Buckle Up with Brooke

We played our first official scrimmage of the season last night! The entire day I was counting down the minutes until we left for Bluffton. I know Bluffton is right around the corner, but I was ready to play. The Bluffton scrimmage is an annual scrimmage. Both teams are top competitors in their respective conferences, so why wouldn't we want to play each other? The Bluffton scrimmage looked slightly different this year than last. Last year, we played around 20 girls, and this year we only have 12 healthy players. This is quite the adjustment, but I think we handled it well. Our team understands the lineup looks entirely different this year. We only returned two players from the starting lineup. The rest of the starters were seniors who graduated.  This team has an immense amount of potential for this season. Even though we didn't return starters, various rotation players are back this season. We are going to be a young team, but I will never use our age as an excuse. Last night

We have officially started basketball season! It is surreal to me how fast the first half of the semester has passed. How are fall sports almost done? I have a different perspective this season, and it has made the game more fun. As a sophomore, I know most of the drills and understand Coach Mark's expectations. It is nice to not be completely clueless. In addition, I know the goals we are working toward. The Ohio Athletic Conference is a tough conference to play women's basketball in. Any team can win on any night, so your team must show up ready to play. When I was a freshman, I played with no motivation. I didn't have any feelings toward the teams in our conference. Most of the time, I was a lost puppy on the court trying to keep up with everyone else.  Throughout the season, I was always fixated on copying the action of our senior post, Alisa Stalher. She was an important leader on our team. This year, I feel more obligated to lead our freshmen.  Ironically, only one of

Over fall break, I took the opportunity to go on an agency tour in Columbus, OH. While some students decided to enjoy their break from home, I was back on campus late Monday afternoon. As a collegiate basketball player, I never have the luxury of enjoying a full break. We are given limited days for the holiday season because we have games to play. Thus, I had no problem with sacrificing a day of my break to travel with my wonderful PRSSA classmates and Dr. Agozzino. We left campus early Tuesday morning to arrive in Columbus, OH where we first met with the Ohio Department of Transportation. The professionals at ODOT gave a fantastic presentation. I was excited when they asked about our majors and interests. Those small moments show me they cared about us visiting. Our second stop of the day was the Columbus Crew. I am a huge sports fan, so I was smiling ear to ear the entire tour. We switched locations for our tour, so it took us a little extra time to find our way into the old stadium.

Acne is the devil. This is a very abrupt start to my blog, but I truly have no better way to put it. In high school, I always had acne, but it wasn't something consuming all my thoughts. I could easily hide it with a good tan or a mask. This was not the simple solution when I came to college.  As I said before, my skin has never been clear. When I came to Ohio Northern, my skin flared up on a whole new level. I remember crying to my mom over the phone at least once a day. My relatives or friends would tell me how bad my skin looked when I visited them. Those comments stung the worst. Regarding stinging, my face always felt like it was on fire. It was agitated, and I wanted to peel the entire top layer off. My dermatologist is over an hour away, so she only met with me through video appointments. We tried everything. I was a frequent visitor of Rite Aid, picking up numerous prescriptions each trip. I was desperate to find a solution. My acne was affecting the way I was living my lif