05.21.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Driller of the Week, Coaches, Schools, Boys, Girls, Kern Track Results, Sports, Videos, Track, Drillers, BHS, Photos, Driller Noise, Noise Flash!!!, Bakersfield at 10:52 pm by Administrator
it is always fun watching coach anderson hand out awards. he is a lot better than those softball coaches thats for sure! it was nice to see miss williams and mr ellis get the most dedicated awards. mr. turner and miss wandick got mvps. mr. fingers and mr. gooden got the impact awards and mr. miller got frosh/soph mvp.
many drillers got all league honors and mr. van matre got the “bringing coach to tears” award.
this year’s team was great and i enjoyed watching they all train and compete. i look forward to next year because so many of our athletes are coming back.
our boys got fifth in valley and i expect we will do better in the future.
our state team is:
4 x 100 - walter hunt (9), emmanuel turner (12), jerek johnson (11), johnny norwood (12) and charles anderson (11)
4 x 400 - chris miller (10), emmanel turner (12), jerek johnson (11) and brandon gooden (12)
high jump - isiah griggs (10)
100m - emmanuel turner (12)
200m - brushay wandick (11)
2008 awards photos HERE
2008 videos HERE
2007 awards photos HERE
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05.16.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Profiles, Athletes, Championships, Sports, Track Meets, Upcoming, WTF, Olympics, Noise Flash!!! at 3:26 pm by Administrator
Amputee runner Oscar Pistorius wins appeal
By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writer
MILAN, Italy (AP)—His Olympic dream suddenly revived, Oscar Pistorius can get back to what he loves most—running.
The double-amputee sprinter from South Africa was cleared Friday to compete in his bid to qualify for the Beijing Games.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a ruling by the International Association of Athletics Federations that barred the 21-year-old runner from the Olympics and any other able-bodied competition because of his prosthetic racing blades.
Pistorius broke into a broad smile to a roomful of applause when the decision was announced. He reached toward his manager, Peet van Zyl, for a victory handshake.
“I am ecstatic,” Pistorius said. “When I found out I was crying. It is a battle that has been going on for far too long. It’s a great day for sport. I think this day is going to go down in history for the equality of disabled people.”
He is the first to acknowledge it will be a challenge to make it to the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games. He holds the 400-meter Paralympic world record of 46.56, but must reach the qualifying time of 45.55 to compete in the individual event in Beijing.
“My hopes are very big for the Olympics for 2008,” Pistorius said. “I think the time period at the moment is very short. Obviously, I have the opportunity, so I am not going to let it go … but it is going to be very difficult in order to run those times.”
However, Pistorius also could be invited to join the South African relay team, which would not require him to qualify.
“We are very much hopeful that he will be part and parcel of our team,” said Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa.
If Pistorius does go to the Olympics, he will be competing alongside another amputee South African athlete: Natalie du Toit, who qualified for Beijing in open-water swimming.
Pistorius was born without fibulas—the long, thin outer bone between the knee and ankle—and was 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee.
“Oscar Pistorius is a determined and gutsy athlete who will now no doubt put all his energy into reaching the qualification standards for the Olympic Games,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement. “If he makes it we would be delighted to welcome him.”
Pistorius will resume training in South Africa on Monday, before returning to Europe on May 28. Van Zyl said Pistorius will be running in able-bodied races July 2 in Milan and July 11 at the Golden Gala in Rome, and that many other offers have been coming in.
“A lot of the time we’ve had this year we’ve devoted to the court case,” Pistorius said. “Now when I get home my time can be dedicated to training. I am going to have to start thinking about getting my body in shape in order to run those (qualifying) times. I am hopeful there will be enough time but it is going to be very difficult.”
Regardless of whether he runs in the Olympics, Pistorius plans to compete in Beijing at the Sept. 6-17 Paralympics. He will prepare by running in disabled events in the Netherlands and Germany.
