The one-acts had a total of five showings which ran all the way until Sunday, Nov. 19. Each act ran for about 15 minutes and featured both UOG student actors as well as actors from the local community.   

“Cracks” featured nine different short plays and was used as a tool develop the skills of the students taking the TH308 Directing course.

“I’m very happy with the final result,” Anna Prelosky, a Theatre major, stated.

Prelosky directed the act “A Bad Idea.” The act is an original piece written by CJ Ochoco and revolved around two best friends confessing their love for each other on the boy’s wedding day.

Prelosky mentioned that the movie “Love, Rosie” was her biggest influence for her vision of this act and she already had the two perfect actors in mind.

“I went into this process timid and scared to make decisions of my own and came out an actual director,” she said.

For Michaela Pangelinan, who is new to the world of acting, her experience with “Cracks” almost did not happen.

“At first, I told myself that because of my hectic school schedule, it was [going to be] a  no for me,” she said.

Pangelinan eventually ended up changing her mind and took on the role of Julianne Anderson in “The Weighting Room.”

She said that adjusting to her role as a woman in purgatory was difficult at first.

   “At times I found it challenging putting myself in [Julianne’s] emotional state,” she said.

   “I realized that even though something seems impossible to do or overcome, with the proper support, mindset and dedication, you will power through.”

Another UOG Theatre major, Hannah Elmore, played the leading role of Miss Julie in the first act of the same name and directed the fifth act entitled “The Proposal.”

“I was super excited to be directing,” Elmore said.  “I’ve directed before but it had been a while directing for the stage so it was nice to be doing that again.”

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UOG ended the game with a 47 point lead and maintained a 10 to 15 point lead during all of the game’s quarters. 

The team’s victory was due in part to the addition of the new off-island recruits. 

The University of Guam’s Athletic department, known as Triton Athletic’s, made it their goal this year to sign Basketball players from off island to play for the team. 

Geno Anderson, who plays Point Guard and Shooting Guard, has never experienced playing for an off-island team. Anderson originally has family from Guam and decided to come here to get in touch with his roots. 

He says “I love the atmosphere here. My team’s dynamic is good and we’re like a family/brother hood.” Anderson is currently taking on his Bachelor’s in Communications here at UOG. His future goals are “to win the GBA championship, go off-island and play some big competition and put UOG on the map for basketball.”

Anderson’s cousin, Blake Jenkins, decided to follow him and indulge in the same recruitment program. His position on the team is forward and is also enrolled in the graduate program here at UOG, working towards his masters in Counseling.

When asked about his first time experiences on Guam he says, “Everyone I’ve encountered has welcomed me with open arms. My team always helps me feel at home.” Jenkins also added his future goals saying, “We’re going to try and go undefeated and of course become Champions.” 

He also wishes to “finish the graduate program strong and hopefully play Professional basketball in the future”.

Another recruit named A.J Brown also shares similar thoughts. Brown was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and is a Physical Education major at UOG. He plays small forward on the team. 

“People on this island are very welcoming. I appreciate my Coach and teammates who push me to do better every day and to get to the next level.” When asked about how he came across the recruitment opportunity he stated, ”I was looking for a new beginning and what better way than to come to Guam!” 

Brown’s future goals include, “to get better at basketball, represent Guam and UOG and hopefully go professional.”

The off-island recruits are a great edition to the already strong Basketball team here at the University of Guam. So far, the team remains undefeated and will stop at nothing to earn that GBA title. They are extremely excited to put on a show for everybody and to make the University proud! Upcoming games, events, and other Triton Athletic’s information can be found at www.uog.edu/athletics

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This marks the second official year of the Triton Athletics program since disbanding more than 16 years ago.

Doug Palmer, UOG athletic director, is excited for what this school year has to offer.

He said there are many things to look forward to such as new basketball players from off-island, a new coach for the volleyball team, and the women’s soccer team defending their first championship.

However, the University’s athletic program still faces some challenges. The University was able to find some funds for the teams to give partial tuition scholarships and this will hopefully help improve the quality and quantity of our players and help retain them for the future,” Palmer said. “We are trying to build a solid sports club program out of our UOG recreation program and hopefully from the sport clubs we build more varsity programs.”

Also, Palmer said fundraising overall could be improved by making the program more attractive for sponsors and advertisers.

Additionally, Palmer explained that many of the coaches have other full time jobs, since coaching for UOG is only part-time.

According to Palmer, the program does suffer at times since almost everyone working in the athletic program has other obligations and responsibilities. The program, however, makes use of student coaches who are still fresh athletes and wanting to be professional sport coaches in the near future.

Nevertheless, Palmer said UOG is one of the few places in the world that a Sport Club player can play in the same leagues that the varsity teams play in. “Take advantage of what we have at UOG and the Island of Guam,” Palmer said. The sports currently offered are men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, and both men and women’s soccer.

Men’s basketball looking to a successful season

The University of Guam’s men’s basketball team was launched in Spring 2016 after an almost 15-year hiatus. This will be their official second season and the team is making a run for a championship title.

Brent Tipton, UOG men’s basketball head coach, is excited to incorporate new strategies to lead his team to victory. “We learned valuable lessons through our experiences last season and want to do everything possible to put each of the players in a position to be successful,” Tipton said.

There are three areas Tipton plans to develop this year with his team. The first is what he refers to as an “offensive identity.” “We want to get out and run in transition, have great ball and player movement in our motion offense and provide a lot of energy on the court or on the bench,” Tipton said.

The second area is what Tipton calls “defensive identity.” “We want to get up and defend 94 feet from the basket and be very physical in our half-court defense by aggressive pressure on the ball and great help defense behind the ball,” Tipton said.

Tipton refers to the third area as “end of the year.” Commitment and lots of practice will help the team form the best versions of themselves.

Team members are also excited and determined to be victorious this season. Andrew Carlos, point guard, has been playing since the team relaunched. “I feel like the team is coming along,” Carlos said. “We finally have the size we lacked in the past seasons.” “Our goal is trying to compete for the top spots and eventually make it to the playoffs”.

Rafael Sablan, shooting guard, also shares similar sentiments about the season. “We all bring something different to this team so everyone is going to be learning along the way,” Sablan said. “Our goal this season is to take one game at a time and make some noise this year.”

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