Sadalia's Role Off the Court

As you all know, being a part of a team means that each player has a role. Well, mine as a point guard is to “set the table” as Coach Green says - to set my teammates up in the best possible position to score. This is my role on the court... 

I’ve found that my alternate role is to provide comic relief and always put a smile on my teammates' faces. 

How, you ask? Well, there are plenty of tactics and schemes. The next series of events that I will explain are 100% true real life stories and I urge you to NOT try this at home (this sentence was just a dramatic entry for the story, it's  still true though). 

It was a cold winter day in Lynchburg, so cold that when the wind blew my lips instantly became chapped. This day also happened to be game day (which is the best day I may add). It was so cold outside and I had to walk to the Vines Center, so I decided to put on my handy dandy ski mask, multiple layers of hoodies, and, of course, sweats. Imagine a person with nothing but their eyes showing - that was me. 

Now that you have the details of my apparel, I can get to the funnier parts of the story. As I walked into Vines for the game and went down the stairs, mind you I still have on my ski mask and hood. The opposing team looks at me with blank stares and begins to laugh because 1) I started moon walking (famous Michael Jackson dance) and 2) I look like I could rob a house. 

Well, after this I walk into our locker room and majority of my teammates are in there preparing for the game and they too give me blank stares and laughter. They then suggest that I should hide in another teammate's locker (Katelyn Adams) and scare her. 

Being the prankster and jokester I am, I say that is a wonderful idea, so I climb in the locker, with my ski mask on so that when she opened the door she’d get a wonderful surprise. After about 10 minutes (yes, she took forever to arrive), Katelyn shows up and the team greets her as they usually do, and when she opens the door, BOOM! I pop out and you could see the shock, fear, just total terror, and the entire team burst out into laughter. 

Though the laughter came at the expense of terrifying Katelyn, I’d say that my mission was accomplished. The majority of the team smiled - and when I say majority it means everyone except Katelyn. Oh, and no worries, Katelyn was fine after about 5 minutes and she chuckled about it. And I gave her hug, because I think she needed it after that. 

Hope you enjoyed reading! 

Signing off,

Sadalia aka Sid aka Sid the Kid aka Siddi Sid aka Siddy aka shaba-laba-pingpong. Okay, I’m done now. Be blessed peeps.

I'd Tell You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You

I must say that this is a pretty exciting semester. First off, I really enjoy learning in general, so for me it’s always a joy to study about different things. However, this is semester is really special because I am only taking classes pertaining to my specific area of interest for my degree (Criminal Justice with minors in Strategic Intelligence and Psychology).

I have one online class right now, Criminal Investigation. In that class, I get to learn all kinds of fun information about crime scenes, fingerprints, preservation of evidence, witnesses, informants, and SO much more. Later in the semester, I will be taking Strategic Intelligence online as well, and I can’t wait to see what that class will have in store for me.

As far as residential classes, I am taking Criminal Psychology, Counterintelligence, and Interview and Interrogations. In Criminal Psychology, we learn about a number of potential risk factors that can contribute to involvement in criminal behavior. From developmental to familial to social to biological contributors, we cover it all. My Counterintelligence class is particularly interesting due to one group assignment we have. I would tell you about it, but I have actually been sworn to secrecy. (Well, kind of. I had to sign an agreement at the beginning of class that I would not share information regarding this assignment, otherwise I would fail. And those that know me, know how important my grades are to me, so I’m not about to let that happen.) Let’s just say, “It’s classified.” What I can tell you is that there are tons of things to learn about Counterintelligence.

However, probably my favorite class so far this semester would be Interview and Interrogation. I never realized how much important information I would need to know in order to conduct successful inquiries when I begin my career. (Oh, and of course I can always use the techniques on teammates and friends to get some practice if need be. Just kidding!) We’re only five weeks into the class, and I have already learned so much. We have covered such things as the difference between an interview and an interrogation, how to set up a room for questioning, how to begin questioning, establishing rapport with a subject, detecting truth and deception, reading body language and other characteristics, and there is still so much more knowledge to gain! Did I mention I love learning??

Ultimately, I hope to use all of this to help prepare me for my career in law enforcement. My end goal is to be a Special Agent for the FBI, and I can’t wait! I want to use the knowledge, desires, and talents that God has given me to help people and glorify Him in all that I do. It’s a pretty exciting thing if you ask me! And all along the way, I get to keep learning more and more every day.

Go Flames!

-Ashley Rininger #55