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My last two years I spent at York, I regularly contributed to the school community by writing for The Spartan. The majority of my assignment focused on sports writing, requiring me to attend games, interview persons, and take detailed notes.
During my final semester I began writing feature stories, and interest stories for the college community. Two articles that I have included were an article about the Mens Soccer team, and an article about a Memorial Skydive for the passing of my sister.
Spartans Ranked 4th after Impressive Wins over Seagulls and Mustangs The 4th ranked Spartans recorded impressive wins this past week over Salisbury University, and Villa Julie University. With both wins, the Men’s Soccer team continued their winning streak to 23 games without a defeat. Saturday’s win against the 22nd ranked Seagulls was a special win for head coach Mark Ludwig. With their 2 – 1 over time victory, Coach Ludwig got his 100th win as head coach. In his 8 year tenure as the Spartans head coach, Coach Ludwig has a .655 winning percentage, with a 100 – 48 – 9 record. The game was scoreless until the 44th minute, when senior Mike Baker got a pass from Travis Williams and scored on the Seagulls goalie. After dominating the 1st half, the Spartans saw a different Seagulls team in the 2nd half. In the 70th minute of play, the Seagulls got on the score board as Nick Malone scored unassisted. The final 20 minutes went scoreless, and for the 2nd time this season the Spartans were facing overtime play. During overtime the Spartans secured their victory when Andrew Wheeler scored his 5th goal of the season 8 minutes into overtime. Last Wednesday’s game proved how dominate the Spartans offense can be when they scored a season high 7 goals. With this shutout win, D3kicks.com ranked the team 4th in the nation (previously ranked #5). Andrew Wheeler got the Spartans 1st goal in the 26th minute of the game, and Matt Beale recorded his 1st goal of the season in the 35th minute of play when he was fed a pass from Drew Dutrow in the box. The next goal came from Brian Carr 5 minutes into the 2nd half from a Wheeler pass. With a 3 – 0 score, the Spartans showed no mercy, and continued to dominant. Four minutes after the 1st goal in the 2nd half, Charlie Barnett scored another goal on the Mustang goalie from another Wheeler pass. The Spartans wasted no time, scoring a minute and 10 seconds later, when Barnett gave Wheeler the ball, and Wheeler notched his 2nd goal of the game, giving the Spartans a 5 – 0 lead. The scoring didn’t stop as Travis Williams got his 1st goal of his college career from a Dutrow shot on goal that banged off the goal post. The final goal came from Dutrow who got a pass from Kyle Marks giving the Spartans a 7 – 0 win. In the contest, the Spartans greatly outplayed the Mustangs with out shooting them 18 – 3. The Spartans recorded their 4th shutout for the season, which came at an easy task this game, as the Mustangs were unable to get 1 shot on goal. A Birthday Fit for my Sister There’s certain things in your life you’ll never forget. For me, one of those moments in life was the last conversation I had with my sister Victoria. It was on the ride back from having dinner with friends of the family before we each headed back to York when my sister began explaining her to me her addiction: skydiving. She spoke about how amazing it is to jump out a plane, and the rush she gets when falling through the clouds at 120mph. The craziest part of skydiving, she said was the when your looking up at the plane as your descended to the ground. She told me she only needed a few more jumps before she was able to get her skydiving A License; she was already at the point where she didn’t have to jump tandem. Then my sister dropped the million dollar question; why don’t you come skydiving with me next time I go? Without hesitation, I said I said there’s a reason God didn’t give me wings. The only reason I would jump out of an airplane was if a giant fireball was coming at me. However, after finding out about my sister’s passing, I promised myself I would take the leap of faith. This past Sunday, April 22nd, would have been my sister’s 19th birthday. Most likely, she would have gone skydiving. To celebrate her birthday my parents and I decided to set up a Skydiving adventure in Victoria’s honor. The idea first came to me as I was cleaning out my sister’s dorm room, and noticed a picture of her skydiving, and how much fun she was having. It was then I promised myself I would go skydiving. As word spread about the memorial jump, the number of jumpers increased from three to ten to a final number of 23 people jumping, with close to 30 people that weren’t brave enough to jump just watching. The turnout to Free Fall Adventures, in Williamstown, NJ was a huge success. Family, friends from our hometown, and friends from York College drove down to New Jersey to participate in the freefall. For those who participated in the jump, as well as those who came to watch were given a memorial skydiving green t-shirt that my dad created, along with a green wristband friends in her dorm that was created. On the back of the t-shirt, was a turkey drawing that my sister had filled out with all the things that she was grateful for. The first jump began around 10am, with the last plane at 3pm. Those who came to the event had a terrific time. For those who stuck around for the day’s activity, there was a birthday lunch for my sister at Devone’s restaurant in Williamstown. In honor of my sister, they had named her meal after her; a chicken BBQ cheese steak is now called Victoria’s BBQ Sandwich. Thankfully, the day was beautiful; there wasn’t a cloud in sight, with the temperature being in the mid 70’s. The workers at Freefall that knew my sister made sure they would jump with our group in commemoration to my sister. Because of the great turnout, next April 22nd might be the 2nd Memorial Skydive. |
