“The frequently outmanned Bainbridge football team is finally looking at the arrival of reinforcements from back-to-back outstanding freshman teams.Those kids will start making an impact this year, third-year coach Andy Grimm said. Not a lot of them will be starters, but they give us some depth, and these kids are ready to step in and compete.The last two years in the tough Pierce County League have not always been kind to the Spartans, as the three wins over those seasons shows. But Grimm thinks a middle-of-the pack finish or better is a real possibility this year.The key, though, might be surviving the first two games – the home opener against Washington and then a road trip to Clover Park to take on Lakes. Grimm expects those two teams to be among the league’s elite, along with Franklin Pierce. “
“Andy Grimm is used to football games where the other guys are bigger and faster. He spent four years of college in that situation.But that didn’t stop Grimm’s school, Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, from being one of the winningest small-college programs in the country. And he thinks that experience translates to Bainbridge High School.It’s amazing what you can do with a winning attitude, he said. Physically, PLU didn’t match up, but the kids believed what they could do.Grimm found a willing worker in Dian Aversano, whose son Andy is a BHS sophomore this year. Another of Aversano’s sons was a teammate of Grimm’s at PLU.They want to bring one component of the PLU program to Bainbridge this fall – the creation of an involved community to support the team.Grimm and Aversano call the program EMAS, an acronym for Every Man (or Mom) A Spartan. “
“They call themselves the WrinkliesBut member Andy Roby says the name has nothing to do with crows’ feet and baggy cheeks.I’ve never seen anything about it in writing, but I’m pretty sure it’s the name of an old English club, and not a reference to our physical appearance, Roby said as he strolled along the green.Meeting several times a week at the Wing Point Golf Course to play 18 holes, the septuagenarian golfing club boasts 21 listed members who play, Roby said, just for exercise and conversation.The only official requirement for entry to the club is age. Nobody under 70 need apply. “
“Heading into their second year at Division 1 schools, three former Bainbridge athletes say the major difference between high school and college sports is attitude.People say sports is like big business, said Britt Themann, a basketball player at Tulane University in New Orleans. It’s more serious, more pressure. But it’s also more rewarding. More people notice when you play well, and you’ve put more work into it.Themann, who led the Spartans to the 1999 state 3A championship as a prep star, said more work is required than at the high school level. Stopping one person isn’t the goal anymore – stopping a whole team is, she said.Nevertheless, Themann said she had a great time in her first year of collegiate play.It was awesome, she said. I got to play more than any other freshman. “
“Sometimes, learning from a competition is more important than winning.Helen Silver, a junior-to-be at Bainbridge High School, called her experience at the Olympic swimming trials in Indianapolis the most exciting and educational swim meet she had ever attended.It was so intense, so much pressure, but even though it sounds corny, it was kind of inspirational, she said.The trials, held from Aug. 6 -19, offered the ultimate prize – a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. “
“Bench-press tests, the timed mile-run, and learning new names – it must be the beginning of fall sports again.I love the fall, said BHS athletic director Neal White. We need the summer to regroup, but fall’s an exciting time, and fall sports have a lot to do with setting the tone of the campus.From women’s volleyball to football, coaches across the board said their teams looked good and they were excited for the new season, new players and some for the new architecture.I love being in this new gym, said Julie Miller, the high school varsity volleyball coach. Three nets in a row, the new floors – it’s awesome. And we’ve got some big freshmen, some good transfers. All in all, 30 came out for the team. “
“Island resident and former professional football player Byron Hemingway is truly a man for all seasons.This year, the former four-year starting defensive end has been selected for the Boston College Hall of Fame, to which he will be inducted Oct. 13.Hemingway, who graduated in 1977, is being honored not only for his pass rush on the gridiron, but his running on the track – his high hurdles record at BC, 13.09 for 110 meters, still stands.I was kind of unique in that way – being a defensive end of only 190 pounds and also a runner, he said. But I was really running just to stay out of winter workouts. You know, after three seasons of playing and training, you need a break. “
