Abigayle Darula Oral History Interview, February 9, 2022

Partial Transcript: Let's start off by telling a little bit about yourself, your place at OSU and your life before OSU. So I'd start off with what High school did you go to, what were you involved with before you came to OSU.

Segment Synopsis: Darula was born in Tualatin Oregon but grew up in the Aloha/Beaverton area until 3rd grade when she moved to Newberg Oregon and attended Newberg High School.

Partial Transcript: How did you get involved with horses?

Segment Synopsis: Darula's exposure to the horse world is due to her mother who as involved with horses since she was young and taught at Colorado State University's western riding program. Darula started riding competitively from middle school through High School and joined IHSA at the collegiate level. Darula describes what IHSA is and how it's structured.

Segment Synopsis: Darula asserts that her pre-college life had a significant impact on her current involvement in OSU organizations. She dives into her beginning in 4H that grew into her joining FFA (Future Farmer's of America) in high school. She uses examples of her activities in FFA and 4H to show how she became comfortable and then came to love leadership and business focused roles. Darula talks about her early exposure to public speaking through FFA helped her succeed in her college career. She ends with a "fake it 'till you make it" sentiment, touching on the importance of putting in work in the face of new challenges.

Segment Synopsis: Darula played polo (horse polo she clarifies) her freshman and sophomore year and loved it. She then describes how she got to ride in the women's regionals competition in Santa Barbara. She credits this to her riding ability and her athletic ability which allowed her to quickly pick up the polo side of the sport. She was also the sponsorship chair her sophomore year. IHSA was done all four years and only in her junior year did Darula take on an officer role becoming captain of the IHSA team. She held her position as captain into her senior year as well. She makes her love for the team and her role known and also expresses how she views her position as a more "corporate role" dealing with team dynamics, OSU's Rec Sports Department, and the IHSA organization. Darula then explains the importance of the IHSA teams coach, Dawn Ross in the function of the team. Darula makes clear that Ross' experience in IHSA is invaluable to the team.

Segment Synopsis: Darula shares that Covid had a huge effect on the team as they lost the rest of their season to quarantine like many other sport teams. She expresses how tragic this was as the team had very talented line up of graduating seniors and flight tickets booked for semi-finals where the team usually performs well, the potential of going to finals in New York high. Darula recalls how the team made do, turning towards guest speakers to educate the team members on all things horses and even providing good insight on getting into OSU's vet school. The team was also able to attend clinics and get supplemental instruction from trainers independent of the team.

Segment Synopsis: Darula recalls how different her experience was as an essential worker, being a vet assistant and exercise jockey. This meant she wasn't required to quarantine as her occupation required her presence. She explains how her jobs aside from some covid procedures went on as if nothing has changed because horses still required care. Darula takes us through a normal day at her job as an exercise jockey from getting up early to working the race horses to maintain their condition and a healthy state of mind. She explains how the insistence of a respectful and calm racehorse helped ensure the horses future should it very likely fail as a racehorse. She also touches on her time breaking horses both to race and also private clients and that she enjoyed that. After discussing her exercise jockey occupation, she switches to describing what was required of her as a vet-tech especially with covid procedures in place.

Segment Synopsis: Coach Dawn Ross participated in IHSA as a college student and began assistant coaching as well as a trainer, reiner, and riding instructor at OSU. IHSA was a small part of the big role Ross played and continues to play in the horse community. Darula comments on how knowledgeable Coach Ross is about horses but more specifically the best strategies to lead the team to success. Darula explains the process of how IHSA places riders in different categories and how this placement system can be used to "point up" and push a team to semi-final status. Darula then explains how similar to other sports, showing and riding is very mental due to the uncertainty of which horse will be assigned to a rider. Darula then points out how Coach Ross helps with the business side of things, using the teams first show of the season as an example.

Segment Synopsis: Darula explains how all horse-related programs, clubs, or teams are conducted through OSU's Rec Sports Department and expands on all the different "genres" of horse-related organizations. IHSA is unique in its openness to inexperienced or first time riders and includes all levels of riding Darula describes, and by reaching out to an OSU Rec Sports Representative anyone can find out about OSU horse programs or any OSU organizations.

