The
Special
Fall 2016
The Special is an online magazine produced by journalism students at
Texas
A&M
University-‐Commerce.
Content
and
produc on
are
the
responsibili es
of
the
students.
The
Special
is
produced
during
the
fall,
spring
terms.
Contact:
The
Special,
Texas
A&M
University-‐Commerce,
Box
4104,
Commerce,
Texas
75428. Staff:
BJ
Laudermilk,
Khris an
Johnson,
Thomas
Kent,
Courtney
Norman,
Jasmine
Baker Faculty Adviser: Fred Stewart (Fred.Stewart@tamuc.edu)
Table of Contents Page 3 --Digging The USA by bj laudermilk
Page 4 --Russian Gold by Khristian Johnson
Page 5 --Osei from the UK by Thomas Kent
Page 6 -Fuiji’s fastest by Courtney norman
pages 7 & 8 --The uk way by Jasmine Baker
“DIGGING” the USA By
BJ
Laudermilk
G
abriela Rosa traveled 2,100 miles to excel on the volleyball court and in the classroom and Texas A&M University – Commerce is lucky to have her. Rosa traveled to Commerce from Bayamón, Puerto Rico and immediately made contributions to the campus. “By my senior year [in high school], I knew what I wanted, I wanted to experience the USA,” she said. Traveling by herself was something she and her family had never experienced but the 5-foot-7 junior knew she had as much support as was needed. “We didn’t know how it was going to be, being by myself on the mainland, but then they always supported me,” she said. “And they said, whatever LionAthletics.com
you want to achieve you can do it if
THE SPECIAL || FALL 2016
you just work hard.” Early in life, Rosa knew she wanted to be an athlete. The next step for her
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was to find the right sport to pursue. “I tried soccer, swimming, and tennis, and then my mom was a volleyball player, and she didn’t want to force me to play volleyball, she let me try it, but I still ended up in volleyball, and we were both happy about that,” she said. “I don’t regret it, honestly.” Rosa knew the value of having her family’s support when she joined the volleyball team, creating a second family on campus. Through communication, she has been able to become trustworthy with her teammates; something she knows is
extremely valuable. “I’ve always been a team player and even though I have good talent, just like my teammates, I’m always communicating, and that helps me with my teammates and that helps me gain that trust from them,” she said. “And trust on the court is everything.” Rosa calls that ability her “greatest strength,” all while knowing how difficult it can be to maintain the balance needed between athletics and academics. “You want to be great at what you do, so you want to be great in volleyball, you want to be great in the classroom, and keeping that balance of having a social life, but also being responsible and giving everything to your teammates,” she said.
PAGE 3
Russian Gold By
Khris an
Johnson
C
ross country athlete Evan Luecke is one of the many international athletes on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce. He came to the United States from St. Petersburg, Russia when he was four years old through adoption. Evan said he feels the international connection of athletes in American sports especially on the A&M-Commerce campus.
“Athletes from international backgrounds are accepted with open arms.” “It’s hard enough to travel and move many miles away from your family but you gain a new
”
family and friends through sports.
Athletes have come to America for sports opportunities and better academic opportunities so they have to adapt to the change in environment . “I see many connections and building of lasting friendships in athletes on the track and cross country teams between foreign athletes and the American Athletes.” He said the connection of track athletes is strong on the A&M-Commerce campus. “I see the connection start with the German athletes on the track team, Louis and Rebecca. They were just outgoing and always bringing the group of foreign athletes and American athletes together,” Evan said. Sports has been a unifying factor between cultures for many years. It has given numerous athletes man of the opportunities even though being from different backgrounds. Not only Photo Credit/Khristian Johnson are athletes coming to America but American-born athletes are going overseas for sports opportunities. When asked what THE SPECIAL || FALL 2016
group of international athletes have the most success and are the most abundant, Evan said, “Soccer athletes have the most success but other athletes including National Basketball Association, have had success as we see by the growing amount of international players in the league. T h e Photo Credit/Shake international connection of athletes is really displayed in the Olympic Games held every four years, where athletes everywhere get to showcase their talents against the best athletes in the world . As a young man from Russia and used to seeing them compete, it was tough for Evan to watch the Olympics without his home country participating this summer. Russia, amid athletic scandal, was unable to compete in this summer’s 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. “It sucked not being able to watch Russia compete. The whole country shouldn’t have been punished for the mistakes of those few athletes it should have just been them suspended,” Evan said. International connections in sports today is one factor. Many international athletes are competing, especially in colleges across the United States. With these athletes being a part of American teams, the connection to their culture can run deep and keep the trend up for many years to come if these opportunities are continued to be presented and taken.
