As this is my last column of the winter semester, I would like to just start off and thank all of the supporters of The Current.

This semester has been full of numerous sporting activities and events that have affected UM-St. Louis.

The men's basketball team said goodbye to Rich Meckfessel and said hello to Mark Bernsen.

This new-age of Rivermen basketball that Bernsen will head up will feature an up-tempo type of game with the future of UM-St. Louis basketball looking bright.

The women's basketball team made a valiant strive towards winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament, but came up short.

Head Coach Shelly Ethridge has blossomed this program along and made it quite a success in the short amount of time this energetic coach has been here.

Next season, the Riverwomen will lose senior Melanie Marcy, but will be a force to be reckoned with come tournament time.

The women's softball program finally has a place to call home and hang its cap. The Riverwomen have had a very solid season under the guidance and mastermind of Head Coach Charlie Kennedy.

The softball program, with a solid showing in conference, will only lure the best to UM-St. Louis. The women have stars such as Sybil Wall and Ashley Blust returning for them next season, and with these offensive stars, mixed with the likes of GLVC co-player of the week pitcher Kathleen Rogoz and Megan Kuebler, the sky is the limit.

The sporting events that UM-St. Louis has experienced have only positive effects on the campus and the surrounding community.

Throughout the St. Louis area, UM-St. Louis is recognized as a decent college. With the athletes that are coming to UM-St. Louis now and the publicity that they should and will get, the programs are headed in the right direction.

You must always start somewhere, and from what I have experienced in the past two years, this school is headed in the right direction athletically.

Just look at some of the teams that have moved up.

The men's tennis team is three or four years old, and now they are competing for the championship of the GLVC. That is outstanding. Head Coach Rick Gyllenborg has done for this program what any coach coming in could only dream of.

The tennis program has its eyes set on next season as they do not even graduate one player. The core that Gyllenborg has brought in has molded and jelled like a donut (no coach, I am not comparing your players to a donut).

The new program of women's tennis is not stabilized yet, but if they can compete like the men in three years, I will just stand and applaud.

Through these years of athletics, UM-St. Louis looks like it wants to head in the right direction.

My only question is: Do they? The future can only tell, but unless something dramatic happens, the programs will only rise to the top of the class and succeed beyond anybody's wildest dreams.