那一年是1974年 Newt Engle was carpooling to class at the University of Akron from his parent's home in Canton for the start of a day that forever changed the landscape of the Akron Rifle program.
从那一天起,恩格尔开始了他的神奇之旅, 在2023- 2024年竞选期间,该计划将进入第50个年头.
在他辉煌的任期内, 两届大学步枪教练协会年度最佳教练, 看到他的阿克伦队在过去20年里排名前15吗, 包括一个节目最好的No. 2020年6分. 在外线,他的球队的平均绩点是3分.自2016年起,每学期成绩达到2分或以上. 此外,他是阿克伦体育名人堂的成员.
“我来了大约一个星期后,我的一个高中好朋友 Dave Claus 跟我说他们下周三要进行步枪队选拔赛,他说你想去恩格尔说. “我说你说步枪队是什么意思, 他说这里有一支步枪队他们要进行选拔赛, 也许我们可以组成球队. 所以我们下来见了教练,她的名字是 南希Worsencroft他们给了我们一些步枪,剩下的就是历史了. 我们都参加了选拔,进入了球队,我们都在球队里打了四年球."
恩格尔继续为拉链队拍摄了三年, 包括在1975年和1976年赢得联赛冠军, 直到命运的转折给了他一个永远改变他一生的机会. In 1977, Worsencroft suffered a serious injury that required her to move away from Ohio to recover and Engle was elevated to head coach for his senior year, 这个职位他已经担任了47年.
“在成为教练之前,我实际上打了三年球, 第四年我仍然是一个竞争者, 但我是个好胜的教练恩格尔说. “这是一段漫长的旅程. I think back every year to when I joined and started the team and even when I started coaching what a challenge it was just to keep six to eight people shooting. In order to get six to eight people to come down and two or three people to tryout so we could keep the numbers on the team at a respectable level was a challenge."
挑战对恩格尔来说并不是什么新鲜事,他一直坚持不懈,成为十大网赌平台推荐任期最长的教练.
“当时最大的挑战是让人们知道我们在这里,并为球队试训恩格尔说. “当他们这么做的时候, we'd tried to find out if they had any experience and I can vividly remember when someone would come down and say they shot for a few years on a junior club and we'd go you don't need to tryout, 你是队里的. 你有经验,你以前做过这个,你是团队成员."
从他不起眼的开始到大学和体育系的大力支持, 当恩格尔第一次能够提供学生运动员奖学金时,他感到很惊讶.
"I can remember the first time the University said we might be able to come up with some scholarship money for you and it was a small stipend I could offer to a female athlete, 我就想,我们该怎么做呢."
恩格尔清楚地记得他第一次见面的那一天 Cori Flask, 全国排名的大学射手, 谁在全国排名前十, 住在特温斯堡, Ohio, 他收到了这份工作并且永远地改变了这个项目的面貌.
“我想我要开车过去,看看能不能见见科妮和她爸爸。Bill)恩格尔说. "I went to talk to her about the possibility of coming to Akron and shooting for the Zips for a small scholarship and in my mind I was prepared to hear that all these other schools want me too so why would I go to Akron? 她的回答让我大吃一惊, 'I was so hoping you were going to ask me because I don't want to go very far from home and I really want to shoot for Akron.“我记得我坐在那里目瞪口呆了一会儿,最后终于出来了——那太棒了."
正如恩格尔所说,这是其他全国排名的射手想要来阿克伦参加比赛的开始.
“Cori来到阿克伦开始了越来越多有经验的人, people that were nationally-ranked or even others on the national development team saying hey Akron is a place where I could go and do well,恩格尔解释道.
The results have been evident ever since as Akron is now a destination for shooters looking to compete on the collegiate level under the tutelage of Engle and his staff.
"Right now, 我们正在为2024年秋季招聘大量人才, 我们有很多潜在的学生运动员填写了问卷,说他们想来阿克伦恩格尔说. "We must review and decide how we're going to pick three and maybe four people out of this massive group and narrow it down to those we want to make offers to. 这是一种祝福, 但同时也是一种诅咒,因为我最讨厌做的一件事就是拒绝."
The elevation of the program has made these decisions even tougher every year for Engle as he looks to meld a core of returnees with a talented mix of newcomers.
"It is tough when you have people sitting in front of you and I can see the want in their eyes that they truly want to come to Akron恩格尔说. "I'm getting better at saying up front we're going to have to explore some other opportunities because you're not at the point we can place you on the team. 我讨厌那样,因为我觉得我要压扁他们, 我不想那么做, 但与此同时,我坐在大椅子上,我要做这些决定. 尽管困难重重,但它使我们现在处于一个具有全国竞争力的位置."
恩格尔接着描述了他在学生运动员身上寻找的东西.
“一开始我们会看分数, 但我们从经验中了解到,分数实际上是关于No的. 在我们寻找的名单上有3个。. “我告诉人们,它最初将从分数开始, but after that we'll rearrange that and what has become most important is that we want a team maker and not a team breaker. Secondly, 我们问你想学什么, 如果你说我想成为一名工程师, or a nurse, 或者去十大网赌平台推荐学习舞蹈、戏剧或其他专业, 那我就说我知道你有分数因为我看着你, I know you're a team maker because everyone really likes you and now you're searching for a degree you want and now you've checked off my three boxes so let's talk."
恩格尔最大的快乐就是看到他的学生运动员在阿克伦的发展, 但在他们毕业后成为的人身上,更是如此.
"My time at Akron has put me in a position where I probably have one of the largest families of any man in the United States, 只是因为我做了这么久恩格尔说.
善于沟通, 恩格尔形容他的球队更像是一个家庭,而不仅仅是一个球队和他的两个女儿, 安吉和艾普丽尔, 作为全国排名的射手参加了阿克伦步枪队.
