{"id":8220,"date":"2017-12-29T17:58:23","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T22:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=8220"},"modified":"2018-08-18T18:33:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T22:33:09","slug":"olivier-dumont-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/olivier-dumont-3\/","title":{"rendered":"What It Takes to Be a Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Article by Olivier Dumont<\/p>\n

Three Hunter Hawk standouts were interviewed about the strategies and philosophies that they believe helped them to make impressive contributions to their teams. This year’s Most Valuable Player of the Women’s CUNYAC\/Pepsi Volleyball Championship, Taylor Haiduk,<\/a> a junior and first team All-Star, has played a key role as a killer outside hitter for the last three years. In a self-assessment about her accomplishments, she said in an interview, \u201cI think it\u2019s fundamentals, like you need to have good footwork and good ball control otherwise it\u2019s not easy and it\u2019s not going to come naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season\u2019s CUNYAC Player of the Year Award winner Joe Muir,<\/a> the men\u2019s volleyball team libero and captain, said very talented players have heart and energy. \u201cYou have guys like Giancarlo Stanton who\u2019s 6-foot-6 and wins the NL MVP in baseball<\/a> and then you have guys like Jose Altuve who wins the AL MVP in baseball<\/a> at 5-foot-6, so there\u2019s definitely not something you need physically in order to be amazing, it\u2019s just how much effort you want to put into it and how much time you\u2019re willing to put into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second team All Star on the men\u2019s basketball team last season, Matt Franks,<\/a> a forward, said exceptional basketball players need to be selfless. \u201cI think an amazing basketball player is unselfish and has a good combination of talent, smarts, athleticism and work ethic,\u201d said the 21-year-old senior who\u2019s lives in Westchester, New York. “I\u2019ve always been told that you always win the championship in the off season.\u201d The 6-foot-5 Franks was interviewed as he sat on the fourth floor of the library, with red hair and a scruffy beard and wearing dark blue jeans and a dark grey, long sleeve shirt. \u201cIn the off season, that\u2019s when you\u2019re working hard to get better, stronger, and faster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Taylor Haiduk. Courtesy of Hunter Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n

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Matt Franks. Picture courtesy Hunter Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI lift at least four days a week, I run at least three days a week, and then over the summer, we have a lift program and I work out with my trainer three days a week,\u201d said Haiduk, a human biology major who lives in Astrid, Queens. She was interviewed as she sat at a table on the fourth floor of the library and wore a purple Hunter athletics T-shirt, black leggings and Nike sneakers.<\/p>\n

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For Muir, it\u2019s a similar process. \u201cFive days a week in the gym, and I do spin and swim classes every Wednesday to try to get the endurance up so that way I can last long in a five-set match.\u201d Muir, who lives in Hunter\u2019s Brookdale Dorms on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, also said, \u201cIt\u2019s all before the season and then during the season, it\u2019s all maintenance, making sure you\u2019re staying healthy and not getting injured.\u201d The 21-year-old media major and senior, sporting shoulder long hair in a ponytail, was interviewed at a table on the fourth floor of the library. He wore grey sweatpants and a maroon and grey colored long sleeve shirt.<\/p>\n

Their talent is reflected in their stats. Haiduk, for example, collected a season and team high 417 kills last year. Muir lead the men\u2019s team last season with a total of 367 digs. Muir, however, felt that digs wasn\u2019t his best skill or specialty. \u201cIf you can control the game from serve receive and you can pass the ball well, then you can be able to put the ball away and score points,\u201d said Muir. \u201cWhile digs show up on the stat sheet, the passes don\u2019t, and I think that\u2019s more important, that would be my strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

As her 417 kills last season demonstrate, Haiduk excels on offense, but enjoys defense more. \u201cWhen you get a dig, I feel it\u2019s more rewarding than getting a kill because you can get a kill off anything, you can get a kill off a tip, you can get a kill off a free ball,\u201d said Haiduk, who recorded 277 digs on the year, her second highest season total. She collected a total of 299 kills this season with an average of 3.1 per set.<\/p>\n

Scoring an average 11.2 points per game as well 6.2 rebounds per game over his career, Franks said that consistency was important. \u201cMe and my coach always talk about how it\u2019s good to have a steady presence on the floor at all times, and I take pride in the fact that I never get too high or too low,\u201d said Franks, a double major in political science and economics. He said he helped the team because he is a consistent scoring threat. \u201cI think I\u2019m a pretty good shooter. I think that shooting is probably the skill that opens up the best possibilities for my team,\u201d he said. He has been scoring 11.7 points per game, snatching 5.7 rebounds and handing out 1.4 assists this season.<\/p>\n

