⚽️ LADY VOLS SOCCER
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chuckiepoo
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chuckiepoo
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Not you, throwing shade, @turbovol . Leaving the rowing crew off the list.
StrangeVol
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MAD
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chuckiepoo
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Yes, we have a rowing team and they were pretty good last year---especially our 8s. They compete in the Big12 conference. We've
been slowly becoming more and more competitive---we seem to have caught up with alabama, which might be the only other SEC school with a rowing program---but the Texas program remains quite a bit better than us (and bama). We just got a new coach as
our previous, longtime coach---I forget her name, sorry--retired. I've actually been
to a couple of rowing regattas, including the Head of the Charles, which I think is the most prominent competition in the U.S.
You can watch streaming broadcasts of our volleyball matches on SEC+, which I have loved since it has tons of SEC/ACC/Big10 competitions
across most sports, including the SEC Swimming championships. We've won 2 SEC swimming titles in the last 4 years. The season before last
we had a freshman from Ireland---Ellen Walshe--who won three events and was Swimmer of the Meet. But she opted not to return to UT last year, which
of course hurt us, and I have a feeling we've seen the last of her. We'll see. We have another Irish swimmer---Mona McSharry---who is a top breastroker--and she has stayed in school and with the program and has been great. She made the Olympic final in the 100-meter breaststroke.
I try to follow all our sports--and let's not forget Tennis!
been slowly becoming more and more competitive---we seem to have caught up with alabama, which might be the only other SEC school with a rowing program---but the Texas program remains quite a bit better than us (and bama). We just got a new coach as
our previous, longtime coach---I forget her name, sorry--retired. I've actually been
to a couple of rowing regattas, including the Head of the Charles, which I think is the most prominent competition in the U.S.
You can watch streaming broadcasts of our volleyball matches on SEC+, which I have loved since it has tons of SEC/ACC/Big10 competitions
across most sports, including the SEC Swimming championships. We've won 2 SEC swimming titles in the last 4 years. The season before last
we had a freshman from Ireland---Ellen Walshe--who won three events and was Swimmer of the Meet. But she opted not to return to UT last year, which
of course hurt us, and I have a feeling we've seen the last of her. We'll see. We have another Irish swimmer---Mona McSharry---who is a top breastroker--and she has stayed in school and with the program and has been great. She made the Olympic final in the 100-meter breaststroke.
I try to follow all our sports--and let's not forget Tennis!
JaxState match has been cancelled because of thunderstorms. I hate to carp (do I?), but I'm quite sure the weather forecast
had indicated heavy storms in the K-Town area in mid-to-late afternoon. Any review of the forecast might have prompted Kirt to contact
the JaxState coach last night or this morning and say, "We should effort to start this match at 12:00, given the forecast." Had they done that, they could have gotten in the game. Didn't do--and now an important preparatory match has been lost. JaxState bused a long way to Knoxville for nothing
and now heading home. Oh, my. Also, I saw where Kirt was starting Nelson and Washington...again. Double, oh my: We will not beat good
teams if they are starting. Kirt seems determined to repeat some of his mistakes of last year....
had indicated heavy storms in the K-Town area in mid-to-late afternoon. Any review of the forecast might have prompted Kirt to contact
the JaxState coach last night or this morning and say, "We should effort to start this match at 12:00, given the forecast." Had they done that, they could have gotten in the game. Didn't do--and now an important preparatory match has been lost. JaxState bused a long way to Knoxville for nothing
and now heading home. Oh, my. Also, I saw where Kirt was starting Nelson and Washington...again. Double, oh my: We will not beat good
teams if they are starting. Kirt seems determined to repeat some of his mistakes of last year....
MAD
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I hope the Vols are not having injury issues. Fusco played 2 minutes against bama and was subbed out. Players are never subbed out
that quickly unless there is a problem--and then the same thing happened last night: J. Thomas started and was subbed out after two
minutes. Tara Katz did not play against bama and was not in the lineup last night. Why not? Who knows--no information. Simmonds is still in a rest mode after the World Cup and has not trained at all with the team. Last night's starting lineup listed 5 defenders and 2 mids (Stayart and the slow-moving G. Washington). All of this would not seem to bode well with the first regular-season game against Cal on Thursday. Chemistry could be lacking. Maybe Cal has issues of its own.
