I covered the Cotton Bowl in January featuring LSU and Texas A&M. Here are some of the highlights from my footage I shot during the game.

Here are some of my latest packages and some live anchoring on set for LSU’s Sports Showtime on Tiger TV.

The Louisiana School for the Deaf is not only home for some top athletes, but it’s also home to many students who work through their disability and understand that anything is possible.

Just because the students at the Louisiana School for the Deaf have a disability, they don’t let it control them. These young students and athletes are just as capable as anyone around to compete both athletically and in the classroom.

“They’re just like any other kids,” said Ben Cupit, LSD athletic director. “They don’t want you to take it easy on them just because they have a disability. They want to compete.”

Cupit said student athletes at the Louisiana School for the Deaf compete in football, basketball, volleyball, track and field, power lifting and cross country. He also said that the school takes pride in their athletic program because without it, these talented kids wouldn’t be able to participate.

“At a normal public high school or middle school, they normally wouldn’t get an opportunity to participate in sports because they probably would not have anyone to communicate with them,” Cupit said. “They’d probably be put somewhere in some special needs program and wouldn’t get the opportunity. Here, all the kids are the same. The only disability they have is their hearing. As far as track or any other sport, they can perform just like any other kid.”

Chip Sterling, LSD track and tield head coach, said being to participate in athletics is also important for the deaf athletes’ self-respect. “It gives them an avenue to compete and shows that they can compete against the hearing world in something,” said Sterling. “They’re told they’re deaf and not hearing their whole life. They get out here and compete with the hearing kids. They beat some of them, and they lose to some of them, but it shows that they can be on the same plane.”

Dr. Monita Hara, LSD School Director, said that their sporting events draw large crowds from both the deaf community and general public. “Football was not here for the past three years,” said Hara. “This year we brought football back, and the first game that we had this year, the stadium seats were completely full.”

Dr. Hara said that since students can only participate in sports once they reach the junior high or high school level, many younger students don’t have the chance to compete as soon as they would like to. “What we’ve worked out with the Southside YMCA is a nice little arrangement,” Hara said. “We have a team for the younger students that plays against the ‘Y’ teams, and that gives them a chance to practice in their sport skills and an opportunity to learn how to play a sport before they get a chance to move into the sports that we offer.”

Track athletes gather during their meet at the LA School for the Deaf.

Dr. Hara also said that the school offers several other activities for students to participate in such as talent shows, drama clubs and academic bowl competitions. She said one of the most important part about the school is the various activities that are available to the students that may not be there in a different school setting.

She also said that most of the opportunities that are made possible at the school for the deaf that aren’t available in public schools are simply because of communication issues. “Our coaches communicate directly with the students because they can communicate with American sign language,” said Hara. “So if I child participates in a sport within a public school, usually there’s an interpreter there, and there’s an intermediary there between the coach and the student. But you lose something in that translation sometimes.”

Dr. Hara said many students choose to attend the school around the age of 12 or 13 after attending a public school because they want to participate or have more interaction with their peers.

This local baseball league in Baton Rouge gives players the chance to continue competing at a high level and enjoy the game that they grew up with.

Red Stick Amateur Baseball League player Andrew Rafaleowski talks about why he loves to keep playing.

The RSABL began 15 years ago and has been growing ever since. Locke Wheeler, current league commissioner, said that though it is a competitive league, it’s slightly more relaxed than playing at the high school, college or professional level. “The majority of our players are just guys to love to play baseball,” said Wheeler.

The local league is also part of the Men’s Senior Baseball League, which is a national organization. Wheeler said that RSABL currently has about 250 players, but he would like to see their numbers continue to grow. “We would like to get more teams,” said Wheeler. “We’d like to get more guys who are interested in being a manager and running a team.”

Wheeler said the league consists of many players that were former high school, college or professional players. For some, such as Andrew Rafaleowski, former Baton Rouge Community College player and pitching coach, the league satisfies that “itch” to play baseball again. “You can’t explain the feeling you have when you go out there and you’re competing with other people,” Rafaleowski said.

As a former college player and coach, Rafaleowski said that he was worried if the league would be competitive enough for his liking and if there would be players who didn’t take baseball seriously. However, he said his worries were put to rest once he started playing. “There’s no disrespect for the game,” said Rafaleowski. “It’s strictly a love to be out here no matter what your skill level is. It’s fun.”

Wheeler said that the league has a few sponsors, but the majority of financial support comes from a set fee of $1,360 that each team must pay to participate. Each team also pays an umpire fee per game and any expenses for equipment and team uniforms.

Despite their 2-4 record within the SEC, Jeff Brown, LSU men’s tennis head coach, said his team is improving. However, rainy days and wet courts don’t help their cause since the team does not have any indoor facilities to practice in.

“LSU is one of the few in the top 50 nationally that doesn’t have state of the art outdoor and indoor facilities,” said Brown. “But we are excited about the possibility of upgrading.”

Coach Brown said that it’s the money issue that drives decisions on what facilities get built. “It’s always a function of money,” Brown said. “I guess it’s just priority. We’re always going to prioritize football because that’s what brings in the money. To this point we haven’t been a priority, but maybe it’s our turn coming up.”

When the team can’t practice because of wet courts, Brown said that sometimes they try to use the indoor courts at Baton Rouge’s Independence Park. However, that comes with problems as well. The courts are public, and sometimes they’ve been reserved by other players. And even if Independence Park does have the indoor courts available, Brown said that it’s tough to hold a practice with 12-13 players on just two courts.

The only other option to practicing indoors on rainy days is taking the day off. Brown said the team usually gets Sundays off if they don’t have a match, but when it rains, they may make Sunday a practice day instead.

He said that not having indoor facilities does not just affect their practice routine, but it also forces them to schedule matches earlier. “If it rains when we play outside, we a better opportunity to finish later if the courts dry,” said Brown.

Brown also said that the team’s facilities can affect how well they recruit, especially when most players visit four or more schools that have state of the art facilities. “It helps with recruiting to show the commitment from your school to your program,” said Brown.

However, the LSU head coach said that the team and coaches do not use their lack of indoor facilities as an excuse for themselves. He said they have always been without indoor courts, and they are prepared to continue working through it. “We don’t want to use that as a crutch,” said Brown. “We want to be strong enough to handle it.”

As outdoor track season approaches, LSU puts the finishing touches on Bernie Moore Stadium. How will it benefit the team?

“It had gotten to where it was in pretty bad shape,” said head coach Dennis Shaver. “I’m not sure that without the renovations we would be able to compete here this year just for safety reasons. And it would have been a real challenge to even train.”

Coach Shaver said that the new track is bouncier and improves the runners’ times, increases shock absorption and helps with injury prevention. He also said that it’s the same type of surface that is used world wide.

“It’s the same surface that was on the competition area in Beijing for the Olympic Games, and it will probably be that same that’s in London by the next Olympics.”

The renovations on the stadium began in early July of 2010, and though they won’t be completely finished for another few weeks, LSU will still host three different outdoor track meets this season.