Michaela Swensen/Staff

On Wednesday, Cal football linebacker Brennan Scarlett was sent back to the locker room. But it wasn’t because of his athletic play — it was his psychedelic socks.

Surprisingly, the coach preferred monochrome black or white socks to the eccentric pair Scarlett was wearing: a maroon pair bedecked with glasses-wearing dogs. The Tuesday before, Scarlett had had to change out of his socks again — a reddish-orange, two-toned pair that would have made Harry Potter’s sock obsessed house elf Dobby jealous.

With over 60 pairs in his closet, Scarlett knows his way around the sock aisle.

“I’m all about the fresh sock combo,” Scarlett said. He also never gets rid of socks.

A junior enrolled in the Haas School of Business, Scarlett tries to buy a new pair of socks every week his team has a game. On game day — or sometimes on the day before — he will wear his new pair, saying the ritual helps take his mind off the seriousness of the game. Unfortunately, since he hasn’t been playing this season due to an injury, he has not been able to increase his sock collection regularly.

Scarlett’s extensive sock collection has made him somewhat of an arbiter on sock-related fashion. “When the socks match the tie,” Scarlett said, “that’s tight.” However, he’s less supportive of people who mix and match their socks, saying “That’s just not okay.”

His sock obsession is not recent. A love affair that started during his eighth grade basketball season, Scarlett found buying socks to be his favorite pregame ritual. After coming to Berkeley, Scarlett upgraded to buying himself designer socks — his favorite sock designer is Stance — but said the most he would spend on a pair is $20.

“I like them, but I don’t actually like them that much.” Scarlett said. “They are still socks at the end of day.”

Scarlett has had some help over the years creating his voluminous collection. His family and friends constantly support his effort, making him probably the easiest person to shop for, ever.

The linebacker says most of his teammates know about his love of socks and will sometimes ask where he gets his unconventional pairs from. Shockingly, he doesn’t have a favorite out of the about 30 socks of his that are adorned with cooler designs. And, although he has some blue and gold socks, none of them have the infamous Cal logo, an addition he still needs.

Scarlett has future plans — regarding his socks, of course. Scarlett says he just might pass down his socks to his son when it’s his game day.

Contact Chloe Hunt and Michaela Swensen at blog@dailycal.org.

The post A Cal football player and his lucky socks appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Team USA Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Missy Franklin (that’s an accomplished mouthful if we’ve ever heard one), is becoming a Golden Bear this fall! That’s old news, of course, but we thought with the school semester fast approaching (what, we have to do homework again?!) you could use an extra boost of inspiration from her arrival.

1) She was 17 when she won. The 2012 London Olympics were held while the new Team USA member was still in high school. She was planning her senior year while simultaneously nabbing four gold medals with world-class athletes left, right and center (although while in the pool, just left and right). She wasn’t even of legal age yet! How many people can say they’ve achieved that much so early in life? Instead of making you feel hopelessly unaccomplished, this should give you hope and push you to strive for more. You don’t have to be a Cal alum to accomplish great things! You can start right now and make a name for yourself before you’ve even donned a cap and gown. The fact that you got accepted here and made the extremely wise decision of attending means you’re already on the right track.

2) She’s friends with cool people. That’s putting it mildly. She wasn’t alone when she was taking the world by storm last year with her performance. Her name is alongside Dana Vollmer’s and Natalie Coughlin’s — fellow Olympic medalists — on the national team roster. She cheered on Michael Phelps as he broke his own record … and he cheered her on right back as she launched her career. She’s probably already grabbed frozen yogurt with Nathan Adrian at Yogurt Park while she was visiting Berkeley for a campus tour. You could just be jealous of all this and sit around whining. Or you could take it as proof that if you work hard you can live it up with big shots while BEING a big shot yourself. Maybe one day your name will be tossed around with the likes of Donald Trump or even Obama! Aim high. You go to UC Berkeley — it isn’t much of a stretch.

3) She’s humble. While we don’t know Missy personally and are unfortunately not actually on first name terms with her (though we wouldn’t mind if she changed that!), from what we have seen, she’s a sweetheart. We at the Clog were able to meet the athlete when she was still a maybe-freshman-Cal-bear and visiting the school last year. She sat in on an ordinary English discussion, and when everyone went around the room introducing herself she just said her name and that she was checking out the school on a recruiting tour. She didn’t drop the word “medal” or “Olympics” once. Someone even had to ask her which sport she was recruiting for! Not only is she ridiculously tall (we felt like dwarves when she stood up), she remembers she’s a person just like us. Keep that in mind for when you make it big one day. You may be cool and all, but that doesn’t mean everyone should know it every time you open your mouth. Being humble will actually make you cooler.

4) She’s into school. Watch this interview, and you’ll see she doesn’t say Cal is lucky to have her or that she’s there only for the swim program. She talks about getting a degree, something we almost forget about when talking about her swim career and whether she’s going collegiate or pro. She says that academics are important to her and that regardless of her status as an athlete, she’ll be graduating from Cal, which is an accomplishment in and of itself! Even amid all the Olympic chatter, she’s been able to keep her perspective on education, and we think that’s extremely important. We’re lucky to be going here! While swimming is one of the things that opened the door to Cal for Missy, Cal is going to be opening a lot of doors for us in the future. Making it through all the challenges it throws at us is something we’ll have in common with champions like her.