Segment Synopsis: Darula explains how her answer, "yes and no" is due to the fact that she also works at Dixon and has a deeper understanding of the operational components of the Recreational Sports Program. Her position as shift lead gives her the upper hand when it comes to working with the Rec Sports Program as well as her earlier position on the Polo team as sponsorship chair. She hopes to be able to pass on what she's learned to upcoming officers and acknowledges the struggle that can sometimes accompany working with the rules and regulations of Rec Sports. Darula also notes the importance of communication with others as "key" to success in these situations.

Segment Synopsis: Darula compares the beginning of both Polo and IHSA to the current state of the teams, remembering how horses were provided by OSU to currently having to drive 45 minutes off of campus to be able to get instruction. The drive for Polo team is longer and Darula talks about the long days for both the team members and Coach Brandon Alcott to be able to have their practices.

Segment Synopsis: Darula says some of her best friends have been made through her involvement in the different clubs/teams she has been a part of. She says that the people within the horse community, IHSA, and Polo are very supportive. Darula's humorously recounts one of her favorite memories from her time with Polo traveling to Santa Barbara after their plane almost crashed, and then talks about getting to meet the other schools competing and how cool it was to meet other schools. Darula regards IHSA's ability to bring talented riders together from across the country to compete as pretty cool given that they aren't regarded as D1 athletes.

Segment Synopsis: Darula clarifies that there isn't a lot of involvement within Corvallis from the horse community but is coming from Portland. She explains that a lot of the team's connections to the horse community are personal connections from team members who bring in important people that lend their expertise to the members. Darula lists examples of people who have been very helpful to the team in the past and continue to be. Darula also comments on the support the current members receive from the graduated alumni, especially previous officers. Darula also explains how horses get donated in order to be able to put on shows.

Segment Synopsis: Darula talks about her internship with the DAM Analytics squad and specifically what technologies are used to measure in-game stats and collect data as well as the organization of said data to give players and coaches better ideas of how to improve performance. There are also requirements during the season to record and upload data to a database accessible to all NCAA baseball teams in order to have a concrete idea of the opposition

Segment Synopsis: Darula admits that she never played softball and can understand that people may find it weird to see her in "baseball realm" but she loves it. Darula gives the credit to her father to getting her interested in the analytical side of baseball after taking her to her first game when she was 17. Her passion lead her to working with the Portland Pickles baseball team during the summer coordinating on-field ops and had a more social media/marketing oriented position. At the end of the season, she became interested in the stats side of baseball. Her previous exposure to the competitive atmosphere of sports with racing horses made her want to try a "more traditional sport" in that capacity. She talks about the people who helped her catch the learning curve to taking stats and interpreting the data collected. A search on Handshake lead her to the current internship she has now with OSU' Baseball's DAM Analytics Squad. Darula walks through her botched application process and her final interview that landed her the internship position. Now Darula is looking forward to possible future employment in the MLB and is thankful for the support that her higher ups at her current internship are giving her.

Segment Synopsis: Darula says she has been told that she's the first woman that's been hired in the coaching-ops area in OSU Baseball history. When asked if she feels aware of her important, pioneering position when she goes into work, she says no to the pioneering part but agrees that there's a subtlety she feels being the only woman. She clarifies that it's nothing bad instead personally that because she feels still so new at her job and is surrounded by people who do know more than her, she has to get used to being in her position. She also admits that being surrounded by men all the time can get to her, but she chalks it up to being the first and having to break through a very male dominated field. She feels amazed that she gets to be a part of a rising movement that is putting women in these male-dominated sport related careers and therefore feels it's important to mor "go hide in the corner" rather work hard to pave a path for more women to join her.

Segment Synopsis: Darula strongly agrees that her current position is preparing her well for her future jobs, and expands on the importance of coding in her field and how it surprised her to see that. She asserts though that a familiarity or at least willingness to learn can be plenty. She goes on to say that even in the short span she's had her current position, she's set on this being her career and is very passionate about improving her knowledge and expertise. She believes in being a lifelong learner and building a diverse set of skills through a constant exploration and openness to new things.