Longhorn Leaders Spring 06!

Longhorn Leaders Spring 06!

Longhorn Leaders Spring 06!

Nina's Call for a Perfect Season

Well, Nina's wish came true. Go here to read about the Horns: Rose Bowl

The Perfect Season

The University of Texas Football team has been absolutely sensational this year. They are the number 2 team in the nation, Big XII champs, and 12-0. They have trampled every opponent that has come their way and have done it with class. They have made it to the Rose Bowl held in Pasadena, Californina where they will play the number 1 team in the nation, USC Trojans. Both teams have Heisman Trophy and potential Trophy winners on thier teams, so we can expect a good matchup.

How did the Longhorns become so great this season? You cannot have a perfect season by just having persons like Vince Young and Brian Robinson on the team. In the past the Longhorns have had good teams, but I think this Longhorn team is by far the best. I'm not speaking of the individuals on the team becuase there are enough individual awards to go around. It takes team cohesiveness to have a great team. This past summer the Longhorns worked hard on their team chemistry as well as their skills. Vince worked with the wide recievers before practice to get their timing and conditioning levels up to par. These guys spent the whole summer working on being a team and it shows. This team is not only special for winning but for doing it as a team.

This longhorn team does not shine alone, they shine together. Team culture is the significant factor with the team this year. Cedric Benson, Derrek Johnson, Roy Williams, and several other talents were lost, but this years team is well on its way to being remembered as one of Texas's greatest teams. While extraordinary players are important nothing matches a great team. It would be big and the perfect ending to a great season if the Horns win the Rose Bowl, but it would be even bigger if they pass on the team culture to the team next year.

Texas is one of America's great universities. In sports we have achieved championships over the years in baseball, women's basketball, track, swimming, and more than 30 years ago in football. This year's football team with its pending national championship hopes help return to the tradition of championship football at Texas!

I am finishing my semester and working to get all of my finals and papers completed. My basketball team is building for the future and I am one of the seniors working to instill the winning team attitude for the heart of the season that has begun! I have a home game on Sunday and Wednesday and Conference play begins in January. Wish me luck and HOOK'EM HORNS!

Nina Norman

Nina's Leadership

This semester, UT Senior Nina Norman, participates in the Leadership in the Community class that creates the Longhorn Leaders and writes this web log. Here is a story today about Nina and one of two very important basketball games coming in the next few days. The Lady Longhorns will play the Number Two, Tennessee and the Number One, Teams by this time next week. Nina will really have her number called!

Longhorns Women's Basketball: Big game? Longhorn guard is three-for-Tenn
Despite sore knee, Norman aims to continue her streak of success against Lady Vols.
By Olin Buchanan
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, December 01, 2005

When Texas travels to face Tennessee tonight, Longhorns senior guard Nina Norman might keep trainers on both benches busy.

Norman's sore knee has hobbled her this season, but during her previous three years, she's been an Achilles' heel for the Lady Volunteers.

As a freshman, Norman drilled a three-pointer with one second remaining to give Texas a 63-62 victory. As a sophomore, she hit 9 of 11 shots and scored 18 points as Texas prevailed in Knoxville, 70-60.

Last season she scored nine points and hit a game-clinching three-pointer with 3 1/2 minutes left, helping Texas to a 75-59 upset of the then-top-ranked Lady Vols.

Although Tennessee seems to bring out the best in Norman, she says it's just a coincidence.

"I just try to play hard every game," Norman said. "Tennessee's a big challenge and if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best."

And Norman has been adept at helping Texas beat Tennessee, a fact that hasn't eluded the Lady Vols.

"She seems to play very well against us," said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. "Obviously, the last game she played here, I thought she was terrific. I think she's the type of player that can create for other people as well as herself. She just gets everyone else involved."

The No. 16 Longhorns (3-1) have needed everyone involved; Norman and junior center Tiffany Jackson, Texas' top two players, have been slowed by injuries.

An ankle sprain has limited Jackson, but Norman's left knee problems are more serious.

Similar knee problems hampered her last year, when her scoring average fell to 7.8 from 9.5 her sophomore season, and her shooting percentage dropped to 38 percent from 40.4 percent.

Norman only played 11 minutes in Texas' season-opening loss to New Mexico and was on the court for just six minutes in an 83-33 victory over Sam Houston.

But in last weekend's Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas, she played 24 minutes and scored 13 points in a 59-55 victory over South Carolina, and had five points in 28 minutes in a 59-54 triumph over George Washington.

"Nina knows we depend on her, and she'll be ready to play," said Texas coach Jody Conradt.

The Longhorns need Norman to score, but perhaps more than anything else, they have come to depend on her for leadership and a steadying hand. With seven freshmen on the roster, the Longhorns have been predictably inconsistent.

Norman can supply a calming influence and help the younger players know what to expect.

And she said Texas' freshmen will experience something very different when they play at Thompson-Boling Arena.