5) She’s still not done. We’ve mentioned her Olympic medals three times already, but those aren’t the only ones she’s won. She’s taking home six gold medals from the world championships in Barcelona, adding to her already incredible record. But is she calling it quits and going back to her mansion to lord over all that metal? (Note: We exaggerate and don’t know what type of house she lives in, but a mansion would be cool). No, she says there’s still things she can work to improve. She’s planning out the rest of her career. She’s won countless races and had a career in the last few years most people can only dream of … and she’s just getting started! We can all do that. Don’t settle for something if you know you can do better. Test your abilities and push yourself to your absolute limits. Don’t go off the deep end (swimming pun!), but don’t sit on your butt all day waiting for things to happen to you. Take it from our incoming Golden Bear, reach for the stars and keep reaching!

We hope this has helped show you that Missy’s entrance to Cal means more than just a chance to see someone famous. That being said, we can’t promise the Spieker Aquatics Center will be free of people who “just happened to be in the area.” Adrian stalkers, you now have friends to conspire with!

Image source: JD Lasica under Creative Commons. 

Contact Erum Khan at ekhan@dailycal.org or follow her on Twitter @erumjkhan.

The post 5 reasons to be inspired by Missy Franklin appeared first on The Daily Californian.

SEAN CONNERS/Staff

In a dimly lit room at the back of the RSF, past the rows of treadmills and tired faces on the first floor, change is brewing. Change is littered all over the floor in tiny, multicolored balls and silver golfing clubs. It is in the faces of the room’s occupants, some of whom have never been inside the RSF before. This summer at UC Berkeley, one class, Golf With Marty, will historically change the way golf is taught at the collegiate level.

“After all, it’s not every day that you see people who are blind hitting a golf ball,” quipped class coach Marty Turcios.

However, his physical condition puts him in a unique position as a coach. Turcios has cerebral palsy, a congenital condition affecting the nervous system that requires lifelong therapy. There is no cure. But none of this stops Turcios. For the past two decades, Turcios has become one of the first coaches in the world to teach golf with cerebral palsy. Having personally instructed between 50 to 100 golfers in his career, many from high schools around the Bay Area, Turcios is now coming to Cal to teach golf, and anyone from any background is invited.

A new kind of summer class

Marty Turcios, coach for Golf With Marty

Golf With Marty is part of Fitness for All, a collaborative project pioneering increased sports accessibility to every margin of the Berkeley community. Last spring, Fitness for All and its advisory committee commanded national headlines with the acclaim of their first-of-its-kind two-unit Goalball class. Riding a current of optimism, Matt Grigorieff and Jessica Adams, lead coordinators for Goalball and recent Cal grads, have dedicated themselves to making Golf With Marty every bit as successful.

For the 3,647 Berkeley students with disabilities (according to the Office of Equity and Inclusion in 2012) as well as 1,500 disabled Cal staff and faculty, Grigorieff and Adams’ efforts open countless opportunities. In this class, students who have never been able to play sports now train shoulder-to-shoulder with RSF regulars. Everyone gets one-on-one attention with coach Turcios — no one is pushed away.

Ed Roberts would be proud. Roberts, a Cal alumi and prominent leader of the disability rights movement, fought to make UC Berkeley and the country more tolerant and accessible for everyone. Golf With Marty continues his progress. Aiming to provide a rewarding experience for each and every student, the class inaugurates an exciting new chapter in Cal’s history.

“UC Berkeley has always been the leader in making all fields of education accessible,” explained junior Judith Lung, who is visually impaired. “This class continues Cal’s legacy in accessibility in sports and fitness.”

To accommodate everyone, the class is modified — not, as Lung puts it, “compromised.” The class is held indoors on the lowest level of the RSF, a convenient on-campus location that is wheelchair-accessible.  Special equipment, such as target nets and custom golf balls, improves the precision of swings.  In this manner, Turcios teaches golfing fundamentals and technique.  He advises newcomers to train with him before heading out to the golf fields.

“Before you go out and spend time and  money, you should have a good idea what you are doing,” Turcios said. “I’m going to teach you the game.” He has seen firsthand how people fall out of love with golf and outlines how newcomers to the game sign up for costly private lessons and buy expensive gadgets before even playing.

“It’s not worth it,” he summarized.

Lessons learned

For junior Ann Kwong, simply hitting a golf ball brings bursts of joy. Kwong, who is also visually impaired, held gnawing doubts before entering the class. In a sport in which a diminutive ball must travel through an impossibly vast playing field, having eyesight can be particularly helpful. Uncertainty racing through her mind was paralyzing to her judgment.

“Why should I come to golf?” she asked. “I don’t think I can play golf. I don’t know what I am hitting.  I can’t see what I’m hitting. So I don’t think I will enjoy it.”

Kwong took a leap of faith. After a few lessons with Marty, her misgivings completely died away. Again and again, she putts the ball with satisfying consistency.

Ann Kwong, internal president for the Disabled Students Union, adjusts the golfing tee

“Have an open mind,” she advised.  ”Don’t be afraid of failure and not hitting something for the first time. Because with practice and an open mind, you will learn the proper skills to hit  (the ball).”

