作为康考迪亚大学的学生，G.M. 11年的吉安-马尔科和11年的萨拉(维泽) were leaders in sports—G.M. 作为 长曲棍球队 莎拉是欧文康考迪亚大学的重新创始人 快乐计划. 今天, 婚姻美满，育有一女, 下一个也在路上, the couple is pursuing careers and family life with the same passion to excel.
“我是那种总是把所有事情都塞进去的人,萨拉说。, 一个狂热的跑步者, 妈妈和社会医院的理疗师. “I like to spend time with my daughter and husband, and we do as many fun things as we can.”
G.M. 在阿纳海姆鸭子队工作, 国家冰球联盟(NHL)的球队, 现在负责俱乐部的数字营销策略和活动, 加上电子竞技部门(鸭子队在电子游戏领域的存在).
“的 NHL looks at our organization as a trendsetter throughout the league,他说. “Our goal as marketers is to help grow our fan base whether that is through hockey development, 通过电子竞技的粉丝, 或者通过支持现场活动爱好者.”
G.M.’s main role is to lead a digital marketing team that creates messages for email, 社交媒体和在线广告, 瞄准有兴趣观看比赛的潜在受众.
“我们的心态是，如果有人去看比赛，他们会喜欢的. 那么我们如何让人们去看第一场比赛呢?他说. “Hockey may have three or four games a week against a different opponent, 而且，人们可能不希望一周中有四天坐在竞技场里. 我们必须弄清楚，什么能引起他们的共鸣? 对手? 机票价格? 赠品? 的经验? 食物? 然后你得试着填满竞技场.”
体育营销的独特之处在于, “All you have to do is walk into the arena and if it’s full and people are excited, 你做了你的工作,他说. “Or you see shirts and hats in the grocery store, and stickers and flags on cars.”
最近, his digital team is applying successful strategies used in ticketing campaigns towards bolstering their ecommerce space to sell merchandise online, 一项进展“非常顺利”的努力,他说.
G.M., 圣地亚哥人, 被欧文康考迪亚大学招去打棒球, 在大一的搬家那天认识了莎拉. 当他觉得棒球不适合他时, 她邀请他和她一起参加新成立的男子长曲棍球队. 萨拉和男生一起玩因为没有女子项目. “我试过了，结果是个糟糕的中场，”G.M. 回忆.
然后有一天，球队的守门员没有出现，G.M. 在那个位置. “It turned out I was decent at getting in the way of the ball,他说.
这一切的发生显然是有目的的.
还不错:他每年都被选入全联盟队, 两次入选全美代表队, 并继续在欧洲从事这项运动, 包括意大利国家队.
“感觉真的很酷，”他说. “我是一名1型糖尿病患者，一直处于劣势. 直到我去康科迪亚，我才拿起曲棍球棒. … A few years ago at church they asked us to talk about moments when you could tell God really directed you to go somewhere. 对我来说，这是显而易见的. 去协和大学欧文分校完全是神的旨意.”
Sara, too, felt God leading her to Irvine from her native Washington state.
她说:“我姐姐去了康考迪亚欧文大学当老师。. “I came down for a visit in middle school and knew it was exactly where I wanted to go. 那是我唯一申请的学校.”
Dr. 万斯·塔曼是 运动/体育科学 当时是我们家的朋友, 是我的私人啦啦队长和校园爸爸吗, 总是签到,她说。. “他告诉我父母，‘我会留意她的. 别担心.’”
Playing lacrosse with a bunch of guys was fun, until opponents got more aggressive.
“I was getting injured and didn’t want to become a target at games,她说。. 她转向了另一项爱好:啦啦队. 在高中时, Sara belonged to an all-American cheer squad chosen to cheer in the Orange Bowl in Dolphins stadium in Miami before thousands of people.
她说:“这太疯狂了，是我经历过的最紧张的时刻。.
但 崔的助威节目 hadn’t existed for several years, so Sara made it her mission to re-establish it. She recruited twenty young women, created a proposal and walked it through administrative approval.
