Some sound to pass along!

I've been busy editing audio over the last couple of days, both from the Troy win over Arkansas State last Saturday and from Monday's weekly press conference at the Courtyard by Marriott (by the way, is Troy one of the last football programs in the state to actually feed the media in attendance? It sure makes it easy for the media to do their jobs when they don't have to scramble to get lunch before or after the press conference!). Anyway, here's the way Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week Jerrel Jernigan's 70-yard TD catch to open the scoring vs. Arkansas State sounded on the Troy ISP Sports Network.

Definitely some interesting comments from Troy head coach Larry Blakeney at the press conference, as well as from Jernigan, quarterback Corey Robinson (who was asked about Jerrel's impact on the offense), DE Jonathan Massaquoi (who had an interesting take on the Battle for the Palladium), and linebackers Jacoby Thomas and Kanorris Davis.

A reminder: there is no Trojan Talk on Tuesday --for the simple reason that the Trojans and the Blue Raiders will be kicking off from Murfreesboro at that exact moment-- but the response at our new location at the Santa Fe Cattle Company in Troy has been terrific! We've had a couple of Trojan fans actually tell me that it's been so crowded that they've had to move outside the bar area and get a booth or table just (a) to have a place to sit and (b) to be able to hear Coach Blakeney. Every week, we give away a game-worn Troy jersey and free gift certificates to Santa Fe, so make your plans to be out there on Tuesdays from 7-8pm, or to join us on one of our radio affiliates or online at troytrojans.com!

Liz Balkcom's Women's Golf Blog

So I have written this blog about four times. Each time I get done telling about each team member, I go blank. Now I have plenty to write about.

This year is something that I have looked forward to for a long time, it's my senior year! It is also Annelies Bunnik-Anderson's senior year. We are both excited about starting this new season together. We have seen this team grow and change all for the better. Each year we see better players that challenge us both on and off the course.

This year we have a new addition to our team, Signy Arnorsdottir. Signy has traveled all the way from Iceland to be a part of our Trojan team. Thus far, she has really enjoyed the culture and atmosphere of Troy University.

Returning this year, are our two Swedish girls, Sofia Bjorkman and Sara Fennvik. They spent the summer working and practicing golf.

"I am so glad to be in Troy, on the golf course," Sofia said.

Returning for the third year as a junior is Haley Lawrence. She has been working hard both on and off the course. She is practicing hard and studying a lot because she is an athletic training major.

We left Troy University on Saturday, September 25, to travel to ULM's tournament in Monroe, La. We were upset that we could not stay and watch the football game, but we also knew we were going to do what we do best, play golf.

Saturday night we decided as a team that we should relax and go to the movies. So that is just what we did as a team, we went to see "Easy A". I recommend it. Good movie.

Sunday morning we played our practice round. The first thing we noticed was the course was set up similar to our home course, Troy Country Club. The greens were about one or two paces faster than what we were use to; so after our practice round we worked on adjusting to the pace of the greens.

We left the course on Sunday with our heads held high because we each knew we had put in work before we came to the tournament.

Monday morning came quickly. We have a new freshman, so on game day we had to teach her our routines. We ate breakfast as a team first thing in the morning. Once we arrived at the course, we did our team stretches. Then we have a quick team pep talk.

Right before we leave to go to our individual holes, I pulled the team together and reminded them that we have worked hard to get here and be patient because 36 holes in one day and can be very long.

Off we went to play a long 36 holes with South Alabama and McNeese State.

At the end of a long day, we were sitting in second place. We were only three shots off the lead and our freshman, Signy, was leading the whole tournament as an individual. Sofia and Haley were not too far behind.

Our team was looking sharp. We posted a 309 the first round and 314 for the second.

Annelies and I really struggled with the pace of the greens. So, after the first day, we stayed and practiced our putting.

Tuesday morning rolled around and we knew, as a team, that if we really wanted this tournament, it could be ours. We went through our normal game day routine. We stayed positive and kept reminding ourselves that we were prepared to play like we had the desire to win.

Before we teed off, the team huddled together and we reminded ourselves to dig deep. We only had one round to play and every shot counts. With that statement, we were off for our third round of golf in two days.

In the end, we found our game as a team. We won the whole tournament. We were victorious over 11 other teams.

Here were our round-by-round scores.