Kwong credits all of her success to Turcios’ dedication as a coach. Turcios, universally known for his patience, can be found on his knees, resetting the golf ball and tee along with Kwong and Lung. This subtlety is integral. Once visually impaired people stand upright in preparation to take a swing, they lose physical connection with the ball they have just primed. Though a sighted person needs only stare at the ball to gauge the next move, a nonsighted person has to conceptualize the ball’s relative position.

“A sighted person can learn by modeling through observation,” Kwong explained. “I can’t do that. I’ve had previous instructors where, (when) I couldn’t hit the ball and I couldn’t do this position … they will give up.” But she’s had a completely different experience with Turcios: “Marty is so patient. If I’m not doing (a swing) correctly, he’ll patiently explain it again. As many times and as slowly as I need. Marty will tell me, ‘This is how you grip,’ (and he’ll) get on the ground with me and show me how to align. I really appreciate him physically showing me instead of just telling me. When I get frustrated, he says, ‘Don’t worry about it. Practice, and you’ll get it. Don’t overthink. Remember GPA. You’ve got this.’ That really, really helps.”

GPA refers to “Grip, Position, Alignment.” The pun is a Turcios original and highly appropriate. On a day when thinking about college classes was distracting from gameplay, Turcios found a way to get Kwong to rework her attention. Many students recall how specific and tailored Turcios’ lessons are to individual needs. Before players swing, Turcios delivers precise instructions from minute foot readjustment to chin extension. He demonstrates what he means, each and every time. Players take a shot. Bull’s-eye.

With more than 47 years of golf experience, Turcios possesses a gold mine of information. Sophomore Alisha Howell knows this firsthand. In her lessons with Turcios, Howell has come to appreciate the nuances and lingo of the game.

“I learned that different golf clubs are used to make the golf ball go different distances,” Howell said. “I learned a lot of vocabulary: putting green, driving range, seven-iron and nine-iron — and how you tell the difference. Before this class, I thought those were some kind of construction tools.”

Breaking glass ceilings

Grigorieff explains why hiring Turcios to coach Berkeley’s accessible golfing class alters history.

“From an institutional point of view, the gym is one of the last places you will find an employee with a disability working,” he said. “That’s just the reality of it, unfortunately, and by hiring Marty, we are trying to break that notion and have UC Berkeley employ people throughout society. People with disabilities don’t work in the fitness area, and we want to change that.”

Turcios himself is no stranger to discrimination in the work place.  In spite of decades of success in his very own foundation, cynics have doubted and criticized him at every step of his career.

“I’ve had people come into my class and walk out and never come back,” he recalled.  ”Or they call their supervisors and say, ‘How dare you call this a golf class.’”

Turcios’ experiences with discrimination are common in workplaces all across the country. Despite two decades of expanded civil rights to disabled people under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, unemployment for people with disabilities remains a major economic problem for many. According to the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U.S. Department of Labor, only 20.7 percent of people with disabilities participated in the American labor force last May. In the same study, 69.1 percent of people without disabilities participated in the labor force.

Unemployment rates are equally telling. In May 2013, the unemployment rate for people without disabilities nationally was 7 percent (down from 7.7 percent in May 2012). The unemployment rate for people with disabilities was nearly double that. Last May, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 13.6 percent (up from 12.9 percent one calendar year before). For junior Desiree Robedeaux, external president of the Disabled Students Union, the enormous economic inequality between those with and without disabilities is a telltale sign of social injustice.

“There is no reason why a person with dyslexia, a person with cerebral palsy and a person without a disability cannot coexist in the same work place — people with disabilities are just as capable if not more capable of success (as) those without disabilities,” she said, clarifying, “Because life has presented these individuals with so many challenges that these individuals have overcome, disability should be embraced by employers and should be perceived as a factor that shows strength and perseverance, not incapability. ”

For Lung, overcoming obstacles — in this case, mastering her drive — is met with open arms. Though self-described as “athletically-challenged,” Lung is prepared to give golf her all.

“With practice and learning from the best teacher in Marty, I can be good at a sport too,” she said.

Judith Lung, with a smile, drives the golf ball across court.

“Golf With Marty” is held every Wednesday.  Two identical classes run back-to-back from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Enrollment is ongoing, and space is still available. The program is made possible by grants from the National Alliance for Accessible Golf in partnership with the U.S. Golf Association

Image sources: Sean Conners, staff

Contact Alex Mabanta at amabanta@dailycal.org.

The post An inside look at Cal’s life-changing golf class appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Nolan Thomas/Courtesy

On a baseball diamond three miles uphill from the UC Berkeley campus, senior Ian Paratore peers out from underneath his blue and gold baseball cap. He adjusts his grip on his baseball bat. Friday afternoons mean batting practice on Caldecott Field, the home of Oakland’s Little League tournaments. Still, tykes or no tykes, a baseball field is a baseball field. When the Little Leaguers have left, the Golden Bears quickly take their positions around the perimeter and play ball.

The pitcher, junior Alex Neuhaus, tosses a fast ball. The ball whizzes past Paratore before ricocheting off the back portion of the batting cage.

“Ball one,” someone calls from the dugout.

Neuhaus throws a changeup. Paratore lunges forward, taking a wide swing. The bat connects with the ball with a satisfying thud. All eyes turn skyward as the ball cuts through the air and past the outfield.

