Oct. 31, 2013
Senior Danielle Callahan of the Boston University women's basketball team will write a monthly blog about the 2013-14 BU women's basketball season. Check back at the end of each month for inside information about the Terriers!
Terriers "D" Classified Photo Album
February/March - Entry #5
Tourney Time
Hello Terrier Fans,
As expected, February (and the beginning of March) was an eventful time highlighted by the second half of our conference games, our “Cheer, Band and Dance Team Appreciation Night”, senior night, a ton of traveling and the Patriot League Tournament. Unfortunately I planned on adding a little video portion to this blog, but my computer thought otherwise. Maybe an end of the year little video could be in the works, but we shall see.
The second half of our conference games was very beneficial to us. After getting our feet wet in the first round of conference play, we were lucky to be given another shot at all nine teams and learn from missteps as well as capitalize on our successes.
One of our favorite games is always our “Cheer, Band and Dance Appreciation Night.” This year it was our February 12th game against Colgate. After a good team win we celebrated the hard work of these three groups by inviting them up to Eilberg Lounge for some pizza and cake. These three groups work extremely hard to make Case Gym our favorite place to play. Many times after games we will be leaving the gym only to find cheer and/or dance changed out of their game gear and practicing for upcoming competitions. Many cheer and dance teams could choose to focus on competition, but our teams come to each men’s and women’s game while still practicing to compete at the national level. As a player, it is such a pleasure knowing you always have people cheering on both baselines, and a rowdy band that is into every single play. At the celebration we had some laughs talking with the senior trumpet players, and I told James, a fellow senior, how I especially appreciate his dance moves in the stands. If any of you readers come to an upcoming game, be sure to check out the trumpet section, and the rest of the band members getting down!
To close out February we had our annual Senior Night banquet, where we celebrated our seniors, myself included (some thought it would never happen!). As a senior, I truly cannot express the gratitude we felt that night. With our juniors (Mollie McKendrick and Troi Melton) leading the way, our underclassmen made the banquet the best it’s been during all of my years at BU. To say they went above and beyond would be an understatement! They made an incredible video imitating us on the court, made some funny speeches (with some subtle shots being fired throughout) and funniest of all made HUGE cardboard cutouts of our faces that fans held up during the game. On behalf of all the seniors, I’d like to thank our team and staff for making it one of my most treasured memories at BU.
After all the celebrating, we knew we had to refocus and finish our season strong with our senior game the following day against Holy Cross. I was hoping I would be able to hold it all together as I walked out to half court with my parents to be honored before the game. When that moment came...there was no way I could hold back tears. I remember my freshman year at LaSalle laughing at a good friend and senior, Tara Lapetina, for crying during the pregame stretch of her senior game, and there I was crying like a little baby on my senior day! Tara, I guess I had it coming, I can now empathize with how you felt that day. It was an exciting game that came down to the wire, and we came up with the win with a strong second half comeback.
After the senior game, it was finally time for the Patriot League Tournament. We could not wait to finally be able to compete in a tournament atmosphere again after being stripped of our privileges last year in the America East. We played at Case for one last time, beating Loyola in the first round. Next we would face Army, one of the Patriot League powerhouses. While we did not come out on the winning end of this game, I think it was one of my proudest games I have played at BU. This was not because I played a particularly good game (which I did not) but because our team came together and played with every ounce of passion in our bodies. The final buzzer sounded, which concluded our 2013-2014 season, and concluded my, Rashidat and Whitney’s final game as BU Terriers.
Because this is my last blog of the season I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks. Thank you to my teammates for being true friends and competitors. Thanks to my parents (the kind of people who after a 10 turnover game will talk about my one good assist, or get up early to come rebound all of my misses), and to all my teammates’ parents for the continual support of our program.
On behalf of the seniors, I would like to minute to thank our coaching staff for our past four years. A college experience is not complete without the occasional ups and downs, but one thing that remained constant was the support we felt from our staff. The coaches, with Coach Greenberg leading the way, welcomed us to a new city and a new team as if we were their own daughters. We have had many instances of walking by the coaches’ offices to say hello, and end up talking for an hour or two, many times not mentioning basketball once. The lessons we’ve learned, the relationships we’ve forged, and the memories we’ve made are all thanks to Coach Greenberg giving us a shot to play on this team and it is something for which we will be forever grateful.
