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Thursday, October ai, aoio | The Rep a Black
8
For coach’s son, playing at Georgia not a question
By BILLY HULSEY
The Red & Buck
Most highly-recruited high
school athletes experience a long,
rigorous recruiting process as
they try to decide where they
want to play collegiate sports.
For freshman Eric Diaz, the
recruiting process was neither
long nor rigorous.
Diaz is none other than the
son of Georgia men’s tennis head
coach Manuel Diaz, who has
been at the helm for the Bulldogs
since 1989. Coach Diaz's heavy
involvement in the game of ten
nis led to Eric becoming inter
ested at a very young age an
interest that has led him to be a
member of the same team he has
seen his father coach for years.
“I started coming to matches
when I was really, really young,”
Eric said. “I'm pretty sure I saw a
picture of me watching a match
and I couldn't have been older
than 3.”
Eric began attending his
father’s camps at the University
at around 8 years old and began
playing tournaments at around
age 10. As one would expect, his
father played a large role in
coaching Eric and helping
improve his game.
At about 12 years old. coach
Diaz and Eric began to have
issues relating on the courts.
“I was trying to teach him but
he saw me as father not coach. I
might have been a little too tough
on him,” Coach Diaz said. “It was
sort of hard to relate on a player-
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▲ Freshman Eric Diaz, the son of head coach Manuel Diaz, had planned for a long time
to play tennis at Georgia while being recruited as one of the state's top high schoolers.
coach level when we were used to
a father-son level.”
After a short break from ten
nis. however. Eric got his passion
back and began competing in
tournaments around the state of
Georgia and in the South. Around
this time, Eric also began warm-
ing up to his dad’s coaching tips.
“Eric started asking me for
help and we were able to over
come our issues,” coach Diaz
said. “Sometimes you just get
too emotionally involved.”
As Eric climbed the rankings
In high school tennis and became
Rules needed to prevent future injuries
As the clock ticks down in a
close football game, fans want
nothing more than to see
their team pull out a win.
Voices teeter on the edge of
extinction as they urge their team's
players to do anything whatever it
takes to make that wish a reality.
And that’s when it happens.
A particularly violent hit on a
kickoff leaves a player motionless on
the turf and the once-deafening
shouts are silenced.
Suddenly, we are faced with a
shocking realization: These athletes,
deified in god-like reverence by our
rabid fan base, are actually people
who risk life and limb with every
bone-crushing hit.
This was the case when Rutgers
defensive tackle Eric LeGrand was
paralyzed below the neck after mak
ing a tackle during a game against
Army. Appearing to duck his head
when he delivered the hit, LeGrand
was left motionless on the field as
players, coaches and fans all silently
looked on.
Our first questions after an injury
like this sire usually, and sadly, foot-
Players taught not to
hit helmet-to-helmet
By MITCH BLOMERT
The Red & Black
The recent rule change
In the National Football
League that calls for sus
pensions after violent hel
met-to-helmet hits hasn't
gone unnoticed by college
coaches.
Head coach Mark Richt
addressed the new rule
Wednesday, stating that his
coaches teach methods to
avoid the incident from
happening on his own team.
“We’re trying to keep our
eyes up, and basically put
our face and chest on who-
ever we’re trying to
tackle,” Richt said.
The rule was
changed after three
separate helmet-to
helmet tackles
resulted in two
players receiving
concussions during
NFL games Sunday,
including Georgia
alum Mohamed
Massaquoi.
Previously, the tackier
would receive a 15-yard
penalty for the hit, but the
new rule allows the league
to suspend a player without
pay.
Richt says the rule will
be “tough to Judge,” since
players are not trying to
make intentional helmet-to
helmet contact, but some
times cannot get out of the
way in time to avoid It.
He referred to a hit last
season by former Bulldog
safety Reshad Jones, whose
helmet collided with the
helmet of Oklahoma State
wide receiver Justin
Blackmon as he reached up
to catch a pass.
Jones was assessed a
15-yard penalty.
"He was really putting
his face in the man’s chest,”
Richt said. “As he
approached him, the receiv
er put his head down to
protect himself, and all of a
SPORTS
Mitchell
ball-related.
How will the team replace his
production? Will he be able to play
again this year?
Will he be able to play again ever?
We should be asking if he will
walk again and how a simple play in
a game which, in the broad
scheme of things, is hardly impor
tant has affected his entire future.
And we should be asking what
can be done to prevent tragic inju
ries like this from happening again.
Asa close observer of the game. I
have a few specific questions myself.
Are the players adequately pad
ded and conditioned for today’s big
ger, badder brand of physical foot
ball? Are they being properly
instructed on how to make a clean,
safe hit on an opponent?
And should the NCAA look into
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
sudden they’re helmet-to
helmet. You could tell
Reshad was not trying to
hit him in the hat, but
sometimes you can’t help it.
I think it would be a hard
thing to judge.”
Comerback Vance Cuff
says that the rule is neces
sary, and that helmet-to
helmet contact is a serious
problem at all levels of foot
ball.
