FAU Student Government is above par in the state

But it’s the 9-under par that won them the statewide golf tournament

Last year the Florida Atlantic University Student Government, under the leadership of President Pablo Paez and Vice President Ancel Pratt, was voted the second best student government in the state of Florida. Now this year, under their new president Ancel Pratt, the FAU Student Government finished first in the Florida Student Association Invitational held in Tallahassee, Florida on Monday, June 2, 2003.

“The Players Club,” which is a new club on campus, promotes and teaches our club members how to use our business skills in the game of golf. We are only eight-weeks-young, and won our first tournament that we have played in together as a team, at the FSA Invitational. The current members of the club are all members of Student Government, but we are looking to expand and invite all students to join the club.

Jon Burford, Aryeh Leher, Joel Gibbons and I are the founding fathers of “The Players Club.” We shot a 9-under par to earn a score of 63, winning by two strokes. We are looking forward to participating in more tournaments to represent the FAU Student Government and our sponsors in a positive manner. We are also planning to host a tournament in the Boca Raton area to help fundraising efforts.

“This is a very promising club with a great group of members. We have a lot of fun while representing our school and our interests. Being a new club, we are looking for a home golf course and community sponsors. We are offering to our members not only golf, but also leadership seminars and the opportunity to acquire additional business skills in the real world. After all, golf is one of the most widely used tools in the professional world,” said club President and current SG chief of staff, Jon Burford.

The four of us went up there not expecting to win, but expecting to have a great time. With 25 other teams competing, some of which were their universities’ actual golf teams, we certainly weren’t expecting the first place finish we earned.

Our team was led by the play of Boca Raton senator Joel Gibbons, who also was ranked number two on the FAU golf team last year with an average of a little over 73 per round.

FAU cheerleaders — Two squads, two different goals

Re-organization and difference of opinions drives last year’s cheerleaders out of Athletics

Two years ago, Anissa Costello had the title of spirit director for FAU Athletics. This put her in charge of the dance team, cheerleading squad, and the mascot. Last year, everyone was broken up into three separate entities: Anissa still as dance coach; Tammy Baker as cheer coach; and the mascot under an athletic staff member’s advisory.

Things have changed this year again — going back to the way it was, the cheer and dance teams, along with the mascot, are now under Anissa’s leadership. However, a new twist was put in at the end of last year.

When going to the basketball games last year, it was quite apparent which squads were interested in the game, and which squads weren’t. The dance team was there, as a full squad, dancing and smiling the entire game. On the other hand, the cheerleaders would usually not have their entire squad there, and some cheerleaders weren’t into the games as much as they should have been. This caused the athletic department to make a decision and tell the cheer team that the department would no longer be funding them to go to the National Competition because they “needed to focus on the games more than competition.”

Many of the cheerleaders come to FAU to go to the competition, not to cheer at games. In 1999, the FAU cheerleaders brought home the national title, and fell .06 points of doing it again this past year. However, the months that it takes to prepare for competition are during the basketball season, causing conflict.

So now the nationally recognized and competing cheerleaders have formed the FAU cheerleading competition club for the sole purpose of going to competition, and not cheering at the games. The pom-pom squad, as advertised at the end of last semester, will be cheering at the games.

The athletic department is not closed-minded about sending the pom-pom squad to competition if they are good enough. However, the members of the FAU cheerleading competition club left the cheerleading squad because they wanted to compete more than to cheer at the games.

Next task at hand for the FAU cheerleading club: Raise $10,000 to go to the competition.

My opinion: I definitely see the athletic department’s viewpoint: we are funding you to cheer at the games and raise the level of spirit. However, I think that they should have two squads under athletics — the cheerleaders who cheer at the games and the cheerleaders who go to competition. After all, the athletic department needs money, and if the cheerleading competition squad won another national championship, they would receive sponsorships, and that would bring potential donors and sponsors to the FAU campus and bring awareness to the department.*

That’s all for now. And remember: Although $mitty is spelled with a dollar sign, Student Government using you’re A&S fees to give you free stuff, MAKES CENTS!

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