Jamie Tanata

Collegian

With only five current members enrolled in Brookings Dakota Judo Club, head instructor Peter Claussen hopes to attract more members this year. Claussen, a first-degree black belt in Judo, said people are simply unaware about the sport of Judo.

Claussen described Judo as a split between traditional martial arts and traditional Japanese self-defense.

Thirty-eight-year-old Claussen began his Judo teaching career when he opened up his club in Brookings in 1999. His interest in Judo sparked at age 22.

“When I started grad. school, one of the professors I was working with was in a Hapkido club, and so the night I went to Hapkido, there was a Judo instructor that showed up to try out Hapkido, and that’s how I met my first Judo instructor,” he said.

Claussen wrestled in high school and said Judo is very comparable to the sport.

“I didn’t get to start until I was a junior in high school,” he said. “I kind of use Judo to make up for the lost time.”

Kata and Randori are two forms of training Claussen emphasizes in his classes. Kata, which means “pattern,” is a set of predefined movements and repetition of a single type of movements to perfect it. This form of Judo is organized and “Judoks” are aware of what is going on around them. Randori, which means “chaos” and “to grab,” is comparable to wrestling moves. This form is unorganized and Judoks are unprepared for the sparring.

“You need a proper balance of the two in Judo,” he said.

Judo may look like an intense contact sport, but Claussen said anyone could pretty much handle it.

“You would have to be pretty frail not to do Judo,” he said. “I competed against a blind person that mulled me pretty good.”

“I think one of the tough things about getting people into Judo, if you see a picture of someone doing a strike, a block, a punch or high kick like Tae Kwon Do, they say ‘I can do that,’ but if you look at this,” he said, pointing to his students practicing, “people see a picture of a guy being thrown down and say ‘I don’t want that done to me.’”

Claussen wishes more women would get involved in Judo.

“It’s the kind of self-defense women need the most,” he said.

“It’s physical,” Claussen explained when asked why he enjoys Judo so much. “It’s a lot of frustration, but every once in a while you catch someone just right and they fall on the ground and all you really know is you put them there. You don’t know how you did it, you don’t know you were going to do it, but when you get that one clean throw, and you throw them down effortlessly, it’s a good feeling,” he said.

Judo has even taught him some life-saving skills as he walked away from a motorcycle accident with only a couple of cuts and bruises.

“It’s a useful skill learning to fall down,” he said.

Claussen, who graduated with a degree in biology from Drake University, is working on his master’s at SDSU where he currently is a physiology lab instructor.

Judo is quite the workout and also develops a lot of flexibility.

“It’s full body exercise because you use all your muscles to do this,” he said. “To me it’s enjoyable exercise. It’s aerobic because you do it over a long period of time but it’s also fairly resistant because you are using someone else’s body weight,” Claussen said.

The popularity of the sport is not unknown only in Brookings, Judo’s existence isn’t well-known throughout the U.S. Claussen said there are only about 20,000 people who compete in Judo.

“America is not a big Judo country,” he said. “It’s a lot bigger overseas, some people claim it’s the second most popular sport in the world after soccer.”

Twenty-five-year-old Salvador Cruz has been practicing Judo for the last three years. Cruz, a brown belt in Judo, is a graduate student in economics at SDSU.

“I used to run for the track team,” he said. “I’m just as tired from 15 minutes of Judo as I would be after running nine miles.”

John Madrid, a 23-year-old physics graduate student at SDSU, practices Judo and is the captain of SDSU’s Boxing Club.

“I’ve always been involved with boxing and I wanted to develop my grappling skills in addition to my boxing skills,” he said.

He said along with the self-defense skills Judo ensures you with, it also helps develop self-confidence. Madrid’s skills over the last two years have given him an orange belt in Judo.

Madrid enjoys the atmosphere Dakota Judo provides.

“I like the environment, it’s a pretty laid-back environment here,” he said. “Everybody is real friendly, it’s not real formal, and you just come in and have a good time.”

Dakota Judo holds two of the three practices at Victory Martial Arts, which is the new martial arts facility that opened last fall. Claussen said their practices wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for owner Scott Bachmeier.

“Scott’s been quite cooperative in letting us practice here,” he said. “It’s awful tough to find a good space.”

The cost to join Dakota Judo is only $30 a month.

