You Won’t Hear Us Shout “Fore!” – Jason Feltz, DC Student

the life golf club is warming up their swings early

Usually the LIFE Golf Club is shut down for the winter quarter, but with the early arrival of spring, members are getting out early to play some rounds. The club currently has 18 active members and is looking to expand every quarter. Why golf? Golf is the most commonly played sport in the United States and it is a great outlet for marketing and promoting chiropractic.

The golf club is open to membership for students of all talent levels from beginner to professional. There are opportunities to compete and the club will be working with LIFE Athletics and the marketing department for opportunities to represent Life University in quarterly golf tournaments. As a member, there is not a requirement to compete, however, players of different talents will be offered opportunities to do so. The club puts on free golf instruction and clinics during the weekly meetings held at Marietta Golf Center. With recording equipment and decades of experience provided, members have a chance to pick up a game that will stick with them for life. The club has several relationships with area golf courses that give them discounted play. Members of the club have access to care at LUSSI (Life University Sports Science Institute) unlike regular students. As a member, one can qualify to be part of the team that represents Life University at the Chiro-Games!

Be sure to check out the golf club and pick up the sport that will give opportunities to network and market. The club is committed to promoting both the sport and chiropractic in developing character through the values they entail. In representing Life University, the club helps bring awareness to the campus, its clinic offerings and the paradigm shift it represents.

Champions And Pride In The Making – Jason Feltz, DC Student

Why the Chiro-Games can never go away

Memories define chapters in your life, and surely our time here at Life University is a chapter we are all writing. For most of us, we’re in a constant battle between education, retention, testing and time. A lot of us forget to have fun while in school, and one day when I look back on my journey at Life, I want the memories to be filled with more fun experiences. Before the fall of 2009, my focus had been on the struggle of getting through the DC program, but a shift in my thought processes and inner-determination brought me to build something missing from Life that would impact the environment here. In planning and bringing Life to the Chiro-Games, some of the best memories I have experienced while being a student here have come from them.

I will always remember the unseasonably cool weather we faced this past trip to Cocoa Beach, with the wind just as strong as it was in 2009. Ask any student who participated in the games, and they will have a list of memories to share. I remember the fun people I got to know and have since become friends with. I won’t forget the brotherhood all of us athletes felt as none of us were strangers to one another. A bunch of Life students can pack into a van, each of them never having met each other, and have the best riding experience on a trip. Such was the story and my experience to and from the Chiro-Games. Out of all 128 attendees from Life to the games, many friendships were formed.

At the awards ceremony, we screamed loudest for our players and chanted “Ole!” as the gold medal winners were announced for Life in both men’s and women’s soccer. Most of us needed a couple days to recover our voices thereafter. But the lingering, inescapable memory during that ceremony was the dominance of Parker on the podium. Upon receiving the overall golden trophy after placing in the medals for every event, all the Parker athletes rushed to the stage and hoisted their athletic director, Steve Weller, into the air while repeatedly chanting their school’s name. It wasn’t only Parker’s athletic dominance that bothered me that evening, it was the school pride those athletes were displaying. They have a summation of feelings that I and others have been trying to create here at Life. In an effort to bring that same pride back to our campus, I will be taking on one last project before I graduate next year; I want to establish competitive club sports around all the events held at Chiro-Games. While some sports have already developed clubs on campus, I want to sit with leaders of each to help organize and ready them for some competition. I’m going to push to have these clubs compete in intramurals and Atlanta-area leagues and competitions to face the best talent possible. I don’t want to bring home anything less than the gold trophy in my last Chiro-Games in 2011, so I need your help. If you play or have played a sport, get involved in an athletic club on campus. I know we have the best athletes of all the chiropractic schools, but we left a lot of our best athletes home this year as each had a particular reason not to go. The games will always be held in the fall and it will always land on our midterms being that we are on a quarter system, so preparation ahead of time is the key.

Chiro-Games is a building opportunity for Life University as we are becoming more and more committed to these events. We can all bask in the connections we built and felt with one another, but an even bigger reward that we can build together is pride.