"They're going to realize how hard college basketball is," Norman said. "The other games were against average teams, but (Tennessee) is like the No. 1 team in the country."

Well, the No. 2 Lady Vols (5-0) are close enough for discomfort.

Tennessee already has posted convincing victories over No. 9 Maryland and No. 13 Michigan State. That's why the Longhorns, who are monitoring Norman's minutes, need her on the floor as much as possible.

"I'm feeling better and I'm doing the best I can," Norman said. "The trainers are working with my body to make sure I can handle an entire season. Hopefully, I'll play a lot, but everybody's got to get their minutes."

Count on Norman to be in the game in the final minutes.

The Day In The Life of A Longhorn Athlete

I know some of you are wondering how the day in the life of a longhorn athlete really is. Well, let me tell me you that it is not easy at all. Some sports are different than others, but we mostly do the same things. We wake up at 5:30 in the morning and eat some breakfast. After we eat we rush over to the weight room for weights from about 6:00 to 7:30. After we finish weights we take a shower, if we are lucky and make it to class from 8-12. Then after the 12:00 we go to the training table to get lunch. The training table is a place where all the student athletes get their lunches. The next thing we have to go to is practice. Pratice ranges from 2 to 4 hours. After an exhausting practice we go to study hall for 2 hours. Here at study hall we meet with tutors to stay up with our school work. This is especially important as many of us travel during the week and may miss some classes. Study hall ends and we finally get a chance to go home, but we cannot relax yet. We still have to study for our classes becuase two hours is not enough time. You are supposed to study 3 hours for every class you have. That means if you are taking 15 hours, you will need to study 45! Then after you study at home you get the rest of the night to yourself, which is not a lot of time. I usually get done studying around 10:00 or 11:00p.m.

But there are some good sides of being an athlete. We get to travel all over the world. I have been to Hawaii, Canada, and Bahamas, since I've been here at UT. For the Thanksgiving break the team went to the Bahamas for 5 days. We had a great time there and the place was beautiful. However, we did miss some class, but we had to take our work with us. Even though it was a nice vacation, we still had to get our studies done while we are up there. A couple of my teammates had to take a test on the road. It is hard on the road because you not only have to play, but to do your school work. The men's basketball team will be traveling to New York to play the number one team in the nation, Duke Bluedevils. They get to play at Madison Square Garden. Not to many people have that chance to play there, but the guys do. Being a longhorn is great, but it does take hard work and dedication. Just remember that the word "student" comes before student-athlete.

The Bash of the Year

Hello again. This is Nina Norman and here is the uniform I wear that most people know but I am here to give you the scoop on the Women's Basketball Halloween party. I know some of you think that Halloween is just for kids, but it is for adults too. We have this party every year, but this year was very special because we all had great costumes. I was Napoleon Dynamite from the movie Napoleon Dynamite. CoCo Reed was the Scream character from the motion picture Scream and Tiffany Jackson was a playboy bunny. Crystal Boyd was Madea from the movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Katrina Robinson was Michael Myers from the movie Halloween. Ernie Williams and Ahley Lindsey were clowns and Erniesha Bailey and Carla Cortijo were tourists. Mariana Mergerson was a vampire and Erika Arriaran was Elvis. Aubry Cook was a Go-Go girl and Kalee Carey was a cop. Daria Mieloszynska was Lara Croft from the video game and movie Tomb Raider and Tamra Cobbins was Pebbles from The Flinstones.

Cick here to view the photos.

The Kilgore Dinner

Hello everyone!

This is Nina Norman and I wanted to share my experience that I had at a dinner last week.

Last Thursday night, I attended the Kilgore dinner (an annual event of the Greater Austin Crime Commission) with Professor Lauderdale along with two other athletes, Limas Sweed and Kasey Studdard. This dinner was a presentation to the winner of the Kilgore award. The award went to the United States Ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza. The dinnner was very interesting because they talked about Crime Prevention and what was going on with the ties of Texas and Mexico. The ambassador was doing all he could to stop drug distribtion in Mexico. I had no idea that any of these things was going on. It seems our Longhorn Leaders' efforts are part of a very large activity to tackle some very serious things.

It was $250 a plate and $2,500 a table. The food was good but not that good as most of the money goes to support programs of the Greater Austin Crime Commission including our Longhorn Leaders. I was seated at a table with two very prestigious people and they were Admiral Bob Inman and Chancellor William Cunningham. Mr. Inman was a UT graduate, in the Navy and headed important national security agencies. Dr. Cunningham gave an excellent speech and he and I talked about women's basketball. He told me that he was a big fan and came to every women's home game. Dr. Cunningham has held many posts at the University of Texas including Dean, President and Chancellor. He is a professor here as well as his wife, who was at our table as well.

There were over two hundred people there and I met many of them including Mr. Ligarde and Mr. Roberts that work with our presentations as well as Mayor Butler, the President of the Crime Commission. I signed my player cards and gave them to people to illustrate a part of our work with youth. I think Kasey and Limas like me saw another large part of our efforts!