“Mammo!” Neuhaus bellows, the Berkeley expression for home run echoing throughout the dugout.

“Ss’kuah!” Paratore characteristically shouts back. He takes a slow victory lap, soaking in his homerun with every step. For a group of college athletes practicing on a Little League baseball field, the team has come a long way.

Next week, Cal Club Baseball heads to the National Club Baseball Association World Series for the first time in history.

“Right now, we’re ranked sixth in the nation,”  says current senior shortstop and former club president Brett Friedman, grinning. “Not bad for only five years, huh?”

Caldecott Field, home of Cal Club Baseball

The contenders

The word “underdog” is often repeated by players when asked about their team’s journey. After all, Cal club baseball is still relatively new. Following a temporary shutdown by the Cal Recreational Sports Office, the team was completely refounded for the 2008-09 season by 2010 Cal president Will Smelko. Since then, the team has encountered numerous obstacles, from sourcing an appropriate practice field to player enrollment.

“Recruiting new team members (was) extremely difficult, since barely anyone left on campus (knew) that a club baseball team existed,” Will Smelko recalls of the team in its initial years. Times have not changed much. He writes that “the team recruits now mainly by word of mouth: Current players reaching out to friends, roommates, and friends of friends.”

Asking about financing raises its own chorus of shrugs. Club baseball majorly differs from varsity baseball in its source of revenue — or lack thereof. Club baseball gets little backing from the school and no funds from the ASUC. Most expenses, including the flight to Tampa, Fla., to participate in the World Series come right out of the players’ pockets.

Brett Friedman clarifies, “We are a member of Cal Sports Clubs. They give us some sponsorship. But, what gives us most funding is player dues and financial donations from families and friends.”

But amid this array of challenges, Cal’s club baseball team has proven itself against naysayers.

“Since I’ve played here for four years, I’ve gotten to see the program rise to become a national powerhouse,” Friedman says, smiling ear to ear. “Now we are the best [team] on the West Coast.”

Students first

With one notable exception, no player on the team was recruited to play baseball in college. What unifies teammates is a dual passion for academics and baseball.

“Everyone is a student first and a club baseball athlete second,” says senior Patrick Cook, who is the current club president and an outfielder. ”On longer road trips, some school time is sacrificed. It’s a sacrifice that everyone equally shares and equally accepts.”

The task of incorporating competitive sports into a schedule designed for academic success can be challenging. For Neuhaus, the team’s catcher and notable exception, ambitions to join the health field led him to play club instead of varsity. “I want to become a dentist,” Neuhaus explains. “Doing the pre-med requirements and (varsity) baseball was not possible (given) the hours of the day.”

Alex Neuhaus (in front) and Ian Paratore (behind)

Friedman, a Haas business major, turned down college baseball recruiters to study at UC Berkeley. For Neuhaus, Friedman and Cook, coupling the academic grind with club baseball has been well worth every second. Paratore sums up why, saying that “this is a team that can fight.”

No “I” in “teamwork”

On this team, egos are small. No one claims individual credit for “best player” or “reason why team is going to World Series.” Success has been a group effort. The team’s coach, Nate Oliver, has played a major role in molding this outlook. Oliver, former Major League Baseball player for the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees and Cubs (and winner of the 1963 World Series with the Dodgers) knows a thing or two about getting the team to work together. “Sit steady in the boat,” Oliver constantly advises. For players, this mantra is a call for cool-headedness and an ingredient for the team’s success. Cook describes the team’s winning game play as “competitive, relaxed and fun,” invoking the spirit of baseball.

Ian Paratore (left) and Coach Nate Oliver (right)

Jason Wipaki, a junior and future team president as well as leadoff batter, offers choice words about the team’s World Series objective, saying that “our ultimate goal is to win that trophy, period.” Emphasizing his point, he adds, “We want to swag out on the national stage.”

Entering their biggest game of the year, the motley group of personalities has benefited from tactical organization to maximize the team’s strengths. According to Ryan Luchinni, a senior and former club president as well as this year’s first baseman, another reason why this team is winning is its “consistency and organization.” Unlike in the past, this year’s mix of seasoned players, veteran coach and “smooth operational logistics” have made the Cal club baseball team regular winners.

The future

The team still faces one major obstacle in getting to the World Series. Cal club baseball is student-run and has never financed a World Series trip. So they have teamed up with Berkeley alumni Andrea Lo and Brittany Murlas in creating a website to help pay for the travel expenses for the game, which will be many players’ final hurrah. Of the 15 players heading to the World Series, five will mark the World Series game as their last. All the seniors are graduating into a world where, for the first time in their lives, baseball will be only a spectator sport.

Looking back, Cook talks about memories wistfully. “I’m definitely going to miss being on a team,” he says. “I’m going to miss the competitive nature of baseball. Most importantly, I’ll miss the faces of those who I have played with for so long.”

For other players, the future also holds promise. A win at the World Series, according to Paratore, “would be the grand finale. To finish on that high note would solidify a career for me.”

Cal Club Baseball Team, poised for the NCBA World Series

For Friedman, Cal club baseball has become a rite of passage. He remarks that “this game has taught me so much about life, about teamwork, about living on an even keel, about not getting too excited when you do well and not getting too upset when things don’t go your way.”

