Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays from the Zips! The Akron Zips have had a good December going 4-1 heading into the Holidays. We recently topped off a 4 game winning streak by beating Chicago State on the road. Road trips to Chicago are always a fun bonding time with the team. We really get to know each other on the long bus trip. It is also a great time to get up to date on some current movies. Coach Kest loves movies so trips to Blockbuster are a must for our long road trips. During our trip to Chicago we kept with the Holiday spirit and watched Elf (Great Flick) and Four Christmas!

December is also a fun month with team because we do our annual "Secret Santa". At Akron we really get into it. We decorate our awesome lockeroom with a tree filled with ornaments. Each player has their own personal ornament as well as their own personal stocking with is hung in their locker. Throughout the month we receive clues and little gifts from our "Secret Santa's". It is always fun to try and figure out who has who. Most years it is always a struggle for the girls to keep who they have a secret. But this year it seems as if they have done a good job so far. Once we return from break we will have our annually Holiday Party at Coach Kest's House and reveal our Secret Santa's. This is fun time for all!

I hope you and your families had a great Holiday. The Zips are now back on campus and we are preparing for our last 2 non-conference games against Temple and Lehigh! These will be great tests as we head into MAC play! We hope to see you Monday December 28th at 7pm as we take on the Temple Owls!!!

Until Next Time... GO ZIPS!!!

- Coach Jackson

Signing Day!!!

Last Wednesday we welcomed our 2010 "Fab Four" Recruiting Class. Kacie, Sina, Hanna, and Carly are four very successful basketball players and great people. We are so happy to officially make them part of our Akron family. Above are a few pics from their signings! Also click on the link to read more about these great individuals! Until next time! Go Zips!

http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=47196&SPID=4339&DB_OEM_ID=10800&ATCLID=204831684

- Coach Jackson

Halloween Akron Style!!!

Halloween is always a fun Holiday with the University of Akron Women's Basketball Team. As always the girls did a great job with their costumes. We had an array of creative costumes. The coaching staff also really got into it as well. As you can see in the pics we had everything from Aerobic instructors to Yoshi (That's me... Coach Jackson). Along with the fun of costumes we again had a great team dinner at Coach Kest's House. The team sure can eat!!! Luckily they do a great job burning off those calories on the court! I wish I could say the same! :) We hope everyone had a great Halloween!

- Coach Jackson

End of Preseason

The Zips worked extremely hard this preseason and really pushed themselves thru the last couple of weeks. Each player showed improvement both in the weight room and on the track. They preserved through adversity and step it up to achieve their goals. We are all extremely excited about the upcoming practices and ready to get our season underway!!!

This year to conclude our preseason and kickoff practice we had a great team dinner at Coach Kest’s house. It is always a very entertaining time at Coach Kest’s. She loves having the team over for fun, food, and games. On this night we had lasagna and garlic bread (a team favorite). The girls ate every ounce of the lasagna. Boy, can this team eat!
After dinner we handed out our preseason awards. We wanted to recognize the athletes that showed the most improvement and the ones that consistently worked hard everyday. Below is a list of the winners.

Most Improved in Weight Room: Jasmine Mushington

Most Improved in Conditioning: Natasha Williams

Best overall in Conditioning: Rachel Tecca

Iron Zip: Kara Murphy

Also, as you can see in the pics. Coach Kest knows a few things about gadgets! Here you can see her new 90inch projector TV. Yes it has HD! Until next Time

- Coach Jackson

Women's Basketball Gives Back to the Community

The Women’s Basketball team has been provided the opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of many. To kick off the community service endeavors for the year, the team made a visit to Akron Children’s Hospital. The Hematology/Oncology Division held a “Cancer Sport Week” which allowed us the chance to socialize and get to know some of the patients who had been diagnosed with cancer. The patients were enormously upbeat and great fun to be around!! It was definitely an eye-opening and uplifting experience and makes you appreciate the blessings that you have received.

Our next event took place on at Sue Lang’s open house. Sue Lang is a Safety Communications Technician who works with 911 operators for the Akron Police Department. She has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and her home was beginning to deteriorate beyond repair. Last April, the team was able to help in the transformation of her home by painting the living room, kitchen, hallway, and some furniture items. Being able to return once all work had been completed allowed for us to celebrate with Sue and all other helpers that had participated in the city-wide project. To see an article in the Akron Beacon Journal, go to Ohio.com, and search for the article titled, “They Are Their Sister’s Keeper.”