Signy 71-73-75
Haley 79-77-71
Sofia 79-76-75
Liz 80-88-84
Annelies 89-89-82

Signy finished her first college event as a team winner and as an individual FIRST Place. Haley opened the season with a third place finish and Sofia was fourth overall as individuals.

There should be several videos with interviews posted on troytrojans.com.

Our next event will be in Bradenton, Fla., and we will leave on this Saturday.

Championship Year for Former Trojans

Tracking former Troy baseball players in their efforts across minor league baseball was certainly exciting this summer. Now that all of the minor league playoffs are over, former Troy players helped teams to titles in five different leagues, and two others made playoff appearances.

Of course the biggest story throughout the summer was the tear Clint Robinson went on through the Texas League for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Really, it was a pretty ordinary year for the Dothan native.

All he did was win multiple Texas League Player of the Week and Player of the Month honors, hit a home run in the league All-Star game, become the second player in Texas League history to win the league triple crown, earn league Most Valuable Player honors and help the Naturals to the Texas League title.

For the season Robinson hit .335 with 41 doubles, five triples, 29 homers and 98 RBI. In the playoffs he hit .286 with three doubles, a triple, two homers and eight more RBI.

You can read about the Naturals taking the Texas League title here.

It is the second time Robinson has won league MVP honors. He took the Pioneer League MVP in 2007, his first year of professional baseball.

But Robinson was not the only former Trojan to win a league title.

Chase Whitley spent most of his summer pitching for the Staten Island Yankees in the New York-Penn League. He had a great season there, posting a 4-2 record with a 1.45 ERA in 30 games while recording 15 saves, but his team failed to make the playoffs.

So, with the season over, the Yankees sent Whitley to the Tampa Yankees in the High A Florida State League to get some more work. He pitched in two post-season games in Tampa, both in the playoffs, and the Tampa team won its second straight FSL title.

Chris Sorce also helped his team to a title. Pitching as a starter for the Everett AquaSox in the Northwest League, Sorce posted an 8-2 record in 15 starts with a 3.64 ERA and 70 strikeouts. The AquaSox captured their first NWL title in 24 years in the league.

Josh Dew's Chico Outlaws closed out the Golden League playoffs Sunday night in Maui, winning the league title. Dew worked in 34 games for the Outlaws during the regular season, posting a 4-1 record with one save and a 2.68 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 47 innings of work. In the playoffs he was 1-0 in five appearances with a 2.08 ERA.

You can read about the Outlaws' league title here.

Finally, Steven Felix got a taste of championship play with the Arizona Rookie League Brewers, who defeated the Reds to take the league crown. Felix did not get to play much after joining the Brewers, appearing in just 11 games as a catcher, but he did get a title.

The other Trojans playing in the minor leagues finished without titles, but had good numbers.

Ryan Ditthardt - Finished the season with the Gulf Coast League Astros hitting .274 with six doubles, one triple, one homer and 12 RBI in 42 games.

Jason Walls - Posted a 2-0 record for the Arizona League Giants, who won a Division title in the same league Felix played in. He had a 6.75 ERA in 14 appearances.

Adam Godwin - Led the New Jersey Jackals of the Can-Am League with a .345 average. The Jackals advanced to the playoffs but were unable to advance. Godwin had nine doubles, five triples, four homers and 32 RBI to go with 17 stolen bases.

Beau Brooks - Played at virtually every level in the Angels organization, starting at Class A Rancho Cucomonga, playing at Class AAA Salt Lake City and closing the year at Class AA Arkansas in the Texas League. Brooks his .154 overall with 10 doubles, three homers and 22 RBI.

The only other Trojan playing professionally this summer is Mike Rivera, who spent most of the season in Class AA with the Chattanooga Lookouts after being cut by the New York Yankees at the very end of spring training.

Since being released Rivera has played 58 games in Chattanooga, 14 for Class AAA Alburquerque in the Dodgers organization, three games for Class AAA New Orleans in the Florida Marlins organization and six games with the Marlins. This is Rivera's eighth season to have played in the big leagues. He has also played for the Tigers, Padres and Brewers in his careers.

Overall, Rivera has a .238 career average in the big leagues with 32 doubles, one triple and 13 homers with 69 RBI in 187 games.

Heading to the Dragon's Lair!

by Barry McKnight

In a uberbusy week, I've just headed out to Birmingham to get set up for the radio broadcast of Troy-UAB football from Legion Field Saturday afternoon. If you're planning on coming to the game (and you really should), bear in ind that you can hear our broadcast live inside the stadium on our Birmingham affiliate WYDE-FM 101.1, or on any of our Troy ISP Sports Network affiliates here. We'll be on the air at 1pm with the KFC Tailgate Show. The online broadcast is here.

