Monday, May 24, 2010

“Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports” plus 2 more

“Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports” plus 2 more

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Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports

Posted: 24 May 2010 09:08 PM PDT



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Community Education to take over junior high sports programs

Posted: 24 May 2010 08:24 PM PDT

NEW ULM - When coaches, parents and the community in general hears the word cuts, they cringe.

What's going to be cut? How will that affect my child? What will it do to sports in the community?

When the District 88 school board requested that New Ulm Activities Director Steve Worm look into where he could cut costs, he looked into several options and brought one particular scenario to the school board.

Using the way Hutchinson has been running their junior high programs as a model, Worm proposed to the school board that - starting with football and volleyball in the fall - New Ulm have Community Education take over the program.

"The school board directed us to find the means to cut some dollars, save some money, and they didn't want to cut programs," Worm said. "Essentially we took the Hutchinson model, they gave me the information, and when you look at the program, for instance, they have been pretty successful in both football and volleyball. So they must be doing something right."

Now it will go through Carol Davis at Community Education. Worm and the school district will continue to monitor it.

"We will continue to do the paperwork here," Worm said. "We will collect the fees, all the forms that are necessary like we have always done and then the money will be transferred from this account to community services. Their role, conceivably is to eventually take over the program. If and when this becomes successful down the road. This is just a baby step for us."

The two varsity coaches affected by the change, New Ulm football coach Rob Bute and New Ulm volleyball coach Chris Otto, had reservations at first but now are both for the move.

"My No. 1 concern was about the coaches," Otto said. "Along with that is our players and them getting their money's worth. Really when I looked at what he had for us, it didn't really seem like a big deal. There isn't a huge change in the program. There are definitely fewer days, and a few less matches. But the girls get a couple tournaments and jamborees and they get more playing time in those things anyways. When it comes down to it, it's not a dramatic change."

Bute wasn't sure what to expect at first either.

"Any time you are talking about a change you are apprehensive," he said. "We started talking about the model and a philosophy and the significant changes. I think that it will grow our numbers and that is what I think is most important in seventh and eighth grade. Some people think it's the competition and winning that is important but I feel in those grades it's more important that the kids play and have fun doing it."

Otto has talked to concerned parents and have tried to set them at ease.

"Initially, the information wasn't out there for them," he said. "I would guess rumors went around as to what was going to happen. Was the whole program getting cut? People just didn't know. I have talked to them and expressed my thoughts, that I don't think it's a huge impact on the program."

The savings of the plan comes down to approximately $6,000 in savings by moving the programs into Community Education. And those savings come from the fact that they will reduce the number of days in the season from 41 to 33 in both sports. Plus there will be a reduction in transportation costs. Instead of driving to Blue Earth for a game, they will play teams closer like Sibley East, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop and Dakota Meadows in Mankato.

As for the reduction of days, traditionally, football has started about two weeks prior to the beginning of the season. Because of that, some students - especially the rural ones - haven't been able to make it to practice because of transportation issues.

"Then when the first day of school comes around, we have a stream of boys and girls come into the office to sign up for football and volleyball, who weren't at the previous weeks' practices," Worm said. "They missed that time and now the coaches literally had to re-do the teams."

The first day of school in the fall is Sept. 7 and the first day of practice is Sept. 1.

"In an essence it's condensed," Worm added. "We've eliminated what we thought was a waste in that first week, some of the kids were there, some weren't. I think that when school starts we will get more kids because they realized they didn't miss too much and can go out."

They may have reduced the number of days of the season but it shouldn't really affect play in the season.

In 2009, for eighth grade football there were seven games, this fall that number will be reduced by one. The seventh graders played six games, which will be reduced to five. But both seventh and eighth grade will be hosting a jamboree.

For volleyball, the scheduled events in both seventh and eighth grade will go from 13 to 10. But both will participate in at least two tournaments and each will have a home jamboree.

A jamboree is when a group of teams come together and they play for set amount of time. It's kind of a scrimmage for multiple teams and scores are important. They may play for 30 minutes and wherever they are in the match, they stop and switch opponents. The varsity coaches and players help out and officiate.

"It's a nice opportunity for the girls to get lots and lots of playing time," Otto said. "They get a lot of touches on the ball and scoring doesn't matter. You are looking for maximum opportunity to play the sport and touch the ball. Events like that give the girls that opportunity."

