Shockers everywhere, at events long ago to happenings just the other day, always have something interesting to say. Take this sampling as a Shock Talk example:
“Wichita State is a job I’m passionate about, and it now has my hand print on it. I trust with hard work and good luck we can continue to put a quality product on the basketball floor — but more importantly, a program that graduates its players and represents the community in a positive light.”
Mark Turgeon, head men’s basketball coach, as quoted in a March 25 news release from Wichita State’s athletics department announcing his three-year contract extension ensuring his employment through June 30, 2010.
“The energy back there is awesome, and that only makes me extraordinarily nervous.”
Nick Johnson, director of dance at Wichita State, as quoted in the Feb. 14 The Sunflower about his experience helping host hundreds of children from around Kansas and Oklahoma who converged Feb. 12 in WSU’s Miller Concert Hall for a string of 15 short performances, which made up this year’s Wichita Children’s Dance Festival, an event originally organized in 1999.
“We’re going into nationals for the first time ranked No. 1. All the kids are excited. They’re practicing from 10 in the morning to 5:30 at night all week on spring break. They’re working really hard because they really wanna bring home the championship.”
Jay Grayson, coach of the WSU Cheer Squad, about the hard work and determination of his squad members two weeks before national cheerleading competition in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Overheard during a WSU Cheer Squad performance at the Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament in St. Louis: “Wow! They’re awesome.”
Absolutely. Based on the strength of the squad’s video submission to the National Cheerleading Association, Wichita State is ranked No. 1 in the nation. Impressive. Yet The Shocker has learned that some squad members are performing in borrowed shoes! Alas.
The shoes needed aren’t run-of-the-mill tennis shoes. They’re the high-priced version that can take the high-impact shocks of all those attention-grabbing jumps and tumbling runs.
And purchasing shoes isn’t the squad’s only fiscal need; there’s also travel. Right now, for instance, the squad is on its way to the National Cheerleading Association’s 2005 Chick-fil-A Cheer and Dance Collegiate Nationals, taking place April 6-8 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The team, which will be judged on tumbling, motions, stunts and dancing combined into one routine, has prepared to improve on its second-place finish last spring behind Stephen F. Austin University. (Fox Sports Net will air a program of the competition at 3 p.m. local time, May 10.)
The squad, which is funded in part by SGA, also appreciates individual donations.
