Extra Motivation

POSTED BY PETER B. GARDNER (BA '98), SENIOR EDITOR

Even though Terrance was invited to participate in the 6 a.m. lifting class with hopes of walking on to the football team as an offensive lineman, he still found himself mired in relative anonymity.

Here and there, though, he'd get a chance to make an impression. "Every now and then, the coaches would stop by and watch us lift," he says. "A couple of times I'd be lifting and Coach Mendenhall would be up on a treadmill, . . . right in front of my station. I'd be like, 'Well, time to push myself harder.' "

Terrance's most memorable encounter came one morning while tying on his shoes in the weight room. The first one there, he was startled when Coach Mendenhall walked in and looked at him. The coach gave a brief greeting and walked past, only to stop, turn around, and say, "You went to Cibola High School, didn't you?" Terrance verified this, and Mendenhall said, "I remembered," before continuing on his way.

"It was really cool that he remembered me," says Terrance.

Cougar Football

Posted by Adam

Alrighty, I've been a little hesitant to put up a post about my love for Cougar football because I fear I would not do it justice.

Just to start off, I love BYU football; some of my earliest memories of my childhood were watching BYU games, wondering why my dad and brother kept yelling at the television every couple minutes. I'm pretty sure I had BYU diapers, and I have always had a couple BYU shirts on hand. All I'm trying to get at is--I'm a born and bred Cougar fan. I haven't missed watching a game in over four years. My yearly calendar essentially revolves around the Cougar football schedule. I even showed up late to a closing night performance of a show I was in because they couldn't pry me away from the TV. I missed the opening number!

So really, BYU football has always been more than just a game to me--it's been an entire life in the making. So you can imagine my excitement when I had the opportunity to come to BYU and get an All-Sport Pass. I actually included the All-Sport Pass fee in my tuition budget--I wasn't going to get an education without being able to see the big games. And of all seasons to come to the school, I've been lucky enough to be at the one where the Cougars are ranked in the top 10 in the nation! I almost explode just thinking about it. I mean, did anyone go to the UCLA game? It was amazing! That stadium was off the hook! The games have been fun, but probably the best part of it all is the fact that I'm practically peers with the guys on the team! Although I still feel like a little boy compared to them.

Last week I was walking to my moped which was parked by the Indoor Practice Facility and, as soon as I get it started, I turn around to see none other than Austin Collie about two feet in front of me. Trying not to look like a complete idiot, I lifted up my jaw and just stared as he passed by me. But I couldn't get the courage to say anything to him; I was star struck for the first time in my life!

But to top it all off, earlier this afternoon, after my ballroom dance class, feeling like an idiot because I suddenly had two left feet on my quiz, I headed over to Jamba Juice with a friend of mine. I got a sour-patch-flavored smoothie. (It's totally off subject, but the sooner everyone else finds out about the secret menu at Jamba Juice, the sooner you'll all be happier in life. They have flavors not on the menu--white gummy bear, Skittles, sour patch, purple dinosaur, and lots of others . . . best of luck.) Anyway, as we were sitting there talking, I look over and notice none other than Curtis Brown at the cash register (if you don't know who he is, he's only BYU's all-time rushing leader) and next to him, Fui Vakapuna! (Now if you don't know who that is, shame on you, he's #1 . . . literally.)

Well, me and my friend just sat there like 12-year-old girls at a Hannah Montana concert; we probably said nothing other than, "Dude!" for like 10 minutes. But I wasn't about to let another opportunity pass me up, so I stood right up, went over, put my hand on Fui's massive shoulder, and said, "Fui Vakapuna, I love you," and shook his hand. Then I repeated the process with Curtis Brown, actually managing to spit out a couple coherent sentences before drooling all over the floor. It was nothing other than awesome! Then I just sat and stared at the beautiful bald heads and massive calves of two of the greatest rushers of all time--in my book at least. Sigh, I love BYU!

Note: Like other posts on The First Year blog, this post was written in 2008 and discusses events (the UCLA football game, meeting Fui Vakapuna and Curtis Brown) that happened a year ago.

