Archive for the ‘SDSU’ Category

Hello all from sunny San Diego!

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

We have endured an uncharacteristically large amount of rain this winter, but the last couple of days have been preludes to the spring…75 degrees yesterday and another warm day today. Love San Diego!!

I have been busy, busy, busy the last few weeks preparing for the start of our season. January is the longest month for college softball players and coaches since we have a solid month of practices before we get to play our first competition. The Aztecs were chomping at the bit to get out on the field and play, and we opened our season last weekend in Tempe at the Arizona State tournament. I am proud to say the Aztecs we 5-1 and had a great weekend!! We ended on a sour note (lost our last game of the weekend), but overall it was an awesome weekend for the team and we hit the ball really well – which makes me, the hitting coach, very happy! :)

This weekend we host our first tourament of the year, and will host the defending National Champion Washington Huskies on Saturday evening. Its always great to play great teams, and the Huskies are strong again this year. I cannot wait to see our players “rise to the occasion” and compete…should be a great weekend!!

Mark, Chase and I are settling into our house quite well, and it is really feeling like home. Softball season makes housekeeping a challenge because of the busy schedule, and that makes me so thankful for having the most awesome, supportive, and giving husband alive. Mark transitions into his “Daddy Daycare” duties now that the season has started, and he and Chase will spend lots of quality time while mommy is at the softball field. Its so much fun now that Chase “gets it”…every time we drive by SDSU he says, “That’s San Diego State, that’s where the softball girls live!” He’s got lots of Aztec gear and is ready to come out and cheer his softball girls on!

Here’s to hoping everyone is beginning to thaw out from this cold, wet winter. Enjoy your loved ones, and always remember to Dream BIG!

Stacey

Posted in General, SDSU | 6 Comments »

Hi everyone!

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Hope you all are enjoying your summer and (in most cases) your time off from school. I can say that I, for one, am DEFINITELY enjoying my “break”!!

As a college coach, the perception is that we shut it down during the summer. The truth is that while we don’t compete or practice with our team, we are very busy recruiting as well as preparing for the next season. We have spent a good deal of time out observing prospective student-athletes and trying to better the future of Aztec Softball.

I really enjoy the recruiting aspect of my job, even if I’m sunburned and often spend 12 consecutive hours out at the ballpark. I am honestly amazed by the level of talent I see, and am VERY excited about the future of San Diego State Softball as well as college softball in general. Only good things are happening!!

The summer has also allowed me more time to spend with Mark and Chase, which has been awesome! We’ve gone to Sea World, the San Diego County Fair, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the beach, bike rides, and lots of mellow evenings at home in the “swimming pool” (actually its a very small jacuzzi, but Chase thinks its a pool, so we’ll just go with that!). Life is very good!!

Hope everyone is having an equally great summer and doing their best to stay cool…we San Diegans think 85 degrees is hot, so I think its safe to say we’re spoiled!!

Keep Dreaming BIG!!

Posted in General, SDSU | 2 Comments »

Hi all!

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
I hope this long-overdue journal finds everyone doing well, happy and healthy and enjoying the return of sunshine!  I know that living in San Diego now, we have a skewed sense of weather, being that we had plenty of 80-degree days in January and February, but we still have our own version of “cold”.  It is starting to warm up, and the shorts are finally being broken out of their winter hibernation!!
Stacey Nuveman
Stacey Nuveman 

As all you softball fans know, we are in the thick of the college softball season, and the San Diego State Aztecs are heading into conference play this weekend.  The Mountain West Conference only has 6 teams, so we start the season a little later than many of the other conferences.  We head to Las Vegas to play UNLV this weekend, which should be a great test.  The Runnin’ Rebels are playing well right now, and have some big offensive weapons.  Our team is playing pretty well now as well, so it should be a good test for both teams!!