“That’s another thing about Judo, it’s traditionally a very cheap art,” Claussen concluded.

Intro to Judo classes are Mondays and Wednesdays at Victory Martial Arts from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Randori practices are Sunday nights at Gold Medal Gymnastics at 4:30 pm. If interested in joining, contact Peter Claussen at 693-6335 or dakotajudo@mac.com or Salvador Cruz at 695-9996.

Some fans travel to games simply because they like the excitement of the sport.

Other fans stand tried-and-true at the team’s side even when times are grim, like last Wednesday’s block out. Some fans are also parents.

Sophomore guard Heather Sieler’s parents, Art and Janet Sieler, have only missed two games since she began playing for SDSU.

“(We go to) support Heather and the rest of the team,” Art said. “The team members become our extended family, we’re there to tell them good job, win or lose.”

The 96-79 loss to the California (Pa.) squad shattered the team’s last chance to win a Division II Championship title, but those who watched the team fall would say they gave it everything they had.

“I think they gave it their all, this was their last chance to a Division II Championship,” Janet said.

“I was disappointed we didn’t win, but we ran into a hot team, that was shooting hot,” Art said.

“But we never gave up and I think that’s the heart of a championship team.”

“Cal. (Pa.) had a very good game,” Janet said. “They shot what, 80 percent? It’s hard to match that. How many teams can say they made it to the Elite Eight for three years in a row, conference champs for two years and regionals for three?”

“I think they represent the school very well,” Janet said about their high achievements.

Art said the Jacks were the team to come out initially, and pointed out that only two points separated the teams at halftime.

Although he said this was an intense game to watch, he thought the Jacks’ overtime steal against North Dakota State that brought them into the Elite Eight was hardest to watch.

Janet said she knew the Jacks’ advancement into the championship was over by the last three minutes of the game.

But the Sielers said they remain proud of the girls.

“I think they’re going to surprise some people in Division I,” Art said.

During the Sielers’ stay in St. Joseph, Mo., another spectator told Art it was interesting to watch the struggle between Heather and the player she was guarding because they shared the same jersey number.

“He thought it was really a battle to watch number 20 and 20 battling against each other,” he said.

Even when the team isn’t fortunate enough to pull off the win, one of the things that make games still enjoyable is the fans.

“The fan support made it really good,” Janet said. “At SDSU, the fans are awesome.”

Working at home as district sales manager for Farm Bureau Financial Services provides Art with a flexible enough schedule for him and Janet to attend all the Jacks’ games.

The Sieler’s family are fairly faithful supporters.

He said most of the family would try to attend SDSU’s home games, and all were planning on taking off work to watch the Jacks if they made it to the finals.

Since Heather is the youngest of four children, the Sielers have been busy attending all their kids’ games for years, through high school and college.

“We’ve been going to a lot of sporting events for 20-some years,” Janet said.

The two reasons Janet said she is proud of SDSU women’s basketball are her love for the game of basketball and appreciation for the other fans.

“The fans make it fun, the atmosphere, and there’s nothing like a game at Frost Arena,” she said.

“You develop some great friendships with the parents.”

For two phenomenal Jackrabbit basketball players, Wednesday night’s Elite Eight game against California (Pa.) meant more than just an end of a season; it signified the end of two truly exceptional collegiate careers.

Editor’s Note: This is part four of four in a series on the possible dangers of athletics and weight management

Can gaining weight for a sport have just as many unhealthy consequences as improper weight loss?

In the sport of football, the offensive line-man’s job is to block the other team from reaching the ball, which requires him to be large and muscular. Where is the fine line between being large and athletic and too overweight?

For SDSU football players, they are being carefully monitored year round to make sure they are performing adequately and at a good competitive weight.

Lee Munger, SDSU’s Head Strength and Condition Coach said, “We work on the whole team and each and every single athlete that’s here,” he said.

Munger assists the players in weight gain and loss through goal-oriented programs.

“We set up target goals, whether it’s strength or weight,” he said.

Gaining more lean muscle mass and less fat is what Munger advises to his players for optimal health. Along with a balanced diet of carbohydrates and fats and strength training makes for the healthiest type of weight gain.

“We’re trying to put on good weight not fat weight,” he said.

