Academics - our first priority!

ONU was once again rated by the US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT as one of the premier institutions in the Midwest. This distinction is certainly impressive, and with the women's basketball program, we pride ourselves on living up to the expectation of excellence. Academic success is our program pillar, and as a staff, we have put together a game plan to achieve our goal of a 3.2 Team GPA every quarter. This is what we call our ACADEMIC MENTORING PLAN:

Here's how it works:
1. All new persons in the program are assigned a coach (Coach Durand or Coach Terrell).

• This person meets with that coach every other Friday during fall quarter (5x on a 10 week quarter). These meetings involve checking planners, going through course syllabi, talking about the transition to our university as well as problem solving for areas that might be causing the student-athlete trouble. It's a great opportunity to offset potential problems, but it also gets the athlete in the office to talk with coaches! Typically, our new people start off quiet - that does not last long though :)

2. All new persons in the program are assigned a PEER mentor within the program:

• We partner new people with a veteran in the same major or a like major. This is their "peer mentor." That mentor is responsible for that person - they have to set up distinct study times for the week based on arranging schedules. We ask that they get 4 hours of time together a week (2-2hour blocks)
• We put them with a peer because of 2 reasons - first, that person has gone through what that new person is going to experience, especially in the like major, and secondly, it makes that mentor take on leadership responsibility. They are responsible for reporting to the coaching staff any concerns, the days that they are meeting, etc. This is a great way as a team to emphasize that we are all in this together and it's our responsibility to each other to make sure we are being the best students we can be.

3. We do grade checks/reports that go to faculty 2x / quarter

Having this game plan and implementing it consistently has brought us success academically. We are proud of our 100% graduation rate, but we are also proud to be leaders in the classroom on campus. It's expected to always be the best in everything we do. Typically, we don't have too many issues - our students come in with high expectations of themselves to achieve academic success. But, from the coaching staff standpoint, we make sure we are all on the same page about our priorities.

From our Spring Quarter (2009) our top 3 GPA student-athletes were:

Ericka Holcomb - Business / Psychology Major









Heather Armbruster, Pharmacy

Stephanie Hicks, Chemistry

A few retreat pics...

Here they are! Sophia from the Golden Girls is also an honorary member...I am so excited to know that Jess Armintrout loves the Golden Girls - reruns of this show are the best!

Katie Jones and Jeanne Bockey are working on a team activity above while Liz DePalma shows off the golf grabber she borrowed from her Grandmother's golf bag...seems strange, however, we voted to make that our team symbol for the year. There's a story to it, but she showed off it's ability to grab Megan Porter's Ipod here

Britt Bogart and Megan Porter working on team activitiese while the grilling team (Kara Dysert, Allie Drewes, Brooke Hayden & minus I am told Lauren Cassell who was busy taking the grill orders) work to get the burgers and dogs cooked - we will continue to refine our grill skills, but we all survived Kara Dysert as the honorary Grill Master....

Team discussions were centered around our summer reading assignment, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," by Patrick Lencioni - it's a great read for any organization and I highly recommend it! Here our teams work to come up with some ground rules we will use for our organization this upcoming year

Here she is...Natti the wonder dog with the face that can work a crowd...here, she bellies up to the bar and scams popcorn and chips from this spot, then worked her way around the basement during the game for other treats!







Below is a shot of the projection system in the Dumbaugh's basement - Tressel and the Bucks were not as fortunate as Natti was but we enjoyed hanging out and watching the game together

The key to our team is through their stomachs! Amy and Neal Dumbaugh cooked up a terrific breakfast Sunday to send us on our way - thanks!

Team Retreat 2009

Follow Through!

There it is - the mantra for the year for ONU Women's Basketball....it stemmed from great discussions this past weekend about accountability and what that word means for our team this year. Our team certainly has some key returners, but honestly, there are 11 new faces to our program- wow! Lots of getting to know each is in the works! So, this weekend was a start and we all agreed that building trust will take some time as we all get to know each other better, but that living up to this mantra will be the cornerstone for our success this year...

Our team retreat this year was at Morgan Dumbaugh's family's house - what a treat! They have a beautiful house, lots of space, and perhaps, the highlight to all of us dog lovers- Natti, the wonderdog. She knew how to work the system for food (see the pic of Nattie bellied up to the table for popcorn and chips!) Anyway, we are thankful to have the opportunity to crash there for the night. Those folks that are Ohio State Buckeye fans especially appreciated the opportunity to watch the game on the huge projection system - it was amazing! Still did not change the outcome, of course, but remember, you could be a Michigan State Spartan fan -ugh! (is it basketball season yet?) :)

Although we are in the very initial stages, the time spent with our team was revealing. I learned several items -perhaps most noteably is that Kara Dysert needs to work on her grilling skills-but in all seriousness, that our team is hungry for success...that they have expectations, not excuses....that they are ready to make a name for themselves and our program...that they recognize what makes a team functional versus dysfunctional and are willing to do what it takes to not make it the later... I can't tell you how happy that makes a coach! I believe I learned a lot, that of course I still have more to learn, but that most importantly, this bunch will be the group that will follow through! Get it girl!

Coach Terrell