Part 2 – How to Succeed as a Student-Athlete at Embry-Riddle

In my opinion, the most important factor for a student-Athlete to be successful is diet and good eating habits. The fact that they train and go to school every day, all week, all year causes them feel two or three times more tired than a normal stuFood Pyramiddent. Athletes are always running on 3000 revolution a minute every day trying to recover muscle, finish projects, homework, resting, going to the training room in case of injury, preparing food, getting ready for trips, losing weight, and more. Diet is essential!! Good eating habits will provide enough energy and vitamins to do all the activities that a student-athlete has to get done every day. A bad diet based on fast food or a lack of nutrients is totally destructive not only for your sport but also for the most important factor that keeps you here – your career as student.

One of my favorite dishes chicken mole with rice. So good and healthy!

One of my favorite dishes chicken mole with rice. So good and healthy!

A bad diet would cause you poor muscle recovery after training, poor attention in class, and can make you feel more tired than normal. If an athlete is not eating the correct food his/her body is never going to recover to keep up with the high-speed lifestyle student-athletes live in.

Breaks, holidays, and time off is a two-edged sword for Student-Athletes. Holidays and breaks are something I personally love because it’s when we take a huge breathe of fresh air into our bodies and we can go back home for more than a few days to visit our family and friends. The thing is that we are not only students, we are also representing Embry-Riddle in athletics and breaks are the perfect moment to get out of shape. This certainly happened to me over the summer when I went back home. Everything was perfect – I saw family and friends and relaxed a little. But, I knew that if I wanted to come back in good shape for the next season I had to keep running a minimum of three times a week and do some other exercises. The first week I did what I had to do, I was very motivated, but after some weeks I got lazy and I stopped training. I was at home, no school, no tournaments, and of course good food, basically no stress at all. After summer break, the time to come back arrived and when I got back to the normal training I was totally devastated. My body wasn’t ready for that level of training. I had three very hard weeks to get used to the intense training again. I was sore, exhausted, and I got a knee injury. Right then I made a promise to myself I will never do that again, ever!! Now even if I am on a break I will keep moving, exercising, running, and preparing myself for whatever new challenge is coming!

Being a Student-Athlete is often, actually, never easy. I have had times in my life when I was so tired – tired to a level that I cannot sleep, tired to a level that I got sick, tired to a level that the only thing I wanted was to give up. In those moments, sometimes I think “Why I am here? Why am I doing this to myself? Why?!! This does not make any sense! I would rather be sleeping until 9 AM, only going to school and not dealing with physical pain. Instead I have 5:00 AM training in winter, then school, then afternoon training, then homework and today is just Wednesday! Not even half the week is gone and the worst thing is I have to do laundry because I don’t have any clean sock for tomorrow!” Yes, I can get overwhelmed. Once that has passed, I remember that I want to be successful, that I want to be the best, that I want to be a great person for society, and then I remember that every single drop of sweat, every 5 AM training, every single second in the wrestling room and the classroom are totally worth it.

Keep It Up and Never Give Up!!!

An Opportunity for a Good Life

My name is Carlos Apodaca, I am an international student from Mexico and a wrestler. I am a guest blogger and would like to share my story.

Three different colleges offered me a scholarship when I finished High School in Rio Rico, AZ. The three scholarships were tempting offers to take, but when I compared the benefits they could give me, choosing became easy. I chose without any doubt the scholarship that wrestling coach KC Rock offered me. Embry-Riddle was the best option for success. Embry-Riddle is not only one of the best in aeronautical sciences, it  also has a strong, welcoming feeling for students from around the world; no matter what color, belief, religion, race, or sexual orientation. In fact, I feel that Embry-Riddle is free of discrimination.

Embry-Riddle welcomed me last semester in their English program known as ERLI that helped me to improve my English skills. I was able to pass the TOEFL test after six months. I cannot find words to describe how kind, warm, and friendly everyone was with me when I arrived, especially the people at CIPS office (Center for International Programs and Services). They were always patient with me and never freaked out, even when I did not fully understand all the paper work I had to turn in, when I gave them the wronCIPSg address and made a very important paper of immigration almost go to the other side of Mexico, or when they couldn’t understand what I was saying in e-mail or when I was talking. I am very thankful for them because otherwise I wouldn’t be here holding in my hands an opportunity that has the potential to change my life for good.