Of course it's hard to get a real sense of things because this is college and UT and there is seldom any solid info on the team--and that's especially true
with soccer and other non-rev sports that don't generate enough fan/student interest. With softball, for example, there is a lot of fan interest and you
at least get some scuttlebutt about the team/players. All we really get from most of these sports is the occasional social-media video in which the coach blathers about how everyone is working hard and we have our leaders, blah, blah--the usual feel-good public relations bit that amounts to nothing. At Texas A&M, the coach has a //weekly presser// and goes into surprising detail about the team and individual players and answers real questions--weekly. Here, we get almost nothing of substance and so can do nothing but wait until the next game and see who is playing and who not. Frustrating. Not the way to build fan interest.
that quickly unless there is a problem--and then the same thing happened last night: J. Thomas started and was subbed out after two
minutes. Tara Katz did not play against bama and was not in the lineup last night. Why not? Who knows--no information. Simmonds is still in a rest mode after the World Cup and has not trained at all with the team. Last night's starting lineup listed 5 defenders and 2 mids (Stayart and the slow-moving G. Washington). All of this would not seem to bode well with the first regular-season game against Cal on Thursday. Chemistry could be lacking. Maybe Cal has issues of its own.
Of course it's hard to get a real sense of things because this is college and UT and there is seldom any solid info on the team--and that's especially true
with soccer and other non-rev sports that don't generate enough fan/student interest. With softball, for example, there is a lot of fan interest and you
at least get some scuttlebutt about the team/players. All we really get from most of these sports is the occasional social-media video in which the coach blathers about how everyone is working hard and we have our leaders, blah, blah--the usual feel-good public relations bit that amounts to nothing. At Texas A&M, the coach has a //weekly presser// and goes into surprising detail about the team and individual players and answers real questions--weekly. Here, we get almost nothing of substance and so can do nothing but wait until the next game and see who is playing and who not. Frustrating. Not the way to build fan interest.
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chuckiepoo
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madtownvol
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Well, I am batting 50% for the semis. With my two favorites out, Japan and France, time to regroup. Sweden will cause Spain similar problems as Japan but I am going for La Roja
Aussies versus England. Australia has been looking really good in the last few games and they have Kerr back (and the home crowd) where England will still be missing Lauren James, so chalk this one up to the Matildas.
Spain versus Australia. Spain had been my pre-tournament pick but I think Australia is the team of destiny. Aussies win! Aussies win!
DeerPark12
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Then call up the News Sentinel, the local TV stations, the radio stations, Volquest and 24/7 and demand coverage. UT isn’t going to call a weekly press conference for no one to show up. Soccer and volleyball have invited media to attend every practice thus far and no one has been there.
UT isn’t creating the content for other sports, the media is. Your issue is the media, not UT.
MAD
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The media is one part of the issue, but UT is the other. The soccer season has started and there hasn't been a word in the Daily Beacon--nothing, zero. UTSports.com has also produced almost nothing--not a single preseason story, I don't think, and only a brief piece on the Alabama game. Why would outside media become interested in the non-rev sports at UT when the UT media is not interested in doing stories on non-rev sports? Generating interest must start at the source--with the coaches and the programs itself. Their staffers should be calling the News Sentinel--not fans. If they're not pushy about getting coverage, then the UT media are not going to do much and, as stated, neither will the outside media. I'm not unrealistic; I don't expect a lot of coverage of non-rev sports--but there should be some coverage or you will never build fan bases for these sports. South Carolina, bama, florida, Texas A&M and others have more fan/media support for soccer than UT does. Why? I suspect because they work at it a bit. A number of universities outside the SEC have a serious fan base for soccer.
Lastly, there is a obvious constituency for soccer if you work at it. It's the most popular sport in the world. The Women's World Cup is taking place right now. Huge numbers of American kids play soccer, and the sport continues to grow in popularity. The U.S. women's national team has a major following. Plus Knoxville now has a pro, or semi-pro, team. While I want other non-rev sports to get coverage, none of them can make similar claims. So there is a base of interest that can be tapped into...if people work at it.
Also, if you notice, the universities in America where Olympic (non-rev) sports are popular and successful tend to be some of the best colleges in America--Stanford, UVA, Cal, North Carolina, others. It's time that UT and the state of Tennessee broaden out from its yahoo, football-obsessed culture. I love UT but it's not at the level of, say, UNC, and wouldn't it be nice if it was. You know which student-athletes at UT are the most well-rounded and impressive? The non-rev student athletes. In fact, two of UT's consistently best programs are swimming and tennis. It's time that their efforts and contributions to the UT athletic department and university are recognized and appreciated a bit more. We have a top swimming coach, and White rewarded him for his success very recently with an extension and pathetic annual raise of $10,000! Are you kidding? The coach should be looking for a job at another university that appreciates him more. I'm not anti-football and basketball--my father played football at UT, and I fully realize that football pays the bills--but it would be nice to see UT and its fan base become a bit more polished instead of continuing the Southern drool 24/7 over one or two sports. I think the non-rev coaches are just resigned to the fact that everything in the South still revolves around football and thus don't expect much coverage.
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