Pistorius appealed to CAS, the highest tribunal in international sports, to overturn a Jan. 14 ruling by the IAAF. Track and field’s ruling organization banned him from competing against able-bodied runners on grounds that his carbon fiber blades gave him a mechanical advantage.
A two-day hearing was held before three arbitrators at CAS headquarters last month. The panel said the IAAF decision is “revoked with immediate effect and the athlete is eligible to compete in IAAF events.”
“Oscar will be welcomed wherever he competes this summer,” IAAF president Lamine Diack said in a statement. “He is an inspirational man and we look forward to admiring his achievements in the future.”
Even if Pistorius fails to get the 400-meter qualifying time, South African selectors could add the University of Pretoria student to the Olympic 1,600-meter relay squad if it qualifies for the games among the top 16 in the world.
Pistorius would not require a qualifying time and could be taken to Beijing as an alternate. Six runners can be picked for the relay squad.
The IAAF based its January decision on studies by German professor Gert-Peter Brueggemann, who said the J-shaped “Cheetah” blades were energy efficient
Pistorius’ lawyers countered with independent tests conducted by a team led by MIT professor Hugh M. Herr that claimed to show he doesn’t gain any advantage over able-bodied runners.
CAS said the IAAF failed to prove Pistorius’ running blades gave him an advantage.
“If I had to look at the situation, how many amputee athletes use the exact same prosthetic leg as I do and don’t run nearly close to the same times?” Pistorius said. “I think running has become my purpose in life. It has become my calling in life.”
Associated Press Writers Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Celean Jacobson in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed to this report.
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05.03.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Driller of the Week, Schools, Girls, Championships, Sports, SEYL, Drillers, Swimming, Noise Flash!!!, Bakersfield at 11:57 am by Administrator
Becker’s records help push BHS girls back on top
BY JEFF EVANS, Californian staff writer
jevans@bakersfield.com | Friday, May 2 2008 10:43 PM
Last Updated: Friday, May 2 2008 11:21 PM
Bakersfield High girls swimming coach Tamara Clark took a deep breath and quietly reflected on the impact sophomore Erica Becker has on her team.
Photo by Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
Erica Becker of Bakersfield High cuts through the water in record time in the 500 freestyle of the SEYL swimming finals.
“An amazing, competitive kid,” Clark said after the Drillers won the Southeast Yosemite League team title Friday at Cal State Bakersfield. “Such a kind kid. When she wins, she wins with grace.”
Becker set SEYL records in winning the 200-yard freestyle and 500 free, and she was on the Drillers’ winning 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams.
Her 5:11.85 in the 500 free was the most dominant swim of the meet, for boys or girls.
That mark was nearly 38 seconds faster than runner-up Paige Lifquist of Garces. And even more impressive: the mark was only a half-second slower than Liberty’s David James’ winning mark in the boys’ 500 free.
Becker’s winning time in the 200 free was 1:58.18.
Both marks were about one second off her lifetime bests, which Becker said occurred in club competition last summer.
“I’m very happy with those times,” Becker said. “I haven’t tapered (rested) yet, and I wanted to see what I could do without tapering.”
Becker added that she will rest for the Central Section Division I championships in two weeks at Clovis West and hopes to set personal records at that meet.
“I want to go 5:05 (in the 500) and 1:56 or 1:55 (in the 200),” she said.
BHS won its first girls league title in Clark’s four-year reign as head coach with 366 points. Garces was second with 320 and Liberty was third with 290.
“We went in knowing this is an incredibly tough league,” Clark said. “This is not something you expect, but you know you’re capable of it. I’m very pleased with our varsity group.”
Other Drillers posting victories were Alecceandra Gelios in the 50 free (25.92) and Brooke Shuford in the 100 breaststroke (a lifetime best 1:10.73).
Liberty won the boys varsity competition with 367 points. Garces was second with 317 and BHS placed third with 244.
