Melissa-Rooker

It was a decade of many firsts for the Columbia women’s tennis program. Led by head coach and former Lion Ilene Weintraub, CC ’02, the Light Blue notched its first-ever winning Ivy League season, claimed its first Ancient Eight title, won ECACs four times, and earned its highest ranking in program history.

Columbia women’s tennis built on its six-game winning streak on Feb. 23 with a decisive win over Washington State University, nationally ranked No. 34. The Lions finished the grueling match with a 4-3 win at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.

Kathryn Kolbert argued the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey before the Supreme Court as a public interest attorney specializing in women’s reproductive rights. Melissa Silverstein founded Women and Hollywood, an initiative that “educates, advocates, and agitates for gender diversity and inclusion in Hollywood and the global film industry,” according to its website. At Barnard, they worked together to create an innovative event that promotes a new kind of leadership, uniting politics and film.

The Diana Center played host to a red-carpet affair on Friday evening, as notable personalities from the film and activism worlds converged for a celebration of achievements.

The stars are descending upon this year's seventh annual Athena Film Festival, which will take place at Barnard from Feb. 9 to 12.

The women's tennis team hosts Yale and Brown, softball heads to Ithaca to face the Big Red, lacrosse takes on the Bulldogs, track and field competes in Virginia, men's rowing takes on Yale and Penn in the Blackwell Cup and Dodge Cup, men's golf takes part in the Princeton Invitational, and the women's golf team hosts the sixth-annual Roar-EE Invitational.

Women's Tennis — Caroline Bowman

Softball — Hahn Chang

Lacrosse — Muneeb Alam

Track and Field — Melissa Cheung

Men's Rowing — Eli Schultz

Men's Golf — Josh Shenkar

Women's Golf — Muneeb Alam

Tylik was my first friend at karate. Even though he was several ranks higher and three years younger than me, we formed an unexpected friendship early on. Perhaps it was our similarity in fighting style, or our mutual love for Chris Brown (pre-Rihanna assault)—I cannot say for sure how our friendship came to be. What I do know is that he made going to karate—before I started to enjoy it—bearable.

Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that many people "celebrate" that I'll never quite understand. It strikes me as an excuse to eat an excessive amount of candy and frivolously spend money on things you wouldn't on any other day of the year. And though you might call me the Scrooge of Valentine's Day, I stand by my position. But even with my negative stance on the holiday, the fact that Feb. 14 is a big day for breakups , (amid the chocolatey, stuffed animal-y, and flowery goodness) came as a surprise to me.

For the Lions, Valentine's Day drama came a week early, in the form of a split from now ex-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Kevin Lempa. Lempa's reasons for dumping Columbia for the Boston College Eagles were reasonable, no doubt , so perhaps for some people, that was enough to disqualify it as a "bad breakup." That's not to say that by calling it quits, Lempa hasn't left the Light Blue in a common position for dumpees post-breakup: in dire straits, either mourning their loss or desperate for a rebound. Maybe the Lions haven't exactly hit rock bottom (after all, it was only a one-year-long relationship with Lempa), but they did lose something good in him, and the wound is still very fresh.

Given the duration of his relationship with the Light Blue, Lempa had the time only to set the foundation for a promising future with the football program. But even in just a year's time, his efforts were reflected in the substantial improvements the defense showed in the past season. In 2011, Columbia was last in both the total and scoring defense categories in the Ivy League. By the end of this past season, the Lions had moved up four spots and one spot in each category, respectively. Obviously, there was something clicking between Lempa's defensive strategies and his athletes, thus allowing for a fruitful relationship between the two. What Lempa was able to accomplish in one season—how he was able to drag the defensive units out of the mud—will be sorely missed by the Light Blue after the end of this relationship.

Before the hiring of Pete Mangurian, former columnist Ronnie Shaban talked about finding the right head coach for the program . Just over one year later, we're now faced with the same task at the defensive coordinator position. You can't expect that any average guy is going to fit the bill. Something about their coaching strategies, their communication, and their ability to jibe with their athletes all fall under the important qualities to consider when interviewing applicants. It's all about the compatibility.

What we need to look for in Lempa's replacement is someone who can take his place and make it seem like he never left. The new guy can't just be "the rebound guy," serving as a consolation prize for the Light Blue, but rather has to be someone who can pick up right where Lempa left off. With that said, the new defensive coordinator must be able to adopt the same defensive system that Lempa introduced to the team, perhaps tweaking things here and there to fit his personal observations of the strengths and weaknesses of the Lions' unit as well as what he has learned from his own experience. However, a willingness to stick primarily with what has seemed to work for the Light Blue this past season, should be a key factor in determining the next guy for the job.