There is no TV for the game. There WILL be television highlights on The Trojan Football Report with Coach Blakeney on selected TV stations and cable outlets throughout the Southeast. Coach and I sit down immediately after the game and go over the action, with features and a preview of next week's opponent. Check the availability and time in your area!

Trojan Talk Tuesday

Your chance to talk live with Coach Larry Blakeney from Santa Fe Cattle Co. in Troy
by Barry McKnight


Just a quick reminder to join the Trojan Nation tonight at Santa Fe Cattle Company on Highway 231 in Troy for "Trojan Talk" from 7-8pm with Coach Blakeney. The fan attendance has been great for the first two weeks of the show, and we're adding amps and speakers to make sure the fans in attendance can hear the show even better (it gets loud in there)! If you're there, you can register to win a game-worn Trojan jersey and a dinner for two at Santa Fe; if you call into Trojan Talk tonight (toll-free at 1-866-736-5889) you can register as well! It's UAB week, so we hope to hear a lot of your comments and questions throughout the show.

Trojan Talk is available on any of our Troy ISP Sports Network stations, a listing of which is here, or you can listen online here as well!

Speaking of online, I get emails and calls all the time about listening to our programming online. It's a big part of how Troy gets its message out but, don't forget, we have one of the largest network of over-the-air radio stations in the Sun Belt Conference and you should check us out there first. Major props to our ISP Network manager, Drew Branyon, who has done a great job ensuring that our last two game audio broadcasts have streamed perfectly at troytrojans.com, absolutely without a hitch. Our Oklahoma State game was radio-only, and a lot of fans were looking to find a streaming broadcast from our affiliate radio stations. Remember, those stations aren't obligated to provide an online feed (as a matter of fact, they're contractually restricted from doing so), so there's no standing for the fans to complain to them if their stream is spotty. The best way to listen is over-the-air, the second-best (if no affiliate is withoin listening range) is online at troytrojans.com. It's constantly being monitored for quality and, again, because of Drew's dedication, has been flawless through the first two games!

As well, during Trojan Talk, you can post questions or comments to Coach Blakeney via our Troy ISP Sports Network Facebook page here, and you can provide feedback or comments at any time on that page as well!

Finally, here is audio from Monday's press conference previewing the UAB game: first from Larry Blakeney, then senior WR Jerrel Jernigan, sophomore DE Jonathan Massaquoi, and redshirt freshman QB Corey Robinson

Jernigan Among Nine Recognized by Hornung Award

LOUISVILLE, KY - Nine players across the nation have been named honorees in the "Paul Hornung's Most Versatile Performances of the Week," it was announced Wednesday by Paul Hornung and the Louisville Sports Commission.

"If you're a college footbal fan, you have to love the way these guys play the game," Hornung said, "doing whatever the coach asks them to do to help their team win games. And I like the fact that we are recognizing guys from across the country and at schools that don't always get the recognition."

The weekly award honorees highlight elite performances from the previous week in college football that display the same versatility on the field as the legendary Paul Hornung.

Week One Honorees

• East Carolina's Dwayne Harris finished his day with seven receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He also added six yards rushing on two carries along with 47 return yards in team's dramatic last second win over Tulsa 51-49.
• Starting cornerback with four tackles, Rutgers' Brandon Bing also blocked two punts, including one that was returned for a touchdown, in Rutgers' 31-0 victory over Norfolk State.
• Tulsa's Demaris Johnson recorded 299 all purpose yards rushing, catching, returning punts and kickoffs in Golden Hurricane heartbreaking loss to East Carolina 51-49. He recorded five kickoff returns for 151 yards.
  
• Boise State's Austin Pettisscored the game-winning touchdown against Virginia Tech in Boise State's last minute, dramatic, BCS blockbuster 33-30 win in front of 86,587 fans at FedEx Field. Pettis also blocked a punt, returned a punt and caught TD pass early in the game as Boise stunned the Hokies with 17-0 first quarter lead.
• Oregon's Kenjon Barner ran for 147 yards and four touchdowns and had a 60-yard touchdown reception in a 72-0 win over New Mexico. He finished with 225 all-purpose yards. All five of his scores came in the first half.
  