“我只是决定去追求它，”她说. “I knew I was going to bring a good core of girls together who were talented and would be shining examples of leaders. 我想把那种激情带回到篮球比赛中. 啦啦队是“额外因素”.“他们带来了兴奋感和同志情谊.”
的 老鹰男子篮球 team was competing in nationals nearly every year back then and “a top basketball team needs a cheer squad to support them,萨拉说.
该俱乐部于2008年获得批准，并稳步发展. 萨拉是第一任队长和教练.
“As we continued to perform, people said, ‘Wow, these girls are really good,’她说。. “获得这种尊重花了很长时间. 我们设计了制服, fundraised and covered our expenses with bake sales on campus to raise money.”
队员们不仅在男篮和女篮比赛时欢呼, 但在棒球和垒球比赛中, 曲棍球比赛，动员大会，还有 午夜疯狂.
“To see cheer go from a club to now being a respected sport—and they are very talented and do very well competing—that’s incredible because it’s exactly what we wanted,萨拉说.
同时，她与G的友谊.M. was growing, though they came from very different religious backgrounds. 萨拉是一个虔诚的路德教徒. G.M. 几乎没有教会背景. His mother’s family, which is Jewish, fled Germany before the Holocaust. His great-grandfather helped re-draft the German constitution after World War II, he 说.
不久，他和萨拉开始一起去教堂做礼拜.
“她的家人在路德教会非常活跃，”他说. “She had a really strong foundation and has passed a lot of that along to me.”
他以学士学位毕业 工商管理 重点是市场营销和体育管理, then stayed to earn an MBA during his last year of lacrosse eligibility and help coach 欧文康考迪亚大学's 长曲棍球队, 哪支球队在2015年和2017年赢得了全国冠军. G.M. played on the collegiate allstar team and headed to Europe to play for the Italian national team. He competed as goalie in the European championships in 2012 and the world championships in Denver in 2014.
One thing Concordia instilled in me is, How is God using you and how can you give back? 你有什么才能、天赋和知识可以灌输给别人?
回到加州，萨拉已经获得了学士学位 运动科学两人于2014年结婚. G.M. 去为鸭子队工作, 后来又代表意大利参加了世界锦标赛, and continued to play post-collegiate lacrosse for a SoCal league until the COVID pandemic began; meanwhile, 萨拉成为圣. 富勒顿Jude医疗中心(不是儿童医院). She is board-certified in Neurological Physical 的rapy (NCS) and presently leads a team in spinal cord rehabilitation. This means she helps patients with spinal cord injuries who have graduated from the acute phase in a hospital setting, but require several hours of rigorous therapy a day to regain functions in order to return home.
“Many are paralyzed and can’t stand, walk or get from their bed to a chair,她说。. “Some function at a lower level and are told by doctors they may not walk again. Others will walk with some assistance or hopefully regain their full independence once again."
除了她在医院的工作, 萨拉在阿纳海姆的一家健身房担任自行车教练, 以及Zyia Active的独立代表, 她喜欢的运动休闲装制造商. She typically runs several half-marathons a year and is training for her next one.
G.M. 很高兴再次与尔湾康考迪亚大学联系. He has worked with Professor Emeritus Curt Cattau to help shape some of the early plans for the new 体育商业项目 并作为即将到来的倡导者 老鹰运动计划.
“I’m so interested in the project because my experience in the sports field has shown me what elements did and didn’t prepare me,他说. “这是我想帮助它起步的原因之一. 我喜欢回馈社会. One thing Concordia instilled in me is, How is God using you and how can you give back? 你有什么才能、天赋和知识可以灌输给别人?”
He was recently inducted into the CUI Lacrosse Hall of Fame and named the all-decade goalie for 2009-2019. 他和萨拉现在参加阿纳海姆的锡安路德教会, and they enjoy their small group where they dive deeper into Bible study with friends.
“It’s not random that we met on move-in day and ended up getting married,” G.M. 说. “如果你不相信上帝, 你就会说你不应该去康考迪亚欧文大学, 或者打曲棍球，或者那样认识的. 这一切的发生显然是有目的的.”