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Show StatesmanSports Page 10 Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008 Ags taking it step by step By SAM BRYNER sen/or writer Aiu-r hishii* three straight ^imi's in amlt-mia- play, the I tali Suite Aggie men's basketball team dropped from first m fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference standings. Afters non-conference IkarkctBusters clash with IX Santa Barbara, the Aggies will return to conference play Thnrsilay night as they host Louisiana Tech. The game is scheduled lo begin at 8:0Ti p.m. and will be televised on \ltitude, which is Comcast channel hi. The contest will be the first oi tour remaining games [or the Aggies. These games are important, as tlicv will determine where the Aggies willfinishin the WAC standings. For Utah Slate, the equation to win the WAC is simple: Just win. "We drop three in a row, and we're in a situation now it we want to still win the league we have to win out." Aggie freshman Tyler Newbold said. One big obstacle that stands in the way of the Aggies placing first is a road game against the first-place Boise State Broncos, March 6, Aggie assistant coach Don Verlin said. But that doesn't mean that Utah State is looking past the last-place Bulldogs. "We've got to play one game at a time and hopefully take care of our home cooking and then go to Boise, and that will be a huge game," assistant *SSER$IANN . , 2008 CONCERT SERIES "World-Class Pianists in a World-Class Setting" ~ February 29, 8pm coach Don Verlin said. To help the Aggies stay focused on the task at hand, Verlin said the team is taking everything one step at time. "We've got to play one possession at a time, have one good practice at a time. We're not trying to get ahead of ourselves," Verlin said. "You can't worry about it, you just go play and see what happens, but the best thing about this year is we have our own destiny in our hands." That destiny begins Thursday against the visiting Bulldogs, who are only 1-11 in the WAC and 4-21 overall. Utah State is looking to win 20 games for the ninth straight year and, despite Louisiana Tech's record, Verlin said the Aggies have to be ready to •Stephen Hough Robert McDonald & The Fry Street March 4, 8pm W\' ~ Quartet March 28, 8pm Presented in the award-winning Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall on the Utah State University Campus in Logan, Utah Tickets, programs and more information, call (435) 754-5741 or www.i^u.edu/wassermann lK3ll$f!3tO UNIVERSITY CRESTWOODS Brentwood 736 E 900 N Lynwood 880 N 650 E Edgewood 736 E 800 N Stay in the Very Best Single Student Housing! •Practically on Campus "KillI Bath in each bedroom •Free Wireless Internet 'Fully equipped kitchen -Washer & dryer in apartment -Furnished •Covered Parking (Edgewood) • Entire Summer from $450 •School Year: Private: $2250-3210 Shared: $1980-$2370 755-3181 www.logancrestvYOods.com WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN SERVICES AMBASSADOR? Departments needing representation: Elementary Education; Family, Consumer, Human Development; Health, Physical Education, & Recreation; Psychology; Secondary Education; Special Education Applications are now available in EDUC 103 and are due Monday, March 17, 2008 Selection Criteria Minimum 3.0 GPA Excellent communication and interpersonal skills Recommendation of your major department within the College of Education & Human Services Recommendation of selection committee Ambassador Responsibilities Actively participate in all College and University recruiting events (e.g., High School Open Houses, Aggie Preview Day, Scholars' Day, Transfer Student Fairs, etc.) Attend all ambassador training sessions Adhere to the College of Education & Human Services Ambassador Code of Ethics Serve as a college spokesperson (e.g., conduct tours of the college and uni versify campus; assist with College of Education & Human Services activities; inform the public of career opportunities in the various majors offered by the College of Education & Human Services, etc. battle. "Louisiana Tech has played a lot of people close, and they're still playing and still competing," Verlin said. "They haven't given up. We're looking for a good battle, a hard battle, and we're going to go out and play as hard as we can." In the Jan. 24 game in Ruston, La., USU senior AilAmerican guard Jaycee Carroll led a quartet of double-figure scorers for Utah State with 16 points and eight rebounds. The Aggies notched a 71-61 victory. Junior forward Gary Wilkinson had 15 points and nine rebounds for Utah State, while Newbold scored 12 points and senior forward Stephen DuCharme added 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench. It was the Bulldogs' press defense that allowed them to get back into the game and forced Utah State into a seasonhigh 24 turnovers. Verlin said the team has worked hard in practice on breaking the press. "We've worked on it, we've watched a lot of film and adjusted our press breaker a bit," Verlin explained. Newbold said the team is more aware of the Bulldogs' pressure, and it has been the number one focus in practice. •sam.bryncr@aggiemaH.usu. edu UTAH STATE'S GARY WILKINSON muscles up a shot last Friday at the Spectrum against a UC Santa Barbara defender.The Aggies host the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Thursday at 8:05 p.m. TYL£R LARSON photo Dodds: On U.S. Goalball team LI continuedfrom page 9 Paralympic sport, because they don't see it on TV," Dodds said. Being a family man—his wife Brandi will graduate from USU in May, and they have a daughter. Kenadi —the expenses of playing goalball at a high