LOGAN, Utah – Utah State football conducted its annual Ladies Clinic Thursday evening, and the ever-growing event had a record-turnout for the third-straight year with 138 ladies in action. “This is a great event for our kids to be involved and I hope the ladies had a great time,” USU head coach Gary Andersen. “It’s continued to grow from last year with an even bigger turnout this year and it’s just a great time for our kids to be able to interact with these fans, young and old.” The clinic, sponsored by America First Credit Union, was designed to teach participants football skills, techniques and the ins-and-outs of the game. Participants also had the opportunity to meet the Aggie football coaching staff and selected players. “It’s a way for us to get together with the community. My favorite is seeing all the smiles on everyone’s faces, both the participants and our players, and watching them interact with each other,” Andersen said. “There were some very talented participants here tonight.” After the introductions, everyone got a tour of the Aggies’ locker room, then gathered on the edge of the field and charged through the USU inflatable helmet, through the tunnel of the Aggie players and took the field. “This is a wonderful event,” said 66-year old Carma Mirabal, who is from Hayward, Calif. Mirabal is a 1966 USU graduate and is in Cache Valley visiting her sister, Smithfield, Utah native Doris Crockett. “My sister said, ‘let’s go to this football clinic,’ and I said ‘okay, why not, we get to play football with the guys.’ My favorite event was trying to hike the ball, I thought it was so simple, but it is not easy, I barely got it five yards. The players were just fantastic, a ton of fun to be around.” Breaking into groups, participants went through every position drill, as well as suiting up in Aggie uniforms. “I would do it again tomorrow,” said 63-year old Crockett, a 1968 USU alum who was born and raised with her sister in Newton, Utah. “We didn’t get to do this stuff when we went to USU, this is great. It’s wonderful that we were able to be down here on the field in the stadium. We had a blast. Any ladies out there need to make sure and get here next year. It is super fun.” Following the stations, there was a relay event, preceding a group photo and closing with raffle drawings, awarding prizes ranging from a variety of Coca-Cola items and gift certificates from the numerous Cache Valley business sponsors of the event. “Today was a fun, productive day, letting the ladies know about football in general and about the Aggie team,” junior wide receiver Xavier Martin said. “This was my first time participating in this event and I had so much fun interacting and cheering everyone.” Martin was one of the many people to have memorable experiences and is excited to do it again. “My most memorable part was how competitive all the ladies were, they ranged from teens to mid-60’s. We had a different breakdown with every group and they would jump and cheer, it was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to doing this again next year,” Martin said. Andersen, Martin and the Aggies open the 2010 season on Saturday, Sept. 4 at Oklahoma before their home-opener on Saturday, Sept. 11 against Idaho State. For USU football ticket information, fans can contact the USU Ticket Office at 1-888-USTATE-1 or (435) 797-0305, in person at the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum or online at www.utahstateaggies.com under the “tickets” drop down menu. -USU-