• Kentucky's Randall Cobbregistered 150 all-purpose yards in a 23-16 win over rival Louisville. Cobb had four carries for 80 yards and a touchdown, threw a 19-yard pass completion, had 2 kick returns for 59 yards and a punt return. Cobb missed part of the game while getting an IV in the lockerroom.
  
• LSU's Patrick Petersonset a school record with 257 return yards, including an 87-yard punt return for a touchdown. The starting cornerback notched five solo tackles in 30-24 win over North Carolina at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
  
• Troy's Jerrel Jerniganregistered193 yards in total offense running, catching and returning punts and kickoffs, including one rushing touchdown as Troy defeated Bowling Green 30-27 on last second field goal.
  
• In 30-21 win over Oregon State in Cowboys Stadium, TCU's Jeremy Kerley gained 196 all-purpose yards on six catches for 49 yards and a touchdown, five kick returns for 105 yards and three punt returns for 42 yards. He also set up touchdown drive with a 34-yard punt return.

A weekly, up-to-date rundown of the individual accomplishments of each player on the Watch List can be found on the official website of the Paul Hornung Award at www.paulhornungaward.com.

Vote for the Trojans!

Fan Voting Now Open for Sun Belt Conference 10th Anniversary Celebration Football Team

NEW ORLEANS – Fan voting is now open for the Sun Belt Conference 10th Anniversary Football Team. Fans will have until December 5 to cast their ballots for who they think the top Sun Belt football players are over the last decade.

Fans can log-in to www.sunbeltsports.org to cast their vote. Fans are limited to one vote per e-mail address.

Nominees from Troy include DeMarcus Ware, Boris Lee, Levi Brown, Jerrel Jernigan, Brandon Lang, Dion Small, Leodis McKelvin and Coach Larry Blakeney.

The Sun Belt Conference began sponsoring football in 2001 and will celebrate its 10th Anniversary during the 2010 football season. The Sun Belt is one of only 11 NCAA conferences to participate in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

Fans are invited to vote on the Sun Belt Conference's 10th Anniversary Football Celebration Football Team as well as the Top Ten Plays and Top Ten Moments for the league over the last ten seasons. The preliminary list of Top Ten Plays and Top Ten Moments is also now available. Fan voting for these two categories will be available once the preliminary list is trimmed down on October 1.

Game Week 2!

Wrapping up a very exciting first week of the Troy football season:

The crowd at the Bowling Green game was outstanding! With two larger schools in the state hosting intercollegiate football competition at the same time as Troy, the fans in Troy showed up, showed out, and stayed throughout, and were a major factor in the late win. It really all started with a huge crowd last Tuesday night for Trojan Talk at Santa Fe Steakhouse. The place was packed and noisy, probably moreso than at any Trojan Talk in recent memory! There were a couple of fans who told me that it was so crowded and so noisy that they couldn't hear the show which, I've got to tell you, is a great problem to have, and one I'm not sure we could solve even if we wanted to. We'll crank Trojan Talk up again this Tuesday at 7pm on the Troy ISP Sports Network and take your toll-free calls at 866-736-5889. Coach Blakeney is great about giving autographs and having pictures made as well...

Monday was Labor Day, which didn't keep the coaches, players, Media Relations staff, and media from converging on Troy for the weekly football press conference. It was good for me, because my wife Deborah was able to come with me and visit our freshman son, Jack at school before the press conference. There was a lot of conversation about the win over Bowling Green and a little talk about this week's visit to Oklahoma State. I've posted audio from Coach Blakeney, RFr QB Corey Robinson, Sr WR Jerrel Jernigan, Sr DE Mario Addison, and Soph DT Tony Davis, who had an acrobatic interception that gave the Trojans a chance to win it.

I hope you get a chance to visit us Tuesday, either at Santa Fe Steakhouse or via telephone, for Trojan Talk! Later in the week, I'll preview the trip to Stillwater, OK (Taylor Bryan is already amped up about eating at Eskimo Joe's), and review what I hope is a victorious trip back!

IT Is Game Day!!

Finally, the time for talking is over. The hay is in the barn. All that is left to do is kickoff the season and the "Drive for Five" tonight against Bowling Green.

To be honest, I don't know what to expect tonight, other than a great game. Both teams have so many new players who will be making their debuts tonight that the only thing anyone can really know is that there are a lot of unknowns.

