SPORTS
4 THE REFLECTOR
APRIL 17, 2019
Policies from page 1 “Basically, it has become an issue when we have international employees and [are] trying to get them to be able to stay,” Willey said. “It seems to be more of a significant problem in athletics than maybe other areas on campus. From what I understand—from our lawyers, from our international division here—is the fact that for whatever reason, those folks [at USCIS] don't believe our folks need specific training. It’s like anybody could be this coach or that coach or a sports admin.” Chase said that in the past, the university could argue that the coaches it wanted to hire were specially qualified. Experts could be called upon to demonstrate that applicants were highly specialized to the USCIS and the DHS, Chase said. But now, as the university has moved through hiring two new international assistant coaches, the experts were not accepted. Chase said she believes that under the Obama administration, the applications could have been accepted. “So, even if we found someone who was perfect, had the perfect background for that [coaching], we still can't argue that position throughout the United States requires such a level of specialty,” Chase said. “Even if our coaches, the applicants, had the best educational background specifically geared for this, it's the position itself that the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services [is] saying is not a specialty occupation. It doesn't require that level of specialty. Coaches will take assistant coaches who don't have that background. So we could not prove that background or that specialty was needed.” Now, Willey said, the problem is forcing her to stray away from hiring international coaching staff members which consequently results in a less diverse staff. She said the situation has been disheartening, because if the university cannot find a solution, other than having coaches obtain a graduate degree, then the university will have to let them go. This can complicate things, Willey said, because switching coaches mid-season can be difficult. “I understand people have to do their job. It's just become very cumbersome….I hate it,” Willey said. “I think it's absolutely ridiculous.” The best Willey and Chase can do for now, Chase said, is to advocate for change. She said that while she also understands why strict legislation is often needed, it should be easier for qualified international applicants to be employed in the United States to ensure diversity on campus and enhance the university's program. “The world is changing,” Chase said. “And hopefully we'll move to a place where truly talented people can be hired by whatever organization, where they fit the best, where they can offer the most to those students.” U.S. society has always been enriched by immigrants with a variety of backgrounds, Corado said, and the need for that continues. “The fact remains that our country has an ongoing need for people with specialized skills as well as unskilled labor to work in certain industries to keep our economy running,” Corado said. “This is especially difficult when there are serious shortages of workers because the unemployment rate is so low, as is the case currently. Immigration is a political hot-button issue, but if [members of ] Congress were able to sit down and have a rational discussion, they would find that it is definitely possible to reform our system so we can find the balance between immigration enforcement, humanitarian considerations, and business needs.”
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Hounds success on and off field UIndy athletics focuses on their success, but also a positive mindset and overall student athlete experience
UINDY’s AthlEtic ACCOMPLISHMENTS
4
Dalton Hernandez 2012 paralympics - 400 free
Orel Oral
2000 & 2004 - 200m individual medley
Randy Heisler
1988 - track and field discus
1 95
Dick Nally
OLYMPIANS 1980 - bobseld 2-man/4-man st
ALL AMERICANS
for the GLVC All-Sports Trophy
1978-79 1994-95 2002-03 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18
from 2014-2018
NATIONAL CHAMPIONShips Wrestling: 1 Women’s Golf: 2 Men’s Swimming: 11 Men’s Indoor Track & Field: 1 Women’s Indoor Track & Field: 1 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field: 10 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field: 3 Information from the UIndy Atheltic Website, trophy photo by Tony Reeves
Graphic by Jacob Walton and Zoë Berg
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By Zoe Berg
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF There are a number of markers that indicate whether an athletics program is successful, the most obvious being the success of the teams and the individual athletes in games and matches. According to Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sue Willey, wins are not what the University of Indianapolis athletic department chooses to put the most focus on. Although the Greyhounds show a lot of success at the regional and national level, with 12 consecutive top 20 placings in the Learfield IMG Directors' Cup, a national ranking, and being first place seven consecutive times for the GLVC All-Sports Trophy, Willey said a positive experience for the student athletes should be the top priority for all of the athletic officials at UIndy. “No.1, we're looking at student athlete experience,” Willey said. “You can be very successful in the student athlete experience, [or] be very bad and that's not good. I want a good student athlete experience, [a focus on] doing the academics and then the accolades from the athletics and all of the success there, that's like icing on the cake.” The student athlete experience starts with the coaches. Willey said that even if a coach has a successful team and if the student experience is not good, then the success does not matter. When hiring coaches, the athletics department looks for quality people who are enthusiastic, have integrity and want to work hard and succeed, but not win at all costs. Willey said good character transitions over to the student athletes as well. Head swimming and diving coach Jason Hite said he has personal values like being confident, passionate and controlling one's own happiness that he tries to pass to the athletes on his team. “My job is not only a swim coach, but it’s also a mentor for life,” Hite said. “ I challenge our student athletes to think bigger than themselves and realize the impact they can have on others. Everything goes through the filter of ‘How am I representing UIndy Swim and Dive?’” According to Willey, student athletes are held to a higher standard than other students and are expected to focus just as much, if not more, on their academics than their sport. This shows not only in the overall high GPAs in the athletic department, but also in the recognition from