Besides the team winning its fourth straight CUNYAC title and the Hawks’ 24th championship, the most by any in CUNYAC women’s volleyball history<\/a>, Haiduk said the Hawks still face challenges next year. \u201cI think other CUNY teams definitely recruited really well this year; I feel like the level of play from last year to this year, definitely increased significantly,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re also recruiting, we\u2019re regionally ranked seventh, and we went to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year in a row. We have a really good team already so I\u2019m pretty confident we will win again.\u201d<\/p>\n

2018 can be a big challenge for the men’s volleyball team because of the loss of three superb veterans, All-American Steven Tarquinio, setter Nicolas Sanchez, and opposite hitter Ben Crusinberry. [See sidebar.]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Joseph Muir. Courtesy of Hunter Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n

But Muir said he believed the men\u2019s team can win a third consecutive conference title as well but “it\u2019s going to have to be 100 percent hustle, defense, and teamwork to win every single game. We are not going to be able to rely on or hop on the backs of Cruz or Steve to win us a game, we\u2019re going to have to do it collectively as a team every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s basketball team hasn\u2019t won a CUNYAC title since 1998 and Franks is hungry for a title win. \u201cI\u2019ve played with so many different players in my four years, and being close with teammates that I\u2019ve played with in the past, I know how much it would mean for them, if they had won,\u201d he said. \u201cSo playing for everyone that has played at Hunter, winning one for Hunter College would mean a lot.\u201d Franks scored in double digits in all but six games last season. He said that the talent across the CUNY Conference this year is evenly spread out, posing a challenging task for the men\u2019s team to overcome.<\/p>\n

Although Franks said at the time of his interview that it was still early in the season, he was confident that the team will do good. \u201cI think we have a good chance. We have a lot of different players that can score, so it\u2019s not always going to be the same person every game who gets 20 points and leads the team,\u201d said Franks. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to have that, especially come playoff time. It\u2019s great to know that if I\u2019m not having a good game, anyone of my teammates could step up and have their best game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interviewed athletes emphasized the importance of leadership. Haiduk said, \u201cAs far as being a leader, it\u2019s not something I try to do, it\u2019s more of my attitude on the court and how I carry myself, like my coach always tells me, I\u2019m a leader not by choice, but because that\u2019s who I am.\u201d She said that leadership is not defined by individuality but by unity. \u201cIt\u2019s not even that I think I have to have so much leadership on this team, it\u2019s more of a camaraderie; as long as I\u2019m there, and I play my part, everyone else will do their part,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Franks evaluated his leadership role as well. \u201cI\u2019m not the loudest person, I\u2019m not the most outgoing person, so it\u2019s important to have different types of leaders on a team,” he said. “There can be a lot of distractions, there\u2019s a lot of things going on at school, and I think that I\u2019ve been pretty successful in the last three years at staying balanced between school and basketball.\u201d Franks, who sunk the game winning shot on December 5 against Medgar Evers, helping the Hawks to their second straight victory, said, \u201cI like to relate what I\u2019ve learned to the younger players on our team who think it will help them going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interviewed athletes said being Hawks made them feel like they were part of a family. \u201cAs corny as it sounds, when you wear the name across your chest, you\u2019re representing more than just yourself, you\u2019re representing the team and all of our great staff members,\u201d said Haiduk. \u201cI have friends on every single team; we go to everyone\u2019s games and everyone comes to ours, it\u2019s nice when you see your friends up in the stands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a part of this program is being a part of a family,\u201d said Muir.<\/p>\n

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The three interviewed student athletes said they were not interested in playing professionally but did say they were interested in playing abroad in Europe. A friend of Haiduk and Muir, Steve Tarquinio<\/a>, is playing a fifth year in England. \u201cHe\u2019s playing at Durham, so that\u2019s a possibility. But if not, city volleyball is very popular, they have tons of leagues, so I won\u2019t stop playing,\u201d said Haiduk, who also said graduating on time was a priority. \u201cOlympics probably not, I need to get a job. As of right now, I\u2019m very goal oriented in going to PT school and becoming a physical therapist, that\u2019s the goal right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muir said he dreamed of playing abroad as well as in the Olympics. \u201cGoing overseas and playing in England or Italy, absolutely, that\u2019s what I want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cAs for the Olympics, not quite sure I\u2019ll make Team USA, but maybe I\u2019ll become a Canadian citizen and tryout for their team.\u201d Franks said Italy would be a great opportunity. \u201cI studied abroad in Italy, it would be cool going there; Italy\u2019s a beautiful country, that would be the ideal place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Olivier Dumont can be reached at olivier.dumont03@myhunter.cuny.edu<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Olivier Dumont
\nThree Hunter Hawk standouts were interviewed about the strategies and philosophies that they said helped them to make impressive contributions to their teams.<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[604,603,602,606,607,605],"class_list":["post-8220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","tag-champions","tag-hunter-college-athletics","tag-hunter-college-hawks","tag-outstanding-athletes","tag-student-athletes","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8220"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8522,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8220\/revisions\/8522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}