For athlete’s trying to lose weight, he recommends more calorie expenditure than intake, and prescribes them with additional fat burning activities such as biking or jogging. In weight loss, getting rid of body fat and maintaining lean muscle is highly important in keeping a player’s speed agility according to Munger.

The goal weights Munger has set up for his athletes, have assisted him in making sure their bodies can handle the recommendations. He said this is one the reasons they haven’t experienced any types of weight problems in the past.

“We try to alleviate the problem before it goes that way,” Munger said. “We basically just don’t let it get to that point because we’re constantly keeping tabs on it.”

But what happens to former football players who have gained weight for football and handed their jersey in for good?

SDSU’s senior defensive lineman, Blake Seeds once had the misconception that in order to be a good player he needed to gain more weight.

“I thought I would play better so I gained 50 pounds over the summer before my freshman year playing at Black Hills State,” he said.

After playing for two years at Black Hills State, he transferred to SDSU to play football. Seeds was only at 240 pounds his senior year in high school topping out at 315 this past fall. “I had to lose weight,” he said. “Speed and quickness are everything in the trenches.”

“If you’re 330 pounds and athletic you can move fast, but if not, you’re not going to move fast,” Seeds said.

He said the biggest problem is for professionals who weigh 350-375 pounds and retire from the NFL after playing for 10 years. He said they aren’t being as active as they use to, which is when the weight becomes an unhealthy issue.

“Putting on the weight is easy, taking it off is the hard part,” he said.

According to Munger, as long as a larger player is active and exercising, they are not putting a risk to their bodies.

“When the athlete stops working out, that’s where the problem comes in and they’ll have to take some weight off,” he concluded.

The pressure to be fast, to win, to be perfect and to be thin. When is it enough to drive a runner to an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa?

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, a NCAA survey in 1999 found 64 percent of all collegiate female athletes had experienced an eating disorder at some time.

Researchers estimated 62 percent of teenage female distance runners have eating disorders compared with five percent among all teenage girls.

SDSU’s former Head Cross-Country/Track and Field Coach, Scott Underwood has dealt with several runners that have battled the disease over his 19 years of coaching.

“Running is the toughest sport to work with because of that aspect,” he said.

Underwood said many factors in society play a major role in how people perceive themselves, especially women. Such influences to be thin generate from magazines and television.

“Society in general [pressure runners]. It’s the image to be thin, it doesn’t help and then running to be great distance runners,” he said.

Runners can be misled by basing performance on the way successful runners appear.

“[That's] part of the problem of distance running. Many women that are seen as the best women in the U.S. are fairly thin and competing well,” Underwood said.

He said that could lead to a major misconception among runners. They begin losing a little weight and realizing their performance becomes better, which drives them to lose more.

“They just get to a point where they don’t see reality; they just think they’re heavy and overweight and try to lose more,” he said.

The disorder can be disguised in a runner since they still perform successfully while inside their bodies are suffering.

As diagnosis cannot be determined solely on an athlete’s performance, it is often denied, ignored or even unrecognized.

“There comes a point that can affect your health and performance,” he said.

Underwood said he has seen it effect runners in very severe cases. One successful runner he coached transferred Brigham-Young University. She was also suffering from an eating disorder at the time.

At Brigham, bone density tests are given to make sure the runners are eating adequately and getting enough calcium in their diet to prevent injuries such as stress fractures. She found out after being tested that her bone density was the same as a 60-year women.

In another case, Underwood coached a girl who started her running career in college since cross-country was never offered at her high school.

“She wanted to be an all-American,” he said. “She tried to be good at everything.”

He said her drive to be a successful runner, drove her to the disease.

“There was a certain point where I recognized she was in trouble,” he said.

However, for many of the runners Underwood has coached over the years, their problem with battling weight rooted from high school.

“After coaching some of them, they had problems before they came to SDSU,” he said.

When making recruiting decisions, in most cases he didn’t realize they had a problem or how serious it was.

“Parents don’t tell you and you don’t have the information,” he said.

After coaching for several years, he said he has come to recognize those who had a problem or fit the criteria of potentially becoming anorexic.

“Certain personality traits that anorexics tend to have, we would tend to watch them more closely,” he said.

“It’s tough; it’s hard. Our sport more than most any other sports are the personalities that you have in a distance runner,” he said.

