|
"I’ve prepared my teammates for the
emotional side of it," said Anderson. "I’m sure there will be some
tears when they announce the starting lineups and I’m there on the
floor at Redbird Arena with people I know up in the stands,
including most of the 1,100 people from Minier (Anderson’s
hometown). Hopefully, it will pass quickly before the game starts."
The memories go back at least 10 years.
Anderson, the daughter of current Olympia volleyball coach LeAnn
Anderson and Minier-based insurance agent Phil Anderson (both ISU
alumni), remembers tagging along as her mother worked at coach Julie
Morgan’s Redbird volleyball camp. Jennifer Anderson was one of just
two players her age among the campers. Most were at least two years
older.
"I remember I was so small that my
spandex was baggy," said Anderson, who is starting her third season
as Florida State’s setter. "I must have gotten hit in the head with
the ball 10 or 12 times. I can remember serving underhand at the
10-foot line and getting so excited when the ball got over the net."
She got better and kept coming back,
even through her high school years at Olympia, where she played
against current Redbirds Erin Jones, Jenny Kabbes, Emily Kabbes and
Paige White, wearing the same uniform as those players while earning
All-American club honors for Illinois juniors.
"I loved Redbird volleyball camp. I
think I went for eight or nine years," she said. "I learned a lot
about the game in Redbird Arena."
[to top of second column in this
article] |
Although her mother never coached her
(LeAnn coached at Deer Creek-Mackinaw High School in the 1990s),
Anderson appreciates the insight she received from having a mom who
knows the game.
"She gave me a perspective of what
coaches look for," said Anderson. "She taught me about strategy, the
rules and the value of extra repetitions with the ball. She never
pushed me, but every time I wanted to go to the gym, she’d take me
and feed me thousands of balls."
LeAnn Anderson has contributed to
Redbird volleyball over the years, not only as a camp counselor and
frequent spectator, but also as prep coach for current Redbird
freshman Laura Doornbos at Olympia.
Jennifer Anderson’s own Redbird Arena
role models began while she watched Julie Morgan’s teams win
back-to-back Missouri Valley titles in 1992 and 1993. The Redbird
starting setter in those days was Texas native Juli Schmidt, a
relentless defensive player who frequently crashed into team benches
and press row tables at Redbird Arena while chasing down digs.
"I just loved watching ‘Tex,’" said
Anderson. "She played so hard and she was so confident. When I
watched her, I knew I wanted to be a setter."
Schmidt
would be proud of Anderson’s achievements as a student-athlete. A
member of Florida State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council, she
received FSU’s Presidential Award for academics as a freshman. Last
year, she was No. 2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in set assists.
Her 2,281 career set assists already rank No. 6 in Seminole history.
[ISU news release]
 |
|
Almost three years
ago, I got my start with the LDN sports department in what I thought
might be a very short-lived endeavor. Three years later we’re going
strong, and new possibilities are cropping up every day. One such
opportunity has presented itself currently.
My good friend Greg
Taylor and I will be hosting a new concept for our area, starting
tonight in beautiful downtown Lincoln. We will be simulcasting our
sports show via Lincoln Daily News and FIX 96.3 radio from our own
local cable station, LogOn Productions, Channel 15. The simulcast
will start at 6 p.m. and run an hour. Our goal in the future is to
be your sports hangout leading into "Monday Night Football."
To say that we’re
excited about this development would be a huge understatement. But
actually it’s you loyal LDN readers and FIX 96 listeners who made
this thing happen. Apparently dozens of you have been talking up our
show at the doughnut shops and the local eateries. The right people
overheard some of those conversations, and then I was approached
about our interest.
Jim Ash of FIX 96 and
Tim and Celeste Rogers of LogOn took it from there. They have worked
very hard on this concept all summer long. Tests have been conducted
to see how well this format will work, and the possibilities are
getting more exciting by the moment.
