Finally Home!

Saint Leo is finally home from south Florida, and with two big wins too! Barry and Lynn are always difficult teams, especially at home, and the girls showed great resiliency in both matches. Chelsea was back-to-back Player of the Match, collecting 47 digs on the weekend, good for 5.9 digs per set.

Now it's one day of rest and then two days of training to prepare for Tampa on Wednesday. We hope to see everyone for the first of our final two regular season home matches!

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM SAINT LEO VOLLEYBALL!

Gut Check

Whoo gut check time for the Lions. Tons of respect to the Barry coaching staff and team for doing a phenomenal job of scouting and executing their game plan, but Leo managed to pull out a 3-2 victory for their 21st consecutive win. The Lions felt humbled afterwards, but energized at the same time. We are excited for tomorrow's match vs. Lynn and hope everyone can watch it on the live stream from Penn Atlantic!

Happy Birthday Danielle!

Congratulations Women's Golf!

Saint Leo Volleyball wants to congratulate our Women's Golf Team for winning the Flagler Fall Slam and Anna Riss as the tournament individual champion!

CONGRATS LADIES!

10-26 News

Chris' Corner: Tricks of the trade from your friendly neighboorhod Certified Athletic Trainer

I thought I would do things a bit different for this installment of Chris' Corner. Have you ever wondered how that sharp cookie of an Athletic Trainer figured out what was wrong when your favorite athlete went down on the court or walked into the Athletic Training Room complaining of an owie? Well wonder no more. Rather than discuss a specific injury or condition I thought I would talk about the process we use in evaluating a medical problem. This process is known as "HOPS". The first letter stands for history. You must obtain a thorough history of the injury from the athlete. The two most important questions to ask are "What happened?" and "Where does it hurt". Couple this with a solid understanding of human anatomy and you have gone a long way to figuring out which structures have been damaged. Other questions to ask include "Did you hear/feel any snaps, pops or cracks?", "Can you move the injured area?" and if so "What movements hurt?". The next step is observation. Look at the injured area and compare it to the opposite side of the body. Is there any obvious deformity, swelling, discoloration or anything else that looks different from the healthy side of the body? The "P" stands for palpation. Again you will compare to the healthy side of the body. Use one or two fingers to touch specific spots in the injured area. Does your touch illicit pain? If so, what structures lie under your fingers? Finally, the "S" stands for special tests. As part of any Athletic Training Education Program you learn tests to preform on the body to differentiate which structures are damaged at to what extent they are damaged. Put it all together and, whala, you figure out what's wrong with the athlete. Obviously, this process is very much condensed when evaluating an injury on the court/field under the pressure of match play having to decide whether or not it is prudent to allow the athlete to return to play. But hey, that's why we're there.

On the court the machine that is SLU volleyball keeps humming along. Florida Tech and Rollins both went quietly in three sets and the team tossed in a win against Saint Francis University for good measure. I think I was the only one in the gym who got the memo about Hawaiian shirt night. But that's ok, I got to show off my sweet threads anyway.

In Athletic Training world the injury report remains at zero. While I enjoy plying my trade I am perfectly happy having the whole team available week in and week out. On a side note we said goodbye to some of our Athletic Training Students from the University of South Florida. They will be replaced by new students who will help us the rest of the way. I have to give a major thank you to all of our students new and old. Their eager minds and able hands help keep the Athletic Training Room running smoothly. They are truly indispensable.

Remember your HOPS, keep supporting the team and we'll see you next week at Chris' Corner.

WOW WIN

Definitely a statement win last night! The Lions walked in to the Rollins' gym in business mode and put on a show, defeating the Tars in 3 straight sets. Our serving work has definitely paid off as 3 different players went on huge runs, led by Chelsea Armer and Emily Calderon.

This week is 4 practices heading into our trip south to Barry and Lynn, one of which will be our annual Halloween practice! Keep checking back to the blog for pictures!

20 on the Table

As Saint Leo travels to Rollins College today, they are looking for their 20th consecutive win of the 2009 season and 10th consecutive SSC victory. It will not be an easy task! Rollins is the epitome of home team advantage, and the Lions are ready for the battle!

Unfortunately, we most likely will not be able to live stream today, but Rollins has live stats that (according to my Mom) are so much fun to watch! Click here for the link, and cross your fingers and knock on wood for this superstitious coach!

Let the Luau Begin!