Most recently, the Women’s Basketball team spent time with members of the Golden Hearts senior citizen organization at Northwest Family Recreation Center on. After a few competitive games of bingo, the team and group parted ways but had been provided the chance to build long-lasting friendships.

Upcoming community outreach events:

Bridges School Basketball Clinic Oct. 8
Elementary Reading Oct. 19
Hot Meals Oct. 27
Rockynol Retirement Community Oct. 29

-Candace Wilson

Director of Basketball Operations

Preseason Workouts

Akron Women’s Basketball preseason training is well under way. The goal of our strength and conditioning program at The University of Akron is to help the athletes reach their full athletic potential. Three times a week early morning our team gets up and meets at the weight room. After a thorough warm up, to get the blood flowing, we head into the weight room. Inside the walls of the weight room we work to become strong and powerful. This team is starting to see the benefits after several weeks of hard work. As the team adapts to their workouts, the weights are going up and the girls are getting stronger.

Outside the walls of the weight room we become fast, agile and conditioned. The Zips Women’s Basketball team gets together for conditioning several times a week. These conditioning sessions have increased in difficulty each week leading up to the peak of preseason. We are getting our team fully prepared to head into practice and prepare for a rigorous schedule of both non-conference and Mid American Conference match-ups. Last week was the hardest sprint workout the girls had to face yet. They worked through it as a team, and pushed themselves harder than they have before. Each athlete is learning, in their own way, how to give it a little more when they think there is nothing left to give. Heading into season if we can transfer over that mentality with the physical preparedness, it seems as if it will be a good year to watch Akron Women’s Basketball.

- Coach Loyd

Associate Head Coach

Zips New Football Stadium

When the start of the football season neared, a new excitement was growing on and around campus. I was one of the lucky fans to have taken a stadium tour before it had opened to the public. My expectations were exceeded and I was blown away by the result of two years of construction. Every little detail was taken into consideration and after sitting in almost every section, I would have to say that there is no bad seat in the stadium.

Opening day was one I will always remember. Zip fans made their way to campus, some for the first time in many years to celebrate this historic moment for the university. The atmosphere was great, with a live band providing entertainment and a bunch of activities for the little Zip fans. Our team decided to join in on the festivities by tailgating. We had a great spread and we even had brand new corn hole boards!!

Infocision Stadium is the best football stadium in the MAC. Combine that with our field house and any program in the country would be hard pressed to beat our facilities. I encourage all fans to make it to a game and take in the game-day experience on our beautiful campus. Hope to see you at the next home game. GO ZIPS!!!

- Coach Ruffing

Welcome!!!

Hello Zip Fans! We have decided to keep up with technology and add a blog as another way to read about your favorite team. As we take on this new venture, we hope to provide you with fun pictures, exclusive interviews, current news and a whole lot more. You will hear from our players, coaching staff, and a few special guests. We are excited about our new blog as we look forward to sharing with you all that is Akron Women’s Basketball.

As summer “officially” ends, we are very busy preparing for the upcoming season. We have been on campus for about a month and the team’s schedule has been full of activity. This time is very important to us as we want our players to get off to a great start academically. We also are in the midst of our preseason conditioning efforts and the girls are working hard every day to build a strong foundation for the season.

Also, during this time the NCAA allows us to have 8 hours of contact (a week) with our players. Only two of those eight hours can be spent on the court with a basketball. Up until last week, Sept 15th, we worked with our players in groups of 4 working on skill development. We are now allowed to use those two hours and workout as a whole team. Sept 15th is like Christmas for the coaching staff :)! Although we love working our girls out individually there is just something special about having the whole team together for the first time! The first week of our “mini” practices went really well. The upperclassmen were focused and the freshmen really caught on in the drills and concepts that we taught them. We are looking forward to another great week of team individuals, conditioning, lifting, and open gym!

We officially begin practice on October 16th. These next four weeks are very important as we work towards our goals. Our coaching staff is confident that the girls will continue to push themselves both in the classroom and on the court. We want to be as ready as can be on October 16th!


Until next time! Go Zips!



- Coach Jackson

New SpringWidget

Get this widget!