As we turn a page in this life chapter, never forget those feelings and connections that were developed at the games. Remember to share your experiences and encourage others to be a part of this growing movement. This is the community that Life needs, and it starts with us. If we relish the moments we created, we all will contribute to this growth of pride and family on this campus.

Bruised. Battered. But Never Beaten. – Alexandra Gerdel, DC Student

Life U’s women’s soccer brings home gold at Chiro Games for the second time

The moment the final whistle blew around 5 PM on Sunday November 7^th, 2010 was epic. Having endured six grueling matches, sprained ankles, concussions, knee strains, bruises, “shin-juries,” and pathetic attempts by Parker College of Chiropractic to disqualify them in the final game for not having two colors of jerseys, Life women’s soccer team finished on top once again.

Wearing “home made” jerseys from extra green t-shirts the men’s soccer team had with them, the women’s team easily defeated Parker 4-0 in the Championship game. The exhausted and injured team celebrated with a euphoric trip through a victory tunnel formed by the hoard of Life students watching the final match.

The weekend was an overall success, with the Life women winning their games against Palmer-West (12-0), Palmer (8-0) and tying New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) 1-1 on day one. On day two the ladies defeated Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) and Logan College of Chiropractic in the quarter and semi final play off games before taking on Parker and earning the gold crown for the second year running.

The Life women’s soccer team has developed quite a reputation after squashing the competition with no losses and a very small team two years in a row. With talent ranging from former national and professional level players to college and high school All-Stars, the team has a unique bond and ability to mesh well on the field. With Stephanie Smith, Aleshka Calderon, Jill Burk and April Smith all graduating before the games next year, the team has some big shoes to fill and is already looking for new talent among the earlier quarter students. If you are interested in joining a team that plays some awesome soccer and has a lot of fun, contact any of the girls who played on this year’s team.

Life Reclaims Bronze – Jason Feltz, DC Student

Students Are Excited for the Games in 2011

Amidst strong winds and unseasonably cool temperatures, the 19^th annual Chiro-Games was held in Cocoa Beach, FL this past November. Over one thousand athletes from 14 chiropractic institutions participated in this year’s games, setting a new attendance record.

The student athletes who represented Life University in the games brought home the bronze trophy for the second year in a row, falling just short in points to 2^nd place Logan College of Chiropractic and 1^st place Parker College of Chiropractic. This is the second consecutive year Life has participated in the games, having representitives in all the sports with at least one team. Life had committed 128 total student athletes to the games this year, with two teams in men’s soccer, flag football, softball, golf, tennis, and beach volleyball.

Thanks to funding from Life Athletics, student athletes were able to attend the games at a fair price. Coach Barrett and Coach Firnbach, with assistance from Jenni Bennett, helped make the games a possibility for Life. The athletes were afforded the opportunity to stay Sunday night after the awards ceremony to be part of the celebration and Life athletes let their voices be heard during the ceremony.

In 2009, Life won gold medals in women’s soccer and beach volleyball, and silver in golf and flag football. Life improved its standings in the medals for the sports this year earning gold medals in men’s and women’s soccer, silver in beach volleyball, softball and tennis.

The women’s soccer team, captained by Alexandra Gerdel, repeated its 2009 championship with a sweep in all of their matches. Most of the ladies suffered some minor injuries in the matches as they played competitively with all their opponents. Asked how her experience with Chiro-Games was this year, Alex replied, “Almost our entire team was injured in some way by the time the weekend was over. I was side-lined with an ankle sprain and couldn’t play on the second day, but with more than one sub on the bench this year, a lot of talent on our team, and a lot of heart, we were able to take the championship again. When all was said and done we scored somewhere around 36 goals in six games and only had two goals against us at the end of the weekend.”

Captain Adam Fackler of the men’s soccer team was very proud of his group’s gold medal. Having not even placed last year, this year’s team went undefeated in all its matches, scoring 38 total goals to their opponents’ combined 3 goals. Adam had high expectations going into the games, saying, “Life is fortunate to have a lot of soccer talent. Some of our players played D1 soccer and we had a lot more practices with and commitment from our players this year.”