The hard-working, dedicated, straight-A students that have to excel at everything they do are the ones he says are the most prone to the disease.

“Those who are worried about every single grade, test and race … that would be a red flag to me to be that concerned with everything,” he said. “Not good to the mental health and to have an eating disorder.”

Many things would clue him in if a runner was showing warning signs of an eating disorder. He would hear things through the grapevine by teammates telling him if someone wasn’t eating much. He would also notice runners who wouldn’t eat with the team when they went out to eat at restaurants and used the excuse that they didn’t like anything on the menu.

“Any time they were overly concerned with what they ate,” he said was a good indication.

The one thing Underwood said he made sure of as a coach was not putting pressure on the athletes.

“I work hard at not putting pressure on them,” he said. “I tried to take the pressure off them.”

He said he never expected his runners to be superstars; he just wanted them to enjoy themselves.

“There was less pressure from me than in high school,” he said.

There are times when someone who had developed an eating disorder blamed their coaches for their problem.

“It’s a touchy subject for the coaches, because sometimes they can be attacked by them.”

Underwood said the pressure his athletes were feeling was only from inside.

“It’s perceived pressure. It’s what you feel inside,” he said. “Their personal worth is how they perform with things, and that’s a sad thing.”

According to NCAA nutrition and performance guidelines, eating disorders usually develop long before the individual is ever involved in athletics and is often an expression of underlying emotional distress.

Underwood said from time to time he would check runners’ iron-levels to make sure they were eating well. Talking to the team about proper nutrition and the food groups was another thing he would do with them to make sure they were eating right.

“Sometimes you could only do so much to regulate it,” he said. “[It is] something you can’t totally prevent.”

South Dakota State University’s softball team is prepping up for one last season in Division II and planning to lay a solid foundation for their future in Division I.

Last season ended with their 26-32 overall standing, but this season carries much potential for the team with six new recruits.

“We’re constantly recruiting and trying to upgrade our program,” SDSU’s softball coach, Shane Bouman said.

“We have two incoming pitchers who are very talented freshmen. It should make it exciting,” he said.

This is Bouman’s third year coaching for the Jack’s softball team and has a lot of optimism for the season.

“We’re at a point where our squad can put a lot of pressure on other players. Our program is based on speed, pitching and defense,” Bouman said. “Speed will help us out offensively and defensively.”

Last year’s All-Conference and All-Regional junior centerfielder/outfielder, Ashley Kalina, said Bouman has made a lot of new changes. Ones that she said are for the better.

“We’re not just sitting back and hitting the ball as hard as we can,” Kalina said.

She said Bouman’s building the team on speed and athleticism.”We’re setting the foundation to a Division I team,” she said.

As one of the four returning players to the team, Kalina said this isthe last year to really leave a big impression before the switch.

“Our main goal is basically to win,” she said. “We’re all coming in with the same outlook; to win the NCAA in our last year, and we aren’t going to settle for anything less.”

Most importantly she said, “I want to come back in 2008-2009 and watch my girls play and say ‘I was a part of that.’”

Ali Adair, sophomore infielder, said she’s really excited for this season.

“We have come a long way this year. I don’t think the freshmen know it yet, but the upper classmen know how good we’re going to be,” she said.

Adair said once they start playing together it will really show. She said the team is just focused on the now and not looking too far ahead with playing on a Division I level.

“But for next year, I want to start a precedent, a tradition, a legacy on being good,” she said. “That’s what we need to focus on now.”

The Jack’s softball team makes up 13 players with four returning players.

“I think that’s a very comfortable number,” Bouman said. “We have a very young athletic team.”

Kalina said even though the team is young, it holds a great love for the game – a love that she says is almost more important than experience.

“People say we’re inexperienced but we have a strong passion and excitement for the game,” she said. “That’s probably the most important.”

Bobbie Jo Mitchell, junior outfielder, isn’t worried about playing with a young team.

“Our team will do extremely well. We have a lot of young girls, but they come from good programs,” she said. “We should win a lot of games, definitely be contenders in the conference and probably go beyond that,” she said.

While most students will be basking in the sun on some far away island over spring break.

SDSU’s softball team will be starting their season with 14 games in Orlando, Fla. at the Rebel Spring Games March 3-13.