“Guys are just trying to
react quick and make a
play,” Cuff said. “But
if I’m in the NFL, and
I'm about to make a
hit on this guy, and I
can say, ‘Listen man, I
could hit him and get
him down or I can get
the big hit and be out
two or three weeks
without pay,' then I’m
definitely going to go
down.”
i
CUFF
Williams continues to
impress coaches
The newest addition to
the defensive starters con
tinues to turn heads at
practice.
Safety Bhawn Williams,
who started the season at
third string, has impressed
coaches with his perfor
mance this season earn
ing him the starting job the
last two weeks.
Williams was unhappy
with his position on the
team coming out of pre
season training, which is
when secondary coach
Scott Lakatos saw his turn
around.
“He had a chance to
make some plays, and he
did, and he worked himself
into the situation and got
himself back on the Qeld,”
Lakatos said. “Once he got
there, he started to finish
plays.”
more highly recruited, he began
to think about where he wanted
to play at the next level. For
most recruits, this involves visits
to many schools and meeting
many different coaches.
This was not the case for Eric,
who never had any Interests In
Sophomore plans to
take on challenge of
a veterinary career
By CHRIS D’ANIELLO
The Red & Black
To become a fireman.
A race car driver. A rock star.
Very few childhood dreams hold steady through
out one’s life, but for Georgia volleyball player
Briana Bahr, the dream to become a veterinarian is
as strong now as ever.
“When I was a little kid, we always had dogs and
cats around,” Bahr said. "Plus, I was a really out
doors kind of kid, always playing outside or watch
ing Discovery Channel.”
Bahr, a redshirt sophomore from Pensacola, Fla.,
says she has wanted to be a veterinarian for as long
as she can remember —a dream set
off by a popular game show.
“There was this game show on the
Discovery Channel at the San Diego
Zoo,” she said. “And I always wanted
to be the person that walked the ani
mals out and took care of them. I
thought that was so cool and I guess
I just never let the dream go.”
The San Diego Zoo in Balboa
Park, San Diego, Calif., where Bahr
still hopes to work one day, is one of
the most popular zoos in the world
and the near-consensus top zoo in America. Landing
a veterinarian job there is as tough as anywhere in
the profession, but Bahr, whose major is wildlife
studies, understands the competitive nature in every
aspect of the veterinarian occupation.
“I know it’s very competitive,” Bahr said. “Even
just getting into the veterinarian major is really
tough.”
The opposite hitter for the Bulldogs has a point.
Students accepted into the University’s School of
Veterinarian Medicine boast an average GPA of
more than 3.5.
Bahr has done a lot of volunteer work at animal
shelters, which she enjoys and could give her an
edge at getting a Job or getting into veterinarian
school— something her head coach Joel McCartney
believes she is frilly capable of doing.
“Briana talks a lot about becoming a vet,”
McCartney said. “I can tell It’s what she really wants
to do and her drive is strong enough that If she puts
everything into It, shell succeed at it.”
Bahr says she equates her strong drive to become
a veterinarian with the drive leading to her volley
ball success.
“I definitely think there’s a relation,” she said.
“Volleyball is a sport that takes a lot of aggression
and determination. That's what you need to be suc
cessful as a vet. And there are a lot of setbacks that
are going to happen on the way to any real goal.
You’ve Just got to get back up no matter what.”
playing anywhere but Georgia.
“There were no other schools, ”
Eric said. “I visited Samford one e
and I hated it. [My tether and 1 ]
never really talked about where I
was going to play until one da y
we sat down and he asked me
what I wanted to do. I told him.l
wanted to play for Georgia. It’s
what I have wanted since I was at
kid.”
But Eric’s decision to become
a Bulldog didn’t come as much c f
a surprise to Coach Diaz.
“He grew up watchlnj
Georgia,” Manuel said. “He is
kind of a homebody and didnlt
want to move far away. He want
ed to be a part of what he had
seen all along.”
This made the balancing act
of being a tether and a coach
very easy for coach Diaz, who has
created a dynasty with the
Bulldogs winning seven
Southeastern Conference titles
and six national championships
during his tenure. Such accom
plishments require heavy recruit
ing of the nation’s top high
schoolers, often employing a
variety of methods to convince
recruits to sign on to a certain
coach's collegiate program.
But when it came to Eric,
coach Diaz had a slightly differ
ent recruiting strategy.
“I wanted what was best for
him. I wanted him somewhere
where he would thrive in tennis,
somewhere where he can use
tennis as a tool to learn life skills
like adversity, disappointment
and accomplishment.”
rule changes that could protect indi
viduals from injury?
I don’t know the answers to these
questions. I am not an expert at giv
ing or taking these kinds of hits at
this level of football or any level,
for that matter.
I do know that the NFL has stat
ed it will begin to enforce more sus
pensions for flagrant hits at the pro
level after a rash of recent concus
sions within the league —a rule
some believe will diminish the over
all “product" of the game.
But perhaps the rule changes are
for the best.
Perhaps the college game should
do the same.
Georgia football has been lucky.
It hasn’t seen one of its own go
down with a long-term injury like
the one suffered by LeGrand
although safety Bacarri Rambo
came dangerously close In a game
against Auburn a year ago.
Do we really want to wait until
this does happen to take better pre
cautions?
Is the product really that impor
tant?
■Hf .JHH
BAHR