The silver medalist softball team from Life was captained by Ron Wilcox, whose team was a compilation of the winning team in Life’s intramural softball league. He looks forward to forming some competition this coming spring for all potential softball players in preparation for next year’s Chiro-Games. He is also currently looking into fundraising for equipment for the softball teams.

The A-team for Life tennis just came up short in winning gold in the championship match against Parker, but they did play and place better than last year’s games when they brought home a bronze metal. Captained by Jason Rogers, the tennis players came to the Chiro-Games more prepared this year as they practiced in the Tennis Club more frequently.

The coed beach volleyball team was captained by Grant Sikes, and in looking to repeat last year’s gold, they lost the championship match to Parker. Having lost that match, Grant is looking forward to preparing for next year as it will be his last Chiro-Games. “Life has so many talented athletes that we can form teams from. Next year we will place in gold and silver, guaranteed.”

With the success and popularity that the Chiro-Games has brought, the university and student body is standing behind the games. It is the goal of Life University to host the games in the next couple years. Also this coming spring, Life Athletics will be working with students in developing clubs and competition to help prepare our student athletes for the Chiro-Games. All club sports will be open to any interested parties in participating in the games. It is likely that the planning for next year’s games will be a collaboration of several departments at Life along with student leaders.

Chiro-Games Update – Jason Feltz, D.C. Student

Line-ups are looking to win gold!

This year’s planning for the Chiro-Games has been much more organized thanks to my experience in planning last year’s games and now with the support of Life University Athletics. The athletics department, including Jenni Bennett and coaches John Barrett and Bill Firnbach, have given opportunity for the athletic clubs to hold tryouts and practice sessions in preparation of the upcoming games. Athletics has also contributed thousands of dollars to the cost of the trip to Cocoa Beach this year which has made it possible for students to attend the games at a moderate expense.

At a cost of $140 for each attending student athlete, the fee will cover a $45 registration per student for their sport, a beach-front hotel for 3 nights, transportation costs including gasoline, and their uniform. Said golf team member John Gould, “The cost is well worth the trip because of the fun you have, and now we get to stay that extra night for the awards ceremony.”

Two teams will be representing in each sport with the exception of women’s soccer and basketball. Tryouts have determined who will be on the A team and the B team for those sports with multiple teams. Out of the 374 students that expressed interest in playing in the games, 153 will be taken this year, up from 90 that attended last year’s games.

Life U. brought home gold medals in beach volleyball and women’s soccer last year and those teams have returned this season in hopes of defending their title. Last year’s silver medal winning teams in golf, tennis and flag football have restructured their lineups this season in hopes of claiming gold medals. Kelly Duffner, the B-team captain for flag football feels his team has a great shot at medalling, “With the depth of talent that [Life] has, our teams seem about equal. I think our biggest competition will be ourselves. If we are disciplined, and we utilize our talents effectively, I think we’ll have a great shot at winning gold and we could end up playing our A-team in the championship.”

Life faced some stiff competition last year and this year’s all-star line-ups seem poised to bring some power to the field. When asked who might be Life’s biggest competition at the Chiro-Games, beach volleyball captain Grant Sikes says “Well Logan is the defending champs, but Parker won the previous 4 years and they invest a lot into their club sports. Palmer isn’t too far behind either. With the number of athletes we have this year, we have high expectation of gold and those other schools need to prepare for us.” It is true that Parker’s athletic department is fully invested in its student athletes. Besides equipment and uniforms, student athletes are granted excused absences from class to practice for the Chiro-Games. It is the goal of Life Athletics to form yearlong clubs surrounding the sports represented in the Chiro-Games as well, allowing student athletes to develop their talents and teamwork to a higher level of competition.

In the overall standings last year, Life came up with the bronze trophy in its first school-wide commitment to the event. With the lower levels of interest last year and a lot of last-minute planning, Life managed to surprise the other schools in the standings. This year Life plans on taking the top platform and bringing home the gold trophy.