Liberty freshman Michael Rowe was a double winner, in the 200 free (1:49.89) and in the 100 back (lifetime best 57.68). He also was on Liberty’s winning 200 free and 400 free relay teams.
“I was a little surprised to win all four of my events,” Rowe said. “I felt confident we’d win the relay events, but I wasn’t sure about the others.”
The backstroke win was a pleasant surprise, according to Liberty coach Marc Urmston. He put Rowe into the event to try and break up Garces seniors Mike Szewczyk and Nick Marquez, the two favorites in the race.
“Garces was looking to go 1-2 in the back,” Urmston said. “I just told him to go out there and compete, and he beat both of them.”
Entering the final turn, Rowe and Szewczyk were neck-and-neck. Rowe moved into the lead with a great turn and maintained the lead the final 25 yards. Szewczyk clocked 58.76, about a second slower than Rowe.
Liberty also received first-place performances by Justin Kraetch in the 100 free (4924), James in the 500 free (5:11.33) and diver Jacob Tittl (335.60).
The Patriots also set an SEYL record dating to 1999 with a 3:19.23 in the 400 freestyle relay.
“We set out to get that record every year,” Urmston said.
Garces was the runner-up in both varsity team competitions. Rams coach Bill Potter said the decision this year to discontinue the Area meet — which was formerly held between the league and section championships — added some urgency to Bakersfield and Liberty high schools to put together their best possible performances.
“For their kids who hadn’t qualified for Valley, this was their last chance,” Potter said. “For us, we’ve got the (section) Division II meet next week to qualify more people to Valley.”
Swimming
SEYL Boys Championships
at Cal State Bakersfield
Team scores–Liberty 367, Garces 317, Bakersfield 244, Highland 120, Foothill 53, East 41, Golden Valley 24.
200 medley relay–1. Garces (Marquez, O’Malley, Szewczyk, Steele), 1:45.94; 2. BHS, 1:49.36; 3. Liberty, 1:50.06. 200 free–1. Rowe, L, 1:49.89; 2. Farrer, Gr, 1:56.87; 3. James, L, 1:57.06. 200 IM–1. Szewczyk, Gr, 2:08.84; 2. Champion, B, 2:12.88; 3. Hall, B, 2:14.11. 50 free–1. Newby, B, 22.59; 2. Silvius, L, 22.64; 3. Prasser, H, 23.11. Diving–1. Tittl, L, 335.60; 2. Erskine, L, 266.65; 3. Finch, Gr, 230.76. 100 fly–1. Champion, B, 57.78; 2. O’Malley, Gr, 58.71; 3. Hall, B, 1:00.29. 100 free–1. Kraetch, L, 49.24; 2. Silvius, L, 49.36; 3. Newby, B, 49.58. 500 free–1. James, L, 5:11.33; 2. Reddick, B, 5:11.51; 3. Solum, Gr, 5:23.02. 200 free relay–1. Liberty (Rowe, Cody, Kraetch, Silvius), 1:30.45; 2. BHS, 1:33.26; 3. Garces, 1:36.89. 100 back–1. Rowe, L, 57.68; 2. Szewczyk, Gr, 58.76; 3. Marquez, Gr, 1:00.22. 100 breast–1. O’Malley, Gr, 1:05.10; 2. Mcknight, L, 1:05.96; 3. Shambaugh, Gr, 1:07.62.; 400 free relay–1. Liberty (Cody, Silvius, Kraetch, Rowe), 3:19.23; 2. BHS, 3:24.12; 3. Garces, 3:29.87.
JV team scores–Garces 412, Liberty 337, BHS 192, East 65, Highland 32, Foothill 22, Golden Valley 12.