Hiking the Y and the First Football Game Ever

Posted by Sini

I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to write anything. Plus I have to admit I'm a really really lazy writer.

So the first two weeks of school have been awfully busy, quite overwhelming sometimes, but also a lot of fun! I really love BYU and I'm so glad to be here! But it's also hard. The greatest thing for me is to be surrounded by so many people who share my faith, principles and values. The regional conference and fireside last Sunday were amazing. I've never seen so many LDS members at one place—I couldn't believe my eyes! In the whole Finland there are around 4,000 members. So this seems like a dream sometimes.

On Saturday we went to hike the Y with our awesome Freshman Academy group, peer mentors, and our Book of Mormon teacher who is also our bishop (isn't that funny). I enjoyed it so much! We don't have mountains in Finland so they are something really special for me. And they are so beautiful. I like being outdoors, camping and hiking, so this hike was just a perfect start for Saturday.

Waking up so early on Saturday morning (we left at 8:30) wasn't my favorite thing though. But I've never hiked the Y before and I wanted to do it so badly so I didn't care about sleeping. And it was worth it, totally!

After the steep climb it felt so good to finally be there on top of the Y. I was the fifth one to reach the top! :) And what a view, it was unbelievable! I can't get enough of the mountains and the amazing views that you have once you climb up one. It's so breathtaking every time! Later we sang "High on the Mountain Top" (very surprising) and the bishop gave a short spiritual message. It was sweet to be up there with all my new friends and lovely roommates and our great bishop; it really feels like we're a big family.

Coming down was a lot easier and a lot faster, but I'd say not as much fun because you don't get the great, victorious feeling that you have when you reach the top. :)

All in all hiking the Y was a great experience! I loved it! And I'm definitely going to do that again some time!

My Saturday continued with the very first American football game of my life. We don't have football in Finland at all. And I think I couldn't have chosen a better game to start with. At first I didn't really understand what was going on in the game. I just cheered when everyone else was cheering. :) I don't know the rules, or I guess I have to say I didn't know the rules. Now I know, a little bit at least. I have never experienced anything like that before. We don't have university sports in Finland and not so many big sports events in general, and I don't think we even have such a big stadium. I almost lost my voice and got a little sunburned but that's part of it, I think. :)

I love being here and experiencing all these new, fun, and exciting things and the difficulties as well. There have been some hard times and bad days when I have thought that coming here was a huge mistake. But honestly I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than here at BYU!

Note: Like other posts on The First Year blog, this post was written in 2008 and discusses events (the regional conference and football game) that happened a year ago.

Judgment Day

Posted by Peter B. Gardner (BA '98), Senior Editor

On Aug. 26 Terrance updated his Facebook status message: “Terrance Motley only has ONE WEEK to prepare.” The countdown continued through the week: “Terrance Motley is 5 days away.” “Terrance Motley is 3 days away from destiny.” “Terrance Motley has 2 days. Judgment day cometh.” “Terrance Motley [has] one more day.” “Terrance Motley: TODAY IS THE DAY.”

The day in question was Sept. 2, the first day of school. But the countdown was for something that loomed much larger in Terrance’s mind: BYU football walk-on tryouts. Amidst his navigations of campus and class syllabi, Terrance found himself lined up in BYU’s Indoor Practice Facility with dozens of other former high school football players who had not been recruited to play for BYU but wanted to take a shot.

After a series of drills, coaches made their evaluations and soon posted the results. As Terrance walked up to the sheet, he was repeating in his mind, “I probably didn’t make it. I didn’t make it.” As he scanned the list of players who had made the team, his name was not there. But then he looked below at the list of people who had been invited to participate in the lifting class, and he saw the words Terrance Motley. Even though he had not made the team, he knew the coaches were interested.

“The coaches liked what they saw,” he says, “but they didn’t have any offensive line spots open.” So they invited Terrance to work out with BYU’s strength and conditioning staff three days a week at 6 a.m. to add to his 280 lbs. frame and prepare himself to possibly join the team later that year or after his mission. And that was enough to make Terrance’s day.