“No Bainbridge Islander will get closer to Olympic action than Rachel Scott.The 1994 BHS graduate is the first alternate on the U.S. women’s water polo team. Barring an injury to one of her teammates, she won’t get in the water. But otherwise, she’ll be treated as a team member.I’ll travel as the video coach, she said. That means I’ll participate in the opening and closing ceremonies as a team member, and stay in the Olympic Village.For the last four years, Scott has been a member of the U.S. national team, which qualified for the Sydney Olympics. But while the U.S. team has 15 members, Olympic rules only permit 13 players on a team. Somebody had to be left home.Coach Guy Baker decided to make Scott the video coach, meaning that she will film all of the team’s games. And in terms of how she’s treated at Sydney, the coach designation makes all the difference.Alternates don’t stay in the Olympic Village, Scott said. It was great of the coach to do this, so I could be treated as part of the team. “
“They may not have won many games. But for a week last month, the members of FC Kitsap Arsenal – a local under-17 Premier 2 select boys soccer team – got the best experience in the world.Arsenal, coached by Bremerton’s Mike Meherg, played in the prestigious Swan’s USA Cup tournament July 16-25 at Blain, Minn., a massive boot-fest that drew teams from 34 U.S. states and 24 countries.Overall, we played well, said Meherg, who took the team to Europe last year for a similar primer on how the very best teens in the world are playing. I think there was an intimidation factor that we had to get over in some of the games. But we realized we could play with the teams that were there.Four Bainbridge players – Mitka von Reis Crooks, Kaj Hauschulz, Adam Brenneman and Calder Just – joined players from the Kitsap Peninsula on the team. “
“When organizers say the summer all-comers track meets are open to everyone, they really mean it. Really.Mostly, it’s kids who participate. For some of the younger ones, a 200-meter event isn’t a dash, it’s a hike. For some of the older kids, the meet is serious training.Over the summer, it’s hard to find a time to go all out, said Andy Reese, a senior-to-be at Bainbridge High School. Even running solo like I did tonight still pumps you up.The all-comers meets, sponsored by the park district, are held every Monday from mid-July to the end of August at the BHS track, beginning at 7 p.m. This Monday, an informal count disclosed roughly 100 participants, probably 80 percent of them pre-teens.We’ve had an enormous turnout from day one this year, meet organizer Jim Whiting said. Tonight is the first time we’ve had enough kids to fill all the lanes in the 4×100 relay. “
“Bainbridge’s Joe Lanza salvaged what for him has been a disappointing summer golf season by winning the Northwest sectional qualifying tournament last weekend in Sandpoint, Ida.The victory gave him an invitation to the national PGA junior tournament later this summer in West Palm Beach, Fla.Lanza fired rounds of 70 and 71, giving him a two-day total of 1-under-par 141 on the Hidden Lakes course. He tied for the top spot, then won a playoff against a golfer from Portland.I’ve been disappointed with my play this summer, the BHS senior-to-be said. It seems like one or two bad holes has wrecked my rounds. But that didn’t happen in Idaho.Hans Olson of Bainbridge also participated in the sectional qualifying, but shot a 165 to finish well back.Lanza will leave for Florida on August 21. The tournament runs August 23-26. “
“From the way they talk, the Ace Paving Masters slowpitch team has some softballs in the pail that are nearly as old as the players.Another bad one, pitcher Harold Conway laments as he weeds out a particularly decrepit spheroid while pitching batting practice one morning last week, tossing it aside distastefully.They’re all bad ones, somebody shouts from the outfield.When infielder Rosie Hagins, taking his turn at the plate, smacks a ball over the left field fence at Linder Field, there is concern.You better get that ball, someone yells at the players closest to where Hagins’ shot cleared the fence. That’s a good one. We don’t have many good ones.The softballs Ace Paving practices with might be bad because they’re so old.Or, they might be bad because the team’s players – all of whom are at least 60 years old – have been hammering them around so relentlessly for so long.”
“After eight straight post-season triumphs, Bainbridge’s 9-10 Little League all-stars finally ran into a team that played the pitching-and-defense game ever so slightly better. And as a result, the islanders had to settle for third place in the state tournament.”