For co-founder Will Smelko, the team’s success in advancing to the World Series is a development he could not be more excited about. “To make this dream a reality for so many Cal student-athletes is remarkable,” he says, “and I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with this group. Go Bears!”

Image sources: Nolan Thomas and Brett Friedman, courtesy.

Contact Alex Mabanta at amabanta@dailycal.org.

The post Batter up: Cal club baseball heads to NCBA World Series appeared first on The Daily Californian.

ERIC CRAYPO/Courtesy

What do you get when you combine the efforts of the chief medical officer of the Beijing Olympics, a former professional soccer player turned Chancellor’s Public Scholar, a former Paralympic athlete, a coach from the Bay Area Outreach and Recreations Program, the director of the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship program, a Haas scholar, an intern for Fitness for All and a handful of students having fun in the most extraordinary of circumstances?

Meet Cal’s Goalball. Having only finished its first semester, the sport is already making national news.

“UC Berkeley is the first university in America to offer Goalball as an academic class for credit,” Matt Grigorieff, the architect behind the project, proudly tells us. “And that is fantastic.”

The class is a two-unit supplement to “American Sport, Culture and Education,” a class that fulfills the campuswide AC requirement. Each session is split into half theory and half playtime. After students discuss their readings, they engage in a rousing game at the RSF’s Blue Gym, a massive indoor court on the third floor. The game pits two teams of three against each other, and players score by throwing  balls into the opposing team’s goal.

The catch?

All players wear blindfolds.

Playing on a different team

For junior Alec Sundly, D-1 center midfielder for Cal’s men’s soccer team, maintaining leadership on his side of the court is paramount for victory. He nods at his two teammates, completely confident in their game. But this is the first time either player has ever been to the RSF (to say nothing of the fact that neither teammate has never played a sport before in his life). Sundly grins. He whispers a quick strategy, stretches his legs and then leaps into position. He can already feel the win.

The two teams wait for the command from the referee: “Eyeshades down. Quiet, please! Center! Play!”

In a rapid exchange, the bell-containing ball is tossed from one end of the court. Players duck, jump and dive into each other in an effort to protect the goal. Special tape on the floor helps the crawling players to “feel” where they are in the absence of their eyesight. If the team succeeds in blocking a score, possession changes.

Sweat glistens. Lungs expand. In the final score, Sundly’s team edges a narrow triumph of seven points to six. For a varsity Golden Bear, Sundly has a particularly even game. He scores two points! His two teammates, self-described as “athletically challenged,” divide the five. On this court, the playing field is equal.

Fitness for all

Ann Kwong is the internal president for the Disabled Students Union. Unlike Sundly, Kwong is visually impaired and travels around with a cane. Before Berkeley, athletics were the last thing on her mind.

“When I was a child, I never really understood the fascination my sighted peers had with sports,” she admits. “I didn’t feel like I was able to connect with them.”

All of this changed in the past year. Members in the Disabled Student’s Union expressed discontent with being unable to participate in sports teams. From able-bodied basketball to football, disabled students readily acknowledged the lack of athletic opportunities available to them. Then came the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s support in establishing Goalball — Berkeley style.

Goalball player makes a pass. Notice the eyeshades.

Grigorieff and Jessica Adams, both sighted Cal seniors, paired up to organize the discussion part of the class. Teaming with two BORP Goalball coaches, Brandon Young (nonsighted) and Jonathan Newman (sighted), the four have worked to create the most inclusive athletics class in the university’s history. With the guidance of Professor Derek Van Rheenen, the class has attracted students of all abilities.

Kwong beams, “Now, I realize sports are fun. It’s something you have to experience firsthand to understand — the feeling of belonging when you are part of the team or the sense of achievement when you are able to score a goal.” Her voice softening, she adds, “That’s something that rarely happens in reality.”

Fighting stereotypes

Grigorieff incorporates scholarly texts regarding issues within the disabled community in regular discussion. Textbook problems, he has come to realize, are alive in society today.

“A lot of times people, with visual disabilities are sort of seen by the sighted world as a totally helpless person, but that’s not true,” he argues.

Adams adds, “We learned that society tends to polarize nonsightedness. They think it’s black and white. They don’t realize that blindness is a spectrum.”

According to Professor Rod Michalko of the University of Toronto, 97 percent of people with visual impairment can still see. A person is defined as legally blind if he or she cannot recognize the biggest E on an eye chart from 20 feet away.  In this manner, not passing the test really can change a person’s life, as nonsighted individuals undergo such marginalization. One function of Goalball is to address this social stigma head-on. By including input from the entire sight spectrum, participants in the class gain thought-provoking perspectives.

“I feel like it’s the nonsighted students who are teaching the class,” Adams says. “They teach the class by the way they relate to the text.”

Sundly agrees. Input from his nonsighted classmates has challenged his preconceptions and inspired him.

“You build more respect of what (nonsighted people) have to go through on a daily basis, (and) what society is doing is being too judgmental. You learn in playing Goalball that we are all human beings and that we are always equal.”

The feeling of equality is echoed by almost everyone. Kwong says, “I feel like the No. 1 thing I appreciate is everyone is on an equal playing field. I can participate in the same activity with the same ability. Instead focusing on “the strongest” or “the fastest,” goal ball (emphasizes) skills, practice and teamwork – which is a new way to think about sports.”