他为这些关系感到自豪, 他还分享了他的一位前运动员的故事, Julia Hatch, 他在拉链队打了四年球,后来又做了两个赛季的十大最好的网赌平台生助理, 还有她即将举行的婚礼.
“我发短信给 Julia, 谁要在十月结婚, 她说我怀疑你不能去参加婚礼了恩格尔说. "I said well Julia you were here for six years so you know that is in the middle of our prime season so you're correct I'm not going to be able to go, 但我知道你知道我只希望你一切都好,你也知道你需要给我发一些照片."
永远是创新者, 当拉链队在斯蒂尔田径馆举办2016年NCAA步枪锦标赛时,命运眷顾了恩格尔, 第一次由阿克伦主办的NCAA锦标赛.
这是一个充满法律和后勤挑战的四年过程, the Zips became the first school to host the championships on a fully portable range that would support both the air rifle and smallbore competitions.
"It is one of the proudest moments for me hosting the NCAA Championships in 2016 as that was a four-year process to get there and it started with getting over the legal and health and safety challenges to get our general counsel and health and occupational safety departments to approve it恩格尔说. “我也很自豪的是,当我们在大学里碰壁的时候, 法律或安全墙, 被问到我们需要做些什么来实现这一目标. 引用我们现任体育总监的话 查尔斯•格思里, 我们想办法实现它,他们做到了, and it is one of the things I'm proudest of is it took the NCAA Rifle and like I've often said busted us out of the basement."
2016年之前, 想要举办NCAA冠军赛的学校必须有12分或更大的差距才能举办, 必须在小口径靶场射击, 许多场馆都设在十大最好的网赌平台最底层的建筑里,没有地方供观众观看.
"Before 2016 we found we could set up a portable air rifle range in a basketball arena or a field house and we could have our air rifle championships which had been getting bigger and bigger, 但我们的小口径冠军总是被困在地下室的某个地方恩格尔说. “当我们在2016年这样做的时候, 事情开始于我爸爸去看冠军赛问为什么他们不在这里打小口径. 我说他们不能这么做,然后事情就开始了, 他看着我说,为什么不呢,事情就是这样开始的, 然后就像滚雪球一样越滚越大."
2016年,当超过8岁时,令人惊讶的事情发生了,000人在线观看了冠军赛,超过1,在斯蒂尔田径馆的看台上有000名球迷. 第二年这个模型, NCAA便携式靶场, 成为了以后所有NCAA步枪锦标赛的标准. 拉链队再次成功举办了2023年的NCAA锦标赛,这是詹姆斯大学最新一次举办NCAA锦标赛. 罗兹竞技场.
"This is one of my proudest moments to be able to do that and have a lasting effect on the NCAA to where now any school with a rifle program can host恩格尔说. “不仅如此,观众不仅可以观看气步枪, 但他们也可以看小口径, 所以它改变了全国篮球运动的面貌,我对此感到非常自豪."
The Zips continued their elevation as a program when the squad earned its first-ever team berth into the NCAA Championships in 2020. 不幸的是,从未有人争夺过冠军, 这让恩格尔直到今天都感到悲伤,因为他失去了团队成员的机会.
“(2020年)对我来说仍然很难谈论,但当这件事发生时,真正伤害我的是车队恩格尔说. "Since then it has really increased my determination that we are going to do this again and we're going to qualify and we're going to go. 就像我自2020年以来一直说的那样,我们不会满足于仅仅去,我们想要定位."
These are not just words for anyone that knows Engle these are the seeds that motivate him and the Zips to future greatness.
“在本赛季到目前为止我们举行的团队会议上,我们已经让他们知道我们的目标不是成为第一. 第8支球队,我们想和其他球队一起去那里,知道阿克伦有能力赢得比赛. 我的想法是,我希望今年是我们开始每年都去的一年,让我们去成为常规. 2020年发生的事情可能是最大的喜悦,其次是可能发生的最大的悲伤. 我想把它擦掉,让我们每年都能赚到钱."
The drive, 多年来,所有Zips的决心和专注使这个家庭成为恩格尔感到无比自豪的家庭.
"I've heard over and over again that Akron is a really good team because they are like a family and I'm really proud of that, 我们为此努力工作恩格尔说.
他们怎么说纽特·恩格尔
“我认识纽特将近25年了, 首先是作为一名少年运动员, 然后作为大学运动员, 现在是一名教练. I feel it's impossible to think about collegiate rifle and not think of Newt and his longevity and significant contributions that he has made to our sport over his career. 他也是一个了不起的人,对他的运动员有着巨大的热情,对十大网赌平台推荐有着难以置信的爱."
- Ryan Tanoue ——俄亥俄州立大学首席步枪教练
“我不知道你如何用语言来表达纽特对我和我的家人意味着什么. 纽特在十大网赌平台推荐开始射击的时间和我祖父差不多, Denny Stanec他在大学里被枪杀. As a result, 他们俩是很长时间的朋友,是丹尼让我在10岁的时候开始射击. 在我的第一次训练中,我遇到了纽特,从那时起我们就成为了一生的朋友. 他是今天的我不可或缺的一部分,是他塑造了现在的我,使我成为一个有职业道德的人."
“我在十大网赌平台推荐短暂的几年里充满了许多艰苦的工作, long hours, 很多笑声, 还有一些艰难的时刻. 纽特全程都在,寸步不离. 他为我们的运动、我们的运动员和我们的工作所倡导的方式与我所见过的任何人都不同."
- Dr. Abbey Stanec -十大网赌平台推荐恩格尔的前十大最好的网赌平台生助理
媒体联系人:Sean Palchick, spalchick@dgtart.com