SEYL Girls Championships
at Cal State Bakersfield
Team scores–Bakersfield 366, Garces 320, Liberty 290, Highland 102, East 82, Foothil 61, Golden Valley 16
200 medley relay–1. BHS (Becker, Shuford, Champion, Gelios), 1:59.42; 2. Garces 2:01.61; 3. Liberty, 2:02.02.; 200 free–1. Becker, B, 1:58.18; 2. Grundeis, E, 2:01.41; 3. Kelly, L, 2:13.77.; 200 IM–1. Stuart, L, 2:25.62; 2. Shuford, B, 2:26.53; 3. Lifquist, Gr, 2:27.67.; 50 free–1. Gelios, B, 25.92; 2. Nafarrate, L, 26.60; 3. Solorio, H, 26.64.; Diving–1. Reed, L, 313.10; 2. Jensen, Gr, 300.38; 3. Cowell, L, 229.10. 100 fly–1. Atchison, Gr, 1:04.25; 2. Nafarrate, L, 1:06.18; 3. Champion, B, 1:09.53. 100 free–1. Grundeis, E, 56.31; 2. Gelios, B, 57.59; 3. Richardson, L, 58.68. 500 free–1. Becker, B, 5:11.85; 2. Lifquist, Gr, 5:49.23; 3. Solorio, H, 5:51.65. 200 free relay–1. BHS (Gelios, Shuford, Glossbrenner, Becker), 1:45.84; 2. Garces, 1:51.35; 3. Liberty, 1:53.38. 100 back–1. Richardson, L, 1:06.29; 2. Russell, L, 1:09.46; 3. Glossbrenner, B, 1:09.78. 100 breast–1. Shuford, B, 1:10.73; 2. Townsend, Gr, 1:13.23; 3. barnett, B, 1:16.48. 400 free relay–1. Liberty (Russell, Nafarrate, Wren, Richardson), 3:55.45; 2. Garces, 3:59.74; 3. BHS, 4:01.14.
JV team scores–Garces 452, Liberty 262, BHS 251, East 117, Highland 80.
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04.30.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Championships, Sports, Politics, Track Meets, Upcoming, WTF, Education, South Area, Noise Flash!!!, Worst Person in the World at 1:59 pm by Administrator
before the frosh/soph meet, there was a coaches meeting. there was a vote on the whether to have 18 qualifiers or 16 for the south area meet. now this meeting should have been held sooner and shouldnt have been held right before a seven hour plus track meet.
there wouldnt be a need for the vote, if the liberty track had been built correctly in the beginning. someone (not a track person) though it would be a good idea to put a fence right next to lane nine. this was a dangerous situation that shouldnt of ever happen in the first place.
then last year, the track was resurfaced and instead of moving or removing (or using portable fences) the fence. some genius decided to make it an eight lane track. sheer brilliance.
so now all the coaches are given about a minute to decide the fate of the south area meet. the only reason to drop down to 16 was to save time. sadly, some coaches were heard to say that they didnt want to sit through the extra heats.
we could of done what they are doing for valley. three heats, top 8 in one and two heats of 5 (wont need to do this if liberty was a nine lane track). but instead of letting athletes get one last chance to compete, the majority decided they wanted to go home earlier.
an athlete may have been training all four years for a chance to compete at the area meet but wont get the chance now.
SO SAD!
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04.16.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Schools, Sports, Politics, History, WTF, Drillers, Education, Driller Noise, Noise Flash!!!, Bakersfield at 9:57 pm by Administrator
the other day the men with the blueprints meet after school and showed the driller adminstration (reese and harvick) what they had planned for the driller football field and track remodel.
from what i hear, they will keep the old concrete grandstand but add to it to make more seating possible. plus they are suppose to build a fieldhouse.
the vistor stands are suppose to moved to the outside of the track too. the discus and shot rings will be moved to the field behind the home grandstand.
the football field is suppose to stay grass. why i dont know, sure artificial turf costs more to put in but in the long run i bet it is cheaper. you dont have to mow it, water it, chalk it etc.
then comes our track. the photo shows how it looked the week after our 400 relay won the west coast relays. it was flooded in several places (didnt rain though) and dispite numerous signs, they still drove on it!
at least the moisture makes the track softer. it is usually as hard as concrete. so far in the remodel plans, we will get a dirt track again. one hopes we can raise money to put in an all-weather track. the kern high school district has one all-weather track and we need more.
sure some will howl that bakersfield high gets everything but it isnt the case by far. i hope the community will support getting bakersfield high a new track and i and others are looking into getting grants to make this happen.
lastly, it sounds like all this construction will start after the 2008 football season. so the drillers wont have a track at all in 2009.