PAGE 4
Osei From The UK
By
Thomas
Kent
J
ason Osei has traveled a long way from home to help lead the Texas A&MCommerce football team.
Osei, 29, hails from Tottenham, which is in northern London, England but has been in the United States on football scholarships since 2012. Surprisingly, the 6-foot-5 offensive lineman had no experience playing American football growing up. “We don’t have pee-wee football,” Osei said. “Our pee-wee sports are stuff like basketball, netball, soccer, cricket. I didn’t really get into football until I was like 18 or 19.” In fact, Osei wasn’t even interested in football. He got into it through an acquaintance that repeatedly urged him to try football and he only agreed to play in order to form an educated opinion on the sport. Fortunately for A&M-Commerce, when he tried it, he liked it. After playing some in London, he went on to play for the Helsinki Wolverines in Finland in 2009. There, he and a friend began putting together a highlight film. “We made the tape for jokes and stuff and eventually put in THE SPECIAL || FALL 2016
onto YouTube,” Osei said. “It wasn’t meant to be anything serious but eventually my coach from back in England saw it. He started sending it around to other coaches and next thing I knew, a bunch of coaches were wanting to talk to me.” Osei accepted a scholarship to play at Baylor in 2012. After playing defensive lineman his first season, he made the permanent switch to the offensive line during spring practices. He praised his experience at Baylor. In light of the recent scandals involving former head coach Art Briles, Osei said, “That’s not the Baylor I knew. I can’t speak for everybody. It hurt me to see that, a lot of people I know being implicated. The Baylor I knew was a place where people were friendly to you. That’s the Baylor I left and that’s the Baylor that’ll be in my memory.”
second-team all-conference honors in the process. Taking the term student athlete very seriously, Osei has accomplished a lot in the classroom as well. As a radio-television major, he is on the dean’s list and has lead or been a part of countless productions, some of which, have been recognized by various collegiate media organizations, such as Texas Intercollegiate Press Association or TIPA. Most recently, the South Central Broadcast Society awarded Osei the Grand Prize in their Radio Short Program category for his production titled, Crush 40: Midnight Special. Osei and the A&M-Commerce Lions are expected to make the playoffs again this season, which is just one step in the process to achieve his ultimate goal. “I want to be a champion,” Osei said. “I wanna be a national champion.”
After two seasons at Baylor, Osei transferred to A&M-Commerce, which has worked out for him as well as any organizations he’s involved in. On the gridiron, he has been dominant at the guard position, helping the Lions earn their second consecutive Lone Star Conference championship in 2015, while earning PAGE 5
Fiji’s Fastest
By
Courtney
Norman
F
rom hurdles to sprints, to breaking records in her home country and in the U.S., Ana Baleveicau is here to compete. Baleveicau started running track as a high school freshman at the Adi Cakobau School in Fiji, after she was encouraged to give the sport a try by her mother. Over time, the sport became a passion of hers, and she plans to continue her track career after college. At the beginning of her journey, Baleveicau started running the open 100m and 200m events. In Fiji, she was named her school’s best female athlete from 20082010, and holds the record for the women’s 400m in Fiji. She was also a member of the Fiji Junior Team from 2009-2010. She began her collegiate career when she was recruited by the New Mexico Military Institute
at a state meet in Fiji. She competed for the junior college for two years, where she was introduced to the 400m hurdles at just 19 years old. THE SPECIAL || FALL 2016
By the time she left New Mexico, Baleveicau had been named the best female athlete at the New Mexico Military Institute for 2013. “They wanted Fijian athletes to do the 400m hurdles,” Baleveicau said. “So I figured I should try it out.” Balevericau came to Texas A&M University- Commerce after she was recruited by Coach Debron, who was the track coach at the time, when she qualified for nationals during her second year in New Mexico. For A&M-Commerce, Baleveicau competes in not only the 400m hurdles, but also the 4x4, 100m hurdles, and the open 400m. During her time at A&MCommerce, Baleveicau has been a member of the women’s 4x4 relay team during the 2015 outdoor season. She also set the record for her home country in the 400m hurdles. “My favorite has always been the 400m hurdles,” Baleveicau said. “It’s anybody’s game.” Competition is what drives her to be sucCredit: Ana Baleveicau cessful on the track and moving to the U.S. has exposed her to more challenging competition compared to what she faced in Fiji.