Worm has talked to his winter sport coaches about the possible move but nothing has officially been decided yet.

This doesn't affect sports that are and have traditionally been a seventh through 12th-grade program. Meaning sports like, soccer, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls hockey, track, gymnastics and golf won't fall under Community Education because they don't have junior high programs anyway.

"We got the official go ahead from the school board a couple of weeks ago so now everything is a go," Worm said. "The goal is to have all the other sports fall under this. We are looking at football and volleyball in the fall, boys and girls basketball in the winter and baseball and softball in the spring."

If numbers improve and the quality of coaching in the junior high ranks stays high, Bute is fine with the district's decision.

"I think the No. 1 priority is that we continue to have good coaches working with our younger kids," Bute said. "I think that who is going to be hired will continue to fall under the school district and that is pretty important because you don't want to just open that up to anybody working with our kids."

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Sports Briefs

Posted: 24 May 2010 09:44 AM PDT


Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 11:49:31 am PDT

Nelson fourth in league gymnastics finals

Lacey Nelson of Half Moon Bay High School finished fourth in the North Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Varsity Gymnastics Finals on May 13.

Nelson was second on beam, sixth on vault and bars, and seventh on the floor. Nelson qualified for Thursday's Central Coast Section finals along with teammate Anita Oettel-Flaharty. Oettel-Flaherty finished tied for 18th in the all-around competition. She was 12th in the beam.

Montara resident Kayla Strom, a student at Mercy High School in Burlingame, was third all-around. She was second on the bars, fourth on the beam, tied for fifth on floor and ninth on the vault.

Remillong, Farrell go 1-2 in horseshoe tournaments

Terry Farrell and Foa Remillong traded first and second at two different horseshoe tournaments held May 6 and 8.

Farrell won the Group 1 title in the May 6 Pat McGowan Tournament. Remillong took second.

Gino Rinaldi won Group II with Pat McGowan second. Joe Sciarra was first in Group III with Ron Grenier second.

On the May 8 Memorial Open, Remillong won Group 1 with Farrell second. Sciarra won Group II with Grenier second.

Opening Day for HMB Girls Softball Saturday

The Half Moon Bay Girls Softball League begins its 38th season with Opening Day Ceremonies beginning at 8 a.m., Saturday, at the Half Moon Bay High School softball field.

Nearly 200 Coastside girls, between the ages of 7-18 have signed up. The league goes to the end of July.

Sea Crest golf team finishes second and fourth in tourney

The Sea Crest School golf team of Dean Ambrosi, Morgan Drobnick, A.J. Morrell and Sean Koenig combined to shoot a 41 to finish second at the Small School Independent League Tournament, held May 5 at the Crystal Springs Golf Course.

A second Sea Crest team, consisting of Parker Lovett, Ryan Stefko, Liam Goldstein and Will McCahon combined to shoot 46 to finish fourth.

McCahon was allowed to compete for the Seals though he is a student at Pescadero Middle School.

Corte Madera won the seven-team tournament with a 39.

Marshall lowers school record

Logan Marshall lowered his Cunha Intermediate School record in the 1,600 meters, winning the May 7 race in 4 minutes, 53 seconds.

The win was one of several for the Cubs at the final regular season meet. The eighth-grader also won the 800 in 2:19. In both those races, he was followed by Chris Jacobson and Corey Cilia.

Khalil Droubi won the sixth-grade boys' 1,600 meters. Jasmine Shaff won the eighth-grade girls 800.

Becky Stoloski won the sixth-grade girls' discus.

Three Cunha wrestlers win titles

Three wrestlers from the Cunha Intermediate School wrestling team won titles at the Peninsula Middle School League Wrestling Championships, held May 8.

Evan Marschall claimed the title at 77 pounds. It's his third straight title. Cody James claimed his second straight title, winning at 86 pounds. Jimmy Claitor won at 88 pounds.

Luke James (55), Tristan Keller (68), Juanito Baragas (86) and Spencer Boling all were second in their respective divisions.

Anthony Klingele (96) and Luis Vasquez (118) finished third in their respective divisions.

Will Fullerton took fourth at 77 pounds, as did Ricardo Camacho at 120 pounds.

The showing helped the Cubs take third place.

Copyright © 2010 Half Moon Bay Review

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