In preparation for our Final Exam week, Temple Athletics again hosted a “Stress Less” event to provide student-athletes with much needed distractions during a time of year that is synonymous with stress and anxiety – final exams. A range of activities were available for student-athlete attendees to choose from: yoga, adult coloring books, chair massages, and therapy dogs. The goal of Stress Less is to give student-athletes a healthy reprieve from exam preparation in a fun and relaxing environment.

On December 8, we were able to provide a private movie screening of the 2022 film, MVP, at the Liacouras Center. This was organized with a similar goal in mind – bringing together student-athletes across all teams to enjoy take a scheduled break from exams. Additionally, given the subject matter of the movie, Athletics extended an invitation to all Temple ROTC students to attend as well.

MVP tells the story of a recently retired NFL player who is saved from scandal by a veteran suffering from PTSD. With their glory days behind them, the two men bond in search of true purpose and identity. MVP dramatizes the formation of the non-profit, Merging Vets & Players, and the film features military veterans and former professional athletes both in front of and behind the camera.

Additionally, myself and members of our leadership team had an opportunity to tour many of our Athletics facilities with Vice President of Campus Safety, Dr. Jennifer Griffin and Nicola Mammes, Director of Emergency Management. It was extremely beneficial to see our spaces through their lens and learn ways we can continue to work to keep our student-athletes safe in and around their practice and game facilities. We will be working to set up facility-specific trainings with each team when we return from break in January.

It was a disappointing weekend for our men’s and women’s basketball teams as both lost games at Penn. The men’s team did, however, clinch at least a share of its 28th Philadelphia Big 5 Championship with its win over St. Joe’s earlier in the week, marking its first city-series title since the 2012-13 season. Our women’s team also posted its first Big 5 win under Coach Rich earlier in the week, defeating La Salle, 70-56.

Additionally, Temple fencer, Zoe Turner earned a 24th place finish in the sabre competition at the North American Cup in her first USA Fencing event of the year.

Temple Football season ticket holders should have received an email on renewing your tickets for what looks to be an exciting 2023 season. The home schedule features games against the Miami Hurricanes, Akron Zips, Norfolk State Spartans, Navy Midshipmen, SMU Mustangs, UTSA Roadrunners, and Memphis Tigers.

All season ticket account holders that renew by the December 23rd Early Owl deadline will receive two (2) additional tickets to the Miami game on September 23, 2023 and two (2) tickets to any 2022-2023 men’s or women’s basketball game (excluding MBB Game versus Houston on February 5th).

TO RENEW YOUR 2023 FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS, CLICK HERE OR CALL THE TEMPLE TICKET SALES OFFICE AT 215- 204-TIXX (8499)!

Congrats to men’s soccer alums, Dalton Carroll, KLN ’14, and Sam Speaker, FOX ’15, who teamed up to found Gamrpod—a startup that has created the first-ever soundproof, tech-integrated micro studio for content creation.

Congrats to Temple freshman offensive lineman Jackson Pruitt, who is among the initial group of student-athletes joining "Team Dunkin'". Jackson is one of 23 individual student-athletes from around the country who join the entire Northwestern University field hockey team in this venture.

Special shoutout to our Athletes of the Week/Month since our last edition of From The Nest: men’s basketball's Khalif Battle (11/28), women's basketball's Tiarra East (12/5) and football's EJ Warner were named OwlSports Athletes of the Month for November.

Also, congrats to four members of the Temple football team - Jose Barbon, Isaac Moore, Edward Saydee and Kobe Wilson - who were named to the Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Team.

If you are still looking for that perfect gift for the holidays, there is nothing better than Temple Athletics tickets! See this great holiday special below.

Please come out and continue to support all our Temple Athletics teams. Below is a link to our composite schedule.

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