Sports at St. Leo University

Ehab Faden

Mohmeed Aytah

Bair Bardyshev

Sports at Saint Leo University

            Saint Leo was founded in 1889, and it was a Christian College. However, Saint Leo University had a lot of sports teams from the beginning of the university. A hobby is something you like to do when you are free. Hobbies make your life more interesting. Nowadays, Saint Leo became university, which means it has a lot of students from all over the world. Moreover, Saint Leo University has had a lot of accomplishments, and Saint Leo University is working to improve and develop their teams in many different kinds of sports. Nowadays, Saint Leo has  men's and women's soccer teams; men's and women's swimming teams; men's and women's  baseball team men; and women volleyball team. Furthermore, Saint Leo has a fitness center where all the students can improve their shape. At the beginning Saint Leo University had only American students, but the international students started to increase every year from all over the world. This means that Saint Leo University is looking for perspective students and sportsman's not only in America but even in Europe. Our women's soccer team was from England, and we have some swimmers from Poland; there are a lot of English and Brazilian tennis players. However, not all of our sports teams are good. On the other hand, I know that the baseball team was always one of the best teams in Florida. Also, soccer has improved a lot over the last few years and volleyball started growing. There are many kinds of sports in Saint Leo University but baseball, volleyball, and soccer are the most popular sports at Saint Leo University. 

            In this paragraph, I would like to tell you about our Saint Leo Baseball team in the earlier nineties. As a resource, I used our university newspaper, called “Monarch”. My topic was comparing of our old baseball team with nowadays baseball team.

27 of September 1991 was turning day in whole baseball history. It is time when our baseball team started growing up really fast under our new couch – John Schaly. At 27 of September 1991 he made a great speech on SLC`s (Saint Leo College) Monarch baseball field and promised bigger things for SLC baseball team.

            It is some history about our couch. His career in baseball was made predicted by his father who was baseball couch for 29 years. Of course, the father taught his son how to play baseball clearly. With the Marietta team he won the national championship. After it, he becomes a couch in Berry College in Rome, Georgia. Under his leadership, the new team showed perfect results and was only 2 points away from the college world series. Now he continue working and making his family business in Saint Leo College, where he want to made a special baseball program, that will benefit not only from hard-working, but from positive atmosphere too. He said that he would like to win the state championship in his first year.

            After this point, Saint Leo baseball team was developing really quickly. From that time our team became one of the strongest team in whole Sunshine State Conference. Moreover, they still using the John`s Schaly baseball program. I can tell you that during the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 Semester our baseball team lost only two games with 10 wins. This is the perfect result. One of my friend tried to join our SLU baseball team, but he faced failure. According the statistic, from 20 students, who played baseball in high school and tried to join team here, only 2 were accepted. Most of the players in team were personally selected and recruited by our current couch – Sean O`Connor. It tells us about very high level of our team.

            Volleyball at Saint Leo University is one of the most popular sport, According to Glenn Ladwig " The Saint Leo women's volleyball team has begun the '92-93 year. This is only the second year of the team's existence." (Glenn Ladwing p.6) A lot of people in the world love this game. Saint Leo University has a beautiful court for volleyball and the players are training everyday to be ready for any match this year. Marion Bowman is the building that has the court of Saint Leo University. Saint Leo University has only women's team which is the lady lions. Lady lions is a fantastic team that is improving every year. Lady lions has good players which accomplish many awards. In the meantime, According to Saint Leo News "Sam Cibrone is the head coach, and he was named head coach on May 17, 2004, fans have seen his teams claim a Sunshine State Conference championship. In addition, he has many accomplishments such as, a Sunshine State Conference, an SSC Coach of the far of honor, a NCAA Tournament. "In 2007, Cibrone guided Lady Lions to the most successful season." ( Saint Leo ) Also, they have played many games with many different teams in Florida. "In 2006, Saint Leo volleyball started their season with a huge bang. Lady lions starts season 2006 second ranked." (Alexandra Farmer 8) Recently, the coach has added many players to the team to make it better, and he is trying to work on the weakest area in the team to make it much better. I hope that Saint Leo University plan to have men volleyball team because there are a lot of students who love to play volleyball and they planning to create a team to develop and improve their skills. Also, Saint Leo University has students from all over the world that they can share their experience in volleyball and work hard together to create a fantastic team. I know three of my students who play very well that will make them comfortable playing together in the same team, and they have played many games with different teams. Hopefully, we will hear soon that Saint Leo University is planning to have men volleyball team to participate in different champions in Florida.

 Soccer is of my favorite hobby. In my free time I would love to watch soccer game on the TV or play it with my friends in our university. There are many kinds of sports in Saint Leo University. Soccer is one of most popular sport in Saint Leo University. Saint Leo University pay attention for soccer because it is a famous sport in the world. Soccer in Saint Leo is has teams for men and women. The men have a different schedule than the women. Moreover, in the past Saint Leo University has one court for the soccer. Nowadays, there are more than four courts. The new courts were build in 2012, and they are a fantastic courts. Saint Leo University has a good team that play different game with other teams in Florida . In addition, they are working to make new playgrounds for soccer and it will open next fall of 2013. There are many benefits from soccer game. By doing this kind of activity is such as running and working out. However, the soccer is about 90 minutes that it has 45 minute for each part. Then, 15 minute as brake or resting time for the players between the two parts. In conclusion, there are many sports in Saint Leo University but soccer is the most popular one. In my opinion, soccer makes the students healthier and takes their depression away. Saint Leo University has a fantastic soccer players. There are a lot of players from Saudi Arabia they used to play in famous team in Saudi Arabia. They have won the soccer competition last year. Also, they have won the champion ship that was played in Tampa. The Saudi Culture Mission has celebrated that wining, and they give them awards because they were in the first place.

In conclusion, everyone has a different sport that he/she love to play, and each of the sport is amazing. Sports at Saint Leo is very important because they look for players from all over the world to play at Saint Leo University. Saint Leo University has had many accomplishments. Baseball, Volleyball, and Soccer are the most popular sports in Saint Leo University. Each sport has won a lot of awards, and they are trying to develop and improve their skills. Saint Leo University is a good university that help their students to be a good player, and they have create meeting with their students to see what they need to make them comfortable.

Works Cited.

«Sports». The Lion`s Pride 17 Oct. 2002, p.7 , print (soccer)

«Sports» Jacob Stout, The Lion`s Pride 29 January 2010, p.8 , print (basketball)

«Sports» Michael B. Mueller, Monarch 27 September 1991, p.6 , print (baseball)

«Sports» Amee Withworth, Monarch 27 Septamber 1991, p.6 , print (soccer)

«Sports»  Alexander Farmer, The Lion Pride  17 November 2006 p.8 , print (volleyball)

«Sports»  Glenn Ladwig, Monarch 09 October 1992 p.6 , print (volleyball)