Sundly’s team blocking a shot

This is not to say that Goalball is not physically demanding. Nonsighted senior Erik Elveback warns against the misconception that Goalball is “easy.” Teammates must coordinate movements through foot-tapping to prevent players from going out of bounds or wandering off the court.

“This sport is very difficult for everybody that plays because for most students, they have never used hearing as the main method of playing a sport,” Adams explains.

Winning off and on the court

Sundly translates skills from Goalball into new techniques to improve his soccer performance. As a midfielder, he lists blocking farther and throwing harder as valuable interdisciplinary lessons Goalball has taught him. Because the ball used in Goalball is heavier than a soccer ball, Sundly has benefited from weight training in a completely unexpected manner. As for foot-tapping, Sundly points out that Goalball has taught him to position himself better on the soccer field as well as give clearer communication to teammates.

Soccer skills were not the only gifts players gained from Goalball. For Young, it is the scale of bonding that has been “mind-altering.” On the last day of practice, Goalball players celebrated with cheers and heartwarming hugs.

Newman points out that the camaraderie is a sign of the game’s success.

He explains, “What I really enjoyed about this class is how much they all liked Goalball. Every single one of them.”

“It creates new friendships that students hadn’t imagined before,” Adams expresses. “I think its true for everybody in the class.”

The future

For Grigorieff, Goalball is set to thrive. His far-reaching plans aim to help everybody involved.

Matt Grigorieff, the architect behind Goalball, with a player

“Some people are not included in sports, and that’s something we at UC Berkeley want to change,” he says. “I think Berkeley can lead the way to promote inclusion. Goalball is not only a class but could be a club team for the campus. One day, (it could) turn into a varsity sport with scholarships. We want inclusion at the highest level in varsity sports.”

In the fall semester, Goalball will be available for everyone to play. Many players this semester were so touched that they have indicated they are returning to grow a community.

“I love Goalball and I want to continue assisting it — I believe in the cause,” Adams says, firmly. Then, with a laugh, she admits: “Goalball is pretty tight.”

To see Goalball in action, check out the video here.

Image sources: Eric Craypo, courtesy.

Contact Alex Mabanta at amabanta@dailycal.org.

The post Introducing Goalball, Cal’s most inclusive sport appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Emma Lantos/File

Brutus Hamilton was not Cal’s winningest coach, highest paid coach or even Cal’s manliest coach (that last award would clearly go to Jack Clark), but there’s a good reason that this past weekend Cal hosted a Brutus Hamilton Invitational Meet at Edwards Stadium. So let’s take a trip down memory lane to remember why Hamilton is one of Cal’s most celebrated coaches.

The guy was a renaissance man. Even if you know nothing about track and field, you probably know that an athlete can do extremely well in at most three or four events, and almost always all of those events will be in the same activity. For example, a jumper usually isn’t a good thrower and a runner sticks to running. Even most long distance runners won’t do too well in any of the faster races. But in 1918, Brutus Hamilton won the high school state championship in high jump, pole vault, broad jump and shot put. He set state records in the pole vault and high jump.

If he had stopped there, no one would have cared. What you do in high school doesn’t matter after high school — listen up incoming freshmen. Fortunately, Hamilton continued his incredible performance. By 1920, while at the University of Missouri, he became the American Pentathlon and Decathlon Champion, and at the same time, a member of the 1920 U.S. Olympic Team. That’s right, he was better overall than everyone else in the United States in 10 events. Can you imagine sprinting 100 meters in less than 10 seconds, jumping up seven feet in the air, jumping eight feet far, throwing a shot put 70 feet and then running 400 meters in less than 50 seconds? And then going back the next day for another five events?

Hamilton’s ability to succeed in almost every physical activity is a testament to his steadfast resolve and self-discipline. According to Hamilton, “it is one of the strange ironies of this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest…”

After the 1932 Olympics, Hamilton became the coach of the track and field team at Cal. During World War II, he spent three years in England and Africa as a Captain in the Army Air Corps. This has led some historians to believe he was the main reason the allies won. After the war, he returned to Cal and went on to become Cal’s athletic director until he retired at 65.

Saturday’s big meet included track and field teams from Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Stanford. Even Stanford guys can’t deny how impressive Brutus Hamilton’s many talents are. Payton Jordan, Stanford’s coach at the time, had this to say after Hamilton’s death: “No other coach had his wisdom or depth. There was warmth, a kindness. When he talked, it was almost spiritual.” Such is the way of the Cal Bear.

Contact Kamin Kahrizi at kkahrizi@dailycal.org.

The post Brutus Hamilton: an athlete and a gentleman appeared first on The Daily Californian.

UC Berkeley HPV/Courtesy

Cycling competitions are notoriously difficult, but even Tour de France athletes don’t built their own bikes from scratch. That would be silly for mere cyclists to even attempt.

Fortunately, the 10 undergraduate members of Berkeley’s Human Powered Vehicle team are far from the average cyclist. These men and women excel at accelerating, but more importantly, they are ingenious engineers, designing and manufacturing their own human-powered vehicle to maximize safety, aerodynamics and comfort.

