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From the Desk of Dr. Steve
Nichols: A Day Unlike Any Before It |
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This series of messages is
from Dr. Steve Nichols, CSUSM Director of Athletics. It is
intended to give viewers of The Cougars Online a perspective of
the athletic department from its top administrator. Subsequent
updates will be posted periodically. |
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There are a handful of days in the life of a person – or an institution – that shift things forever. Days you never forget, days you look back on and point to as the day that changed everything.
Cal State San Marcos had such a day on August 25, 2006. On that day, for the first time in university history, we hosted an intercollegiate athletic competition on our campus. Our men’s and women’s soccer teams squared off against Cal Poly Pomona. They played on the Mangrum field, in full view of our beautiful university community. I have a distinct memory of another day, some two years ago. I recall scouring the web for images of intercollegiate athletes to use in our literature and presentations on behalf of the athletics student fee referendum campaign. I looked for pictures of collegiate softball, baseball and soccer players, images I hoped would convey the fervor of athletic competition, and give our students some sense of the spirit that such contests can infuse into a university. I found a few photos, and they were adequate for the task, I suppose. Now, though, having experienced the real thing on August 25, I laugh to myself at how far short the images fell compared to the reality. On August 25, we held a noon pep rally for our soccer teams – and people came! Coaches and athletes were introduced to the cheers of an appreciative gathering of supporters. Friday afternoons on this campus are normally very quiet, but not on August 25.
That crowd was nothing compared to what emerged at the game. Literally hundreds of spectators – students, staff, faculty and administrators, people from all sectors of the university, donors, friends, parents, community members, and even our President, decked out in school colors and wearing her CSUSM soccer jersey (with “Haynes” emblazoned on the back and sporting, appropriately, the #1) – all came to watch us play. And what a spectacle they saw! True “fanatics,” body-painted in Cougar blue and white, ran around whipping up spirit; students invented our first-ever cheers on the spot (I am sure Caesar Chavez would be proud that “Si se puede!” was among them); fans did The Wave on our small, three-tier bleachers. As a writer for our student newspaper, The Pride, commented to me, “Now this feels like a real university!” At the center of this frenzy, of course, were the games themselves. Cal Poly Pomona is a tough, NCAA Division II opponent, so our squads were “playing up” a level of competition. They proved equal to the task. Our women’s team lost a tough one, 3-1, a contest that saw us lose a goal on an infraction; that, plus a late first-half Cal Poly goal that came as our legs (with all of three weeks training behind them) began to tire, was the difference. The men seemed bent on avenging the women’s defeat. They scored early in the second half, and held that 1-0 lead until late in the match; but then Cal Poly scored the tying goal with only a few minutes remaining, and overtime seemed inevitable (a troubling prospect, given the fading sunlight and the fact that we don’t yet have lights on our field!). Then, amazingly, one of our players created a goal with a tremendously athletic play, and our defense made it stand up. As time expired, spectators stormed the field, and coaches, players and fans hugged in celebration. We had won our first-ever home game. The things we had promised two years ago, as we campaigned on behalf of the student fee for athletics – that on-campus intercollegiate athletic competition would bring a greater sense of campus life, of community, of school spirit – those things had come to pass. I had personally promised those things myself, in presentations to thousands of students during that campaign. But even I had no idea how powerful their effect would be. Cal State San Marcos was changed on August 25. I doubt anyone present will ever forget that day. I know I never will. Sincerely, |