While our basketball careers have come to a close, I am confident in saying that us seniors will be taking away some lifelong lessons from Coach. We look back at our times and are appreciative of how much Coach and her staff saw us as young women, not just basketball players. We learned from our coaches how important it is to “share yourself with others,” whether that means just opening up and being a friend, or showing your personality by wearing a penguin suit to practice (don’t think we forgot about that, Coach Leflar). We learned that earning success does not come easy, and how “little things make the big things happen.” These are the just the “Readers Digest Version” of the many lessons we will carry with us from this BU basketball experience. As weird as it sounds, we have now crossed over to be “alums.” As scary as it sounds, we find comfort in knowing we have coaches and teammates we call friends, cheering us on in life just as they cheered for us on the court.
Go Terriers!
Danielle
P.S I would just like to say I will be taking the spring semester to start training for the Alumni Game 2015, it’s on oldheads!
Feb. 2, 2014 - Entry #4
Back to the Books, Birthdays and Bus Rides
The new year kicked off our conference play and we are already halfway through our conference slate. Even though we are in a different league than last year conference play always brings a different feel than the non-conference schedule. No matter what league you play in, there are always heightened expectations and a sense of vital importance that comes with each game. Off the court we made a return to the classroom mid-month as our spring semester kicked off on the 12th.
January was an eventful month for the Terriers, including two birthdays! Whitney joined the 22 club (thankfully I’m not the only grandma on the team anymore at 22), and Mollie turned the big 2-1. Both birthdays were celebrated with wins at home against Lehigh and Bucknell. Usually when there is a team birthday the birthday girl is greeted with a cookie cake (our teams unanimous favorite) after practice, but since Whit’s was on a game day there had to be a slight change. Whitney was surprised to see a candle snuck into her breakfast potatoes during our pregame breakfast so we could serenade her in T. Anthonys!
In addition to the birthdays, we also had a very special day for BU basketball, Alumni Day. It is always a great day, and this year was no exception. It is always a pleasure reconnecting with old teammates and meeting former players who were once in our shoes. We were able to field two competitive teams of former Terriers and they battled it out at 10 a.m. before our 1 p.m. tip against Bucknell. It was great to have some of the younger alumni back who we have played with (Kmac, Kristen, Mo, Jac, Caroline, and Kerry!), as well as some of the older alums who we have come to know from coming to games. As expected Kristen Sims channeled her inner “Jimmer.” We would call Kris “Jimmer” (as in Jimmer Freddette, former BYU player) during her junior and senior season for her boldness in taking any 3-point shot she could get. Also, Caroline made her on court debut since getting cleared from surgery and was looking great. I was definitely keeping some mental notes during the game so I know what team I want to play on next year when I am an alum! The game is pretty laid back for the most part, but things definitely got serious when A took the whiteboard and began drawing up plays for her team to run during a timeout. If I remember the plays were successful when executed on the court. As you can see from one of the pictures, some serious stats were being taken during the game by Coach Lo.
With the new Patriot League destinations we are spending a ton of time on the bus. We have started the Friday Night Lights series, which has pitted team members against each other whether or not they are “Team Riggins” or “Team Matt” and so on. I am someone who doesn’t watch every show, but every now and again I’ll catch an episode. One day at shootaround some of the girls mentioned Jason Street (a guy from the show), and were talking about him as if he were a real person. I jumped in and asked who Jason Street was? They all glared at me with looks of disappointment. For a second I retreated and thought maybe I had momentarily forgot about a good friend, and couldn’t figure out who this Jason guy was. After I found out it was a character from the show, I started to question how into this show some of us are getting...
As we head into February we are excited to kick off the second half of Patriot League play and put ourselves in the best position come tourney time. Included in these games will be our Breast Cancer Awareness game (where we can rock our fresh white and pink uniforms), and on the last of the month we will have our annual senior day banquet. Until then, keep following the team and we hope to see you at a game soon!
Also, you have some exciting new exciting changes to “D”Classified to look forward to in February...stay tuned!
Go Terriers,
D
Dec. 30, 2013 - Entry #3
Letters, Little Kids, and Lost Shoes
I hope all of you had a relaxing holiday season! December has been a busy, competitive, and exciting month for us. We had a jam-packed schedule with games, final exams and some community service sprinkled in. As a team we are really beginning to hit our stride on the floor, and we can’t wait to get into Patriot League action. It’s hard to believe we are wrapping up our non-conference schedule, but we are looking forward to the competition and new rivalries that we will face in the new league. But as always, onto the burning question, What have the terriers been up to off the court?
