1993_05 Insight May 1993

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May 5,1993
FSU Athletics - This Week ...
May 9
Today
May 8
Men's Baseball vs. San
py   _rr\
Men's Baseball @
Track and Field & Modesto
Diego State, 1:00p.m.
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Brigham Young, 2:30p.m.
S&WRelays, All Day.
Women's Softball® Cal
JjMxiS\v^
May7
Women's Softball® Cal
Poly-Pomona (2), 1:30p.m.
TO) j
WomenSr Softball @ San
State Northridge (2), 1:00p.m.
May 12
Diego State (2), 1:30p.m.
Men's Baseball vs. San
Women's Tennis @ NCAA
^^r^^l
Men's Baseball vs. San
Diego State, 7:00p.m.
Championships, Gainsville, Fla.,
Diego State, 7:00p.m.
TBA.
New wave skiing
♦ Former student
earns credentials in
new winter sport.
By Jill Languis	
Sports Writer
He once rode the pavement, then
the surf, now he rides the snow with
great precision and grace.
Sean O'Gara, 25, graduated from
CSUF in liberal studies with a teaching credential and minorcd in political science and geography.
O'Gara's home town.Trinidad, Calif., is where he got his start in skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding.
He started snowboarding at age 14.
about 1989. He went to visit a friend
in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he entered a race and placed second.
He raced a few more limes with
good results, placing in the top five in
the pro division.
"I like being up and out in the mountains being able to ride,"0'Gara said.
Snow boarding as a sport was recognized around 1989.
O'Gara said when the sport began
there were so few involved and there
was a real camaraderie and a lot of
friendship.
"If you saw someone else and didn't
know them, you went out of your way
to stop and talk about boarding," but,
he said, "there arc so many people
now involved, there isn't so much
camaraderie anymore."
gressions and have the ability to analyze the student.
Full certification requires knowledge of bio-mechanics, rider analysis
for advanced riders, improvement of
past progressions and the ability to
handle large groups of beginners.
Examiner is the complete knowledge of the sport and the ability to
leach everything to date.
He has completed the First two steps
and hopes to complete the third next
year.
O'Gara's favorite mountains are
Mount Bachelor in Bend, Ore. and
Mount Huu in New Zealand.
He likes being able to travel with
the sport and has done so competitively in Oregon, Washington, New
Zealand, Australia and Idaho; "You
Snowboardcrs are broken into three    get io meet different people travel-
Becausc he was already into board    groups: freesty lers, carvers and cross    ing."
sports, snowboarding came easier    over or free riding,
lhan snow skiing.
He had been snow
skiing a few times
but didn't care for
the sport much.
When
snowboards first
appeared in the
early '80s, they ■■■■
were not much
more than a large
skateboard without wheels.
His first board was made of plastic
and manufactured by Sims. His second board he made himself.
O'Gara's sponsors, Rossignol
Snowboards,
Snow-bound
Jill Languis/Iv
Former CSUF student Sean O'Gara enjoys the last few days of spring at Sierra Summit.
mountain slapping boards against
trees or any obstacle," and carvers are
the people who "carve on the boards
O'Gara described his second board edge leaving aclean line in the snow."
as about four feet in length wiih a    O'Gara said.
Tona'wawa
Clothing,
Yakima and
Power Bar,
makecompcti-
tive travel possible.
^^^^■■■■■■i^HMMBBBB^^^^H       The preferred
clothing is big
and    baggy,
Freestylers arc "ihe guys on the    somewhatofaskatcboardcarryover.
Tona' wawaclothing he said is great,
it's not too baggy or restrictive.
O'Gara wants to continue teaching
"There is so much energy in the
sport." -Sean O'Gara
Professional sports is not
everything - life goes on
♦ Football athletes
advise: 'Don'tput
eggs in one basket.'
tipped up nose, two downward fins in
the rear, similar to a surfboard, a
rubber garbage can strap running
down the center and coaled with marine paint to create a slick surface.
The fins were used for turning and
the rubber strap served as the bindings.
O'Gara made the boards on his back
porch in the summer, finishing about
15, and sold them in the winter.
Horse Mountain, in northern California, is where he did his early
snowboarding.
The mountain only had rope tows
and they went from bottom to top, the
longest was aboul a mile and a half.
O'Gara said snowboards stayed
non—technical until six or seven
years ago when manufactures began
adding metal edges and eliminating
the sport and said, "I hope to get into
more coaching of racers and learn    By Nick Giannandrea
Free riding is cross between freestyle    more aboul the sport myself."
the r
ir fins.
They also started making the boards
more like skis, with a P—lex bottom,
a plastic base that absorbs wax.
More ski technology appeared with
the boards; manufactures began making them with foam and wood cores.
"They didn't get really, ridable until      Associate certification entails good
about four years ago," O'Gara said .    knowledge of ihc sport, being able to
He got serious about snowboarding    effectively leach and understand pro-
and carving.