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03.11.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Sports, College, Signings, WTF, Education, Noise Flash!!! at 5:51 pm by Administrator
Expectations Lose to Reality of Sports Scholarships
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By BILL PENNINGTON
Published: March 10, 2008
At youth sporting events, the sidelines have become the ritual community meeting place, where families sit in rows of folding chairs aligned like church pews. These congregations are diverse in spirit but unified by one gospel: heaven is your child receiving a college athletic scholarship.
Joanie Milhous, the field hockey coach at Villanova, said she recruited “good, ethical parents as much as good, talented kids.”
Parents sacrifice weekends and vacations to tournaments and specialty camps, spending thousands each year in this quest for the holy grail.
But the expectations of parents and athletes can differ sharply from the financial and cultural realities of college athletics, according to an analysis by The New York Times of previously undisclosed data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association and interviews with dozens of college officials.
Excluding the glamour sports of football and basketball, the average N.C.A.A. athletic scholarship is nowhere near a full ride, amounting to $8,707. In sports like baseball or track and field, the number is routinely as low as $2,000. Even when football and basketball are included, the average is $10,409. Tuition and room and board for N.C.A.A. institutions often cost between $20,000 and $50,000 a year.
“People run themselves ragged to play on three teams at once so they could always reach the next level,” said Margaret Barry of Laurel, Md., whose daughter is a scholarship swimmer at the University of Delaware. “They’re going to be disappointed when they learn that if they’re very lucky, they will get a scholarship worth 15 percent of the $40,000 college bill. What’s that? $6,000?”
Within the N.C.A.A. data, last collected in 2003-4 and based on N.C.A.A. calculations from an internal study, are other statistical insights about the distribution of money for the 138,216 athletes who received athletic aid in Division I and Division II.
¶Men received 57 percent of all scholarship money, but in 11 of the 14 sports with men’s and women’s teams, the women’s teams averaged higher amounts per athlete.
¶On average, the best-paying sport was neither football nor men’s or women’s basketball. It was men’s ice hockey, at $21,755. Next was women’s ice hockey ($20,540).
¶The lowest overall average scholarship total was in men’s riflery ($3,608), and the lowest for women was in bowling ($4,899). Baseball was the second-lowest men’s sport ($5,806).
Many students and their parents think of playing a sport not because of scholarship money, but because it is stimulating and might even give them a leg up in the increasingly competitive process of applying to college. But coaches and administrators, the gatekeepers of the recruiting system, said in interviews that parents and athletes who hoped for such money were much too optimistic and that they were unprepared to effectively navigate the system. The athletes, they added, were the ones who ultimately suffered.
Coaches surveyed at two representative N.C.A.A. Division I institutions — Villanova University outside Philadelphia and the University of Delaware — told tales of rejecting top prospects because their parents were obstinate in scholarship negotiations.
“I dropped a good player because her dad was a jerk — all he ever talked to me about was scholarship money,” said Joanie Milhous, the field hockey coach at Villanova. “I don’t need that in my program. I recruit good, ethical parents as much as good, talented kids because, in the end, there’s a connection between the two.”
The best-laid plans of coaches do not always bring harmony on teams, however, and scholarships can be at the heart of the unrest. Who is getting how much tends to get around like the salaries in a workplace. The result — scholarship envy — can divide teams.
The chase for a scholarship has another side that is rarely discussed. Although those athletes who receive athletic aid are viewed as the ultimate winners, they typically find the demands on their time, minds and bodies in college even more taxing than the long journey to get there.
