Well the Holiday's are behind us and we have one more week until we get underway. I can't wait until these kids get back on campus so we can get to work. First practice is scheduled for Jan. 18, cross your fingers for good weather.

A Senior's Perspective

I can't believe how fast the fall semester went. Time has been flying by and it's especially scary for me because I'm graduating in May and I need to find a real job (too bad no one will pay me to play softball in the real world!). I think our fall season went really well. And our fitness test results at the end of the season really show that we became a better team this fall through every workout and practice. It's so cool to watch everyone get better and better everyday, especially the freshmen. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about the new field! It's going to be awesome to play on a sweet field for my last season at Mason and get lots of W's on it.
It's nice to be back in New Jersey for winter break and spend time with my family during the holidays. I miss my teammates and coaches and want to wish them all a Merry Belated Christmas and a Happy New Year. We'll all be back together in a couple weeks to continue working hard and have a successful 2009 season!

-ALI BRYAN

Field Construction

Here are some photo's I've collected over the entire construction process. Adding some finishing touches as we speak....can't wait to get in it this spring!

Quote I liked

"Peak performance is dependent on passion, grit, determination, and a willingness to do something poorly until you can do it well."

-Zig Ziglar

Mason's New Mascot

Check out George Mason's new Mascot! He is nameless so far but there is a month long competition underway to select a name. I believe you can submit a name for consideration on our website...www.gomason.com. Gunston was cool but this guy is pretty cute!

Also, Congratulations to our Men's soccer team who won the CAA championship last week! They play at home friday night (11/21) at 7pm against UPenn in the first round of the NCAA tournament! GO PATRIOTS!!

World Series Update/Sport Psychology

The series was competitive and went all 5 games. The winning roster looks like this:
Team Manager - Meghan Hill
Christina Buono, Tori Dudley, Anush Mooradian, Sarah Martin, Stephanie Strother, Miranda Cranford, India Adams and Brianne Pease

We finished up our last session this fall with Dr. Waddell who is a sports psychologist and teaches sport psychology here at George Mason. I had an undergraduate and graduate class with her and loved it. She agreed to help us out this fall with some performance enhancement and team building stuff. I think it went really well and we will be better for going thru it. She made us a little uncomfortable at times but it was fun and I think we are a closer knit team because of it. To give you an example, one of the sessions was about how to deal with anxiety since all athletes battle anxiousness and nervousness in competition settings. Well to practice of course, we had to put ourselves in a very uncomfortable situation. We broke into three groups...pitchers, catchers and coach V were in one group, the outfielders were in another group and the infielders and myself made up a group. Our task was to come up with a rap song about our position and perform it in front of the group! This was very uncomfortable for a lot of us as you can imagine but it was super fun, super funny and gave us an opportunity to practice dealing with anxiety. There is video floating around somewhere and perhaps if we can figure out how to get it off of the girls phones and onto the blog we will share them with you. I have to brag and tell you that the infielders and I won the teams vote for best performance!!

Yikes! Time flies, it's been a while since i've updated the page. We are wrapping up fall practice in the few days. Hopefully the weather will allow us to finish our World Series. We split the squad into two teams and right now they are tied up at 1-1. I'm happy to report that our new ballpark is still on schedule and I hope to get some pictures on here shortly.
This weekend is the 3rd recruiting weekend of our 4 and Coach V is heading home to the America's Finest Showcase in San Diego. I head to Florida for Rising Stars in the morning. There is so much talent out there, I wish I could get to all the games but for now I can only be in one place at a time!

CAA Blood Challenge

The Softball team and coaches will be volunteering their time on Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 6pm-8pm either by donating blood and/or helping with registration and supporting those who are giving blood.

The CAA Blood Challenge was developed in 2002 by the league presidents as a fun way to emphasize the critical importance of donating blood. Each institution promotes the event on campus and encourages student groups, faculty, staff and alumni to participate and support their school.

WAHOOO! GO SKINS!

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Softball Skit - Student Athlete Picnic

Every year the Athletic Department has a student-athlete picnic where all the teams eat lunch, mingle, compete in a few contests such as dizzy bat, tug of war and a three legged race. Every team also performs a skit and are judged by various staff members. Here are some pictures of the girls and we actually won this year so they will be performing again at the Patriot Center during midnight madness.