Monthly Archives: November 2013

Passion Blog- Traveling with the Team

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Traveling is always a stressful experience, especially flying. You have to make sure you don’t forget anything, follow the rules for liquids in carry-ons, stand in long lines, go through security, sit next to people that smell or are obnoxious, and get claim your luggage. Doing all that with just your family, 4-5 people, is stressful enough. Now imagine doing that with an entire hockey team, 35-40 people.

This weekend my team is flying to Missouri to play Lindenwood. We leave at 5am and drive about 4 hours to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Then we get on the plane for an hour and a half plane ride. Normally our team takes a bus to our games because of the hassle of flying but Missouri is too far for our team to drive to.

Our staff has been working for weeks now to prepare us for the flight. They have to buy our tickets and make sure we all have seats on the plane. They also have to make sure we all have proper identification so that we will be allowed in the airport.

Our equipment manager is driving to Missouri by himself because we can’t take a lot of the stuff we need on the plane, for example the skate sharpening machine and our rolling equipment storage. He leaves tonight at midnight so he can get there before us and set everything up.

The airport is going to be an extremely stressful process with an entire team. First there are a lot of people to keep on the same page and in the same are so no one misses the flight or get lost. For traveling we all have to wear the exact same thing and have the exact same bags. We aren’t allowed to use any other bags besides the ones given to us by the team. The same outfits and bags help us stick together and makes it easier to find our own bags when claiming them. This also allows people to identify us better while we are in public. A big thing for us is publicity while we are traveling, we like to take the opportunity to make as many people aware of us as possible. Walking through an airport with people coming from all over the nation is a perfect chance for us to show our Penn State Pride.

Another plus on traveling so far away from Penn State for me is that we are closer to my parents so they are able to come to our games! I am so excited to see them again. If you remember one of my previous posts my family came to my first home game series. Sadly I haven’t seen them since then. I am especially thankful that I get to see my family this weekend because I don’t get to go home for Thanksgiving so its nice to see them around this time of year. Overall this should be a fun weekend even though the traveling might be a little stressful!

RCL #10- Ted Talk Presentation

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Overall I was pleased with my Ted Talk presentation after watching it. I think my point came across very clear and a lot of people could take advice from it.

In my delivery I was a lot more fluid than I usually am in presentations which was a huge accomplishment for me. One thing I would like to improve on is my mumbling. Sometimes when I would get lost I would mumble which made it hard for me to be heard and made it look  less professional. Another main thing I would change in my presentation is my conclusion. I got so excited that I had finally gotten through my ten tips with little error that I forgot to say my conclusion. This created a big pause in my presentation that bothers me every time I watch it. I think my visuals worked very well and that I don’t use too many hand gestures throughout the presentation. I felt like my tone of voice sounded a little too concerned than it needed to be for the topic I was presenting but it worked overall when it came to getting my point across.

I am most proud of my lack of stumbling over my words and gestures. I think that the recording turned out very well in general and could be used as a Ted Talk online. One thing I really want to change about my presentation is my conclusion, more specifically the long pause before it, like I mentioned before. I was so happy with my presentation up until that moment. For next time I need to keep in mind that my presentation isn’t truly over until I have said my conclusion.

RCL #9- Ted Talks

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Ted Talks have advantages and disadvantages in rhetorical analysis. Some advantages are that they can reach a lot of people quickly, they are short, and they are easy to understand. Some disadvantages to Ted Talks are that you can’t pick your audience, the majority of your audience can’t communicate with you, and you may not be able to get your point across clearly/completely.

Ted Talks are recorded and able to be put online. This allows many people to watch them and with little effort. If more people watch them then our point/story is getting to more people and can be spread more quickly. People now a days have very short attention span so being able to make you point in a short presentation is a good way of getting and keeping and audiences attention. Also one of the main reasons for Ted Talks is to explain an idea or story. These presentations can be made so the majority of the population can understand what you are talking about. These advantages make Ted Talks a good method of rhetorical analysis.

There are also disadvantages to this method. One of the disadvantages is that the speaker can’t pick their audience. Although the Ted Talk may be reaching a lot of people, these people may not be the audience you were looking for. If you aren’t reaching the correct audience the message may become lost and the presentation will lose its importance. Another down side to Ted Talks is that the majority of your audience isn’t live. People that watch Ted Talks online can’t converse with the speaker during or after their presentation. This leads into another disadvantage, not being able to get your point across. Some people may not understand what you are trying to say, and if they can’t ask questions then they most likely won’t understand and your message will be lost.

Overal Ted Talks are a good way to communicate with a lot of people in a short amount of time, but there are also some disadvantages to them.

Passion Blog- Referees

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This week the passion blog caught me off guard because of the weird schedule we have had. I was having trouble thinking of a topic to write about, when Kylie gave me a great idea, Referees. Referees are the people that look like zebras out on the ice during hockey games. There job is to keep the game fair, which in my opinion isn’t always the case.

Granted I have to be a little lenient on my critiques because I know being a ref can be hard because there is so much to keep track of at all at once. On the other hand refs can be infuriating during a game. If they make a bad call or blow their whistle at the wrong time it can completely change the momentum of the game. A refs main job is to keep the game fair, but the majority of refs do much more to change the game (which isn’t what they are suppose to do).

First off refs always get in the way on the boards. They are suppose to stay out of the way of the players and puck as to not influence the play of the game, but on average refs get in the way 10 times in a game. In the last game I played in the puck bounced off the refs skates and in front of our own net, thankful they didn’t score on the prime opportunity given to them by the refs but there was still a shift in my team’s attitude after the close call.

Refs are human, I understand that, but a lot of times they let their own opinions dictate their calls. One thing a team and coach have to keep in mind is not to make the refs mad because you know you won’t get any good calls the rest of the game from the refs if you are on their bad side. I believe that refs need to keep their bias out of calls and keep it fair for both teams.

Now to pick on the refs out here. Back home in Minnesota I was content with how the games were called. I think the refs do a very good job at keeping the game fair and staying out of the way. Out east on the other hand, from my own experience so far the refs are awful. They don’t know the general rules of the game, they are way too influenced by their own emotions, and they influence the play of the game way too much. After playing out here for a few months now I have come to appreciate the refs back home. The experience I had with refs in Minnesota also allows me to see what an awful job they do out here.

Like is said before I understand refs are human and they make mistakes, but I think there is still a standard that each ref has to reach during a game even with human error. If refs back home can call a fair game without getting too involved why can’t all refs do that?