As student athletes at BU, Student Athlete Support Services provides various Life Skills speakers throughout the year about different pertinent topics. In the beginning of this year we heard from Greg Forbes Seigman (http://www.gregforbes.com/), who was a captivating speaker and in general just an intriguing individual. He spoke about how we can use seemingly insignificant times of our day to make a difference in other people’s lives. While we came away learning a lot from his talk, the bigger challenge is putting his advice to action. Luckily for our team, it wasn’t too hard to do this. Greg recently reached out to me and proposed that we do something fun to reach out to a local team. Many of you have probably seen the YouTube clip that went viral (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNvOcK6UsIc) about the local Boston Football team who stood up for their waterboy who was being bullied. Our team wrote a letter to their team, saying how much we admired their leadership, and how they are role models to us. At the end of the letter we invited the team to come to a game as our guests of honor and that Danny could be our honorary water boy for the game.
As I spoke with Greg over the course of a couple weeks, he reiterated how much a little letter could really be something special. He even shared with me how he once received an autographed photo and short note from “the Fonz” from the TV show Happy Days telling Greg he was “cool.” Greg told me how he has treasured that picture since he was young. I’m not sure if a letter from BU Women’s Basketball has the “coolness” points in the eyes of a 5th grade football team like the Fonz had for Greg, but hey, we tried! As of last week we heard back from the team and they are excited to come to a game, which is TBD!
If you are looking for anyone on our team you can usually spot us somewhere in Case Gym. On December 6th, we would be found there, but that night we were not in our usual role taking the floor to compete. Instead, we were in the stands cheering on our wrestling team as they took on the #1 Nationally-Ranked Penn State squad. The signs we made even made it in the Boston Globe (http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/12/27/wrestling-program-grapples-with-realities-extinction/szkon64EJSPcoLB0QkpfrJ/picture.html). With our wrestling team in their final season, all of the student-athletes came out to support, and the gym was sold out. BU’s Student Government also provided “Save BU Wrestling” shirts to all students, so the student section of the gym was a sea of white. This was the first time wrestling sold out the gym, and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. It was great to see all of BU athletics really rally to support the wrestlers. It felt natural to come and root for them because they are always a team who is in the stands of all BU athletic events. If you’ve been to any of our games they are usually the crazy ones, shirtless, screaming at the top of their lungs. Thanks for the continued support guys!
Before finals we were able to participate in the Holiday Reading Program, which is a program that ships our BU athletes all over the city to promote reading and literacy to elementary school children by participating in read alouds. It is always refreshing for us to interact with the kids, which is a change of pace from being on campus with mostly adults all the time! Our team read to a 1st grade classroom, and after not being around such young people for some time I was reminded of their unapologetic honesty. As I was reading Henry and Mudge to my group of two first graders, I noticed the little girl in my group was distracted and kept looking over at Clodagh’s group. She then asked if she could leave my group and join Clodagh’s. Confused, I asked the little girl why she wanted to leave. She looked me square in the eye and said, “I want to be in her group, shes pretty.” That girl had me thinking I should start signing this blog, “D, the Ugly Duckling!!” Clo and I laughed about it afterwards, and she told me, “Hey, I’ll take all the compliments I can get, even if it is from a few first graders!” Afterwards we had a few minutes to take some pictures and they asked some questions that were pressing their 1st grade minds. Some of the funniest questions were asking how old we were (throwing out numbers from 16 to 60), or when they asked Whitney where her husband was!
This month our team also celebrated the two year anniversary of our UNH game for Troi. You may read that, and say huh? Anniversary? For those who did not follow our team two years ago, I will fill you in on what happened. On that fateful day a basketball player’s nightmare became a reality for a young, freshman Troi Melton. As she recalls it, she walked off of the bus at UNH and immediately realized something was not right, she felt a pang in her stomach when she realized she did not have her basketball shoes. After some deliberation, we realized her only option was to wear the shoes she had on, our travel sneakers. She faced the situation like a champ and did her best playing in those low, black Nikes. In warm-ups we held back chuckles as Troi sliced through the lane in her casual kicks. While it was not a funny thing in that moment, we have come to a point where we can laugh about with Troi. She has since learned from the experience and now she always reminds everyone to pack our basketball shoes for away trips. In memory of that game, we had a moment of celebration in the locker room as Troi successfully packed both shoes into her bag for the game. You’ve come a long way, Troi, proud of ya!
