Category: Uncategorized

Graduating Senior Darian Johnson

Sport has always been part of Darian’s life He says his mother has pictures of him playing basketball as early as the age of 2. His love of sport continued through high school where he earned nine varsity letters for basketball, baseball and football. Darian says that playing sports, as well as staying busy with school, family and friends, taught him how to be focused and kept him out of trouble.

During his sophomore year at Mason, a friend invited Darian to participate in the Prince William Campus Sports Challenge. While playing, he noticed the referees were students and decided he could continue his love of sport by being a referee. Soon after, he was hired by Mason Recreation and has worked as a referee ever since. In addition, he’s held the positions of CSA, Intramural Supervisor, Field Supervisor, and Marketing Team practicum student – at times, working as many as 40 hours per week!

Darian says, “Working for Mason Rec has been a great experience. It’s increased confidence and my leadership abilities as well as allowing me to make great friends. When I came to Mason as a freshman, my friends were my dorm mates. Once I got to Mason Rec, that’s where all my friends were from.”

This summer Darian will intern for the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. There he’ll be in the Communications Department where he’ll work in archives, answer calls, contribute to social media, and participate in their Enshrinement Weekend August 6 – 9. During Enshrinement Weekend, he hopes to be able to meet some of the players being inducted into the Hall of Fame and maybe get some pictures taken with them.

After his internship, Darian hopes to begin his career working in a sports company in operations, marketing, or communications. Eventually he wants to own his own Sports Management Firm where he can work with athletes to improve their physical abilities, develop them psychologically, and eventually help them to grow in their careers.

Darian’s long term goal is to be a general manger for an NBA team. He says, “I grew up loving sports, so to run a team would be great. I want to be able to inspire others.” He adds, “I’ll tell them to stay focused and to always chase their dreams. Stay true to yourself, your family and to God and everything will work out.”

Darian graduates in May with a B.S. in Health, Recreation and Tourism with a concentration in Sports Management.

By Jennifer Lehman, MS RYT

Graduating Senior Estefania Luna

Estefania Luna

Estefania is more than meets the eye. Beneath her calm exterior is a committed and driven young lady.

After regularly working out in the Mason Rec facilities since being a freshman, Estefania applied for the Customer Service Associate and was hired as a CSA 1. She soon moved up to be a CSA 2 and this spring, she took on the role of MOD to round out her customer service work.

With her work in Integrative Studies with a concentration in Organizational Administration through New Century College, Estefania feels like she’s been able to use her studies to help in her work for Mason Rec. She explains, “I feel like Mason Recreation empowers their student employees and helps them grow as leaders both professionally and personally. They take a special interest in developing us as leaders. I’ve seen how my leadership style impacts staff and guests and I’ve learned that every action has a reaction.”

She adds, “I work with great people. I love coming to work. I’ve been working since I was 15 and this is the only place I can say I wanted to come to work every day.” Her hard work paid off as last fall she received the honor of employee of the semester.

But there’s a side to Estefania that some might not know about.

Estefania moved from Mexico to America with her parents as a 7-year-old. Here, she and her family quickly blended into the American way of life. She says the longer they were here, the more they lost their culture.

To learn more about being Latino, as a freshman, Estefania joined the Hispanic Student Association (HSA). After her freshman year, she decided to take on a more active role, so during her sophomore year she shadowed some of the executive board members during their event planning. Her junior year she became Historian and this year she serves as Vice President. The HSA Board meets weekly to plan events including community service and educational activities such as International Week and an annual HSA gala for families to experience their students receiving their stoles.

Estefania feels the HSA educates and connects Latino students to each other and to their culture. She says, “Some students are first generation, and some have simply lost their culture since coming to America. The HSA wants to make sure they keep their Hispanic culture alive.”

Through her work with Mason Rec and the HSA, Estefania says she’s enjoyed her time at Mason. She says she sees herself as a professional in the corporate world someday. Until then, she’s open to where life takes her.

Estefania graduates in May with a degree in Integrative Studies with a concentration in Organizational Administration.

By Jennifer Lehman, MS RYT

Let the Madness Begin

The NCAA men’s regular season is complete and now it’s time for March Madness to begin. Do not forget to enter your NCAA Men’s Tournament Bracket for a chance to win an iPad mini courtesy of Mason Recreation. Who will be this year’s Cinderella? For more information, visit the Bracket Challenge event page. Registration is limited to 1 entry per person. Participants must be a current Mason student, faculty or staff member with a valid G-number.