Tonight the Saint Leo Lions handed St. Francis their second straight loss against Sunshine State Conference opponents and the third in Florida. SLU had 48 kills on an amazing .432 hitting percentage!

It's back to work tomorrow as we get ready for our Saturday match at Rollins, always a tough road match!

Hawaiian Night!

HAWAIIAN NIGHT TONIGHT!

Check out the lovely Lions in their match this evening against St. Francis at 7:00pm

Leo Tops Tech!

Another night, another win! The Leo Lions handled business tonight as they topped Florida Tech in three sets tonight. Tomorrow night... HAWAIIAN NIGHT... vs. the visiting Saint from St. Francis. Follow us online!

Breast Cancer Match TONIGHT!

As the Saint Leo Lions open up the second round of Sunshine State Conference play tonight against Florida Tech, we will also be taking to opportunity to join the month long effort by organizations and teams across the country to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.

Specifically, the Saint Leo Softball Team will be participating in an American Cancer Society MAKING STRIDES Walk this Saturday, and all of tonight's admission and donations collected will be taken with the team to the walk.

The Lions hope that everyone takes time to either volunteer their time or donate to this very important cause!

As always, tonight's match will be streamed live via the Saint Leo Lions website and Penn Atlantic!

10-19-09 News

Chris' Corner: Tricks of the trade from your friendly neighboorhod Certified Athletic Trainer

Welcome back to Chris' Corner. This weeks' trick of the trade will center on an issue very important in athletics, especially athletics here in sunny Florida. That issue is dehydration and exertional heat illness. It seems every year we hear about deaths involving athletes suffering dehydration and exertional heat illness. This year in particular criminal charges were brought against a high school football coach following an athletes' death (the coach was later acquitted). Dehydration is very preventable with proper preparation. Not only is proper hydration important from a medical standpoint, dehydration of only 1%-2% can result in decreased athletic performance. The most important thing to remember in the fight against dehydration is that for the most part the battle is already won or lost before an athlete even hits the field or court. Because an athlete will be losing fluids continuously during athletic activity the best you can hope for is to maintain the hydration level they started with. If they walked into competition in a dehydrated status you are fighting an uphill battle. The easiest way to ensure proper hydration is to continuously sip on quality fluids throughout the day. Quality fluids include juices, sports drinks and of course good old fashioned water. Easy ways to monitor hydration status is revolve around bathroom activity. If you are properly hydrated you should be using the restroom about every two hours. Furthermore, the color of your urine should be clear to light yellow. Anything darker and you need to push more fluids. Dehydration can lead to heat illness ranging from heat cramps to heat stroke. Early signs and symptoms of heat illness include: thirst, irritability, fatigue, headache, muscle cramps, dizziness and nausea/vomiting. An athlete with heat illness should be moved to a cool environment, remove all possible equipment and clothing, push oral fluids and be fanned and monitored. The heat illness that makes the news is heat stroke. The most significant issues with heat stroke are a core body temperature of 104 degrees or greater (measured rectally) and loss of the body's' thermoregulatory capacity. This is a life threatening condition! The athlete should be cooled rapidly, preferably in an ice bath if conscious, given IV fluids and transported to a hospital for advanced life support care. Keep in mind that an athlete will not necessarily display the signs and symptoms of heat cramps or heat exhaustion before progressing to heat stroke. Also, sweat production is not an accurate indicator of heat stroke. In the majority of cases of heat stroke the athlete will still be sweating significantly.

On the court this week the juggernaut keeps on rolling! Two big regional wins solidified our spot as the #1 ranked team in the region. Isn't winning fun? The injury report remains at zero although Emily's acrobatics on the court consistently cause me to hold my breath. A little rest today before heading into the second round of conference play this week. We had a little alumni support at Winter Park on Saturday in the form of Amanda Cook. Always nice to see former players doing well in their lives.

Hydrate early and often and we'll see you safe and sound next week at Chris' Corner.

AVCA Play of the Week!

Ohio Represents!

Danielle Bletso and Leah Perry went block crazy! Both ladies posted 8 block assists, but in the post match meeting Danielle claimed that she was merely in the general area when Leah was blocking, so Leah was chosen by the team as the Player of the Match! 3 Lions had tremendous offensive numbers, with both Kaitlin McKenna and Emily posting 12 kills and hitting over .400, with Danielle joing their hitting percentage with 8 kills.

