Tag: sports

One of the greatest challenges of maintaining a club sports program at a university is continuity, considering every year a new batch of potential members comes on to campus while another departs.  For the University of Oklahoma club badminton program, the challenge is no different, save for one exception: Shawn Lam. Lam, who has been involved in the sport for more...

It’s nearly time to say goodbye to regular season baseball, but you can catch the Tulsa Drillers Sept. 1-5 at ONEOK Field. The OKC Dodgers take Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Sept. 2-7, 16-21 and 29-30. Soccer’s still kickin’ – Tulsa FC plays at ONEOK Field Sept. 8, 11 and 18, and the Energy FC storm Taft Stadium Sept. 12, 26 and...

It may be sweltering, but that’s not stopping a bevy of sporting events from running in Oklahoma this month. As always, baseball reigns supreme. The Tulsa Drillers play July 1-4, 21-25, 27-31 at ONEOK Field, with firework finales after several games. In OKC, the Dodgers return to the field July 1-6, 15-20, 22-27 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Fear not, soccer fans...

Chess has been a popular game of strategy for over 500 years. But with the release of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, this activity has had it’s second coming for younger generations. Chess enthusiasts are seeing a surge in online games, and while clubs are currently taking a time-out from in-person meet-ups, they’re seeing the potential for more growth when...

With parks dedicated to skateboarding popping up across Oklahoma, this sport is slowly moving into the mainstream.  The community that skaters have created is one of acceptance and support. There is typically an anticipation of perceived intimidation before a skater tries a park for the first time, says Jake Shelton, owner of Core Board Shop in Oklahoma City. But that...

Martial arts training is defined as codified systems and traditions of combat, practiced for a number of reasons, such as self-defense. Training requires frequent and close contact.  But in this era of COVID-19 protocols, with some people isolating and independently training, martial arts training has given an opportunity for academy operators to focus on presenting a regime that is mentally...

Thanks to COVID-19, every sector of society has been upended. But for Locust Grove native Jason Pirtle, a tight end at North Texas, 2020 has been even weirder. That’s because for the first time he can remember, he’s not catching passes from longtime friend and now-former teammate Mason Fine, who left UNT holding many of the school’s career passing marks...

Dan Bitson is one proud Tulsan. A three-sport athlete (basketball, football and track) at Booker T. Washington High School, the talented wide receiver then played for the University of Tulsa between 1987 and 1991. In 1989, he sustained serious injuries in a car accident, but returned to the field and finished his collegiate career as the Golden Hurricane’s No. 2...

By Stephen Hunt and Mary Willa Allen The Life of a Student Athlete Collegiate student athletes are creatures of habit, with lives featuring rigid in-season schedules on top of classes, meetings, study halls, practices and games.  However, when COVID-19 struck in mid-March, seasons were canceled, immediately sending collegiate athletes into a state of flux.  “That’s been weird for sure,” says Dylan Gardner, a...

Some might call Zach Loyd’s professional soccer career short, since the Tulsa native spent only eight seasons in the Major League Soccer before retiring in 2017. The Verdigris High School product – who was the fifth pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft – played seven of those seasons with FC Dallas before finishing with Atlanta United SC, where he...