18 I WEDNESDAY, March 16, 2005 Mills From Page 11 the help of Jeremy Scott, the football team's speed development coach. Mills has also had the guidance of for mer NFL quarterback Mike Tomczak, who is one of Senior's consultants, to help him make the mental and physi cal adjustments necessary for the NFL "The speed of the game takes off, and I think, with Zack, he has to react more," said Tomczak, who played 16 years of professional foot ball. "The best way to get a young quar terback or skill play er to react is to put him in as many situ ations mentally and just explore from that. "He has a strong enough arm, he's a great athlete, and we just needed to work on accuracy and knowledge." Mills and Tomczak worked together for a full day in Pittsburgh this spring, which included an evaluation of Mills' core strength at the University of Pitts burgh Medical Center that led to some necessary recommendations for his training program. "He had one little, small mechanical flaw, in his core, that can allow him to make big positive gains," Tomczak said. "His core strength wasn't where Liberty From Page 11. "The biggest difference is going to be boxing out for me on defense. She's so tall and her arms are so long," Schwab said. "I kind of experienced that with [Ohio State pivot player Jes sica] Davenport; sometimes I had her boxed out, or at least I thought I did, but she just reached over me." The Lady Flames faced Ohio State and Big Ten Player of the Year Daven port about one week after Penn State beat the Buckeyes in State College. Ohio State pounded Liberty, 66-51. Feenstra did outscore Davenport 17- 6 and did out-rebound her, 11-4, howev er, and that may not bode well for Schwab. "Their offensive rebounding is phe- WEDNESD areWACKY From lOpm to Midnigh, you getI7NI4II,IIITF: bowling and pizz a for only $9.99 per person (814) 237-1500 1521 Martin St. SC, PA 16803 Bowling Next to The Arena & Billiards The Smeal College of Business SITILILT Conference March 18, 2005 at the Nittany Lion Inn "Include Everyone, Exclude No One " 4 • )0. - Guest Speakers: Kimberly-Clark, IBM Clemente Abrokwaa, Vern Carraway, Anne Riley S.T.A.R.T aims to prepare individuals for a diverse workplace Conference Begins- 11:30am Lunch- 12:30 to I:3opm Session Workshops- 2:00 to 4:oopm Panel Discussion & Reception- 4:00 to s:oopm Advance Registration- 104 Beam or njll32@psu.edu All are welcome! Register Now- Space is limited! Free Lunch & Raffle Prizes!!! it needed to be, that's when the accu racy tends to be the end result. "A strong lower back, abdominals and hip flexors really are important for throwing the football." Mills' arm strength has been his self-proclaimed weakness, but both Tomczak and Senior feel that his arm strength is sufficient for the NFL. "You hear that, people say, 'Well, Zack doesn't have the strongest arm in the world,' but I looked at the scouting reports on the kid from Utah [Alex Smith], and he's got what they consid er is average arm strength," Senior said. "Zack's going to surprise some people. He's been able to focus on cer tain strength training things that will help delivery, and he'll surprise some people with his arm strength. He has the ability to make all the NFL throws, and we made a compilation on tape that shows his ability to do that." Ibmczak has also worked with Mills on calling audibles, play-faking and exploding away from center to get more time in the pocket, qualities that give quarterbacks an extra look from NFL scouts. Tomczak also feels the fact that Mills is a lefty will help his cause, but, until after tomorrow, neither he nor Senior has a concrete idea of how the draft will play out. "We'll get his name in the ear of the right people," Tomczak said. "Our goal is to find one team to fall in love with him and give him an opportunity. [Tomorrow] will be a good sign of what's to come." nomenal," Portland said. "They are very solid, they shoot the ball well, they play a solid 2-3 zone." The only other opponent that both teams have in common is Duke. The Blue Devils annihilated Liberty, 83-48, and pulled out a close game against Penn State nearly a month earlier, 66- 58. Both games were at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Liberty's biggest win of the year came on Dec. 4, when it beat Kansas State, a No. 4 seed in the Kansas City Region. The Wildcats were playing without their leading scorer, Kendra Wecker. The Lady Flames took advan tage and hung a 77-56 loss on K-State. "If you play them on a night that they are committed to getting Feenstra the ball and the small forwards are shoot ing well, they are very formidable," Kansas State coach Deb Patterson said. Tate From Page 11 team in assists. In March of that year, Tate had surgery on a torn bicep ten don. He attended rehab twice a day and couldn't even touch a basketball until September. And that's when the not-so-memorable road took a detour. "That month of May is kind of a blur," Tate said. "Then the drinking