 |
Today is Thursday, Jul 29, 2010 |
 |
|||||||||||
|
| Home | BPNews | Subscribe to BP | Tell A Friend | Contact Us |
|
Lawson works hard to strengthen Lady Vols Tuesday, Feb 26, 2002 By Allen Palmeri |
||
"Weight training has added a new dimension to women's sports," said Lawson, who can bench press 235 pounds. "It's obviously another avenue where you can help yourself as a player to be more productive. In an effort to be an all-around player, I try to compete in every aspect. Obviously hitting the weight room is something that I take very seriously, because I know that it can help enhance my game. Being 5-foot-8 in the college game, you have to be able to go in the lane against some of those trees and be able to finish." Lawson has been finishing quite well this season. The junior from Alexandria, Va., leads the Lady Vols in scoring at 15.5 points per game. She's also first on the team in 3-point field goals (33), second in assists (74) and second in steals (41) as the Lady Vols prepare for their Southeastern Conference tournament opener on March 1. Tennessee (24-3, 13-1) is the No. 1 seed in the tournament, which is set to open Feb. 28 in Nashville. Over the last four games of the regular season, Lawson averaged 24.3 points per game. That is the type of performance from a team's top player that can carry a team far into the postseason, and Lawson knows that the Lady Vols, who have been ranked No. 2 and No. 4 for much of the season, have as good a chance as any team to win it all. "We feel it's a failed season if we don't end the season on a winning note, so that's a big challenge for this team this year," she said. "We are a young team, we are inexperienced in a lot of ways, but it's a great challenge for the upperclassmen and hopefully we'll be able to meet that." The pressure that Lawson puts on herself is what one would expect from a leading player. She sees what it will take to play on the next level, which is the WNBA, and she is determined to push herself to the point where she will be considered worthy, when her time comes. "Michael Jordan was my favorite player when I was growing up," she said. "Not so much his game, I guess, but more his competitiveness and his inner drive. I like how Reggie Miller comes off screens and shoots, or Jason Kidd's all-around game, but I really like Jordan's mental toughness." Lawson was raised Roman Catholic, and her mother made sure that she was in church every Sunday. However, when Lawson went away to school in Knoxville, Tenn., the campus environment helped spurred her toward an examination of the faith in which she was raised. Through the ministry of Athletes in Action in her freshman year at Tennessee, Lawson passed from death to life and truly became a Christian. "Once I learned more about it, and once I got in the Word more, that kind of spurred me on to make the decision," she said. "I like to have all my ducks in a row and like to learn about what I'm doing." Spiritually, both she and roommate April McDivitt are content to be a part of the ministry at Providence Church in Knoxville. Her pastor, Chad Sparks, is a former college athlete who is "just an incredible resource for me, just to bounce anything off of that I need to talk about." And her basketball experience has been everything that she thought it would be, and more. "It's all that you could ask for coming out of high school," Lawson said. "You have just an incredible coaching staff, one that has probably a hundred years of experience combined, and they push you every day. They make practice a competitive atmosphere." Part of her competitive nature can work itself out in the weight room. She definitely has been an example to her teammates in that regard, and will continue to be so for as long as she is in the program. Her history with weights is such that she can offer encouragement to high school players. "I started lifting when I was a freshman in high school, and I lifted the bar," she recalled. "That's what I did for probably the first month, so it was definitely something that I built up. I wasn't naturally strong." --30-- Palmeri is a member of North Pointe Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo.
|
|
WWW.BPSPORTS.NET
Copyright (c) 2001 - 2010 Southern Baptist Convention Terms of Use |
901 Commerce Street Nashville, TN 37203 Tel: 615.782.8615 Fax: 615.782.8736 |