South Dakota State University’s Baseball team is batting up for a better season in hopes to improve their 14-29 overall record last year.

“To be a baseball coach you have to be optimistic every season,” SDSU’s Baseball Coach Mark Ekeland said.

“We had a young group of players,” he said last season. Now after having a year of experience under their belt, “this year we expect a lot from them.”

“I thought we competed very well for a young team, we just didn’t come away really happy,” he said.

The team faced another problem last year, Ekeland said.

“We lost a lot of close games to fairly experienced teams in the conference and losing early to teams that played in the Division II championships,” he said.

Players that have been with the team for a while are also quite optimistic.

“There are a lot of new faces coming in this last year. That will make a better difference and be good for the team,” junior captain Greg Geary said.

Sophomore Ryan Greene says the returning experience will benefit the team.

“There are a lot of returning players,” he said. “We didn’t have quite the experience and this year we do.”

Ekeland has made a few changes in the team roster in hopes of better success.

“We added a lot of recruits,” he said. “We’re still not as deep in areas we’d like to be.”

Ekeland will coach the season with 11 new freshman and 10 transfer recruits totaling up to 35 players to the roster.

With a few new pitching recruits added to the Jacks’ lineup, this season offers much potential.

Junior pitcher Francisco Torres, a transfer from Nebraska Western Community College, is originally from Caracas, Venezuela.

“He’s the first international student to play here as long as I’ve been around,” said Ekelandwho has coached at SDSU 21 years.

“I feel he could be an impact for us,” he said.

Torres was not alone on his move to SDSU. Junior pitcher, Josh Elliot transferred from NCC as well.

“I haven’t seen either one throw together in competition, but it’s what they showed us in May on recruiting trips and our second week here at practice pitching and catching” Ekeland said.

Tony Peterson, sophomore in-field pitcher from Savage, Minn., will be playing for the Jacks this season after his transfer from Concordia University in St. Paul.

As for returning players to watch, Ekeland said it will be a plus if senior pitcher Collin Cantalope is healthy this season.

If he’s back in gear he will expect to see more playing time again Ekeland said.

“When he was healthy, he was a real good pitcher for us,” he said. “He beat some tough competition.”

Experience from the team will also aid in the Jacks’ anticipated baseball success.

Ekeland said Greene will probably be their starting catcher. “He’s a multi-talented player,” he said.

Geoff Bray, senior right pitcher is what Ekeland said is a “good starter and mid-reliever.”

Kasey Keller, sophomore right pitcher is another one to watch for in the upcoming season.

“He has gotten bigger and stronger. I expect him to see more innings,” he said.

Nate Huls, a senior left pitcher is what Ekeland calls the “relief specialist.”

With the Division I switch next year, Ekeland said establishing a reputation is important to potential players interested in SDSU’s baseball program.

“Players that wouldn’t give us the time of day or the ones who were polite enough to say ‘no thanks’ to us are starting to look at us differently now,” he said.

“We have something different to offer kids now than North Dakota State, USD and Augie,” Ekeland said.

“I think it will give us a recruiting advantage,” he said.

Even though SDSU will be playing against national teams, Ekeland said South Dakota has priority.

“We’ll always start here (South Dakota). I don’t think our recruiting will change much,” Ekelund said.

“We will always stay in the five-state area – starting with the best in South Dakota,” he continued.

Ekeland hopes in the future to have more scholarship money to recruit players with.

This will be the team’s last season before really competing against Division I teams, although they have one game scheduled this year with the University of Minnesota in April.

Next year after the switch, they will be able to play anyone regardless of what division. By 2006, 46 of the 56 games will be against Division I schools.

Baseball unlike many other SDSU sports play several games in a short amount of time, usually 53 games in a 2-month span.

“I’d have more games,” said Greene. “Baseball is different; you have all summer, fall and winter to practice and only two months to compete.”

Most sports spend more time practicing with the team than competing but Geary said it’s probably better.

“It makes us better and we get more used to each other and comfortable as a team,” he said.

Some may wonder how athlete’s can juggle academics with being on the road so much.

“If you miss a lot of class it gets tough, but you just have to stay on top of things,” said Ryan Hansen, senior outfielder.

Editor’s Note: Coach Ekeland has temporarily left the team due to health issues. The interim baseball coach is Jack Reynolds.

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