I know that I have a hard time believing that this will be my seventh season at Troy. Seems as if it was just yesterday that I was getting ready to face my former school, Marshall, in the 2004 season-opener. It has certainly been a wild ride since that day, when Demarcus Ware sacked Stan Hill three times in a 17-15 Trojans victory.

Since I became a part of the Troy athletics family the Trojans have posted a 44-30 record. They have won four straight Sun Belt Conference titles and have been to four bowl games.

Even more remarkable, at least to me, is the fact that this will be my 16th season in college athletics. Even more amazing is that, in 15 previous football seasons, I have had just one losing season. Entering the 2010 campaign, the teams I have worked with have gone a combined 124-59.

That is a credit to the coaches and student-athletes I have been blessed to work with.

That has certainly been the case during my time here at Troy. The coaches and student-athletes are great to work with and it is certainly easy to want to see them do well.

A lot has been made of the fact that this is Coach Larry Blakeney's 20th season at Troy, which is a remarkable accomplishment in this day. It is also important to note that this will be his 41st overall football season as a coach, all of which have been spent in the state of Alabama.

I, for one, hope to see many more seasons for Coach Blakeney on the Troy sideline.

Every year there are pregame jitters for the season-opener. I am sure that will be no different today, especially with so many new players taking the field for the Trojans. With that being said, I know the Trojans are prepared and ready to get after it.

Like the commercials say, "Be there when IT happens!" Well, IT all starts today.

I can't wait.

Let's Put the Toe to the Leather!

After eight months, I'm ready for some football again at Troy! Actually, I've been waiting for this game for about a year, because I still say that last year's loss at Bowling Green was one of the strangest games I've seen in a couple of years. I was looking at the game film this week (I'm not a big game-film guy, because my role on the radio broadcast doesn't get helped as much by film study nearly as much as Jerry Miller's color analyst role; Jerry's loves watching film!) and I can't imagine Troy offense looking any better than it did on the first two drives of the game. But you know what? That was IT. Bowling Green scored late in the half (which was huge) and only allowed the Trojans 94 yards (and 0 points) in the second half. That was a long, quite plane ride back after that one.
But it's a new season, and there are lots of new, untested personnel on each side. BG loses QB Tyler Sheehan and WR Freddie Barnes, who caught 15 of his NCAA-record 155 receptions last year against Troy. Troy's lost all but three defenders from a year ago, plus Levi Brown, so, believe me, there are a lot of questions to be answered at Troy. We hope you're at the game (wearing your Troy gear), and we encourage you to listen to our radio broadcast on on our flagship station on the network, 94.7FM in Troy.
You'll hear, for (I believe) his fifth straight year, our studio host Mike Mote in our BB&T studios Saturday night. You hear him on all of our football and basketball broadcasts and, for my money, he's the best studio host on radio, at least that I've heard. He does a remarkable job for us, and it's made even more remarkable by the fact that Mike is blind. How he does all he does, I'll never know, because he's so seamless and in-control that his sightlessness has never been an issue. Sometimes, you can hear his Braille typewriter clacking away in the background as we listen in before airtime, but, other than that, if you didn't know that Mike couldn't see, you'd never guess it. I'm not pointing this out as a frivolous mention, and I sure as heck didn't do it so anyone would feel sorry for anybody (Mike would be horrified by that; he takes it all in stride and even makes light of it sometimes. Many a time has he cracked me and Jerry up during a game after a bad call: "Even I could tell that wasn't a penalty!") Why I am pointing it out is because it's more than a little inspirational; a very competent, Christian man who's exceedingly good as his job and doesn't use his challenges as excuses. Maybe someone can learn from his example. By the way, the picture at left is from Mike's wedding this summer. From left to right, it's Jerry Miller, me, Mike Mote, broadcast producer Michael Buchanan, and Chris Blackshear. I've always told anybody that'd listen that there are four great facets to my job: the school I cover, the coaches with whom I work, the fans for whom I broadcast, and the best group collectively of both broadcasters and human beings in the country. I can't wait till the Trojans play, and can't wait to work again with my radio crew!

Tale of the Tape: What Did You Do at Work Yesterday?

Good morning! It's Friday, September 3rd, I think. I made it into work a few minutes early this morning to see if maybe I could get a blog written and posted. I had a very eloquent one written yesterday but I must have waited too long in between starting and stopping and it kicked it out. By that time of the evening I didn't have it in me to start over. And besides, something cool happened at practice that I wanted to tell you about.