escalated that summer. It was tough because I had lost a lot of what I had and couldn't do a lot of things I used to." Somehow, Tate persevered through preseason conditioning of his junior year but after scoring just 13 points in the first five games, he left the team to deal with what the team announced to be undisclosed personal problems. No one knew why Tate really left. Even his roommates were convinced that he had to focus on personal issues. Senior forward Jason McDougald, for mer Penn State guard Sharif Chamb liss and former Penn State forward Ndu Egekeze, who all lived with Tate, were unaware that he was often drunk, drinking anything he could get his hands on, by himself, in his room in Nittany Apartments. Phil Collichio, Tate's high school basketball coach and close friend, sensed something was wrong when the "best player and person I've ever coached" visited Linden High School when he was home. His unkempt appearance insinuated something was affecting the deep-thinking, family-ori ented and friendly Tate. "What was most important was tak ing care of Jamaal the person, not the basketball player," Collichio said. Tate began to see a counselor in April 2003, who made him feel comfort able enough to pick up the phone that Calvano From Page 11 team and All-Academic team honors in 2003 and started every game in his last two seasons. Calvano will now take his game to the next level, but is trying to take the pres sure in stride. "I just look at this opportunity as another step in the right direction," he said. "It's professional soccer. so this will just make my game better and give PENN STATE Makeng Lfff Befter • Nan Sit* i‘<ornmind tr, IS. 00101, atluti oppromtt onef 'hot dre.oy 4 ft, Li Ft an C 5-120400.49 C0rr:36.0 zoos N. Penryform.S.4!.;,...a., SPORTS June morning when he realized he needed help. Since then, Tate has been sober and he's been courageous enough to share his story with the gen eral public. Tate sat out all of last season to focus on sobriety and his Recreation and Park Management degree, with which he will graduate in August. But his life wouldn't be "back to normal" without athletics. He's been playing basketball since he was 11. This season, Tate returned to the court briefly. It didn't matter that he dressed for only nine games. "Getting back in shape was the sec ond hardest thing I had ever done, but I did it," Tate said. "I fought through it as strong as I could because I wanted to give it a shot." On Nov. 7, Tate was rewarded as he received a standing ovation when he subbed in to the Lions' first home exhi bition match of the season, against East Stroudsburg. "It was hard for me to keep my emo tions back," Tate said. "It was a year and-a-half long dream because I had achieved something and worked really hard for something." It's irrelevant that Tate didn't finish out this season. He never got com pletely back in shape and was far removed from his athletic 215-pound frame. Besides, the 6-foot-5, 242-pound jolly "old man," who is constantly smil ing, offered just as much to the young Penn State squad from the sidelines. And his soft-spoken words of wisdom mean more than a 3-point shot ever could. "It's pretty satisfying that I accom plished things on all levels I played at," Tate said. "I can't complain at all. I did a lot of things I dreamed of as a kid. "I know everything happened for a reason, I don't like the 'what if' because ultimately it's not up to me." Calvano be a ' sting year for him, no doubt about it. Salvini said. "The com- STATE RIDE 2 CREDITS! *t Wednesdays March 23. mullion: ►DAY (778-8632) PENN STATE me another chance to play competitive soccer." Playing in the USL will be the highest competition that Calvano has ever had to face. Salvini said that Cal vano will be able to succeed, even with the pressure. Gonorrhea • Chiamydia • Syphilis • HIV Also Available: FREE Cervical Cancer Screening FREE Hepatitis Vaccinations • Risk Reduction Counseling FREE CONDOMS! Testing Treatments are FREE El Confidential •Program Sponsored by the PA Department of Health State College Medical Services F. Not Just For Women Call 867-1788 or 1-800-414-8731 for your APPOINTMENT TODAY! Convenient Location in Downtown State College lows 1 M;!= Prince Frederick Spells/Collegian File Photo Senior Jamaal Tate went through four difficult years on and off the court as a member of the Penn State men's basketball team. petition will be up a couple levels of play, but we think he's good enough to play on it." • So it looks like Calvano will be step ping out of the classroom and into his familiar cleats for a while. But Calvano still realizes that he may see himself in front of a packed classroom once his soccer career is finished. "I'm going to take this opportunity for what it's worth," Calvano said. "I just want to play as long as I can, while I still can. Soccer's my first love, so that's what I'm looking towards now" Mil
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