After a 10-year hiatus, this marks their first year back at Cal and the  start of what promises to be a glorious future. At the 2013 American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Human Powered Vehicle Competition, in San Jose, the team placed second out of 28 teams in the Endurance Event. That’s pretty great, given the fact that this was Cal’s first attempt in a decade. The competition features five tests of the team’s vehicle: the  Safety Test, the Sprint Event, the Design Event, the Innovation Event and the Endurance Event. The tests range from showcasing the safety and comfort features of the vehicle, such as roll bars and even a grocery compartment, to demonstrating the raw power of the team’s athletes, who partake in a 2.5-hour endurance race and a sprint race. The competition involves some serious maneuvering, including hairpin turns and slaloms, as well as avoiding 27 other cyclists on the track.

Just like the Clog, the HPV team has its own brand of quirky humor, going so far as calling its vehicle “PB & J” because it is composed of a central mega lug (or a “mega sandwich”) that maximizes structural stiffness and both in-plane and torsional bending. The team even stuffed the vehicle’s grocery container with PB&J sandwiches out of commitment to the inside joke.

Contrary to what you may be thinking, the team is not entirely composed of nerdy engineers and die-hard cyclists. According to Olivia Tang-Kong, head of HPV marketing, the team’s members have  ”a wide variety of majors … including engineering, computer science, business administration, media studies and architecture, just to name a few.” They are currently looking to expand and are looking for new members to both recruit and market the club. More information regarding joining the HPV at Berkeley can be found on the organization’s website.

If this year’s initial success is any proof, the HPV club at UC Berkeley faces a promising future, and in the words of a wise dog in a banana suit, “It’s peanut butter jelly time.”

Contact Kamin Kahrizi at kkahrizi@dailycal.org

The post Cal shows off its human-powered vehicle appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Erin Colletta/Courtesy

Crammed amid thousands anxious college students from across the United States, 40 brave racers representing Cal Triathlon inched toward the edge of their seats and crossed their fingers last Saturday. It had been a long three days in Tempe, Ariz., for these athletes. Stepping off the plane on Thursday afternoon, they were cordially welcomed to the site of the Collegiate National Triathlon Championships by a scorching desert breeze and hundreds of scattered cacti. Friday was a rest day for most, but Cal’s top male and female triathletes placed third and second in the short, fast and highly competitive draft-legal race.

But Saturday’s Olympic-distance triathlon would decide the 2013 National Champions. With a promising lead from the draft-legal race, Cal’s male athletes plunged into Tempe Town Lake at 7:30 a.m., and after six heats, nearly 650 pairs of arms and bobbing swim caps fought toward the distant finish line. After almost a mile of swimming, the men speedily exchanged their wetsuits for bikes in the transition area and conquered about 24 miles of curvy Arizona roads. Finally, carried by burning leg muscles, the athletes slipped on their running shoes and raced 6.4 miles under the relentless Tempe sun.

“And in second place, we have the men from the University of California, Berkeley,” the announcer declared that night. Following the University of Colorado on the podium, Cal’s men gave an admirable performance with four individuals in the top 55 finishers.

But diving into the water at 11 a.m., Cal’s female triathletes promised a glorious race. With two professionals, a UC Berkeley swim team alumna and a handful of Cal Tri veterans, this women’s team has been dubbed the strongest in the club’s history. The Cal women battled more than 420 bodies in the swim, bike and run portions. Seemingly unfazed by these unforgiving conditions, they placed four individuals in the top 26 finishers, including two in the top four females.

And for the first time in Cal Triathlon’s history, the ladies took the national title, moving Colorado’s women into second place. After galloping onto the podium and posing for pictures, the victors settled back into their seats. One award remained.

The most coveted title, the Overall Team Combined honor, is bestowed annually on the best triathlon team in the United States, and for the past three years, it has been hoarded by the University of Colorado at Boulder. But this year was different. With an excruciatingly slim gap between Cal and Colorado’s athletes that day, the Bears knew they had a legitimate shot at the national title.

“In third place, we have the University of California, Los Angeles!” the announcer boomed. Clad in baby blue and yellow, our UCLA friends bounded gratefully onto the podium.

“And in second place, the University of California, Berkeley,” he intimated. Shocked and tinged with disappointment, the Bears walked steadily up to the stage amid Colorado’s jubilant cries. For the fourth year in a row, Boulder took the team title.

Staring into flashing cameras with manufactured smiles, the 40 Berkeley racers crowded onto the podium’s second tier. As the nation’s top triathletes walked back to their seats, the announcer added, “This year, we had one of the slimmest margins in history between our top two finishers. Cal Berkeley finished with 3,924 points. The University of Colorado had 3,926 points. It will probably never get this close again.”

And with that knowledge, the awards ceremony concluded. Lost in thought, the Bears drifted slowly to their vans and rode back to the Days Inn in virtual silence. But when tears surfaced and disappointments were voiced that night, 40 pairs of shoulders and 40 voices of sympathy rose to the occasion. There was no finger pointing, no sifting through the results, no “what ifs.” Cal Tri embraced the realities of the weekend without discrimination.

