|
||||||
|
THE SEARCH FOR ADJECTIVES TO DESCRIBE THE TEXAS A & M WEB SITE The Texas A & M aggies are the defending IHSA National Champion Stock Seat Team. Technically the aggies are the three-time defending champions, having sharred the title with Ohio State in 2002 and with West Texas A & M in 2003 before winning outright last season. The Texas A & M Hunter Seat Team was Zone 7, Region 2 Region Champion last season as well. Texas A & M also has one of the best College Sports Web Sites you will ever see, not only for Equestrian but for all sports. The information found on the Football and Basketball Teams and their players is nearly identical to the Equestrian Team and their riders. This writer searched for a way to describe the aggie's site, only to fall back on a series of adjectives. "Comprehensive." The Texas A & M Equestrian Team Web Site (http://www.aggieathletics.com/index.php?SID=WEQ) offers biographies on the 2004-05 Riders and Coaches, recent Press Releases related to the aggie english and western equestrian teams, the Show Schedule, Results from the 2003-04 season and perhaps the finest description of a school's on campus riding facility I have ever seen. "Spectacular." Besides an in-depth description of the N.W. "Dick" Freeman Arena (which was the site of 1994 IHSA Nationals) the "History" icon allows viewers to step back in time to see who was on the roster all the way back to the 1999-2000 season. According to the site the aggies went varsity on September 16, 1999 and even listed a graduate student by the name of Tana Buckner on their '99-'00 roster! Though the complete rider bios are no longer accessible from that first varsity season, the bios for all the riders who competed Fall 2000 forward are intact, including that of three-time AQHA Cup Champion Quincy Cahill. The show-by-show results are also available. "Simplicity." The home page for the aggie's site includes the show schedule on the right, the icons for the Riders, Coaches and Results on the left and noteworthy recent stories in the middle. Off the top of my head I could not think of something the average viewer would be looking for that could not be spotted within five seconds on the home page. "Thorough." The biographies for each rider not only list hometown and high school, but also include their height (weight is not listed, which will come as a relief to some). There are paragraphs devoted to each rider's history by season. An example would be Katie Forest's 2002-03 season. The then-sophomore only finished worse than second twice in 14 total open level stock seat classes and was the most prolific Zone 7, Region 2 rail rider that season with 39 points. The final paragraph in each bio contains personal information. One will learn that Forest was born in London, England, that stock seat rider Celeste Slaughter was "Sixth in poles and ninth in Keyhole at the 2003 National Appaloosa Horse Show" and that hunter seat rider Melissa Loontjer has been riding 9 years, primarily eventing. A quick glance at past bios shows that former Cacchione Cup rider Meredith Houx's favorite food is quacamole and that her favorite movie is Dirty Dancing! "Traditional." The Press Releases are often recounts of the shows themselves. The Headline story this week discusses the upcoming Open House at Texas A & M, at which time anyone can meet Head Coach Tana Rawson and many of the aggie riders. An added bonus will be free rides on the A & M horses for anyone over the age of seven. The home page also includes a question and answer with Houx, including her comments on the Olympic games and how riders occupy themselves during downtime at shows. Assistant Media Relations Director and Equestrian Contact Chris Harrell oversees the Equestrian portion of the Texas A & M web site. Harrell, who is also involved with other sports at Texas A & M such as swimming, told me the rider biographies were soon to updated yet again, this in order to include more information on 2003-04 accomplishments. Perhaps what separates the aggie's site from other sites is the timely fashion that Harrell gets information on line. Of all the media people at IHSA Nationals, Harrell is always the first one to get an actual account of the events at Nationals onto the internet, for which aggie fans should rejoice. (After reading this article, Harrell himself wanted to mention the people behind the scenes. "The A&M website is under the direction of Drew Martin, Director of the Internet and Special Projects," says Harrell. "Matt Simon and Travis Ward assist him in site design and the uploading of photos and files. I'm more the content manager - bios, press releases, front page of the site, etc.") Save for perhaps streaming video, the Texas A & M web site has it all. If you are looking to start a sports-related web site on your campus, be it equestrian or not, take a look at how it is done at Texas A & M. All the bases are covered and no stone is left unturned. --Steve Maxwell The Texas A & M Equestrian Team's Offical Home Page: |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
HOME
| CONTACT US |
||||||