Not long ago I contemplated what Embry-Riddle offers its students and I realized that this college offers an opportunity of a better life for students that work for it. Students attending Embry-Riddle are warriors of body and soul, they want to succeed more than they want to breathe, and they’d rather die than give up. For me Embry-Riddle embodies many things, but mainly it is an opportunity to improve my life, to become a better person, and to get prepared for the world out there. This college gives us the tools to succeed in our lives.

ERAU International festival 2015

ERAU International festival 2015

I  thought that no one was going to take care about me when at first came to the U.S., that everyone was going to leave me out of everything and I thought that I was going to be alone all the time. However, I was mistaken. I have made many good friends that worry when they have not seen me in a while. I feel nostalgic sometimes when I think about my family and friends back in Mexico, but that feeling fades away when I think about the new family that I have right here at Embry-Riddle.

 

Una oportunidad de vida.

Mi nombre es Carlos Apodaca, soy un estudiante internacional de México y practico lucha grecorromana. Me gustaría compartir mi historia con todos ustedes.

Tres diferentes universidades me ofrecieron beca al terminar mis estudios de nivel superior en Rio Rico, AZ. Las tres becas  que se me habían ofrecido eran muy tentadoras, pero al comparar los beneficios que cada una de ellas me podía ofrecer, elegir a que universidad asistir fue una decisión fácil. Elegí sin ningún tipo de duda la beca que el entrenador principal KC Rock me ofreció en primera instancia. Elegir Embry-Riddle como primera opción, creo que es la mejor elección para una vida éxito. Embry-Riddle no es solo la mejor universidad en ciencias aeronáuticas, también es una universidad que se distingue por aceptar e impulsar estudiantes alrededor del mundo a asistan a esta prodigiosa universidad; no importa el color, creencias, religión, raza, u orientación sexual. En esencia, siento que  Embry-Riddle es un colegio donde la discriminación no será  tolerada bajo ninguna circunstancia.

Embry-Riddle me recibió el semestre pasado en un programa de Ingles conocido como ERLI que me ayudo a mejorar en mi Ingles a nivel universidad. Gracias a este curso pude pasar un examen llamado TOEFL en menos de seis meses. Me faltan palabras para describir que tan amables, buena gente, y amistosos toda la comunidad de Embry-Riddle fueron cuando llegue, en especial los trabajadores de la oficina CSPI (Centro y Servicios al Programa Internacional). Todo el tiempo me tuvieron paciencia y nunca se desesperaron, incluso cuando no entendía completamente ningún trámite que se necesitaba hacer para estar totalmente inscrito, incluso cuando les di una dirección incorrecta y mandaron un papel de imigracion casi asta la otra punta de Mexico, o cuando no me entendían al momento de escribir un correo o cunado trababa de entablar un conversación con ellos, siempre me tuvieron paciencia. Estoy muy  agradecido con ellos,  sin esas increíbles personas no estaría aquí escribiendo este blog y sosteniendo en mis manos una oportunidad que tiene el potencial de cambiar mi vida por completo.

No  hace mucho estaba pensando que es lo que Embry-Riddle ofrece a sus estudiantes y llegue a una conclusión; Embry-Ridde ofrece una oportunidad para obtener una mejor calidad de vida a todos aquellos que trabajan duro para obtenerla. Estudiantes que asisten a esta  universidad son guerreros en cuerpo y alma, ellos desean triunfar tanto como desean respirar,  preferirían morir antes de rendirse. Embry-Riddle representa muchas cosas pero principalmente es una oportunidad para mejorar tu calidad de vida, crecer como persona,  y al final pero no menos importante, esta universidad nos da las armas para sobrevivir en el mundo real.

Cuando recién llegue a E.U.A yo pensé que a nadie le  iba a importar, que nadie se iba a preocupar por mi, y que me iban a excluir de los círculos sociales. Sin embargo, estaba equivocado. He hecho muchos amigos que me buscan cuando por algún motivo no me han visto por más de dos días. Algunas veces me siento nostálgico cuando pienso en mi familia, amigos y conocidos que deje en México, pero ese sentimiento desaparece cuando pienso en la nueva familia que encontré aquí en Embry-Riddle.

Softball is all about Community!

Eagles Softball is all about giving back to the community of Prescott. Every month we organize some form of community outreach event with our accountability partners, which is the teammate that we are accountable for the rest of the year. Accountable as in we make sure that both of us are always on time and if one of us is not going to make an event we will notify each other. At the beginning of the season, we created a list of events to accomplish throughout the school year. Some months contained two events in order for all of the accountability partners to have an event.