Even though sports movies and coaches often emphasize the importance of winning first place, most people don’t value the short walk to the podium or the color of their medal as much as you’d think. When the members of Cal Triathlon are telling their grandchildren about college five decades from now, that awards ceremony will hardly enter their thoughts. Lauri Takacsi will share the story of how he lost his front tooth descending Pinehurst Road on a slippery winter morning. Varun Pemmaraju will explain how he met his first girlfriend through the team. Shelley Harper will remember losing her voice from leading so many cheers on Saturday. Catharina Giudice will proudly tell of how she biked up Mount Diablo on a GU-only diet. They cherish the beach volleyball games in Oceanside, the Tri-Proms, the Wednesday night swims and the times they almost didn’t make it back to Berkeley while running or biking. Despite the huge concentration of talent, Cal Triathlon’s most noteworthy successes are its sense of camaraderie and the contagious passion that its members demonstrate for the sport, and we congratulate them for completing a season that will stand proudly in the record books.

Contact Katherine Velicki at kvelicki@dailycal.org.

The post Cal Triathlon’s journey to Nationals appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Cal Athletics/File

A Bear is an awesome mascot to have. To quote Stephen Colbert, they’re “giant, marauding, godless killing-machines.” There’s so much potential for a fierce and intimidating logo and mascot, especially when we compare it to … a tree. And our athletics department, for better or worse, is trying to take advantage of this potential with their new Bear logo.

Even though bears rank as one of the most badass animals — right behind sharks and pistol shrimp — for some reason Cal created some sinister looking anthropomorphized bear that totally looks like a bear version of Chucky. I mean, we’re not bashing Oski, but the mascot leaves us with so many questions.

The new logo seems to want to reclaim the badassness of the bear, which we can get behind. But how does the logo stack up to other schools?

1.) UCSC Athletics — the banana slug.

That is one mean looking slug. This is what slugs would look like if they participated in 90′s era professional wrestling. But as a logo? We’re not so sure. The grungy block letters really do not sell this, either. Also, aren’t a slug’s eyes on the ends of its stalks? We object to your anatomically incorrect logo, UCSC. For shame.

Verdict: Cal is way better.

2.) Valparaiso University athletics — the crusader.This cartoon crusader is far from intimidating. We would love to see this lanky dork engage in fisticuffs with the Cal Bear. We imagine he would comically trip over a banana peel and fall into a canyon before our Bear even got a chance to maul him to death.

Verdict: Cal Cal Cal!

3.) South Carolina State athletics — the bulldog.Yeah … We’re not even sure where to start. This is not very well drawn. He looks like he’s made of silly putty. And what’s with the thigh hair? We mean, we wouldn’t mess with a dog walking around like that, but we wouldn’t mess with anything that looked like it came from a 1950′s comic strip.

Verdict: Hmm … Cal.

4.) Stanford athletics — the Tree.Come on, you knew it was coming. Now, let’s be real here. There’s not many ways to make a tree look like a good sports logo. This about all you can do with it. Even then, the Stanford S looks like a 5-year-old playing hide-and-seek. We can see you, Stanford S, and we know your mascot sucks. Don’t try to hide in shame.

Verdict: Cal!

Regardless of any minor complaints or nostalgia for the old Cal Bear, we think sports fans will be just as proud to sit under the banner of this new logo.

Have any opinions on this new logo? Do you love it or hate it with a passion, or maybe feel completely indifferent to everything? Comment below!

Image source: Cal Athletics, AVCA, John Fea, Sportslogos and Wikipedia.

Contact Erik Swan at eswan@dailycal.org.

The post The new Cal Athletics logo battles other mascots appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Giana Tansman/Staff

The man responsible for most of the athletic entertainment these last few months – and entertaining it surely was – is set to no longer be a Bear. Yes, Allen Crabbe, Cal’s best basketball player, is slated to forego his final year at Cal and declare for basketball’s highest stage. He is currently expected to be drafted somewhere between 24^th and 38^th overall – implying that he is roughly an average player compared to everyone else being drafted this year – depending on which so-called “expert” you ask. Chances are that he’ll play somewhere across the country, in locations ranging from Minnesota to New York, but the important thing to Cal fans is that he’ll never play another game in Haas Pavilion. Here’s a list of things that he may – and may not – miss about Berkeley.

The noise of the crowd. Regardless of where you go in the NBA – with the possible exceptions of Utah and Oklahoma City – no fans really cheer louder than the ones in the college game. Bears fans are especially of note, considering that we’ve had plenty to cheer for this season.

The crowdedness of Sproul. He definitely won’t yearn for his walks through the most annoying spot on campus, not just during the insanity of ASUC elections, but in general as well – although he would probably attract more attention than the ASUC senator wannabes and shameless solicitors combined.

The points. It’s easy to say that individual statistics don’t matter in a team game, but Crabbe still ended as the tenth-leading scorer in school history. But you can bet there will be times next year when he’s acclimating his butt with the bench that he’s going to wish for that spotlight and attention once again. It’s likely he won’t be the focus of the opposing defense like he was against UCLA or the subject of fists like he was against Stanford for a while.

The three-point line. A mark behind which Crabbe attempted almost six shots per game this season is almost four feet further out in the NBA, so Crabbe will certainly have to put in some more time at the gym to score those big points.

The cash money. An interesting feature of the rookie system is that for every position he drops in the draft, he loses tens of thousands of dollars in salary for that year. So if you’re taking notes in your dorm on draft night, take a shot for every five players that go before him. How you feel the next morning will probably reflect how he does when looking at his wallet.

Contact Uday at umehta@dailycal.org or follow him on Twitter at @mehtakid.

The post Why Allen Crabbe might miss Cal appeared first on The Daily Californian.