Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Big Changes are coming for Hiram!

Hiram, OH- There are big and exciting things coming to Hiram College in the next year. Hiram College Athletics Director, Ellen Dempsey shared some exciting news on April 4th about Hiram College and also talked about the wrap up of this past year. Hiram is looking at big and exciting new changes to the school, academically and athletically.

Dempsey started right off the bat by sharing that Hiram has received the Women's and Minorities grant. This grant will allow Hiram to hire an intern to help Andrew Korba, Sports Information Director. This job will be a 10 month internship that will be a paid. The minimum requirement for this position is a Bachelor’s degree, however Dempsey explains that with this position they've gotten 40 resumes and all but five had their Masters completed and Hiram is looking for the most qualified recipient. 

"It's an honor to get one (Women's and Minorities grant), It's the second time in five years we've gotten this grant," Dempsey explains. 
         
          This upcoming year, Hiram College is officially adding Exercise Science as a major. Currently, Exercise Science is a minor at Hiram and there has been an increase in demand for it to become a major. This major will have a couple of components going off of it to help narrow choices for students. One component is there will be an option for student who KNOW they want to go to graduate school and there are courses specifically for that. Another component is for students who want to look into becoming a strength and conditioning coach. The last component is for students who want to own their own business, health related. A generous donor who was a former trustee at Hiram has made this all possible. 

"Were super excited about it," A.D. Dempsey expresses her excitement about the new program.

Hiram College’s athletic program is also excited to announce that Men's Volleyball will now be a Varsity sport at Hiram College. Dempsey proposed this idea about three and a half years ago and it is now being approved, thanks to the former trustee who is also donating money for the Exercise Program. The team will play a short season this next spring and play other club teams around the area. One of the main reasons men's volleyball was approved was because of the want and need for it in the college regionally. Hiram would like to increase their attendance, so they are hoping this will help. 

Ellen Dempsey expresses her gratitude and excitement about this addition into Hiram athletics, "It feels good they've looked closely at this proposal. Were super excited about it."

Dempsey talked about a quick wrap up of the year athletically for Hiram with some key and important events that had happened. The women's basketball team was awarded the Musial Award by Lauren Hill's parents for sportsmanship. Women's soccer team beat Allegheny first time ever. Men's Basketball team had a great season coming in third place in conference. Football was talked highly of from other schools on their dedication and hard work. Also Dempsey touched on all the new additions, coaching wise in the athletic department. There were 9 new staff members hired.

Hiram is ever growing academically and athletically every year. There’s big things coming for Hiram.


Saturday, April 2, 2016

The Terriers just couldn't get the ball rolling

Hiram, OH- Women’s Lacrosse falls to Depauw University 22-5. The Terriers offense looked a little shaky at the start of the first half. They had trouble getting the ball in the back of the net the whole first half.  Depauw got the first goal of the game with 26 minutes remaining in the first half, and they scored another one a minute later. With about 15 minutes left in the half Depauw kept the lead at 5-0. Autumn Osgood scored her 23rd goal of the season with 13 minutes left in the first half. However the Terriers ended the half down with a score of 11-4.

     The Terriers started the second half off right scoring one goal within the first two minutes. However the Terriers struggled the rest of the half rarely getting past half field.  Depauw scores 3 goals within the first five minutes of the second half. The Terriers defense seemed to break down in the middle of the second half resulting in the loss of the game today.

Our leading goal scorers in today’s game was Sierah Ray with two goals and Autumn Osgood with two goals.

The Terriers next game is on Wednesday at Franciscan University at 3:30 pm.  



Women's Lacrosse ready to get a win!

Hiram, OH- The women's Lacrosse team is ready to fight back today and get a win against Depauw University. After a tough couple of losses the women are playing to win.

