I have played soccer since I was 5 years old and loved every minute of it. Of the 20 different coaches I have had, some of them national team level coaches, Coach Poggi has been the most influential, both on and off the field, the most teaching and the most caring about his players, simply the best coach to make me understand the game better. His positive and motivating attitude reflected on the team and made me believe in myself.
Because of Coach Poggi, I have grown both as a person and as a soccer player in those two years. I earned a 4.0 the past three semesters, and my freshman year (2004), I was voted co-captain by our team, became an all-conference player and tied for the most points and goals on our team. Also, I was Conference Player of the Week in October 2004, got the UL Soccer Sporting Behavior Award and got nominated to the 2005 NCAA Leadership Conference.
I am a very determined person. I work hard in school and in practice. This is how I was raised. I want to be the best I can be.
It's a wonder to me how such a great coach like Poggi, who stepped down to coach Division 1 Women's Soccer after having coached professionally and internationally, could get dismissed the way he did.
I want to thank Coach Poggi and his two assistants (Ryan Tucker and Ashleigh Jones) for two great years as a Ragin' Cajun, and for my achievements which I only got because they pushed me and the team all the way. With Coach Poggi on the sideline, I was more ready to play than I have ever been.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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