I speak only for myself, as the GMU program is passing from the age of a Pickrellian dictatorship to an era where I won't even be the main contact point 12 months from now. Wednesday's practice was the best we've had yet. Six people attended, and it'd have been seven, but my girlfriend has a class during the practice time. Of these, three people were new. We now have enough people to organize as an official student organization. This is a vast improvement from our first practice, where I was the only one in attendance. For the time being, however, we operate administratively as an extension of the GMU Communications Dept and budgetarily as an extension of team member's pockets. Terrapin also fell immediately after my girlfriend's birthday. This unfortunate timing means that I will not be present at many Terrapins. This, however, does not mean that my teammates will not be present; if they wish to attend future Terrapins, and there is sufficient funding, then they will attend. >From my understanding, the difficulty level has decreased from previous years, which is a Good Thing as far as I personally am concerned. However, at this point, I am still the heart and soul of the George Mason team. No longer am I the *only* member, as might have been reasonably concluded from Georgetown Cup. But we have unfortunately not reached the point, administratively, where we can send teams to tournaments without my active participation and involvement, organizationally, financially, etc. Therefore, as I had other plans for that weekend made before Terrapin was even announced for this year, we were unable to consider this year's Terrapin as a possibility (also given that fully 1/2 of the team had not shown up to practice until 48 hours before Terrapin, as well.) We had four players at TRASH regionals. A team that was 3/4 Mason students placed 4th. Had the four of us been a separate team, we would have likely gone about .500, which is respectable. Again, to wit: I had personal reasons for not attending Terrapin which have nothing to do with my liking or disliking the MAQT, and everything to do with my girlfriend. Sadly, we have not evolved yet to a point where a team can be sent without my participation, a point which R-MC had never reached. This point should be reached by the time of the DSHIT. In fact, I would be disappointed if my team chose not to attend. (Side question: would my juniors and seniors be able to attend DSHIT, as this is their first year of academic competition, period?) Shawn Pickrell
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