Southern Utah
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: First-year Southern Utah head women's basketball coach Steve Hodson announced Thursday the hiring of a pair of former Thunderbirds, Kit Janes and Casey Cooke, to round out his coaching staff for the upcoming 2006-07 season. Cooke has already begun her tenure as a T-Bird assistant while Janes will join the staff July 1.
SUU fills coaching vacanciesThe Spectrum, St. George
--The Indy Star
The Kansas City Star
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Valparaiso guard headed for Brazil--The Post-Tribune
June 23, 2006
By Mark Lazerus / Post-Tribune staff writer
When school starts in the fall, Valparaiso University’s Jake Diebler likely will have a better “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” story to tell than most of his fellow students.
The Valparaiso sophomore-to-be, a guard for the Crusaders’ men’s basketball team, leaves July 1 to spend more than two weeks in Brazil.
“Can’t wait,” he said.
Diebler will be heading to Sao Paolo for 17 days as part of Athletes In Action, a group that uses sports as a platform for missionary efforts.
The group will spend 17 days holding camps and occasionally playing college, semipro and professional teams in Brazil.
“We’ll be working with little kids, doing basketball camps and little Bible studies and different things like that,” Diebler said.
Diebler’s been lobbying for a spot on the “team” for some time now. Former teammate Dan Oppland was on the trip last year, and some of the Athletes In Action officials were at Valparaiso home games last season. Plus, Valparaiso head coach Homer Drew has coached on the team before, as has director of basketball operations Luke Gore. And Diebler said assistant coach Bryce Drew played for Athletes In Action once.
So Diebler took it upon himself to work all those angles and get on the team. He’s one of about 10 players — mostly Division I and Division II — who were able to raise the money to be a part of the trip.
“It’s an honor,” he said. “It’s kind of a lengthy process as you go through it. I was fortunate to get enough support from back home to take care of everything for me.”
Diebler’s looking forward to playing some games, but the missionary work is the primary goal of the trip.
“They’re looking for not only some decent basketball players, but most importantly some strong Christians,” he said. “That’s probably the most motivating aspect — my faith. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to try to use a gift that God has given me in basketball to maybe give back and spread his word.”
As if the basketball, the missionary work and the exotic locale weren’t enough, Diebler’s got one other thing he’s looking forward to in Brazil.
“We should get to see what enthusiasm for sports is all about if they keep winning in the World Cup,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Contact Mark Lazerus at 648-3140 or mlazerus@post-trib.com
A taste of Mid-Con life without Valpo begins (Headline mine)--The NWI Times
Steinbrecher inducted into NACDA Hall of Fame--The NWI Times
Hodson Names Janes, Cook Assistants--SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS
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