First of all, for the new ones - I'm a Certified Athletic Trainer that works primarily with the Football and Men's Basketball teams here at TROY. I live a crazy life at this time of year to say the least. I honestly feel like I'm three steps ahead of the little white rabbit in "Alice in Wonderland." I love my job and like to write, so when they started these blogs a few years ago I jumped on the opportunity to share my side of the story. I promise I'll do a little better at giving you my perspective from the sidelines.

So back to the cool part-

I witnessed two pretty amazing things yesterday at practice, actually. One was good and one, well, not so much. So I'll recap my non-chalant Thursday and see if you can compare it to what YOU did at work yesterday:

Right off the bat at 7:45 AM in the parking lot I had a young man yell at me telling me he needed me. Then before I could get up the elevator and settled at my morning post I had another young athleteic fella tell me he needed me too. Now if that doesn't start the day off nicely, I don't know what will.

The latter of the two had a big bump on his neck that needed some attention from a skilled professional. An ingrown hair had taken a turn for the worse and had become quite the angry pustule. A heatpack for 10 minutes followed by some carefully guided pressure and the protection from a pair of goggles and he was feeling MUCH better. Lucky me!

We worry about these little "bumps" because of a nasty little bug called MRSA (short for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus). MRSA is an extremely contagious microbe that wreaks havoc on soft tissue if not cared for expeditiously and in proper fashion. We have a few such "bumps" on the watch list on any given day. This one didn't appear to be MRSA from my "microscopic eye", but we'll watch it daily and see how it progresses. Hopefully it will resolve on its own.

After that, I placed a drug order...with a reputable source, of course. We use a company called SportPharm to assist us in our inventory control of medications for the athletic training room. Not much else to say about that.

Then, I assisted a few athletes with their rehab for a few hours. We implemented a new system of treatment flow sheets over the summer when we didn't have anything else to do. This entails using a red folder for each injured athlete currently undergoing treatment. We ordered 100 of these folders this summer. They've been a great addition in the treatment process for a few reasons. They not only allow the athlete to have a guide for treatment when we're treating 20 of them at a time, it allows us a way to document those treatments more accurately. And when things are documented accurately in the computer, I'm a happy girl. The only bad thing is that we've run out of folders...which means 100 student-athletes (at least) are undergoing daily treatment for injuries. That adds up to 25% of all student-athletes! Now you know why I haven't had time to blog!!

After that, it was lunch (cereal at home while I hung some curtains) and a little CPR instruction.

Then off to practice...and that's where I witnessed the really neat stuff. So, humor me a little more.

Thursday's are typically short, uneventful days. (That's called foreshadowing.)

We had a young man undergo arthroscopic surgery one day and practice the very next. That was amazing to witness. We've had that happen with two or three days in between, but never the very next day. Lots of props go out to our orthopedic surgeon and Team Physician, Dr. Jeffrey Dugas. He knows his way around joints better than anybody else I know! Of course, it takes a special kind of athlete - mentally and physically - to pull off that feat. More on that later, but I think he may be a candidate for "Athletic Trainer Player of the Week" if he gets in the game Saturday....just sayin'.

To bring us all back to reality, though, we experienced a fairly serious injury - fractured and dislocated ankle. You know it's bad when you hear guys on the sideline calling for the athletic training staff. A quick jog to the rescue of a very tough young man lying on the field with his foot pointing in the wrong direction. No crying, no screaming, no flailing...from him or me. We deployed the troops (aka Athletic Training Students) for the splint bag and golf cart, the team went on about practice on other parts of the practice fields, we stabilized and transported with minimal difficulty and we were back to normal practice duty within 10 minutes. We couldn't have asked for it to go down much more smoothly.

So, what do you learn from that? First, that Thursday practices -or any practice, for that matter - will no longer viewed as "light" in the eyes of these Athletic Training Students. Secondly, it pays to know where important things are and how our Emergency Action Plans work. I mean "really" work. Not play-pretend. I'm proud of them for not freaking out and for maintaining composure under pressure. That's the difference in teaching and experiencing this profession. The latter is the most important in my book.

Well that pretty much wrapped up the day. After attending to some after-practice paperwork, I was too exhausted -mentally and physically - to do my Insanity workout so I'll have to make it up today. Hopefully it'll be a "light" day!

See you Saturday - if not before!
GO TROJANS!
Alyson