Next week brings 3 more matches, with Florida Tech and Rollins kicking off the second round of SSC play.

Early risers again!

A very solid win yesterday for the Lions against a talented West Florida. The Argo coaching staff had their blocking on point, fortunately Emily Calderon decided it was go time! 17 kills, .483 hitting percentage and 10digs!

Today the Lions will be heading to Winter Park, FL to take on visiting Harding University in our second of two regional crossover matches for the weekend. We will be streaming live again, make sure to check us out at 5:30pm in between all the football today!

Good Morning!

Good morning everyone! It is early and the Lions are up and ready for our rematch against the Argos of the University of West Florida. In the previous meeting on September 11th, the Lions came out with a very tight 3-1 victory, and we are ready for another battle!

Check www.saintleolions.com for the link to the live video feed. Who needs work? Just watch Saint Leo Volleyball!

10-12-09 News

20 Questions with Kaitlin McKenna

1. What is the main reason you chose Saint Leo University?
I chose Saint Leo because Michelle was the best setter that I had ever seen and I wanted to play volleyball with her. I also really enjoyed the people that I met on my recruiting trip and I really wanted to play for Coach Sam because he is a cool guy.

2. What has been your best college experience so far?
My best college experience has been living with my roommates—Michelle, Leah and Kim. They are the best friends a girl could have.

3. If you could recommend one 'must-have' for a dorm room, what is it and why?
My recommendation for a ‘must have’ for a dorm room is an extremely powerful stereo system. The louder the music, the more friends you will have and thus the more fun you will have dancing.

4. What do you do on your off days?
On my off days, I sleep, hang out with friends, go to the beach, dance, do homework, play kickball, go to Wal-Mart, listen to loud music, socialize.

5. Pick one cartoon character that matches your personality, who and why?
Plankton from Spongebob because he is funny. He tries to take over the world but always fails because he is so tiny. It cracks me up.

6. What other sports have you played?
In high school I played basketball, was on the golf team and I threw shot put and discus for the track team. I was on the summer swim team from when I was 4 years old until I was a sophomore in high school. Noncompetitively I snowboard, ski and water ski. But I’ve played almost every sport.

7. What is your favorite holiday? Why?
My favorite holiday is Christmas because I love being with my family and going home to see my friends. I also enjoy being around the snow for a month and having to bundle up to go outside. Giving and receiving presents is always a good time too. But mostly just that whole Christmas spirit is fun and warms my heart.

8. What song is most played on your iPod?
You may be Right by Billy Joel

9. What is your best asset as a member of SLU Volleyball?
I lead by example.

10. If you were a tree, what tree would you be and why?
I would be a pine tree in Northern Michigan, because they get to be outside all winter long and enjoy all of the snow.

11. Where are 3 places you would like to visit?
I want to visit the Amazon Rainforest, Argentina, and Thailand.

12. How many siblings do you have, and how old are they?
I have a brother who is 24 and a sister who is 22.

13. What is your favorite movie?
My favorite movie is The Grinch.

14. Who is your favorite athlete?
Chauncey Billups

15. Who is your hero?
My Mom is #1. But I have other heroes as well. Danielle Bletso is my hero because she makes me happy every day. Coach Sam is also my hero because he is so good at what he does and I aspire to be like him.

16. Pick one teammate and tell us a funny story...
One time Kim and I were in our kitchen and she decided to make cookies because I was busy doing homework. So she started baking away. After she mixed all of the ingredients together she tasted the batter. She said to me, “Why is this so salty?” So I went over to look at the recipe and read “2 teaspoons of salt.” Then I looked at the counter and the measuring spoon that had been used was the tablespoon. “Kim, you put 2 tablespoons of salt in and not 2 teaspoons.” So after we figured that out, Kim decided to just double everything to try and rescue her cookies. She ran out of brown sugar and replaced it with maple syrup. Needless to say, the cookies did not turn out well. But it was a good effort.

17. What is your favorite place you've gone with SLU Volleyball?
Colorado

18. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Working for some Accounting firm and working on my CPA and making lots of money.

19. What are you looking forward to most this year?
Winning. And living it up with my roommates.

20. How do you want people to remember you after you've graduated from Saint Leo?
I want to be remembered as a great Student Athlete that has the potential to do whatever I want.

