The SpecialFall 2015

The Other Half of Playing the Game by Gary Lazard Jr.

The Benefits of Intramural Sports by Tristen Harris

Toni Pulu: The Mighty Lion of Polynesia by Kourtlynd Buggs-Torres

Men’s Basketball Ready to Roar into New Season by Harrison Wagner

Lions’ Softball Blasts into Second Season by Baileigh Whitlock

Carthel Signs New Contract Through 2018 from Lionathletics.com

Inside This Issue Fall 2015

The SPeCIaL is an online magazine produced by journalism students at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Content and production are the responsibilities of the students. The SPeCIaL is produced during the fall and spring semesters.

CoNTaCT: The Special, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Box 4104, Commerce, Texas 75428.

STaff: Gary Lazard Jr., Tristen Harris, Kourtlynd Buggs-Torres, Harrison Wagner, Baileigh Whitlock

DeSIGN: Todd Kleiboer

faCuLTy aDvISeR: Fred Stewart (Fred.Stewart@tamuc.edu)

Photo by aaron hwang

By Gary Lazard Jr.

Sports teams have an extra teammate at every practice and every game who doesn’t get into the action, but plays one of the most important roles on the team.

From making sure the athletes have plenty of water to drink to tending to the variety of aches, pains and bruis-es, the athletic trainers are always there to provide the best care for the athletes.

Individuals planning a career in athletic training, receive a solid educa-tion and experience in college.

Students work as student train-ers then once they complete their four-year program, they must pass a test for certification in order to be an official trainer. Tests include BOC (Board of Certification) and the LAT (Licensed Athletic Trainers).

Texas A&M University – Com-merce student trainer Brittney Forten-berry said, “You have the best of both worlds.”

Trainer Felicia Beanvides said, “The sports that require a lot of running and jumping does a lot to the lower body, so a lot of treatment is required towards that area.”

The Other Half of

Playing the Game

Photo by Gary Lazard Jr.

The lower body takes a lot of punishment for the football play-ers.

Offensive lineman Jason Osei said, “The game was last Sat-urday and I’m still sore.”

Rehab and treatment are where

the trainers play major roles. With proper care an injured athlete comes back when the injury well-ness permits and the trainers give their approval.

Women’s basketball player Angelle Simon had an injured knee

sideline her.

“My recovery time was three to four months but the trainers put me through a lot where I came back in three months instead of four,” she said.

Photo by Gary Lazard Jr.

The Benefits of

Intramural Sports

While many colleges and universities have intercollegiate athletic programs, stu-dents who just want to participate in sports turn to intramurals, recreational sports rang-ing from basketball to ultimate Frisbee.

In addition to sports participation, intramurals provide social interactions be-tween the students.

Darrien Brown, a sophomore who plays intramural football, said he chose to play because “ it was a way to meet people who also had a passion for football like myself and possibly learn new things from them.”

Playing intramural sports can also be a good way for students to get comfortable with the campus.

Theodis Sims, freshman said, “In-

By Tristen Harris

tramural flag football was a great transitional activity for me and it made the change from high school to college an easier process.”

One benefit of intramu-rals participation is the health benefits as students stay active while doing something they enjoy. In order to compete on a high level, students make

healthier diet choices, which also promotes good health on campus.

Students also participate to release the stress and frustra-tion caused by their academic careers.

Cameron Johnson, junior said “[intramural] sports is a good way for me to stay fit,

have fun, and play against my friends.”

Students also like the entertainment value of intramural sports and how close they feel to the play-ers.

Jaylon Owens, junior, consistently watches intramural football games.

“I like watching the games because I actually know the players,” he said. “With our school football

team, you barely see them, but with intramurals, I could have class with the quarterback. And not to mention the competition for bragging rights is very entertaining.”

Darien Wilson, who also likes to watch the games said, “Intramurals is good thing for all stu-dents to get away from studying 24/7 and actually enjoy the college experience.”

Toni Pulu:

The Mighty Lion Of Polynesia

By Kourtlynd Buggs-Torres

The Polynesian islands with palm trees and clear blue water have long been looked upon as vaca-tion destinations.

The islanders live in paradise in the Pacific Ocean but oftentimes have a hard time leaving when they want to, however, for some, football has presented the opportunity to break out successfully.

Polynesian athletes are often praised in football because of their size and build.

At 6-feet, 3-inches and weighing 285 pounds, Toni Pulu, of the Kingdom of Tonga, has played foot-ball at Texas A&M University-Commerce and has seen his share of success. He has seen football as a way to receive an education and eventually help his family through education or hopes to continue his football career.

“Where I come from, people don’t much think football is a big get away,” Pulu said. “That and is also seen as a lottery to all Polynesians that play.”