Looking ahead to January we have the first half of our conference slate, our alumni game, a few teammate’s birthdays, and the beginning of the spring academic semester! Hope everyone has a happy and blessed New Year and we hope to see you at a game soon!
Go Terriers!
D
Dec. 3, 2013 - Entry #2
Hoops, Turkey, and Ping Pong
Hello Terrier Fans,
As the leaves fall, and the bitter coldness settles in Boston, we know that means one thing…basketball season! It’s hard to believe we are already seven games into our season. We’ve taken on a cross-town foe, some familiar Northeast competition, and not to mention a national powerhouse in our first few weeks and are getting better with each game. I will give you a little recap of what’s been going on off the court during this busy November!
In the beginning of November we had a “friendly” (take that with a grain of salt) ping-pong tournament to kick off the season. Rather than rating each player's ping-pong abilities, then ranking each player to make brackets, we simply pulled out of a hat for seedings. As I looked around the room, people were definitely sweating it out (not to name any names ...Brendan and Coach Leflar). After taking a look at the bracket I think it definitely worked out that the best players made it to the finals. As you can tell from the picture of the bracket, Melissa and Rashidat still would like rematches with Brendan, since he was able to sneak by both of them in close games.
Aside from our players and coaches in the tournament, we were happy to include our practice player Frank Brogie! Unfortunately we will be without Frank in the Spring semester when he leaves for Ireland to study abroad. We will definitely miss Frank’s fierce competitiveness at practice, but I don’t think many of us will miss those times Frank dunked on us, or when he would come out of nowhere and block our shots. But back to ping-pong… the semis and the championship are left to play, so I will keep you all posted. As players, we are rooting for our two team members left (Whitney and Moll), and hoping they can outlast the coaches. We all dreaded having to play Mollie as she has proven to be the ping pong master. I have come up with a theory that they must train Aussies from birth to be ping pong-ers because I don’t think you are that good just by chance! Most of her shots left her opponents looking absolutely silly (myself included). Well done, Moll!
One highlight later in the month was the challenge of playing three games in three days for the Hall of Fame Tournament in Connecticut, with the first game being #1 ranked UConn. It is times like those when we look back at our AAU basketball days and can’t believe how we used to play six or seven games in one weekend! It was definitely a test of mental and physical toughness and (thanks to ice baths and adequate rest) ended on a high note with a W against Monmouth. Playing in Connecticut was a nice goodbye to one of our favorite travel spots, which was always Hartford. We were able to enjoy a meal together at our favorite restaurant in Hartford, and bid farewell to the site of our old conference rival as we look forward to new travel destinations in the Patriot League.
Lastly to wrap up November was our Thanksgiving celebration. One of the many fun things about being on a team is being able to spend time with your teammates outside of the locker room, outside of practice and just hangout. Because of our schedule this year, we were not able to go home to celebrate Thanksgiving, but what better way to spend it than with your teammates? Early in my college career I would always eagerly check our schedule to make sure I would be able to go home for Thanksgiving, but since then my perspective has changed drastically. I have come to realize how truly unique and special it is to be a part of a team, and the opportunity to celebrate the holidays with them is something that won’t ever happen again. As each graduating class moves on we realize how fleeting time is and how we must make the most of the time we have with teammates during our college years. OK, that is enough of my philosophy! This year we were lucky enough to be invited to Sarah’s house for a delicious Thanksgiving meal (Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Hope, I think we are all still full!). It was great to get out of the city for a bit and just hangout and watch football and enjoy delicious food. At Sarah’s, a few of us congregated to the pool table, which Mollie also dominated (I think a trend is starting to develop here).
As for now, we are looking forward to December, which includes six games, the conclusion of our non-conference schedule, the end of the academic semester, some community service and of course a few days home for the holidays! Hope to see you at a game soon!
Take care,
D
Oct. 31, 2013 - Entry #1
Back At it!
Hello Terrier Fans!