There are 6 a.m. weight-lifting sessions, exhausting practices, team meetings, study halls and long trips to games. Their varsity commitments often limit the courses they can take. Athletes also share a frustrating feeling of estrangement from the rest of the student body, which views them as the privileged ones. In this setting, it is not uncommon for first- and second-year athletes to relinquish their scholarships.
“Kids who have worked their whole life trying to get a scholarship think the hard part is over when they get the college money,” said Tim Poydenis, a senior at Villanova receiving $3,000 a year to play baseball. “They don’t know that it’s a whole new monster when you get here. Yes, all the hard work paid off. And now you have to work harder.”
Lack of Knowledge
Parents often look back on the many years spent shuttling sons and daughters to practices, camps and games with a changed eye. Swept up in the dizzying pursuit of sports achievement, they realize how little they knew of the process.
Mrs. Barry remembers how her daughter Cortney rose at 4 a.m. for years so she could attend a private swim practice before school. A second practice followed in the afternoon. Weekends were for competitions. Cortney is now a standout freshman at Delaware after receiving a $10,000 annual athletic scholarship.
“I’m very proud of her and it was worth it on many levels, but not necessarily the ones everybody talks about,” Mrs. Barry said. “It can take over your life. Getting up at 4 a.m. was like having another baby again. And the expenses are significant; I know I didn’t buy new clothes for a while.
“But the hardest part is that nobody educates the parents on what’s really going on or what’s going to happen.”
When they received the letter from Delaware informing them of Cortney’s scholarship, she and her husband, Bob, were thrilled. Later, they shared a quiet laugh, noting that the scholarship might just defray the cost of the last couple of years of Cortney’s youth sports swim career.
The paradox has caught the attention of Myles Brand, the president of the N.C.A.A.
“The youth sports culture is overly aggressive, and while the opportunity for an athletic scholarship is not trivial, it’s easy for the opportunity to be overexaggerated by parents and advisers,” Mr. Brand said in a telephone interview. “That can skew behavior and, based on the numbers, lead to unrealistic expectations.”
Instead, Mr. Brand said, families should focus on academics.
“The real opportunity is taking advantage of how eager institutions are to reward good students,” he said. “In America’s colleges, there is a system of discounting for academic achievement. Most people with good academic records aren’t paying full sticker price. We don’t want people to stop playing sports; it’s good for them. But the best opportunity available is to try to improve one’s academic qualifications.” The math of athletic scholarships is complicated and widely misunderstood.
Despite common references in news media reports, there is no such thing as a four-year scholarship. All N.C.A.A. athletic scholarships must be renewed and are not guaranteed year to year, something stated in bold letters on the organization’s Web site for student-athletes. Nearly every scholarship can be canceled for almost any reason in any year, although it is unclear how often that happens.
In 2003-4, N.C.A.A. institutions gave athletic scholarships amounting to about 2 percent of the 6.4 million athletes playing those sports in high school four years earlier. Despite the considerable attention paid to sports, the select group of athletes barely registers statistically among the 5.3 million students at N.C.A.A. colleges and universities.
Scholarships are typically split and distributed to a handful, or even, say, 20, athletes because most institutions do not fully finance the so-called nonrevenue sports like soccer, baseball, golf, lacrosse, volleyball, softball, swimming, and track and field. Colleges offering these sports often pay for only five or six full scholarships, which are often sliced up to cover an entire team. Some sports have one or two full scholarships, or none at all.
The N.C.A.A. also restricts by sport the number of scholarships a college is allowed to distribute, and the numbers for most teams are tiny when compared with Division I football and its 85-scholarship limit.
A fully financed men’s Division I soccer team is restricted to 9.9 full scholarships, for freshmen to seniors. These are typically divvied up among as many as 25 or 30 players. A majority of N.C.A.A. members do not reach those limits and are not fully financed in most of their sports.