Coming from where ideals aren’t necessarily as materialistic as they can be in the states, many Poly-nesians hold family near and dear, which provides a foundation for many of the athletes. Everything comes back to not only doing for you, but doing for every-body. Family also encourages them to play football as Polynesian parents often have their children pick up a football at a young age.

“Parents push their kids a lot towards football,”Pulu said. “Sometimes (they push) too hard,

but a lot of Polynesians in America live in poverty so it’s often seen as a way out.”

Something that can quickly be recognized on Polynesian players are the tattoos, unlike those most commonly seen in the states where individuals create their own meaning in the tattoos they display.

Polynesian athletes have a deeper meaning as tribal tattoos can show what island an individual is from, significant things to represent their family, and

Photo courtesy of Lionathletics.com

even the individual’s faith.

Pulu sports a large tattoo on his left arm stretching from his shoulder to his mid-forearm.

“Mine is more of a freehand design, in which I chose certain designs to represent certain things,” he said. “For example, I have Tongan designs to show that I am Tongan. I also have some Samoan designs to represent my Samoan family… I also have three points to represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

The traditions of the Polyne-sian Islands are varied and interest-

ing to Americans including one in particular that has been adopted by mainstream sports teams.

Based on the tradition of the world champion rugby team, the New Zealand All Blacks, the Haka dance during pre-game and post-game activities has been adopted by high school and college teams alike.

The high school team from Euless Trinity started performing the Haka more than 10 years ago as something to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents. Trinity has a large number of Polynesian students and players, so the Haka became the team’s trademark and

gained national recognition.

“In some case it (the Haka) is seen as disrespect, being that those war dances are sacred and

Photo Courtesy of Flickr. com

Photo courtesy of Lionathletics.com

some of the Amercanized words can give off a wrong mean-ing,” Pulu said. “But it’s never intentional.”

Even though Pulu has enjoyed success in football A&M-Commerce, he still misses things about home. He speaks of a place where everyone respects their elders and women are held in high regard. Morals are also emphasized in Polynesian culture, giving the people a strong sense of charac-ter and poise, everyone is taught right from wrong and live by it because on the island - it is a way of life.

“My favorite part of my culture is the morals,” Pulu said. “Religion and family drive me in everything that I do.”

Photos courtesy of Lionathletics.com

“Religion and family drive me

in everything that I do” -Toni Pulu

Pulu’s Stats2014-2015

Total Tackles: 53

Unassisted: 24

Assisted: 29

Tackles for a Loss: 19

Yards Lost By Tackles: 85

Total Sacks: 7.5

Unassisted: 6

Assisted: 3

2015Total Tackles: 47

Unassisted: 14

Assisted: 33

Tackles for a Loss: 5.5

Yards Lost By Tackles: 27

Total Sacks: 2.5

Unassisted: 1

Assisted: 3

Men’s Basketball Ready to Roar into New Season

By Harrison Wagner

Key players from the 2014-2015 LSC Men’s Basketball Conference Championship team have re-turned for their senior season as hungry as ever for not only a conference championship but a national title.

Three players from last year’s team - point guard Ant Adams, shooting guard JR Owens and power forward Everrett Pleasant reviewed the champi-onship run.

Pleasant, who averaged seven points and four rebounds while playing just 16 minutes a game, looked back at the first Lions team to win a conference championship in a decade.

“It was history,” he said. “Knowing that we

can come back up and see the banner, all of that hard work and sweat is embedded in that banner and there isn’t a person that can take that from us.”

Pleasant, 6-6, 220 with a 41-inch vertical jump, plays the game fast and always in attack mode which means his body has to recover daily from the physical play in one of the best defensive conferences in the country.

“I can’t give any slack,” he said. “I know the game is at a faster pace and I always have to have an edge.”

That edge refers to his relentless energy to-wards the game. Pleasant is known for his crowed-

Photos courtesy of Lionathletics.com

hyping dunks and opposing team silencing blocks. “I just have to stay on point,” Pleasant said.

“I feel like if I don’t bring my energy, then the team won’t get their energy. I have to stay aware and fo-cused at all times whether I’m on the bench or on the floor. Having the most energy on the team forces me to keep my teammates up to speed on their focus and precision.”

One player who knows how important it is to be focused and that size doesn’t matter is starting point guard Ant Adams, who at 5-7, 165, averaged 12 points, four assists and two steals a game last year on 28 minutes a game.

“ Its all part of my game,” Adams said. “I just go out and play the game how I’ve always played it. I’m never going to change anything up.”

Adams is also one of the team’s go-to players as illustrated by his play in the conference champion-

ship game against Angelo State University. He had a tough first half but came back in the second half with an 18-point performance.

