Brittany Ray enters her fourth season as a member of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights basketball team. A Biological Sciences major (with pre-med aspirations), Ray started all 33 games she appeared in a season ago - the only returning player to do so. She led the team in three-pointers with 49 and was second-best in points (10.2). Ray will chronicle the season's highs and lows and offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life as a college student and a student-athlete.
November 20, 2009
“My deepest apologies go out to my mother, Larnel Ray, for not giving her a much deserved shout-out in my last blog, which was on her birthday. Sorry, mom - "Happy Belated". That goes to show you just how busy my teammates and I are as student-athletes that we forget simple things such as birthdays. I have a few stories about my teammates and them forgetting birthdays, but I'll give them some slack granted that it is 8:20 a.m. and I'm up getting ready to go to microbiology at 9:15.
Although I'm extremely tired and struggled to get out of the bed this morning, I remember one thing and one thing only, many people do not have the opportunity to go to college so I have to take advantage of the opportunity I have been given. On a good note, I have a feeling today will be a good day.
With a victory over BC last night, the team continues to show signs of progression. I once heard this saying, "An enthusiastic heart sees opportunity everywhere." My teammates embrace this because while critics remain to doubt us, we stay humble, optimistic and opportunistic. Our motto "JUST US" speaks for itself and when it comes down to it, we possess the key to determine our destiny. Yet, we must not look so far into the future and take it one game at a time. The next task at hand awaits us in Athens, Ga. Our agenda for the day includes a day filled with shooting, film and practice. Lastly, we conclude our day by supporting our men's team as they play Drexel tonight and Bruiser Flint's kids are some pretty tough kids especially one of my old friends, Gerald Colds. It will be nice to see him play tonight but I'm a Scarlet Knight and I say RU all the way!”
November 16, 2009
“While our season opener was a little disappointing, the loss also provided a sense of great optimism and encouragement. The game was definitely a learning experience for the team and actually showed us that we can compete with the best teams in the country. One of the greatest lessons learned yesterday was one that Coach Stringer made extremely clear, "We can compete with the best of the best, but is just competing enough?"
Coach never wants us to settle for mediocrity, but she says to always demand excellence of ourselves. To achieve excellence in basketball is a collective effort and we have the potential to do just that. We have all the elements to be a great TEAM and now we know what we have to work on to improve and get better as a whole. At the moment, however, it’s about regrouping and focusing on the next game because there is definitely no time to feel sorry for ourselves. There is only time to improve and, as coach so often preaches, "it’s not how we start but it’s how we finish."
November 11, 2009
So I just finished taking my second genetics exam of the semester and I'm so glad it’s finally over ( me breathing a sigh of relief). Tests make me more nervous than playing a game in front of thousands of people. Many may think that's a bit odd, but it’s the truth. Besides the fact that I also have an upcoming micro-biology exam enough about academic affairs and more about the interesting stuff.
Our first game is only three days away and honestly, the days have been going by so fast (too fast!). In fact, I can remember joking with Christine and Mo on Oct. 16, the day of our first official practice of the year, being my last first practice as a Scarlet Knights and in contrast, it was their first practice as college players. At the time it was pretty humorous, but looking back at that moment it now adds to the reality that my career at Rutgers is gradually coming to an end. I will deal with that when it comes, but on another note we have been diligently preparing for Stanford.
Coach Stringer made a statement today that will basically characterize this team's journey this year, "How will we respond to the challenges of adversity?" Adversity has been something coach has overcome throughout her life and on Sunday our first test of adversity comes in the form of the Stanford Cardinal.
November 7
We are on our way home (from scrimmage) and everybody is pretty much exhausted. Besides that, another happy birthday shout out to Coach Hughey. Coach Hughey being the only male figure on our staff now has already done an incredible job as a post coach. He is full of energy and life, day in and day out.
November 5
As a native New Yorker, I am extremely proud to say congratulations to the New York Yankees for winning their 27th World Series. From the very beginning of the series, my teammate Rashidat and I were going back-and-forth about who would win, she being a Philly fan and all. Being the loyal Yankee fan that everyone is so consciously aware of, I stayed up all night watching the game knowing that I had an early practice the next morning, but you only live life once.
So when the Yankees made the last out, I immediately ran to Rah's room and did my celebratory dance while shouting, "The Yankees win, the Yankees win." Of course all Rah could do was laugh and shake her head and of course, this morning all I could do was bask in my glory about the Yankees winning.
Now, when it was time for practice I had to step out of the limelight and step back into reality. Coach Stringer is very big on preparation and performance in practice so today we practiced and practiced focusing on minor yet, significant details. If only people knew how minor details have on the impact of situational outcomes -would they pay as much attention to it as often as CVS does? Then again, everybody isn't CVS (and that’s why we love her). Overall, everyone is extremely excited and anxious because our first game is only 10 days away, so as Coach would say we are all on "high alert.” Go Rutgers!
November 2
I am excited and nervous about writing a blog. I want to share just enough information to let you -the reader- feel involved; but at the same time not give away too much to make you want to hit the 'x'! So take a break from whatever you are doing and give a read.
Today was an exciting day, it was ‘55’ day. The 55 press is one of the most devastating full court presses known to women’s college basketball and is the only press that can be executed flawlessly under the expertise of Coach Stringer (if someone wants to share with her I said this- that would be great!). I may not be known as a ‘defensive stopper’, but I can tell you one thing if you do your job on the 55 you will look like a million bucks and today for the first time both teams showed much promise of buying into Coach Stringer’s defensive system.
It was so exciting to witness this feat today because last year it seemed like the team couldn’t learn the 55 press no matter how many times we practiced it. Not only did I have fun playing defense, but most importantly, our intensity and competiveness between the two teams made Coach Stringer smile! To make Coach Stringer smile is something to cherish because you don’t get too many smiles while you’re on the court because of her intensity, focus, and drive to be the best. When she does show a glimpse of a smile you feel that you’ve finally done something right and things that were unclear before actually appear to make sense.
Every day I learn something new from coach and today after three years I finally understand when she says, ‘I want to be inspired to coach and young, enthusiastic, and energetic minds are what keep me inspired.’ She is simply asking for effort, willingness, and hard-work. Today was definitely one of those days in which she felt inspired.
Our team is young and lacks the floor experience that Coach Stringer is used to having, but with each day we gain experience and confidence. I feel that with this team impossible is NOTHING because we are willing to work every day to get better and be the best we can be.
Almost forgot my last thought on my first blog – GO YANKEES!!