My name is Danielle Callahan (otherwise known around BU athletics as D or Dcal) and I am a senior on our BU Women’s Basketball team. While GoTerriers.com does an excellent job covering our games/stats/etc, I will be providing a different perspective on our team. I will be writing each month to keep you all updated on what’s going on with the Terriers off the court. We have a lively and exciting bunch this year, so stay tuned for all of the, laughs, good times, and inside scoop on the team!
So lets get down to it, there’s so much we need to get caught up on! While I have the mic, I would like to congratulate our former teammate and friend Chantell Alford for getting her professional basketball career started in Belarus and give some well wishes to Jac, Kris-Kris and Mo who have moved on to their real world jobs/lives and are killing it!
Anyways, on to this year’s team! This year is an exciting for us because we are finally welcomed into the Patriot League as full members, and are able to compete for a conference championship! We are three weeks into practice and are getting after it! While it’s a new league, we have made it a point to keep our same “BU Tough” attitude, and our “Commit to Win” slogan. This all started back in the summer, when we embarked on a new year of classes, strength and conditioning sessions and basketball workouts, and not to mention welcomed our new freshman to campus!
I would be remiss if I forgot to also mention some new additions to our staff this year. We are excited to welcome back former teammate Caroline Stewart as our video coordinator! She has been doing an excellent job, and is definitely enjoying getting all the BU gear like old times!
Another important addition to our Terrier family is our new manager, Seamus Ryan. For a little background knowledge, during my time at BU the legacy of being a manager has been greatly revered. Our old manager Howie Landau definitely set the bar extremely high. Not only did Howie know the complete breakdown of every roster in our conference, but he also did anything and everything to make sure we were the most prepared team. We all have very fond memories of Howie. Whether it was his frantic running up and down the bleacher stairs during games, helping edit our papers for class, or even one time having to run to City Sports with 30 minutes until game time to pick up some headbands for our team, Howie has done it all. (For more on Howie, you can check out what my Dad calls “Howie’s TV Show”… a short youtube clip made about Howie! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jG394AZCOo ).Howie came back to campus and got the chance to meet our new manager, Seamus, at our Parents Weekend Scrimmage. We have all the faith in the world that Seamus will be a great addition to our team, even if Howie is a little reluctant to give up his spot.
Our Parent’s Weekend Red/White Scrimmage was once again a success. It gave our parents a sneak preview of our team, as well as the opportunity to mingle with other parents and players! As always we were all excited for the appearance of TJ (Coach Steele’s son), and all the parents who were able to make it to Boston for the weekend!
Next, I will touch on our freshman, since they are probably the ones you know the least! Meghan, Courtney and Sarah all hail from the New England area and have come to BU with great attitudes and hardworking demeanors. They have been learning a lot over the past few weeks, and soaking in everything BU basketball. Unfortunately, they had to learn some things the hard way. For example, in one of our first practices Sarah wasn’t aware of one of our team’s traditions. A few times a year, before practice, when a few balls get stuck in the hoop, we try to beat our record of getting 13 basketballs stuck up there! Just as we were planning the strategic positioning of the next ball to fit in the hoop Sarah walked over and happily said “Oh I got this guys!!” Because Sarah is an excellent shooter, we all figured she would have that gentle touch to shoot her ball into the perfect spot without knocking any other balls out. Little did we know, Sarah had other plans. She vaulted her ball full force at the hoop, knocking all the balls down, leading to collective screams of disapproval from the rest of the team (I’m thinking Sar won’t make that mistake again!). While that was a rough “freshman” moment, it has been smooth sailing since that formative day!
Lastly I would like to congratulate Rashidat on her selection to the Scarlet Key Society. This is the highest honor awarded to Boston University student leaders. This comes to us as no surprise, as Shida has a schedule that would make some people go cross-eyed. For example, in the summer her typical day would include a 6am lift, work at her internship from 9 to 5, a quick basketball workout, then night class…then do it all over again the next day! We all admire Rashida very much, and I’ve been known to deem myself the President of Rashidat’s Fan Club ! Looks like that nerd life is finally paying off Rashidat (No personal days!!)! For more on the Scarlet Key Selection click here http://www.bu.edu/today/2013/scarlet-key-society-turns-75/ .
As for now, we are continuing to practice and prepare for our 2 scrimmages, then finally our first game versus Northeastern! We can’t wait to get the season started, and hope you follow us for the ride. Until next time, friends!
Cheers (as Mollie and Clodagh say!),
D