“My favorite thing about track is competition,” Baleveicau said. “I came here and I loved the competition.” Despite being a successful competitor, Baleveicau believes that
LionAthletics.com
getting an education is just as important as competing. As a psychology major, she plans on utilizing her degree to help other athletes. “I want to be a sports psychologist,” Baleveicau said. “A sports psychologist motivates athletes who are going through a tough time.” Baleveicau has a goal of representing Fiji in the 2020 Olympics. “I want to aim for the Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo,” Baleveicau said, Outside of her practices at school, she trains with other coaches in order to continue to compete internationally. “Dream the impossible,” Baleveicau said. “That’s always my motto.”
PAGE 6
Jasmine Baker
THE UK WAY T By
Jasmine
Baker
exas A&M-Commerce soccer players Victoria Back and Sophie Haywood grew up a little over an hour away from each other in the United Kingdom, Haywood in Hull and Back in York. Born in 1993 in York, England, Back started playing soccer at 6 years old. “My big brother played for a guy’s team, so I went to practice with him and joined his team. I played with his team until I had to split at under12’s to join a girls’ team,” Back said. Before transferring from York College, where she played for the York City Ladies Football Club and studied sport and exercise science, she was torn between two schools, Texas A&M-Commerce and Mercyhurst. She asked about Commerce from a former studentathlete. “She told me that this school was nicer than the other. As well as the girls being friendlier, so I followed her lead and came here.” For Haywood, the transfer journey was not as far. She transferred from the University of South Alabama where she played soccer and was an exercise science major. Before she came to the states, she played soccer for Notts Country Ladies in the professional league in England and went to school. The A&M-Commerce coaches contacted her two years ago about playing at Commerce after a friend of her dad contacted them about her. They also had to adjust to cultural differences between THE SPECIAL || FALL 2016
the U.S. and the player’s home country. Back said, “Driving around is completely different as Texas is so big with so much room compared to home where one side of the road here would be the whole road at home. Eating habits LionAthletics.com are completely different to me personally, as at home I never really ate out unless it was a special occasion, where as coming here it’s just because you don’t want to cook or it’s more convenient.” Haywood said. “One cultural aspect that I’ve enjoyed sharing with my teammates has been the holidays and vacations. In the past, I loved going home with my teammates to share holidays that we don’t celebrate in England, such as Thanksgiving, and going on trips during spring break.” They noticed other cultural differences. “One of the first PAGE 7
They both miss their family, but calling their families proves to be difficult as there is a 6-hour time zone difference; “if it’s 6 p.m. here it’s midnight back home. The most difficult part of that was not having friends and family to talk to and experience it with me. While settling in my freshman year, it helped greatly having other English people around, not just from the soccer team but from other teams too,” Haywood said. As their careers in America start to wind down, Haywood is a junior and Back is a senior, they take away invaluable lessons, skills and memories. “I’ve learned a lot of skills from working at the Morris Recreation Center,” Back said. “I’ve grown as a person, becoming more independent and learning about how to manage money.” Haywood reflected on her time in America too. “I will take the work ethic that seems to be present across the U.S., the idea that how far you get depends on how hard you work,”she said.”This has applied to my athletics and academics. I’ve also realized I’m stronger and braver than I thought I was. I was shocked at how well I adapted to life out here and how I overcame obstacles and adversity without having my family around.” Athletically, Back has excelled as a forward and won conference awards. As a graduate student in the psychology program, she plans to become a psychologist and help children with disabilities. Haywood, a human performance major, knows
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her future will undoubtedly involve sports. “Sports is such a huge part of my life and although I don’t exactly know what I want to do after college I know that it will involve sport somehow, whether that be playing, coaching, or working for a team,” she said. “My main goal right now is to play as long as I can. I hope to return home and continue where I left off, playing for a professional club and trying to make my way back into the England national team.”
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