

The Men's Hockey team roster held 29 players Nine oftheplayers were Seniors,seven were Juniors, three were Sophomoresand ten wereFreshmen

-Submitted by Men's Hockey Tea m

club sports For theLove ofthe Game

T h e amount of work anddedication a student athlete put into hisorher sport rarely went unnoticed. For club sports,student athletesgave it all forthe love ofthe game.

Club sports were notassociated with theNCAA and followed different policies and regulations Fora club sport tobecome established,it hadtoberecognized by Student Life as an athleticclub Once recognized, it had toreceiveapprovalfrom theSGA, complete with aconstitution that documented the rules,guidelines and proof ofsponsor.

Kirk Handy,aLiberty alum hockey player, hascoached theMen'sHockey team forfive yearsand described some ofthedifferencesbetween cluband NCAA sports. "We play NCA A rules, butcannot offer scholarshipstothe players. That's the major difference," he said.

Club teams were also responsible for finding enough sponsors toraise thenecessary operating funds. This sometimes meant student athleteswere notonly givingoftheirtalentand theirtime,butalso paying dues toparticipate

Head coach of the Men's Lacrosse team, John Westfall, said, "It takes a minimum of about $14,000 to asmuch as $20,000 torun our team."

Coach Westfall,whoplayed for the first Liberty Lacrosse team in 1985,said,"It'sanold league but we have a successful team We're very competitive and nationally ranked among club lacrosse teams."

Other club sports included Women's Lacrosse and Men's Volleyball, both following the same guidelines and putting forth the efforttomake Liberty Club Sportsjustas competitive as NCAA teams.

"Notonly arethey greatplayers, they'respirituallystrong and they lovetheLord. I tell my players when they put the uniform on, they represent this school andwhat it means andGod ishonoring that among the team,"saidWestfall.

Club teams practiced twotothree times each week andplayed a regular season ofgames A lotofeffort went in toestablishing andthen operating a club sport team, but Coach Handy said it was allworth it "I enjoy impacting the livesofLiberty Students W e have a team that could win the national championship this year. The players motivate me. What motivates theteam is building a world class collegehockey program."

Liberty students recognized the dedication ofclub sportsand supported the teams bycheeringon the hard-working athletes D Bg Adwa i

The Lady Flames Lacrosse team participates intheHomecoming parade. The team did a coreographed dance using decorated Lacrosse sticksas percussion instruments The actreceived second placehonors

-Photo by Deanna Wall

Two men's lacrosseplayerswarm upbeforea game The team played atthe Division B I levelagainst opponents such as Wake^^ Forestand Elon -Photoby DeannaWall ;

-The Lady Flames Lacrosse team comes together fora |picture inthe Fallof 2004 The team's verse was Isaiah 40:29-31,"He giveth power to the faint; and to them thathave no might he increaseth strength Even youths shallfaintand be weary,and the young men shallutterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shallrenew their strength;they shallmount upwith wings aseagles;they shallrun,and not be weary; and they shallwalk, and no t faint. -Submitted by Lady's Lacrosse Team

The Men's Lacrosse team boasts 30players on the roster.There are ten positions and three players foreach position During the fallseason the team record was 5 wins and 5 losses They completed the season infourth place inthe South Eastern Lacrosse Conference

•Submitted by Men's Lacrosse Team

The Men's Volleyball Team is made up ofeight players LU's Club Sports have traveled to many places across the country including Florida,California Texas Ohio Michigan and NewYork

-Submitted byMen's Volleyball

Y: ou have had acloseencounter with "The BigBlack Suburban"

You paint "the rock" j Tour parents have the Sky Angel Network

You ruinclotheswith red clay

You stock up on red shirts for spirit days

You share a mailbox with at least 2 or 3 other people

You find yourself consuming great quantitiesofcereal and/or frenchfries

You know what the dining tax is in Lynchburg and Campbell County

You know, that you know, that you know,that "Jesus is Awesome"

You can sleep with the lights on

You paint up for LU sporting events

You think Meal Plan Points are a gift from God

Your plans get rerouted by trains

You watch ConvO lateatnightonthe Liberty Channel

You say "That's not in the Liberty Way!"

You mud slide in the rain

You walk under the highway on your way to school

You drive around the entire campus before surredering toparking inthe Pit

You have wars with other halls

You shout "someone call 3911" in an emergency

You fear tripping while making your way down the stairsinthe Vines Center

You countdown to Open Dorm Night all semester

You declare yourself one of Jerry's kids

You think the five food groups are Asian, Deli, Classic, GrillandPasta

Liberty Students Travel Across the Globe to Help Relieve Devastation

On December 26, 2004, two tectonic plates crashed together in theIndian Ocean, sending trillions of tons of ocean water roaring toward India inthe form ofa tsunami After thewaters receded, thousandsof people were missing ordead andthe devastation thatwas left behind was beyond belief

Following the initial shock, Liberty Universitystudentsand facultystepped into action to help. TheCenter for World Missions planned the relief effort ina month's time Over $250k was raised and more than 100 volunteers were divided into three groups andsent toIndonesia, Thailand and Indiaover spring break.

Studentshelped buildhuts, move supplies, remove debris, and administer basic medical care. Melissa Brooks, a Communications major, decided to go to India to help those in need.

Brooks recalled pulling outa first aidkit onlyto find herself surrounded by villagers begging for help. Brooks said her team built a hut foran elderly woman who had pleaded forhelp "She was intears; shewas so grateful," Brooks said. "She knew we were Christians and asked us to pray forher That was unusual,because wedidn't get to share the gospel with many people."

Due to laws and the policies of local ministries,students had tobe very careful about what they said concerning the gospel Dr Don Fanning, head ofthe Center for World Missions, said,"It[was]very difficultto even get permission to visit these areas before the tsunami... Yet due totheir needs we were able to demonstrate the love of Christ in tangible ways, and build

Junior Jenna Hilles, amember of the Indonesia team, stops topray as she is overwhelmed by thewretched landscape.Her team was theonly team that was limited to 16 people,including leaders -Submittedby Colt Freeman

Thailand team members, Emily Woody and Jason Thomas, digthehole for a septic tank forthehouse foralocal Thailand woman named Pen Pen lost her husband and herhouse asaresultof the earthquake and Tsunami

-Submitted by Jason Thomas

Emily Gorin interacts with thechildren ofIndonesia Gorin's team wassplit into twogroups,one gave medical attention tovictims and theotherfocused on helping Indonesian nationals to rebuild -Submitted by Colt Freeman

Three India team members learna dance from agroup ofexcited children During theirtime inone village, the team entertained 140 children bysinging,dancing and tellingBiblestories -Submitted by Melissa Brooks friendships that generated a positive attitude and openness to the Christian message."

The native people responded tothe lovethat was shown them, cheering and giving thethumbsup to LU students in the streets. "IfGod would allow such drastic events totake place in order that Christians can finally enter these areas...how can we possibly nottake advantage ofthis costly open door?" Dr. Fanning asked. "When God opens the door we must gothrough,nomatter thecost."

• Bg Clmtwa 0&o«,

India reliefteam member Melissa Brooks assistsIndian natives intheconstruction of ahut Each huttook roughlyone day tobuild and were builttoreplace the homes that were devestated in the Southern part ofIndia,thearea hardest hitby theearthquake andtsunami devastation -SubmittedbyMelissa Brooks