September: Shoelace Fundraiser for Pediatric Cancer

September: Wild West Mud Fest- Boys and Girls Club of Central Arizona

October: “The Spot”

November: Canned food drive

December: Toys For Tots

January: Help the Troops

February: Blanket Drive

March: Habitat for Humanity

April: Relay for life

softball blog 2As you can tell, our outreach events help others from a variety of ages. Some events are donations; however, others are interactive such as the Wild West Mud Run, the shoelace fundraiser for pediatric cancer and the most recent, creating care packages for troops.

What was my event? My accountability partner and I had the month of November. We figured with Thanksgiving being in November that we should have a canned food drive. We collaborated with Fry’s Drug and Food Store and had every teammate donate at least five cans of food. From our team alone we donated at least 100 cans of food. We also asked others if they wanted to donate and we delivered all of the cans to Fry’s.

What was my favorite event? There are two candidates for this. The first one was the Wild West Mud Fest sponsored by Crossfit Prescott, local radio stations, and the rest can be found here http://www.wildwestmudfest.com/read-me-1/. For the mud run, we were all required to ask for two $20 donations for our registration, and all money raised was donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Arizona. The reason why I enjoyed it so much is all the obstacles throughout the 5k run and we were helping others by participating in the event. The run started with a wall that we had to climb over and it was a bit difficult to do it alone so we helped each other up, over the wall, and a few feet from the wall was a two-foot pool of water and mud mixture. Most of the obstacles were outdoors, however the obstacles created by Crossfit Prescott were inside Tim’s Toyota Center. At the end of the run there was a mud obstacle with netting a foot or two above the ground and we had to crawl or military crawl (like I did) through the mud. By the end, all of my teammates and I were covered in mud from head to toe! After we completed the 5k obstacle course, we stayed until the end of the last wave to cheer people on at designated obstacles. It was a bit exhausting since we were there for five extra hours, but it was worth it since some people thanked us for supporting them through the obstacles.

My second favorite event is the most recent one, which was making care packages and writing holiday cards to the troops. This event was definitely one of my favorites because I know that there are soldiers who are not able to be home with their families for the holidays and anything they receive will make their day a little better. My teammates or the coordinators of the event asked to donate items such as ground coffee, cross word puzzles, books, packaged foods, and toiletries for men and women. We also used this website http://booksforsoldiers.com/ to gather books that soldiers requested.

softball blog 1

As shown in the picture, we had a large number of donations from all of the players and other students around campus. To make things a little more festive we filled up holiday bags with a few items we donated and holiday candies such as candy canes.

After we boxed everything up, we moved on to the cards. It was wonderful being able to write to the troops for the holidays and I made sure to thank them for everything they do for our country. By the end, we were able to ship 15 packages to the troops!

Our next events will include a blanket drive, Habitat for Humanity, and Relay for Life. So be on the lookout around campus with flyers if you would like to support any event!

 

Athletics at Riddle

If you are looking for an athletic scholarship then you might want to take a look at what Embry-Riddle has to offer.  As of this year Embry-Riddle, Prescott campus has taken on men and women’s Cross Country, as well as Women’s Softball on top of the already existing sports. which include: men and women’s Golf, men and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and wrestling. Competitive scholarships exist for student-athletes who have demonstrated a superior commitment to athletics, at the same time you must meet  minimum GPA requirement.

As far as I know if you are already a student you can always tryout for a position on a team as well as compete for a scholarship. If you want more information on scholarships then I would suggest calling the director of athletics.

Competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Embry-Riddle is a proud member of the California Pacific Athletic Conference (CAL PAC).

You may contact:  928-777-3777     or     Email:

Night Running

Recently as a result of the heat (about 90+ but no more than 98 F) I’ve taken to running on the school’s track at night and boy is it gorgeous!!! As I run I get to watch the sun go down and the breeze on the track, which is a rubberized running surface with a field at its center, is really cool and pleasant.Which brings me to the reason for my blog!! 😀

A portion of the track behind our the Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach Chris Bray

The track can be used by all members of the campus community, for whatever your purpose is, recently a new athletic sport on campus has began using the track as they are starting up Women’s and Men’s Cross Country teams in the Fall of 2013. If you  are interested in perhaps being recruited by one of our athletic teams I encourage you to check out our Athletics website where you will find a list of teams and information on how you can get started as an athlete at Embry Riddle. A visitor’s guide to Embry Riddle is also available for you to view if you are interested in coming to the University for a tour of our campus and meeting with a coach.

So whether you are extremely athletic or fi you just like to run for fun, feel free to join us and check out our athletic teams, we would love to have you here as an Embry Riddle Prescott Eagle!!