University of Richmond
Spider Diaries

Archive for the 'Sports' Category

Coca-cola loves UR

Following up on the whole Spiders being undefeated and defending National Champions, I figured it would be a good idea to show you the new Coke cans that are now available in stores, not only on campus, but also in Ukrops and other Richmond grocery stores. If you go to the UR Stadium during one of the games, you can also get a couple for free!

national-champions.jpg

“Celebrate refreshed” the fact that the 2008 National Champions are the Richmond Spiders!

coke.jpg

I just think it’s unbelieveable that Coca-Cola did this. Granted, they have a contract with UR in order to be the only providers of soft drinks and other beverages, but I still think it’s pretty cool to have coke cans celebrating the fact that we won the tournament.

6-pack of commemorative coke cans - $10      It’s a BIG deal!

For more information on this you can visit http://www.richmondspiders.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080509aaa.html

Published by Pedro on October 4, 2009 in Random fun, Sports and My Interests. 0 Comments

UN-DE-FEA-TED!

If you like football, but you don’t want to be in a school where you have to share a classroom with 300 other people in order to have a good team, then you should definitely come to UR. Coming from Peru, my high school never had a football team and so I never had a passion for this sport. The closest I got to experiencing something similar was being in the rugby team, but nothing had really prepared me for the football experience.

As soon as I got here, the football season began, but I was still not that much into it, until I heard about how good we were. I went to a game against Georgetown and we won 40-0, but it wasn’t until we got to the quarterfinals that I truly became a fan. I woke up one saturday afternoon and turned on the tv to find the Spiders playing against a random team I had never heard of before. I could see some friends on the football field and thought that was the coolest thing ever, so I kept watching. And we won, qualifying to the semifinals of the NCAA Divsion I tournament.

The day of the game against Northern Iowa, I called 6 of my friends and we all watched the game in my room with 3 pizza boxes in front of us. It was an amazing game! Ended up winning 21-20 in the last minute of the game and advanced to the championship game.

We won that one too, against Montana, and became 2008 NCAA Division I National Champions! It was unbelieveable and surreal to be experiencing all of that excitement during my first year at UR, and it was enough for me to not want to miss a single game.

This year, the Spiders have continued to win. After the first two games, at Duke and at Delaware, it was time for our first game home against Hofstra, and I knew there was no way I could miss that game. I started taking pictures of the scoreboard everytime we scored, but after a while I realized that it was pointless.

This was the last picture I took, with two quarters to go!

scoreboard.jpg

We ended up winning the game 48-0. I think even the scorekeepers lost count after a while! But what I was able to get, right before leaving, was this amazing picture of Richmond’s PAT.

pat.jpg

Can you see the football? The kick is up aaaand…IT’S GOOD!

The Spiders have now won 12 consecutive games, dating back from last season!

Published by Pedro on September 28, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

Did you miss me while I was gone, oh my beloved soccer?

If you read my first post this semester, you might remember that over the Winter break I sprained my ankle and had a cast up to my knee for almost 3 weeks. You might also remember that I had to wear an ankle brace, and the doctor prohibited me from playing soccer for at least two months. At that moment I thought life would never be the same…

I came to Richmond and out of fear listened to what the doctor told me. Fear that my ankle would get even worse and I would lose the privilege of playing soccer forever.  I was wearing my brace 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week and making sure that my ankle didn’t suffer from any stress. I didn’t want to risk it. I didn’t even speedwalk for the first three weeks. Not even if I was late for class; not for my LIFE.

Days passed and the weather started getting nice on random days. These were the days when my facebook would collapse from the numerous messages sent to me by people asking if I wanted to play soccer with them. More than once I was tempted by ankle-spraining demons, but I could still hear my ankle crack. I could feel my ankle crack, painfully.

It wasn’t time yet. I resisted.

Time kept going by and I kept turning down offers to kick a soccer ball around, hoping that time would go by just a little faster. I knew that when the two months were gone I wasn’t going to wait any longer. I was going to take the first invitation to a pick-up soccer game as my opportunity to meet again with the sport that became my favorite since I was a year old. Gosh, I’ve been kicking a soccer ball since I was able to walk!

And that moment finally came. A couple of weeks after Spring break I got a text message asking me if I wanted to play soccer at the IM fields. I replied, literally: “hell yeah”.

I must admit, I was still a bit nervous about my ankle, so I started off as the goalkeeper.

tapada.jpg

I gained some confidence and started playing more often, dribbling past defenders and scoring goals with my right foot. Now that the weather is nice, more and more people are willing to play soccer. In the last week I’ve been part of 3 pick-up games. Considering that we are on finals week, this is quite a lot.

Now that I’m going home for almost 4 months, one of the things that I’m really looking forward to is playing soccer at least 5 times a week. Even though my ankle still hurts every now and then, I’m sure that if I keep using my ankle brace and continue with the rehab exercises I will be just fine. By the time I come back to Richmond I should be much better, ready to tryout for the team. =)

Published by Pedro on April 30, 2009 in Sports and My Interests. 0 Comments
28 Westhampton Way
University of Richmond, VA 23173
(804) 289-8000
(800) 700-1662
Maps & Directions
© 1995-2009
Community
Administration
Schools
General Information