What we're dealing with here is a search for the man who can be a source of consistency and continuity, two elements that can potentially lead to a long-lasting relationship.
Take ex-Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, for example, who, after initially rejecting the Philadelphia Eagles in early January, signed a contract with them by the middle of the month. Kelly's coaching career actually began at Columbia, before he bounced around the East Coast and eventually settled down in Oregon, where he has coached since 2007. During his stint with the Ducks, Kelly led the team to three Pac-12 conference championships as well as four Bowl Championship Series game appearances. In Oregon, he established a high-powered offensive system, known as the blur offense , that consistently kept the Ducks' opponents off balance.

NFL teams have already generated their own schemes with the blur offense serving as the basis , but how a full-on embracing of this style will fare (let's not forget that effective college schemes don't always translate well to the NFL in the long run) remains to be seen. Likewise, we won't know how Lempa's replacement will fare with the Lions—that is, whether he can apply the same defensive strategies that Lempa instilled and still get the same, if not better, results as his predecessor. It's safe to say that most of the time it's not just about the X's and O's, but rather about the man who's preaching them that makes the difference. When you find the guy who hits it off with the team right off the bat, that's the guy you want to hang onto.
Here's hoping the Lions can survive this "breakup."

Melissa Cheung is a Columbia College sophomore. Closing In runs biweekly.

sports@columbiaspectator.com | @CUspecsports

I'm a big fan of comeback stories in sports. There's a very endearing element about them that makes me feel that the impossible truly is nothing. Call me crazy, but it's my understanding that anything that can happen will happen.

In December, news broke that Stanford's second-string quarterback, Brett Nottingham, was planning to transfer to Columbia . One season ago, the Lions went 1-9, and this past season, they posted a 3-7 record. With the addition of Nottingham, they welcome a former NCAA Division I FBS-level quarterback into a developing mix of young talent under the Mangurian reign.

Looks like a comeback story in the making to me.

Nottingham's journey in collegiate athletics has been an interesting one. He redshirted his first year before becoming the No. 2 quarterback behind future first overall pick Andrew Luck in 2011. In the 2012 preseason, Nottingham competed for, and lost, the starting position to Josh Nunes. However, even when Nunes began to struggle on the field, Nottingham was only given a few snaps here and there to prove his worth.

If Nottingham's story sounds vaguely familiar, it is probably because it resembles Tim Tebow's.

This season, the New York Jets were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 15. Nevertheless, shortly after the embarrassing loss to the Titans, Rex Ryan and the coaching staff announced that they were still sticking with Mark Sanchez in the penultimate game of the year.

When my mom heard this on the radio, she said, "Tim Tebow? I feel bad for him."

This came from the woman who does not know that a touchdown is worth six points and a field goal is worth three. Then again, it does not take a high sports IQ to see the irrational decision-making of the Jets in the final weeks of the season—what a shame it was that the backup, Tebow, was never given the chance to showcase his abilities.

I'm not a Jets fan, but I have to say, I felt bad for the guy, too.

After all, Sanchez had, to put it mildly, an atrocious season. He tied for third in the league in interceptions thrown, with 18 , and led the league in lost fumbles, with eight .

There is a difference between staying faithful to Sanchez, the starting quarterback, and doing a disservice to the team by not giving Tebow, a late-game hero who led Denver from a 1-4 start to a division title last year, a fair shot at turning the season around. Then, jumping over Tebow to Greg McElroy, the third-string quarterback after finally benching Sanchez was incomprehensible. So, at what point was Tebow supposed to get his opportunity to start?

Looking at the baggage Nottingham is bringing with him from the West Coast and the Tebow saga that has evolved throughout the season, you might find yourself saying, "Poor guys." Neither of them had the chance to show what they could offer to the team because they were never given the opportunity.

Even though one athlete plays at the college level and the other at the professional level, the distinction makes no difference in the tribulations they have both faced in their sport.

The uncanny similarities in the situations of Tebow and Nottingham show how athletics on our very own campus, and other college campuses nationwide, can trace back to the professional sports world. The one major difference between collegiate and professional athletics is the level of competition. However, thinking about other factors that are a part of sports—such as the athletes' struggles, the issues the teams face, and others—reveal that college and professional athletics are a lot more alike than you originally thought.

Now, I'm not saying that for every breaking story in the pros, you'll be able to find a matching one in college sports, but there are things constantly happening in both entities that seem to share a common bond. It's time that we recognize that these commonalities are inevitable and that at the end of the day, sports is sports. The things that happen in collegiate athletics are just as likely to happen in professional athletics.