level start becoming prohibitive and have Dodds thinking this year's Paralympics may be his last, although he feels like he has a lot left in the tank. But long before he had a family to worry about, Dodds was just a young athlete looking for a sport he could play competitively despite his continually deteriorating vision. Before finding goalball, Dodds played competitive baseball. One year in a championship game, he was playing outfield and it became obvious he'd have to find a new sport. "A ball got hit out there and it was one those where I didn't see the ball, and there was no sun to blame it on," he said. "So that kind of lost the game for me and it kind of embarrassed me." Dodds switched to something with a bigger ball that he could see, soccer. Right before trying out for his high school team, he started having trouble, and he realized he always would, so Dodds switched to a sport where he wouldn't have to worry about seeing the ball. "At least this will allow me to be competitive and I won't have an excuse that I can't see the ball," Dodds said. He's been playing goalball competitively since 1999, when he played in junior national tournaments. He was invited to the U.S. National Team try out in 2000. Coaches saw potential in him, and Dodds went to the national camp and ended up making the team, he said. Although he's played in Brazil, Spain, Lithuania, China and Sweden, where he'll compete this summer, his best moment was being on the podium in Athens and getting his bronze medal. "I've been on the medal stands at the Pan Am Games, but just being at the big show, you're televised all over the world, except the U.S.," Dodds said. -da.bake@aggiemail.usu.edu Sight: The story of goalball at USU LI continuedfrom page 9 them get back in position, Langworthy said. But with the exception of some communication between teammates and the jangling of the sleigh bells in the goalball, the sport is a quiet one. Since the competitors rely on their hearing to locate the ball, spectators are required to be silent during the action. "You'll be in the game and you can hear a pin drop—other than the goalball, it's really quiet," Dodds said. "In Athens, it made me laugh. It was so quiet, and then you'd score and there's just this eruption of people cheering. It's kind of backwards from what you're used to." A combination of the constant contact with the ball and repeated dives on the hard courts makes injuries common in goalball. Langworthy said he broke a growth plate in his right ankle, tore his Achilles tendon and tore a ligament in his wrist off of the bone. Dodds' worst injuries have been in his hip and shoulder. The bodily punishment doesn't seem to be a deterrent for the two athletes who finally found a game they could play competitively despite their visual impairment. Dodds, a 24-year-old family, consumer and human development major, started playing goalball in 1999 as a way to continue playing competitive sports—such as baseball and soccer—that he had to give up because of an eye condition he knew would continue to worsen. Langworthy, a 27-year-old exercise science major, has a similar story about the start of his goalball career, although his came a little later in life, in 2002. "I loved physical sports," Langworthy said. "I played football and wrestled and all that stuff, but now it's just kind of hard, losing vision as you get older, so it gives athletes a chance to play." Dodds is probably one of the reasons Langworthy still plays goalball. In the first year Langworthy played at Western Michigan, he competed against Dodds—one of the elite goalballers in America—in a tournament in Utah and was able to hold his own, Langworthy said. This gave him confidence, and in Langworthy's second year of playing goalball, he was invited to the U.S. Olympic Training Center. "That was awesome, because you walk into the cafeteria and there's the women's soccer team, there's Rulon Gardner," he said. "It's more of a wow thing." Unlike Dodds, Langworthy isn't on the current national team, but it's his quest to make the team that was the catalyst for the creation of the club at USU. Langworthy said he and some other goalball players were having a hard time getting excused from some of their classes to go to tryouts. They counteracted the problem by creating a new club this semester that has seven or eight members, including one female, he said. "We kind of took it to the next level, to the president and he fully backed us," Langworthy said. Goalball is a Paralympic sport for the legally blind, but Langworthy said the club—one of the first of its kind in the U.S.—is for anyone curious about the sport. Only those that meet specifics for visual impairment will be able to compete in the two tournaments the goalballers plan to travel to this year—including Regionals in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Nationals in Salt Lake City in June. Four club members will be playing on the state team, the Utah Explosion, which should be a threat at Nationals, Dodds said. "We really, strongly encourage people to comefindout what it is," Langworthy said. But if getting pummeled in the name of sport doesn't sound appealing, he said they are also looking for volunteers. "Us being all blindfolded, we need people that can see to ref," Langworthy said. The club meets in the HPER in room 213, Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. Those interested in attending practices or joining the club should e-mail Langworthy at martin.langworthy@aggiemail. usu.edu. For more information on goalball. check out www.usaba. org, www.usgoalball.com or wivw.utgoalball.net. •da.bake@aggiemail usu. edu |