     The Terriers are 3-5 overall, and 0-1 in conference. They just had their second loss at home on Wednesday night leaving their home record 2-2. The Terriers currently has a losing streak of two games to which they are ready to stop it today. Today's key players to look out for from the Terriers is Sierrah Ray who is a sophomore with 20 points and 19 goals, and Autumn Osgood, junior with 27 points and 22 goals.

     Today's opponent is Depauw University. Depauw is currently 1-7 with a huge losing streak of seven games. Depauw will be coming out with a heavy bench with 23 women on the roster and nine of those being freshmen. Key players to be looking for is sophomore, Emma Flynn who currently has 15 points and 14 goals.

    The Terriers are ready to get a win today. The match starts at 11 pm on Henry Field.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

College sports can be a real knock out! Literally

     
Concussions becoming more serious and prominent in College Sports.

Concussions have been a very real sports injury for years now, but just recently these past years has society really come to understand and get a grasp on how serious these injuries really are to athletes. College sports are huge part in our society; from the fans to the parents to the athletes themselves. Student athletes put in countless hours of their hard work and determination. With that hard work comes injuries and one of the most popular injuries unfortunately, are concussions.

Some may think that concussions aren’t that relevant and a broken arm or foot would be more likely to happen than a concussion. Think again. The NCAA gave out a poll in 2010 to approximately 20,000 college athletes and in Division I, 11.7 percent of athletes had a concussion. In Division II 12 percent experienced one and in Division III 11.9 percent experienced a concussion.

            As you can see concussions are serious issues in today’s college sports.  Hiram College is a division III School located in Hiram, Ohio. They have sports that range from football to soccer to lacrosse. Even Hiram has been plagued with concussions ranging from many different sports. In specific a player from the Hiram men’s soccer team has been concussed five times in his life, one of his concussions being at Hiram. Luke Wilhelm is currently a sophomore goalkeeper at Hiram College. Wilhelm’s last concussion took him one year and one month to recover from. He was sent to a doctor who works for the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pennsylvania, who specializes in concussions. He was put through a serious of tests before he could be cleared back to play.

Wilhelm explains the symptoms of his last serious concussion, “I was heading the ball off the corner and I hit the side of my head funny, immediately I was sensitive to light and sound and became very nauseous. I also had trouble walking.”

The doctor diagnosed him with two concussions out of the six possible concussions you can receive. He had an ocular concussion, which is the strain on his eyes, and an anxiety based concussion that will bring on a symptom of self-doubt and constant overthinking. Wilhelm was cleared by his doctor and then by trainers at Hiram College. The trainers at Hiram go through a strict protocol that is world wide with all NCAA sports and is followed very strictly. They basically take an athlete’s baseline test, which is when they’re healthy and once they have a concussion they must get tested over and over again until they are back to their baseline.
Wilhelm is currently back on the field cleared and playing in his spring season. However Wilhelm’s one of the lucky ones. Concussions can end some athlete’s careers. One concussion did for head coach of Women’s Soccer, Michael Cracas. “I had several concussions ending my playing career in college.”

Having more than one concussion has scary and real consequences, which is the reason for sports careers ending. With repeated damage to the brain can lead to long term neurologic and functional deficits and sometimes even death. Concussions are a very real and scary think in this day and age and our society is making steps to make sure these injuries are taken care of very thoroughly. You never know if it’s going to happen to you, and if or when it does be careful and smart in recovering.

What to look out for when an athlete gets hit hard in the head and when to look for the signs of a concussion.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyv4du7BTOc

References


      What have we learned from 500 concussions in 3 years of college football? (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2016, from http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2015/12/30/500-concussions-ncaa-college-football-reporting.html


      N. (2014, February). Self-Reported Concussion among NCAA Student-Athletes Executive Summary [Scholarly project]. In NCAA.org. Retrieved March 24, 2016, from https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Concussion GOALS Exec Summary_Feb_12_2014_FINALpost_0.pdf

      Concussion guidelines. (2014). Retrieved March 24, 2016, from http://www.ncaa.org/health-and-safety/concussion-guidelines