For the time being, the futures of Tebow and Nottingham are unwritten. After a dreadful year with the Jets, Tebow must continue to find his way and establish himself in the NFL. As for Nottingham, the door will be wide open for him here at Columbia after the graduation of current quarterback Sean Brackett. The stage is set for Nottingham to have a Tebow-esque (circa 2011) run at the Ivy title . After some growing pains with his new team, hopefully Nottingham will be able to make good use of his first chance in the spotlight, just like his professional counterpart did in Denver.

Alright, maybe an Ivy title is a little too much to ask for right off the bat. But hey, anything that can happen just may happen. All you need is a chance.

"You're in the wrong sport." That's what my dad always tells me in the car on our way to karate practice. He always chuckles nervously afterward, which to me says my dad is thinking one of two things: either, "I should stop saying that even though it's the truth" or, "Should've kept her in ice skating or tennis. Maybe she would've gotten a scholarship."

Regardless of what my dad's true intentions are, I've learned to let it go. As soon as I hear, "You're in," I start singing in my head whatever is on the radio.

Last week, when I read Spectator's feature about my friend Claire Bouchard, a karate star , it occurred to me that karate doesn't exactly have a presence on the Columbia campus, or, as far as I'm aware, any college campus. Sure, there are clubs for practicing self-defense moves and such, but none of these venues is fully dedicated to the competitive aspect of the art. Karate involves much more than just knowing how to kick and punch. It requires an athlete's commitment to fitness and cardio, along with the desire to learn the rules of the match and a constant fire to get to the next level—whether that be a state championship or a world championship or somewhere in between.

From what I've seen,campus karate clubs just aren't the place for students who practices the sport of karate. The clubs focus primarily on practicing self-defense techniques and forms not used in traditional competition, neither of which come in handy in the actual sport. We need a program that is equipped to prepare athletes to reach competition level , because the clubs just aren't going to cut it.

So my question is this: Why isn't karate a varsity athletic program here at Columbia?

The problem here extends beyond our campus, and in fact implicates our country as a whole. Karate has yet to emerge, not only on collegiate campuses nationwide, but in the entire country. In South American and European nations, karate athletes are paid to train in the sport and often receive benefits—inconceivable to any American karate athlete—for their performances in competition. In contrast, winning competitions in the United States can mean a medal, sometimes a couple hundred dollars, and sometimes a spot on the national team that travels to other countries to compete. Of course, though, you have to pay for most of that trip out of your own pocket. Winning competitions in a South American or European country can be a source of income, sometimes payng for a new car, or a new house. On the whole, involvement in the sport of karate in these countries affords the chance at a higher quality of life.

The stakes are much higher there than they are here. And that's the reason why these other countries dominate the world championships, while we're happy about coming away with a bronze medal. In America, the mentality is, "It'd be nice to win to see my hard work pay off." In other countries, the mentality is, "Karate is literally my job, so I have to win because my family's quality of life is at stake." Until there is more at stake for American athletes like there is for the other competitors in the ring, we can't rely solely on natural talent and expect to perform as well as the other competitors. Karate is what those South American and European athletes live, eat, and breathe. Nothing else. For Americans to be able to match that—while holding a steady job, participating in extracurricular activities, and taking care of other things in their lives—is a tall, if not impossible, order.

The good news is that all is not lost for the future of karate in America. When the International Olympic Committee voted to drop wrestling from the 2020 Olympic program , this reignited the hopes of karate practitioners worldwide that, at last, karate would receive a bid to the prestigious games. Karate is one of eights sports competing for the 26th and final spot this September for the 2020 Olympic program, and if karate makes it, perhaps then the United States will begin to take the sport more seriously. Maybe then American karate athletes will be better prepared for international competition. Maybe then we'll see karate become a varsity sport on campus.

The fact of the matter is, no matter what my dad says, I know I'm not "in the wrong sport." The way that this martial art lends itself to both practicality and sport is what makes it so dynamic, though the latter is often overlooked for the former. Sport karate has been up and coming for a while now but has yet to have its breakthrough moment. The success that American karate athletes might have in the international circuit if we, as a nation, establish programs devoted to it at the college level and beyond is hard to fathom. But it's time that our campus, and our nation as a whole, begins to embrace the sport of karate more fully, and if it takes an Olympic bid for us to start doing so, then so be it.


Melissa Cheung is a Columbia College sophomore. Closing In runs biweekly.
sports@columbiaspectator.com