Spring Training for Club Baseball

Mason Recreation’s Club Baseball team is headed to Florida over spring break to participate in NCBA’s Spring Training 2015 Showcase. While there they’ll play against five of the 27 teams attending that week. During the four week event, 63 teams from all over the country come together to practice, train, and play the great game of baseball.

Nate Berlin, Club Baseball’s president and a junior majoring in Finance, says most of the 20+ player team is going to Spring Training. Following last year’s District 3 win, Nate feels like the trip will make the team even stronger. “Our team is talented and we work well together. The trip will be good prep for us to do even better than we did last year.” He adds, “While we play for the love of baseball, we also know that by attending Spring Training, we show that George Mason’s Club Baseball team is strong and competitive. It gets Mason’s name out there.”

Because the team is considered “young” due to its number of freshmen and returning sophomores, Club Baseball has a good chance to have another very successful season that could continue into one or two more years. Nate says that baseball is a very strong sport and they have lots of interest from both freshmen and transfers. He credits the interest to its timelessness. He explains, “Baseball has no age limits. It’s available for young and old. It truly is for everyone.”

Club Baseball’s season begins Saturday, March 14 when they’ll play the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. Game time TBA. If you are interested in joining the club, please contact Club Baseball via email.

Article Written By: Jennifer Lehman, MS RYT

Mason Recreation Kicks Off The Outdoor Nation Campus Challenge

Bump ball "Bubble Soccer" Fall 2014 George Mason Recreation

Your eyes did not deceive you this past Saturday night, there were indeed humans running and rolling around in giant inflatable plastic bubbles on the RAC field! Mason Recreation partnered with The Patriot Activities Council and BumpBall to bring you hours of Bubble Soccer. The latest twist on a classic game involves suiting up in gigantic bubbles that cover your entire body with the exception of your legs.

BumpBall is played on a smaller field than traditional soccer, but the game is essentially the same—get the ball into the opposing team’s goal, which is easier said than done when you’re bubbling and bouncing around. Participants showed up well before the official start time to reserve the first game time and played long into the chilly evening. Since there was only a single playing field, there were many other activities to keep the players warm while they waited for their start time.

Amongst those activities, of course, keeping with Mason tradition, was an opportunity to score yet another coveted free t-shirt. Mason Recreation actually brought BumpBall onto campus on Saturday night in hopes to promote the Outdoor Nation On Campus Challenge. Students that registered for the challenge and submitted entries on their mobile devices were instantly awarded with Mason Rec’s special edition t-shirt and grab bag. Once participants were outfitted with enough Mason Rec swag, they kept warm by playing corn hole and KanJam. Later in the evening, there was even a break out Zumba session along the sideline of the BumpBall game. Participants were reminded to upload all of these great activities onto their freshly created Outdoor Nation accounts in order to gain points for themselves and George Mason University as a team. If you forgot to upload your pictures, you still have time! Outdoor Nation rules state that the activity must have taken place within the past three days.

For more information about the On Campus Challenge, check out www.oncampuschallenge.org and be sure to register with GMU to help us (and you!) win some awesome prizes! Stay tuned for upcoming events from Mason Recreation. We started off our Outdoor Nation with human sized bubbles, who knows what we might think of next!

Mason Makes Strong Showing at Tidewater Winter Classic

Williamsburg, Va.– Four members of the George Mason Club Cycling team traveled to Williamsburg on Saturday, February 22 to compete in the Tidewater Winter Classic Cycling Race as a part of the Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference (ACCC).

The race, hosted by the College of William & Mary Cycling Club, was held at York River State Park, and included both collegiate races and adult races. With a varied number of riders in categories A through D, riders had to complete a 9.44-mile course the designated number of times their category required. Michael Lagana (placed 38th) and Michael Levesque (placed 29th) competed in men’s category C, which required 3 laps for a total of 30 miles. David Fuentes (placed 3rd) and Steven Kendall (placed 13th) competed in Category A, which required 6 laps for a total of 59 miles in order to be completed.

The course was a 9.44-mile loop that consisted of two significant climbs and one steady climb. After the climbs there were several straights, and then riders finished uphill for the finish and rode back into York River State park to the staging area. The races largely went without incident, although in the first lap of the Men’s Category C, several riders were involved in a crash that caused them to be dropped from the race. Consequently–in Category C–Drexel University, Appalachian State University, and the US Naval Academy took first, second, and third place respectively. In Category A, Virginia Tech, VCU, and George Mason took first, second, and third place.

Mason Cycling is proud of the hard work put in by its riders at the Tidewater Classic this weekend, and is thankful for the support of its sponsors and George Mason University Club Sports. Mason riders look forward to an even more successful race later this season! Go Patriots!