Chris' Corner: Tricks of the trade from your friendly neighboorhod Certified Athletic Trainer

Welcome to another edition of Chris' Corner. This week I've decided to talk about one of the most essential principles in Athletic Training and one that I find quite interesting (then again I'm a medical geek so I find all this stuff interesting). What is this nugget of knowledge you ask? The injury response process. Knowing this process dictates how you take an athlete from injury to return to play. As I've mentioned before (see previous discussion on "Why ice?") with any injury there will be an associated inflammatory response. This inflammation represents the first phase of the injury response process. Basically the body tries to isolate the injury and clean up dead and damaged tissue. This phase lasts for about a week depending on the severity of the injury. The most important thing to remember during this phase is to not cause further harm. The focus is on protecting the injured tissue, application of therapeutic modalities (ice and electrical stimulation for example) and use of anti-inflammatory medication (ibuprofen) to limit swelling and pain. The next phase is called the proliferation phase. During this phase the body is laying down new tissue to repair the injury. Here the focus is on helping the body help itself. Again, therapeutic modalities (non-thermal ultrasound, massage) come into play, helping stimulate the repair process. Early therapeutic exercise is important here. Restoring range of motion and light strengthening exercise should be implemented. The proliferation phase lasts for about 3-4 weeks. The final phase in the injury response process is the maturation phase. This phase can last a year or more depending on the injury and the type of tissue involved. A really nifty thing occurs during this phase. As you place stress on the affected tissue through therapeutic exercise and athletic activity the body remodels the tissue to more closely resemble the original tissue! What an amazing thing our bodies are. Basically, when you boil it down as long as we don't get in the way of our own bodies (think doing too much too soon thereby returning to the inflammatory phase) our body heals itself. Incredible! Something to keep in mind during this process is that the time frames for each phase are not set in stone. The injury response process is very fluid and the phases tend to overlap. A skilled Certified Athletic Trainer recognizes this and plans an activity progression accordingly.

This week on the court saw the team get through the first round of conference play undefeated! Not too shabby. If you haven't gotten to a match or watched the web cast you need to do so, if for no other reason than to see #7 play. Quite simply Emily is just one heck of an athlete! In back-to-back matches over the weekend yours truly had a front row seat to two of the most amazing, athletic plays I've ever seen at a live sporting event. Truly SportsCenter specials. Like I need another reason to love working with this team.

In other news the rivalry with LP is back on! Between drills at practice LP wanted to test her considerable basketball prowess in a shooting contest with yours truly. Shooting volleyballs from downtown LP thought she had me licked until I drained one with the pressure on. Nothing but net. Score one for the has-been.

The injury report is still at zero, we're living large in conference play and I got to meet the Frickers (Mr. Fricker is a dedicated follower of Chris' Corner). Another pretty good week here in Shangri-La.

Ice, ice, ice, remember your phases of healing and we'll see you next week on Chris' Corner.

P.S. As I am writing 60 Minutes is doing a spot on MTBI (see last week's Chris' Corner). Maybe they follow the blog too!?

Sunday Funday

A win today against Bentley University gave playing time to all the Saint Leo Lions! Junior Kim Nuckols posted 3 kills, 2 assists and 2 blocks, senior Brittany Fuhr toed the service line for a large run in the third set, freshman Jaime Seda held down the right side defense in the second, and sophomore Jessica Bryant had 4 kills on a .375 hitting percentage in the third set. The play of the match, though, was freshman Lucy Fricker's monster serve in the third. She nearly blasted it into the opposite wall!

Monday will be off for the ladies and we'll be back to on Tuesday to prepare for an early match on Friday, a rematch with the University of West Florida Argos at 11:00am.

First Round Undefeated!

Another slow start, but talk about a huge finish! The Leo Lions Volleyball Team overcame a sleepy start to sweep Nova Southeastern and wrap up an undefeated first round of Sunshine State Conference matches, a definite first for the Saint Leo program.

All proceeds from today's match will be going to the Tampa Chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, as will tomorrow's for our match vs. Bentley College. That match will be another Live Feed, so make sure to check out the Lions on a Sunday afternoon!

AVCA DII National Player of the Week

CONGRATULATIONS

TO BRUNA ROCHA!

AVCA DII NATIONAL

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

A Close Call!

With all the excitement of the past few days, the Saint Leo Lions were brought back to earth when a determined Florida Southern rolled into the Marion Bowman Activities Center. Despite winning the first set, the Mocs prevailed in sets 2 and 3, putting SLU in a 2-1 hole. Chelsea Armer and Bruna Rocha got the Lions back on track with their serving in the 4th set, and the momentum continued into the 5th as the Lions triumphed over FSC for the third consecutive match since the program's first victory against them a year ago.