the GLVC and other organizations. In the last five years, 18 Greyhounds have been Academic All-Americans Athletes and 20 have been recognized as GLVC Scholar Athletes of the Year. Student athletes are also expected to demonstrate respect. Willey said she is proud to hear from hotels and restaurants that UIndy’s teams have been respectful when traveling. She said student athletes are also held to a higher standard in other areas and drug tested regularly. “I talk about the drug usage I said, 'If you want to drink and do drugs and all this on this campus, you can go do that and be a student, probably not, maybe not get caught, but you will not do that as a student athlete because you're held to a higher standard.’...They can opt out. If that's your priority then,” Willey said. “And so when kids test positive for marijuana on their drug tests... they're just begging. They said, 'My sport is my priority.' I go, 'No, it's not.' Students are given only two chances before getting kicked off a team, Willey said, so students understand that the use of illegal substances is not tolerated. Willey said she stresses that being a student athlete is a privilege, not a right. “I meet with them [as a] routine before the season starts. Then, I talk about what our expectations are and it's very simple. There's three of them,” Willey said. “But I like to get in front of them so they know who I am and that they're not just hearing it from the coaches. This is what I expect. No. 1 is to graduate. No. 2 is to represent in a positive manner…. And then No. 3 is to win. It's to be successful. We're not out here just to go through the process, but we'll never do No. 3 at the expense of 1 or 2.” Willey said she wants UIndy to be a students home away from home and the coaches to fill the role a parent would have, which is being a good role model. Student athletes fill out evaluations on their experience with the coaches. Willey said she puts a lot of emphasis on whether seniors would choose to come to UIndy and be a part of the athletic program again. Hite said the development of skills and relationships as well as the memories and team bonding that student athletes do is some of what makes for a good student experience. “Team success takes student athletes buying in completely,” Hite said. “Each and every person has to focus on bettering the team and themselves in every facet. Thinking bigger than yourself and respect each other unconditionally.”
Womens’ softball to push past rough patch By Jacob Walton
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Despite a tough start in April, the University of Indianapolis Softball Team has brought their ranking back to second in the GLVC Conference and ranked 16th nationally for Division II, with a five game winning streak. The Hounds have played eight series so far, consisting of two games in each series. According to Head Womens’ Softball Coach Melissa Frost, this is something that they should stray away from in order to complete their goals that was set earlier in the season. “We’ll peak at the right time I hope,” Frost said. “I feel like we have a lot of growing to do and a lot of learning to do. I felt like we had a really good March, now we gotta get over this April hump.” With losses against four GLVC conference opponents against Maryville University, University of Missouri St. Louis, Quincy University and Drury University, the team is 10-4 in conference play. According to Frost, she is not happy with the losses and the mistakes that the team has made. “[I’m] disappointed in some of the losses we’ve had, just simply because we’ve beat ourselves,” Frost said. “We talk about the standard for this program and there are days where we don’t stick to the game plan and don’t live up to the standard of this program and its disappointing. But it's a learning process and a growing process. We’re a young team so we have a lot of room to improve.” Frost said that a large portion of their issues were due to not following the strategy. She said that as long as they follow their plan going into this next stretch of games, they can hopefully come out on top. Sophomore ace pitcher Halie Waters said that the resiliency and support of the team is one of its strengths. “I think it’s just our ability to bounce
back and come together, I think we have a very good support system,” Waters said. “...We have a lot of fight in us this year.” However, in the last 10 games, the Hounds are 8-2 bringing back their GLVC ranking from 4th to 2nd behind Southern Indiana University. According to Waters, these struggles are something the team is not used to having. “The way we started was not a characteristic of our team,” Waters said. “We learned a lot from those early games and what we needed to work on to improve. I feel we have been on an upward swing, especially in the past couple of weeks.” The fight from this year can be stemmed from the pitching staff who have all returned from last year. Frost said that the pitching staff will have a large role to play in their games in April. Among the pitching unit is Waters, who this season threw her first career no-hitter against Lewis University. Waters said they need to put in the effort to be successful for the rest of the season. “...There are so many factors to softball, and it is a game of failure,” Waters said.“Each day we control what we can control and give 100 percent effort, if we do those things we can put ourselves in the best position to win. If we keep playing as a unit, picking each other up, and working hard we will be in a good position come conference time and whatever comes after that.” The team has six GLVC series left in the season, and Frost said they hope to get back to the game plan in order to finish strong before the GLVC and NCAA tournaments. According to Waters, the strategy is to continuously get better as the season goes on. “We need to just keep playing together and improving every day,” Waters said. “We talk about it in practice, just one percent better every day, remember that and focus on that. Get tougher, get better every single day and towards the end of season pull it all together.”
Photo by Marissa Burton
Sophomore pitcher Halie Waters threw her first collegiate career no-hitter against Lewis University on April 6. Waters received the first 2019 season GLVC Pitcher of the Week.
Photo by Marissa Burton
Senior infielder Taylor Podschweit prepares to catch the ball. Podschweit has been a three-time GLVC All Academic and three-time NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete.
