Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 2012)
sportsed@ clackam a5.edu The Clackamas Print Wednesday, May 30, -2012 Successful recruiting brings strength to Clackamas athletic programs By David Beasley The Clackamas Print Bor many years, Clackamas Community College has had suc cessful the athletic department. N ot only does the department provide positive reinforcement and opportunities to continue educa tion for students, italso manufac tures a high quality athletic prod uct. W ith the last of the sports seasons wrapping up for the year, focus now turns to rebuilding and revamping each team in an effort . to pick up where they left off. Recruiting is used for sports at C C C to help gain advantage and put together a team with a strong talent base. This is just as impor tant. to junior college athletics as it is for-four-year university teams., The coaching staff at Clackamas is a tireless group iff enthusiasts who share their love o f athletics with students and strive to help them succeed in sports and academics equally. It is, not just a job to the coaching staff it is a favorite pas time arid hobby The wrestling program is a great asset to athletics at Clackamas. Head coach Josh Rhoden recalls, CiIn six years we haven’t placed lower than eighth in the NJCAA National Championships (where the team placed fourth in 2012); Austin Morehead was recruited several years ago into the Cougar athletics department from central California, Morehead competed twice in the N JC A A Wrestling N ational Championships. We’ve got Austin Morehead, 184 lends strong leverage to teams and lbs national runner-up this year can help tip the competitive scales and 'he just signed with OSU, o f talent and ability Rhoden and the PAC-12 champs, 10th' in the ’ his assistants spend a great deal of country.” time scouring stats and data on H ow does the wrestling team the internet, calling high schools, stay oto top and gain student attending large competitions, and athletes like Morehead o f Sutter, general networking with students- California? Aside from the obvi and coaches. ous roster building methods like The wrestling program/enjoys signups and try-outs, recruiting a large talent pool to choose from. Students from across the US travel to Clackamas for the wrestling program. ‘ wé have recendy been able to recruit all over the United States,” said Rhoden. “We search in-state and the Portland area of course, but we’ve got kids from places like Pennsylvania, Arizona and Minnesota. We , have a kid walking on from the state o f Texas. He’d done sòme research and found that this is a great program and then he decided to com e to Clackamas., the Northwest states, 'Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Alaska,” said womens basketball assistant coach PJ. Martineau. “Recruiting is vital. It determines how the season will go the follow ing year.” Athletes are recruited in a num ber o f different ways for each sport at Clackamas. Attending and host ing competitions are good exam ples; “Each year the women’s bas ketball team holds the nation ally recognized End o f the Trail Tournament,” said Martineau. T his event attracts many top ranked, talented players and is a great yearly opportunity to recruit. The scholastic side of women’s basketball is just as talented as their last four years on the court. “In the past ten years, 90 per cent o f our players who played both seasons with us graduated with associates degrees,” said PJ. Martineau. As a whole, the athletic depart m ent has great ways o f helping students through college. GPA expectations and requirements are monitored and guidance is facili tated by coaching staff and the athletic academic adviser. “PJ. Martineau is the academic advisor for all the sports,” said ■ Jim Martineau, director o f athlet ics and husband to PJ. “She helps all the student athletes and keeps them on track throughout their time at Clackamas. Our number ■ we can help kids with a tuition ,..one.iob,istohelpstudentatide tes waiver — there are 16 three-term develop academically and athleti tuition waivers — that number is cally to transfer. Number two is set by the NJCAA” winning.” The success o f individual ath A little known advantage of letes aridthe team helps grow the recruiting is finding natural lead program and build a strong pres- ' ers. A good leader, can; be a great, enee in the league as well as nation asset fo a team that has student- ally. Being well known also helps to athletes playing only two seasons. attract good wrestlers. “Winning There is not a great amount of the nationals helped us a bunch time to develop the tools required because now kids seek us out,” said for a strong team captain, so when a bom leader comes along it is of Rhoden. Wrestling is the only sport at great help to the team coaching Clackamas that competes at the staff nation^ level, but wrestling isn’t W hen student-athletes at the only program that benefits the Clackamas perform well athleti- college. Ariiong the other athletic ,«rally and scholastically, it attracts teams currently recruiting mem more students and community bers for next season are men’s and support for the school. Athletic women’s basketball. recruiting is a vital lifeline for the college. “We look for players within this coupon to get: Buy one get one PBEE ^Specials •Pool-Darts- •live Music- L-J m ■ C o u p o n : I G et one F atb o y and g et th e 2n d one 1 /2 P rice (D ou b le ch eeseb u rger, sm all tr y and m ed iu m d r in k ) Kathie Woods observes Zoey M artin as she signs her letter o f intent to play volleyball a t Clackamas' next fall. M artin is one o f many players to have already signedjor the volleyball team. 1 4 5 8 5 M cL ou gh lin B lv d . M ilw a u k ie, Ore. 9 7 2 6 7 O ff ic e * Sun. IG-laa.