I am still thoroughly enjoying coaching, and really find myself facing a new challenge or uncharted territory on a daily basis.  Coaching is so much about “people management”, as much as it is about skill development.  I see so much of that game that I missed before; as an athlete you are so focused on your job, what you have to do, that you aren’t always totally aware of all that is happening around you.  I have found such a greater appreciation for all of my teammates and their amazing talents and gifts…they all made the game look so easy!! 
 
As a coach, you stand back and observe EVERYTHING, and everyone.  Its sort of like the “eye in the sky” and its just a different perspective than being on the field, in the pressure cooker that is The Game.  I’ve found even MORE things to love and respect about the game of softball, and can’t wait to see whats next for me in this new journey of coaching!
 
Mr. Chase is soon to turn 2, and is beyond amazing!  I’ve found myself recently standing back and watching him in amazement.  I’ve always had a deep respect for the miracle that is human life, but I never really considered it as fully as I do now: it is beyond comprehension that this little creation was helpless and fully dependent only months ago, and now he is running around, talking, asking questions, gaining his personality and his will (he’s a feisty little guy!).  Not only physically, but he is growing emotionally and intellectually every single day.  It just blows my mind!!  And this same miracle happens over and over again millions of times every day (not sure if millions of babies are born every day, but I wouldn’t doubt it!). 
 

Stacey Nuveman

Mark also recently started his new job with the San Diego City Attorney’s Office, so he’s beginning a new adventure as well.  We are finally all in the same place, which is great!  San Diego is the greatest city, and we are looking forward to enjoying all that San Diego has to offer.
 
All the best to you and yours, and wish the Aztecs luck the rest of the season!
 
Dreaming BIG,
Stacey 

Posted in General, SDSU | 3 Comments »

Hello from sunny San Diego

Friday, February 13th, 2009
Hello from sunny San Diego (well actually, its been raining so the truth is that it DOES in fact rain in San Diego!)!
 
It has been eons since I’ve last updated my journal, life has just been hectic with the start of the softball season and having a 20 month old little monster living in my house!! 
 
Things are going really well.  We (San Diego State) played our first tournament this past weekend, and we ended up 2-2.  We played 4 tight games, and almost knocked off UCLA but lost to them in 9 innings.  I have to admit, it was very odd being in the other dugout and wanting to kick the Bruins tails.  I spent so many awesome moments of my life in the OTHER dugout, so I had to really mentally prepare myself before our game against the Bruins.  In the end, we had our chances to win but couldn’t pull it off. 
 
We picked up two wins on Saturday, so I can officially say that for an entire 24 hours I was 100% undefeated as a coach.  My career totals for coaching were 2 wins and 0 losses.  It was fun to be able to say that, even if it was only for 24 hours!
 
I must say that coaching in real games – not Fall scrimmages – really got my adrenaline rushing.  I wasn’t sure how it would feel to be in the coaches box and in the dugout rather than on the field, but I really enjoyed the rush and the intensity.  I caught myself getting a little too intense and fired up a couple of times, but that’s the lessons I’ll learn as a new coach.
 
And like I used to do as a player, I also did a post-weekend assessment of myself as a coach: what did I do well, what could I have done better, what can we (the team) work on, what do I need to improve upon, etc.  I strongly believe that self-evaluation is crucial to making improvements and keeping yourself accountable.  Like my husband always says, “Past is Prologue”, so unless we learn from our mistakes we are destined to make the same mistakes over and over again.
 
Chase is growing like a weed, and his vocabulary is ever-expanding.  He’s mostly still using single words.  He favors animals: he knows turtle, elephant, fish, bird, tiger (complete with a grrrr noise!), doggy, kitty, sheep, frog, and many others.  The only real three-word phrase he knows is “I’ll get it!” if he drops something.  It warms my heart to hear him expand his world and vocabulary all at the same time.
 
Hope everyone is excited at the start of college softball.  I can’t believe its already here after all of the months of practice, practice, practice.  Let the games begin!
 
Take care, and Dream BIG!
Stacey

Posted in SDSU | 2 Comments »