Just for
clarification’s sake. Tim, Celeste and Jim are all professionals;
Greg and I are not. The only time we can give them is
whatever free time our wives graciously allow us from "honey do"
list work and family stuff. I’m sure it would be easier for the
professionals to work with other professionals, but we do come
cheaply. We also love to do it.
Our jobs have
intensified so much in the last couple of years that oftentimes we
haven’t even mulled over any sports stuff until we go on the air. So
this program, along with our work with the LDN, really gives us a
chance to put a handle on things.
On the weekends I try
to make a mental note of what sports things people are talking about
at Mel-O-Cream, at Guzzardo’s, at Bonanza, while I’m shopping
downtown on the square or wherever I am. I then make a list… and if
you’ve read our stuff or heard our show you know that we’ve covered
more ground than we probably even should have.
BUT, we were serious
when we said that this is YOUR paper and this new show is YOUR show.
We do have a few
sports and a few athletes that are probably our favorites, but I’m
not going to apologize for that. Many of these people and sports
have been loyal to me through the years, and if you can’t understand
that you never would anyway. For instance, we’re going to root like
crazy for Illinois, Illinois State and Lincoln athletic teams. They
give us access to their players and to their sports. We think that
since we live in this area that most people occasionally care about
how our local teams are doing. On the other hand, we’re not going to
belittle you if you happen to root for Georgetown, let’s just say.
We might ask you why... but we’ll try not to make it personal.
 [to top of second column in this
article] |
There is ONE THING
that I would like to ask ALL of our great area residents. Many of
you told me during the school year that you listened to Greg and me
on the air but that you didn’t call in because you thought that your
comment or question wasn’t going to help the show. PLEASE don’t
think that. Every single person that has called in, with the
exception of Donnie Aeilts (we busted him when he called in), has
made a positive impact on the show. In reality, the success of "Fandamonium"
will rest in your hands.
Oh, don’t worry about
Greg and me. We’ll have plenty of material. Our friends comfort us
often by saying that we could spend hours talking about nothing
because we just like to hear our own voices. Isn’t it great to have
encouraging, supportive pals?
We promise to do our
part to make this one of the most exciting new shows on Channel 15
and on the FIX 96 networks. We hope to do some zany and absolutely
crazy things that will help rescue YOUR Mondays and get the rest of
your work week off to a great start. We hope to do some remote
broadcasts, and we hope to interview some celebrities and bring them
right into your homes each week.
This very first week
we plan to spend some time promoting the re-emergence of Lincoln
High School football. If head coach John Oaks is available, we hope
to have him in the studio tonight for our very first telecast. This
man and his staff have poured themselves into this football program.
In some ways, that alone should command some of our respect. I’m
hearing good things about Railer football on the streets… I hope you
hear them straight from the horse’s mouth tonight on our first
installment of "Fandamonium!"
Other guests have
been contacted, and we think you will really enjoy hearing from
local as well as national celebrities. It could be an amazing ride,
and we’d like you to take the journey with us.
So, set your radio
dial to FIX 96.3, your TV dial to 15 and your browser to Lincoln
Daily News, and the world will be a better place in which to live.
Have a great week,
everybody. See YOU tonight at 6!!!
Team of the week
I go outside of the
sports bubble to name my TOW for this week. The winner: Bobbi
Abbott, her chamber of commerce staff and hundreds of volunteers
from Vern Turner on down.
I love this festival! I love the art and
I love the balloons! These selfless workers basically killed
themselves for several months so that our community could have an
event that we could all be proud of — not to mention the thousands
of badly needed dollars that are trickling through our town because
of their efforts. I never want to take any of them for granted — and
just in case no one has bothered to say thank you to any of you
great volunteers, on behalf of the LDN, I say THANK YOU by naming
you as my team of the week!!!
[Jeff
Mayfield]
[Aug. 19 column: "August
mutterings...
Gearing up for another great year of sports"] |
