Highs, Lows, and pink shirts

UDA at NMSU Monthly Updates

Pink shirts

The staff and players would like to thank everyone for their support during the UDA@NMSU Pink Shirt Fundraiser!

We received over 200 donations from family and friends as well as close to 100 of those donations coming from the Las Cruces community. Hopefully ALL of those that donated will be regulars at our fixtures once they start in the Spring.

UDA will be donating over $1,000 to the MMC Cancer Care Center in Las Cruces.

We would like to thank the following for their support in making this a success:Julian Alexander - Writer - Director - Filmmaker 
www.julianmakesfilms.com

Julian literally put together a crew and filmed our commercial for our fundraiser in about two hours and then shot footage in a couple more with our team. Julian is a former NMSU Aggie as well as a UDA Alum. UDA helped Julian onto his Master’s program at Leeds Beckett University where he earned his MFA in Filmmaking. He currently resides in London where he is working on his PhD and continues to teach at NMSU.

Watch the Video here:
www.udaus.org/pink-shirt-orders.html

Brian Weidauer - Ice Box Brewing Company
www.iceboxbrewing.com

Brian is another NMSU Alum and General Manager of Ice Box Brewing Company, a locally owned and operated brewery in Las Cruces. Ice Box was gracious enough to allow UDA to promote our Pink Shirt Fundraiser and our Academy at all three of their locations and outfitted their front of house staff in Pink Shirts! We estimate that we had over 100 donations from Ice Box patrons and look forward to all of them supporting our program as we ramp up in the Spring.

CW Ward - House of Grafix  
www.facebook.com/houseofgrafixlc

CW is also an NMSU Alum and Owner of local print shop, House of Grafix. He managed to provide UDA with all of our Pink Shirts as well as worked around the numerous orders we continue to push his way over the course of the last couple of weeks. 
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"Highs" from the Past Month

As a staff, we are extremely proud of how our boys have adapted to a “less than perfect” semester both in the classroom and on the pitch. 

I am equally impressed with the job Tahlon and Alexis have done to continue to get the most out of each training session, adapt to ever-changing mandates and continue to monitor the academic progress of all of our student athletes.

One of the many positives that we have experienced over the past month, aside from the beautiful weather here in Las Cruces, is the continued evolution of our players from a Strength and Conditioning perspective. Siddeeq Shabazz (NMSU Alum) has brought a level of professionalism that most programs can only hope for. 
With the addition of access into the weight room at the Activities Center (limited to five players at a time now), Siddeeq continues to push our players to get better physically and emotionally as it relates to S&C. 

With that being said, we would like to thank Dan Montoya and Nor Benzoni from the Activities Center for providing UDA with access to the weight room and LIGHTS on the outdoor field for the “early morning” S&C sessions! Great support from the NMSU community for the UDA program.

Plans for the UDA Soccer Field are almost finalized and construction should start by the end of this year. With that target, the pitch will be ready for the Fall semester 2021. We are very grateful to NMSU, Dr. Renay Scott and everyone that has pitched in to make this happen. THANK YOU!

UDA entered into a partnership with FYZICAL Therapy and Balance Center to provide our UDA players Athletic Training, Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy care throughout their time in the UDA@NMSU Soccer Academy. Special thanks to FYZICAL’s David Gallegos (NMSU Alum) for providing an extra level of care to UDA players!

"Lows" from the Past Month

From the standpoint of our games program, the current situation in New Mexico, the surrounding area and on-campus at NMSU has limited us from an “outside” competition standpoint. Travel restrictions, mandatory quarantine and size limits on groups have provided us with a number of roadblocks to navigate.

Over the past 10 weeks, the coaching staff has adapted to what the Governor’s Mandates require and have provided as much “competition,” along with continued training sessions, as possible whilst working within the rules and regulations set forth by the state and the university.

While we have had some opportunities to play outside competition over the past couple of months, as a staff we have made the hard decision to “error on the side of caution” as it relates to potentially exposing our  players to COVID-19. As part of the larger NMSU community, it is our responsibility to act in as safe a manner as possible as to not expose others as we continue to have the opportunities to operate and train in as normal a way as possible. 

We do believe that the UPSL fixtures will run as planned in the Spring and hope that the NIRSA University league will reschedule their Fall season for the Spring as well. 

With that being said, we will continue to provide close to 20 hours per week in various training opportunities and be ready to step on the pitch for a match should that opportunity present itself prior to the end of the semester.

Moving Forward

With the holidays approaching, the staff is working to outline how the next six weeks will operate given state and university mandates on travel, quarantine, group activities and our student-athletes plans for Holiday travel.

As you know, the COVID-19 situation is ever evolving and we will update everyone as we confirm our schedule for November/December. ​​