"I'm mainly acarver, I always seem
to hurt myself doing a log slide, bad
karma or something," O'Gara said.
Unlike skiing, in snowboarding
"you have your hands free — no
poles. You are able io lay out turns
and hold an edge throughout the lum,
even more so than skiing. You get so
low you are touching your hips to the
snow,carving a trench,"0'Garasaid.
Snowboarding, just like other sports,
has itr: own lingo loo.
Gibbers arc freesty lers, grabbing air
is jumping, tweaking is contorting
your body, trenching is carving an
edge, tear'n it up is a good ride and
you tore up the hill, shredding is
tearing up the slopes, euro carves arc
being next to the snow and railing it
around, and railing is holding an edge.
When O'Gara's interest in
snowboarding rose, he took it further.
He became a certified instructor.
There are ihree steps in certification: associate, fully certified and cx-
"There is so much energy
sport — snow boarders are willing to
strap their boards onto their backpacks and hike up the hill, so they can
get first tracks down the powdery
slopes," O'Gara said.
O'Gara said ihcrc arc a few obnoxious people in the sport and "those are
the people who conflict with the skiers."
O'Gara said "Chief Seattle sums it
up best by saying 'We belong io the
Earth, the Earth does not belong to
us.'"
O'Gara spends part of his summer
coaching snowboarding on a glacier
al Mount Hood, Ore.
Besides snowboarding, O'Gara is
actively involved in soccer and mountain biking.
He has been playing soccer since
age 11.
O'Gara came to CSUF on an athletic scholarship and played soccer
until 1990.
He now plays soccer for Oro, a
semi—pro team, coaches for a summer camp in Humboldt County and
runs his own soccer camp in
Humboldt.
Sports Writer
The call never came for Earl Oliver.
The call that might have changed his
life, lifting his status from college
football-hero to the professional ranks,
never came. It was a call Oliver, like
many college football players, has
wanted all his life.
The 1993 NFL Draft came and went
and Oliver, a four-year performer on
Fresno State's football leam, remained
undraftcd. The situation, although unforeseen to Oliver, was difficult lo
accept
"It's scary. Having played football
all my life it has become second nature," said the 6-foot-l, 245-pound
senior. "My body is groomed to do
certain things at certain times of ihe
year. Even now, for example, it's
spring time and my body is groomed
to be out on the field practicing in the
heat. 1 think now that it might be over
for me and it will be like losing a piece
of my life. But I'll pick-up and find
other things to do lo replace football."
Oliver, a 21-year-old speech communications major, is on schedule to
graduate in the spring of '94.
Oliver could have graduated in May,
but he wanted to take some additional
courses before heading out into the
job market.
Oliver credits former room mates and
Bulldog football players Nairn Shah
and Marqucz Pope for his dedication
to academics.
"For Shah, football was taken away
from him [because of injuries to both
knees] at an early time in his career
when he was playing great football,"
Oliver said.
"So he replaced football with his
education. Being my roommate he
constantly stressed that not everyone
gets to go to the NFL, so make sure
you get your degree."
Shah now works as an accountant
for Arthur Anderson in Los Angeles.
With Pope, Oliver learned what the
draft process is al 1 about Pope was the
second round selection of the San
Diego Chargers in 1992.
"I've seen the loopholes, attitudes,
stereotypes and the wants and needs
of the NFL on a first hand basis,"
Oliver said. "At thai point, I understood that everyone does not get
drafted.
"Regardless of how much of a great
career you had in college, you have to
be extraordinary," Oliver said.
Oliver said his agent is trying to find
him a job in professional football and
the Canadian Football League is a
possibility.
"When I look al the whole pro picture, I try to base ilon something I can
identify with ana that's college,"
Oliver said. "I look at the CFL, not to
degrade it, as a junior college experience, a learning experience.
"The NFL is the big four-year university. If I get a chance to go to the
CFL, work on my skills and become
a great linebacker, then hopefully I
can come back and play in the NFL."
Oliver said sitting out this season in
hopes for a shot next year, while
continuing to work out and stay in
shape, is also an option.
"This time the door wasn't open for
me. Maybe next time it will be,"
Oliver said. "But if it doesn't happen
next year, I'll be ready to hang up the
cleats and put on a suit and tic."
When the day comes to put on thai
suit and tie, Oliver wants to put his
communications skills to work in the
human resource department of a corporation.
"I like dealing with people and their
problems," Oliver said. "My classes
at Fresno State have prepared me for
dealing with the communication
break-downs within an organization.
"I know what it takes to be a team
player and what il lakes to be a winner and I look at organizations in the
same aspect" Oliver said. "The company is a team, ihey have to work as
one to obtain a goal and that's to be
the best company that they can possibly be. I think I could be a tremendous asset to any organizationorcom-
pany with my attitude."
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