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August 10, 2006
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August 10, 2006 |
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sports
Relay team breaks 2 records The Seadogs swam strong to come in fifth in the Miami Valley Swimming Association Championships on Saturday, July 29, at Wittenberg College. There were three first place finishes by Theron Orme, who led the 7–8 year old boys to victory in their category. The 13–14 girls and 15–18 boys also finished a great season by coming in second for their groups. Then, in the scream-fest of the day, the 15–18 boys relay team of Dan Gummel, Danny Powderly, Mike Pettit and Tim Powderly broke two meet records. They swam the 200 medley relay in 1:59.48, shaving over 2 seconds off the record of 2:02.75 set in 1998. The foursome went on to swim the 200 free relay in 1:46.80, crushing the 1999 record of 1.48.29. We can’t wait for next year. Girls— Boys— Trophy night brings joy, hugs, thanks
Trophy night! Our season finale! What a joy! Ninety-three children walking away with their trophies gleefully gripped in their watermelon-sticky hands. Ninety-three sweet, grateful, loving children saying, “Thank you, Coach,” to me and our bevy of perfect t-ball coaches this summer — the steady and stupendous Teresa Bondurant-Wagner; the radiant, organizing whiz Cary Johnson; the hilarious and very popular speedster Shane Elam; the loving, animated, and exciting Darron Fox; the patient, tender, and sweet Cindy Sieck; the awesome, awe-inspiring duo of lovingness, Lindsey Hardiman and her very cool sister Heather (along with her marvelous mate, Mark) Bacon; the rock reliable (ex)-Aussie, Bob Cooper; the young and beautiful team of Matt and Deb Housh; the brave, resilient batting coach, Mr. Dog-Pile-During-Calisthenics Champion Brian Walker; the attentive, tender, and loving Eliza -Woodburn; the joyful, watchful Tracy Pogue. Thank yous and hugs, too — hugs as soft as the fluff of a dandelion gone grey and willowy in June. Keira Fogarty, her big beautiful eyes reminiscent of those stunning Keene paintings of the ’60s and ’70s, remember? She gave me a hug and a thank you — “Ahhh, yes, yes.” Peter and Steffi Cooper gave me a thank you and a hug. Sammy Steck, 2, gave me a thank you and a hug. Max Banaszak, 2, gave me a thank you and a hug. And his sister, the charming McKenna Moore Banaszak, 6, gave me a bulging envelope, then stood next me and waited patiently as I gave and got hug after hug, my once wounded heart healed and made whole by this spontaneous outpouring of love. And then, finally, it was just McKenna and I, with her mother Amanda Moore Banaszak standing patiently behind her. McKenna opened the envelope for me and pulled out a handmade bead-and-seashell necklace she’d made. Her name, McKenna, was carved in letters barely a sixteenth of an inch high on the back of the seashell. I put it on and she read her note to me: “Thank you for being my coach,” she read. “I couldn’t have a better coach than you. Please—” And then she froze, her eyes opening wide in embarrassment. “No!” she said, handing me the note, “You’ll have to read the rest.” And then she raced away, leaving her mother and me wondering, What? What? Still on my knees, I looked at the three- by four-inch card that opened like a book. On the front was a mustard yellow, eight-petaled daisy-like flower. It was plastered over a rectangular hole that promised a mustard yellow interior. At the bottom of the rectangular hole, beneath this lovely flower, was the single word “gratitude” written in lower case cursive. On the front of the card, McKenna had written: “Coch Jimey (the J was backwards; it looked like a looping L; the Y was backward, too, its long leg a backslash — on your computer keyboard — instead of a front slash. To the right of the rectangular hole and mustard yellow daisy, McKenna had written, “Open.” Inside there was a sheet of mustard yellow paper, stapled into the card so it looked like pages in a book. If you numbered them, counting the inside front cover as page one, this yellow insert would be pages two, three, four and five — with the inside back cover being page six. On what would be page three, McKenna wrote, “Tank you coch Jimey. Open up.” I opened it. On page four it read: “Thank you for being my coch. I coutent have a better coch thane you Pleas” — and here was the part she couldn’t read to me, the part that embarrassed her and caused her to flee — “Pleas put this writing in the paper.” I read it and roared with laughter: “A girl after my own heart!” “What?” Amanda asked. I tell her, let her read it for herself. “She wants her name in the paper,” I said, “Just like me — I love getting my name in the paper!” I told her dad, Bob Banaszek, but he thought I was making it up. I convinced him by reciting what McKenna had written word for word. “She was writing up there all day,” he said, intrigued, proud, loving. “I didn’t know what she was writing.” I told my wife, Robin Suits, showing her the card. Robin noticed that McKenna had drafted her note — what was on page four had been written in draft on page three! It was all crossed out, but you could still read it: “thank you coch jimey tank you for being my coch I codent have a beter coch than (something scribbled out) than you Pleas put this (something scribbled out) in the paper.” “She’s a writer!” Robin said. “She is!” I agreed. McKenna had drafted, revised, edited. “Writing up there all day.” Oh, t-ball! Oh, t-ball! What gifts and surprises you bring — wonderful loving athletes, happy, joyous and free. Generous-hearted children, looking out for their little brothers and sisters, catching balls and giving them to their younger siblings, making sure they get a chance to have, hold, (and sometimes) throw a ball. Silly, prankster, shirt-tail-tugging, “I see your underwear!” kids, bursting with the power of the universe. And now, writers. Of course! Young, budding, self directing, creative writers. Ain’t it sweet? Well, that’s our Perry League, Yellow Springs’ t-ball program for girls and boys ages 2 to 9 years, a program open to all our community’s children regardless of race, color or creed. And what a glorious thing it is, a glorious thing indeed. Thank you, Yellow Springs. Thank you t-ball moms, dads, foster moms, foster dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, and neighbors, too! And thank you, most of all, to all you t-ball children. You are the best, the very, very best. Thank you. YSHS soccer events, news Preseason practices now being held Annual Alumni Games set YSHS boys begin scrimmages The Oakwood Lumberjacks will try their luck against the Yellow Springs Bulldogs here on Thursday, Aug. 17, with JV action scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7 p.m. Golf team to meet The Yellow Springs High School golf program will hold a meeting for students interested in playing on the golf team this fall on Friday, Aug. 11, at 6 p.m. at the high school. Parents or guardians of players are invited to attend. McKinney football team to practice every night The McKinney School football team will meet for practice every night at 5 p.m., at the high school. Call Jake Fulton at 638-1687 for more information.
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