“It was my favorite moment of the season,” Adams said. “I knew all of that hard work and pain in the gym was for this moment and I couldn’t let my team down. I couldn’t have played that well in the second half without those guys.

“The media time-outs help me out a lot. We get a break every four minutes and I can always look up at the clock and know when a timeout is about to come,” Adams said.

Another player that knows about focusing when the time comes and seizing the opportunity is JR Owens, who started 27 of 32 games and averaged eight points per game last year.

“Its easy to lock in,” Owens said. “I love the game, so whenever coach needs me to do something,

its nothing to do it. That’s how I have always played the game.”

Late in the season when the Lions were play-ing away games before packed houses, the players had to stay focused to block out all the noise and distrac-tions.

“ It sounds easier than it looks,” Owens said. “But aside from the late nights in the gym or the shooting sessions after practice, I would mentally

prepare myself for those moments. I would see myself taking shots and block out the defender. It is all about repetition when I shoot. Other than that, I learn to adjust and get it done.”

“It (focusing) was all simple for me,” Owens said. “I wanted to win so bad. I would do anything to make sure that I was focused and ready to perform during the game. I would just lock in and nothing else mattered.”

Lions Softball Blasts into

Second Season

By Baleigh Whitlock

History was made when former

Texas A&M University-Commerce athletic

director Ryan Ivey announced the Lion ath-

letic program would add softball to begin

in the 2014-15 season.

Ivey initiated the program to help

bring attention to the popularity of softball

in East Texas and give players a platform

to show off their skills close to home and

also to satisfy Title IX requirements.

Scholarship opportunities regarding

sports have to equally been given out and

offered between men and women according

to the law. Sex can’t be the reason for ex-

clusion of participation nor will discrimina-

tion be accepted by any federally assisted

program according to Title IX.

Ivey had to secure fundraising dol-

lars to start the program and those funds

contributed to the construction of a facility

that would become the John Cain Family

Softball Field.

Softball student-athletes were given

a redshirt season to work on skill and con-

ditioning during the 2013-14 season. The

fall 2014 was spent competing in exhibi-

tion games which abides by NCAA rules

Photos by Baleigh Whitlock

that the team’s first season is not an NCAA season.

The Lions were the final school in the Lone

Star Conference to sponsor the sport, which made

A&M-Commerce’s sixth women’s sport along with

five men’s sports.

The freshly minted John Cain Family Softball

Field opened Feb. 1, 2015, just in time for a double-

header against St. Edwards. It was the first game of the

A&M-Commerce softball program’s history and the

Lions started off with a pair of wins.

The inaugural season featured several high-

lights in building tradition for the program. The high-

lights included Tyler Oppenheim being named Lone

Star Conference Player of the Week, the Lions record-

ed 20 wins at the John Cain Family Softball Field, the

Lions were the 6th seed in the LSC championship, the

team hit 45 home runs during the season and finished

in the Top 50 in the NCAA.

Richie

Bruister, hired

to coach the

first-ever

softball pro-

gram, brought

a winning

background

to Commerce

as the all-time

winning coach

in NCAA Division II softball.

Bruister’s mission for the team was to have a

winning season as well as a winning GPA. He wanted

to win the conference championship and go on to win

the highest GPA in the conference with his team.

The program has much to offer including the

ability to stay competitive with other softball pro-

grams in the conference, state of the art facilities and a

sense of family support and pride from the community.

Academics are also vital to the success of the program.

During their first season the Lions led all LSC softball

teams in GPA with a team average of 3.536.

The playing field features a section of reserved

seating and a general admission section holding 800

people altogether. The facility hosts three turf batting

cages with hitting stations and bullpens on each home

and visitor side.

“I’m excited for our program because I know

what we can

become in the

near future.

The legacy of

Lion softball

will continue

to grow,”

catcher De-

cember Rivers

said.

(From Lionathletics.com)

Texas A&M University-Commerce President Dr. Dan Jones and Director of Athletics Tim McMurray an-nounced that Head Coach Colby Carthel has signed a three-year contract that keeps him at the helm of the Lions football program through the 2018 season, with opportunities in the agreement to extend it through 2020.

Under Carthel’s direction, the Lions have claimed back-to-back Lone Star Conference Championships for the first time since 1958 and 1959 seasons with the 2014 and 2015 crowns.

His team led the NCAA in points scored on the offen-sive side and in tackles for loss on the defensive side in 2014. The Lions also set an NCAA Division II record with 986 total yards of offense in the 2014 season opener.

Sixty-seven of Carthel’s Lions earned All-Lone Star Conference in his three sea-sons, with six Lions claiming All-American status.

Carthel SignsNew ContractThrough 2018

Photo by Aaron Hwang