The players of the match were Corey Ryan and Leah Perry. Corey's defense in the 4th set was a major spark for the Lions, as she collected 5 of her 10 digs in that set alone. Leah's blocking was phenomenal. She tied Kaitlin McKenna and Danielle Bletso with 4 blocks for the match, but more than that, her movement and recognition of where Southern's offense was moving helped our defense get set behind her. Well done ladies! 

...and p.s. 100 digs as a team!...

10-4-09 News

Proud to be a Lion

As the head coach of Saint Leo, I was blessed to be part of the best match in Saint Leo history as we upset the #4 Tampa Spartans last Saturday. There is an immense feeling of Lion Pride surrounding this team. My staff and I are very proud of our team. It's a great time to be a LION!!!!!!

Chris' Corner: Tricks of the trade from your friendly neighboorhod Certified Athletic Trainer

First things first on this weeks' edition of Chris' Corner.....A much deserved CONGRATULATIONS to the team for their exceptional play against Tampa! If watching that match didn't wind your clock I'm not sure what would.

Now on to education. This week I will discuss concussions, the proper medical term for which is Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI). It is important to know the medical jargon not just for the sake of geek knowledge but because it more clearly describes what has occurred. There is no such thing as getting ones' "bell rung" or being "out of it". A concussion represents an injury to the brain itself resulting in an impairment of brain function. The most common mechanism of injury is a direct blow to the head, think a football collision or hitting your head on the ground. If enough force is involved the brain strikes the skull on either the same or opposite side of impact. Signs and symptoms of such an injury include but are not limited to: confusion, headache, ringing in the ears, nausea, lack of coordination, blurred vision and unconsciousness. One of the biggest concerns with a MTBI is intracranial bleeding. This can be subdural or epidural. A subdural bleed involves venous bleeding. Venous bleeding is relatively slow. This is the tricky part. Because the bleeding is slow signs and symptoms may take days or even weeks to show themselves. An epidural bleed comes from arterial bleeding which is much faster. Signs and symptoms show themselves rapidly as pressure on the brain increases from the accumulating blood. This is an emergency situation. I'm not saying this to scare you, in most cases a MTBI results in transient neurological dysfunction which resolves itself with time and rest. I merely want to illustrate the seriousness of a MTBI. A second major concern relates to returning to play. If an athlete returns to play before all signs and symptoms have completely resolved and they have gone through an activity progression to ensure signs and symptoms don't return there is a risk of what's called Second Impact Syndrome (SIS). SIS can occur when an athlete who returns too quickly incurs a second MTBI before the previous one has healed. The second MTBI causes rapid swelling of the brain which disrupts essential brain functions. SIS carries a 50% mortality rate! Once again, I'm not trying to scare you, but you can never take a MTBI lightly. Any medical professional worth their salt will tell you, "When in doubt, sit them out!". I can tape your ankle but I can't tape your brain. No athlete's life is worth playing in the big game.

Back to the court. The injury list is at zero which is great. Not that I have nothing to do mind you. There are still plenty of athletes that require a little TLC to make sure they can go out and do what they did on Saturday. It's a good feeling not having anyone miss practice time or matches though. On a personal note, my wonderful parents will be rolling into town tomorrow to watch the Florida Southern match on Tuesday. My mother is particularly pleased that I work with an indoor sport right now. Hopefully they will have a chance to meet some of the staff and players so they can see what I'm always bragging about.

Thanks for tuning in. See you next week on Chris' Corner.

White Out!

WE WON!

Lead by Bruna Rocha's stellar performance of 21 kills without any errors,

SAINT LEO BEAT TAMPA TONIGHT!

Check www.saintleolions.com for the full write up coming soon, and we hope to see everyone at the Marion Bowman Activities Center on Tuesday, October 6th for our White Out against Florida Southern!

Match at Tampa Today!

Today the #23 Saint Leo Lions take on #4 University of Tampa Spartans at the Martinez Sports Complex in downtown Tampa. First place in the SSC is on the line as both SLU and UT are a perfect 5-0 in conference. Live stats can be found through the Tampa website at this link and live video will again be featured through the Saint Leo website, and Penn Atlantic continues their amazing service to Leo Athletics!