Ms. Milhous, whose Villanova field hockey team plays in the competitive Big East Conference, must make tough choices in recruiting. The N.C.A.A. permits Division I field hockey teams to have 12 full scholarships, but her team has fewer.
“I tell parents of recruits I have eight scholarships, and they say: ‘Wow, eight a year? That’s great,’ ” she said. “And I say: ‘No, eight over four or five years of recruits. And I’ve got 22 girls on our team.’ ”
That can mean a $2,000 scholarship, which surprises parents.
“They might argue with me,” Ms. Milhous said. “But the fact is I’ve got girls getting from $2,000 to $20,000, and it all has to add up to eight scholarships. It’s very subjective, and remember, what I get to give out is also determined by how many seniors I’ve got leaving.”
Two Brothers, Two Stories
Joe Taylor, a soccer player at Villanova, received a scholarship worth half his roughly $40,000 in college costs when he graduated from a suburban Philadelphia high school three years ago. He had spent years on one of the top travel soccer teams in the country, F.C. Delco, and had several college aid offers.
“It was still a huge dogfight to get whatever you can get,” Mr. Taylor said. “Everyone is scrambling. There are so many good players, and nobody understands how few get to keep playing after high school.”
In 2003-4, there was the equivalent of one full N.C.A.A. men’s soccer scholarship available for about every 145 boys who were playing high school soccer four years earlier.
“There’s a lot of luck involved really,” Mr. Taylor said. “I can pinpoint a time when I was suddenly heavily recruited. It was after a tournament in Long Island the summer after my junior year. I scored a few goals. The Villanova coach was there, and so were some other college coaches. Within a couple of days, my in-box was full of e-mails. I’ve wondered, What would have happened if didn’t play well that day?”
Mr. Taylor has a younger brother, Pat, who followed in his footsteps, playing on the same national-level travel team and for the same Olympic developmental program.
“He did everything I did, and in some ways I think he’s a better player than me,” Joe said. “But you know, I think he didn’t have the big game when the right college coaches were there. He didn’t get the money offers I did.”
Pat Taylor is a freshman at Loyola College in Baltimore. Though recruited, he did not make the soccer team during tryouts last fall.
“I feel terrible for him — he worked as hard as I did for all those years,” Joe Taylor said.
Their father, Chris Taylor, said he once calculated what he spent on the boys’ soccer careers.
“Ten thousand per kid per year is not an unreasonable estimate,” he said. “But we never looked at it as a financial transaction. You are misguided if you do it for that reason. You cannot recoup what you put in if you think of it that way. It was their passion — still is — and we wanted to indulge that.
“So what if we didn’t take vacations for a few years.”
Pat Taylor, who started playing soccer at 4, said it took him about a month to accept that his dream of playing varsity soccer on scholarship in college would not happen. He looks back fondly on his youth career but also wishes he knew at the start what he knows now about the process.
“The whole thing really is a crapshoot, but no one ever says that out loud,” he said. “On every team I played on, every single person there thought for sure that they would play in college. I thought so, too. Just by the numbers, it’s completely unrealistic.
“And if I had it to do over, I would have skipped a practice every now and then to go to a concert or a movie with my friends. I missed out on a lot of things for soccer. I wish I could have some of that time back.”
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01.10.08
Posted in Yada Yada, Sports, Drillers, Wrestling at 12:16 am by Administrator
Emphasizing success at the state tournament is one of the ways Bakersfield High’s wrestling program has built a strong tradition
BY ZACH EWING, Californian staff writer
e-mail: zewing@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Jan 9 2008 8:50 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jan 9 2008 8:52 PM
There’s something missing from the Bakersfield High wrestling room, and unless you look closely, you won’t find it.
Photos:
Photo by Casey Christie / The Californian
Bakersfield High wrestlers Javier Sanchez, left, and Jonah Cruz, workout together in the wrestling room at the start of the wrestling season.
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