Yorktown American Little Leaguers Win Virginia District 7 Title

I like these kind of stories. Perhaps covering little league baseball teams reminds me of my younger days in Alexandria, scouring the outfield, while sporting my Hank Aaron mitt and a maroon #4 Eugene Simpson and Sons uniform. Our Simpson teams only enjoyed limited success -- 7-17 during the two years I played, but these nine and ten year old youngsters from Yorktown, VA enjoyed more success. Here's the story of York American.   (From a recent article published in the York County/Poquoson Town Square section of the Daily Press)

The York County American (9-10) little league team capped a successful season by winning the District 7 championship in late June and earning a berth to the state championship tournament which started on July 17 at the Tuckahoe Sports Complex in Richmond.

For manager Nick LaBella and his team, the road to the state round was relatively smooth. The Americans won their opening contest, knocking off Northampton 14-6, and followed with a 13-9 win over their county mates from York National. In that game, Austin Reese, Dylan Kizer and Xavier Martin each drove in two runs.

This led to a semifinal showdown against Hampton Wythe, a game which brought out the big bats for the Americans, who blasted their way to a 25-5 win.

For the championship, the Americans drew a rematch with Northampton, who followed their initial loss to win the next two games and capture the losers bracket. Hungry for revenge, the challengers battled tough for four innings and were trailing 1-0 when the skies opened up, causing a rain delay.

Returning to the field at the Phoebus complex the next day, the Americans rediscovered their offensive firepower and pulled away with a 9-2 victory, and the district championship.

David Winer pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out six to earn the win. Julian La Bella struck out the final two batters and added a two run triple. Connor Castle (RBI single). Seth Porter (RBI single). Xavier Martin (sacrifice fly). Christian Norris (two-run single) each provided clutch hits.

Heading to Richmond, Coach LaBella showed confidence in his squad.

“We have a real solid team. We’re deep in pitching – seven quality pitchers. That is the key for us getting to where we want to be. We field well and are just solid all around.”

The objective of the state tournament was to play well in the first round of pool play and earn a bid to the single elimination draw. Unfortunately, the Americans went 1-2 in the pool and did not make the next round.

In the first matchup, the Americans fell to Broadway 14-4. Although, they were bloodied, the team remained determined and followed with a 28-3 rout over Coeburn. In the Coeburn game,  LaBella (6-6, five runs) and Ryan Scheiderer (5 for 5, four runs, 4 RBI) stood out as the offensive heroes. Martin and Porter also added three hits and a pair of runs batted in.

But the victory celebration was short as the Americans were eliminated in the next game, a tough 8-5 loss to Cave Spring.

Coach LaBella was realistic about what went wrong. “We committed a lot of errors during the tournament that directly affected the outcome of each game. But, at 10 years old it happens,” He also noted the contributions on offense and defense from Blake Boudreaux and Austin Reese, who went 2-3 in the Coeburn game, while also striking out four in two innings as a pitcher.

But Coach LaBella retains hope for next season, if only based on this year’s competition..

“The two teams we lost to (Broadway and Cave Spring) advanced to the elimination bracket.”

"Pop" Pitts Track Classic Makes Debut

The inaugural Richard “Pop” Pitts Track Classic was held on Saturday at Todd Stadium in Newport News, VA. Named for the legendary Norfolk State basketball player, and later Menchville H.S. athletic director, the meet featured over 340 athletes between the ages of five and 18 competing in a full slate of events.

Pitts was on hand to fire the starting pistol for the first race. “Steve Lewis (former Menchville track coach) hired me in 1976 as an assistant and told me that I’d be his starter. I’ve started a lot of races since then.” 

Speaking of the origin of the meet, Pitts added that it is designed with a singular purpose.

“It gives kids who aren’t going to nationals (Junior Olympic national championships will be held next weekend in Greensboro, NC) a chance to have a culminating event for the summer.”

There were several outstanding performances in the younger age groups. DeJah Nunn (East End Flyers) won the Sub-Bantam (9 years old) 800-meter run with a time of 3:17.51. Michaela Rose of the F.I.A Ambassadors captured the Bantam (10 years old) 3000 meters with a time of 11:23.29.

Adriana Shockley (14.41) and Edward Richardson (13.31), also from the East End Flyers, won the 80-meter hurdles in the Midget (12) age group. Jasmine Tilmon, from the Virginia Elite DP squad, took the Midget girls 100-meter title in 13.32.

Clint Gault of Virginia Elite won the Youth (14) 3000 meters in 9:56.06.

Among local high school athletes, Carolyn Brown (Phoebus) won the girls 100 meters in the Young (17-18) category with a clocking of 12.29.

Gildersleeve Middle Archers Go To Nationals

One aspect of my work with the Town Square sections of the Daily Press that has made things interesting is the variety of topics to cover. I have covered youth wrestling and football, a karate school, golf museum, and fishing tournament, among other things. Here's a recent article about a local middle school group of archers who earned a trip to their national tournament.

The Gildersleeve Middle school archery team concluded a successful season by participating in the NASP Nationals, held last month in Louisville, KY.

The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) is a joint venture between the state departments of education and Game and Island Fisheries. The program promotes student education, physical education and participation in the lifelong sport of archery.

In all, 23 archers represented Gildersleeve at Nationals. Twelve seventh and eighth graders combined to form the Middle Division (grades 7-8) team, while 11 sixth graders made up the Seahawk Elementary (sixth grade and younger) team. Since 12 results are required to tally a team score, only the Middle Division team earned a place at Nationals, scoring 83^rd of 158 teams.

Three archers, Josh Cerny (59^th), Andres Amundson (87^th) and Anthony Hall (87^th) placed in the top 100 for their grade.

To earn a spot at nationals, the team, coached by Steve Cretacci, placed third in the middle school division at the Virginia state championship, which was held in Doswell on March 16. On that day, two Seahawk archers, Hall and Cerny both qualified for the shoot off event to determine the best shooter in the state. Hall earned a third place finish in the sixth grade category while Cerny posted the highest score among middle school competitors and third overall (high school archers were also represented).

Earlier in the season, at the NNPS tournament, the archers easily defended their city title, sweeping the middle school category for boys and girls. Cerny won the boys division, followed by teammates Amundson and Justin Kellerup. Heather Dye captured the girls top spot, with Brittany Robinson and Ashley Weiss earning second and third places.

Archery, in the form of NASP, was introduced to Newport News schools in 2006. The sport is a part of physical education instruction at all of the city’s middle and high schools, and was recently expanded as a club activity for fourth and fifth graders.

Gildersleeve participants in the NASP competition:

Elementary Division (grade 6)

Eric Young

Moe Taha

Jimmy Reinshagen

Ben Long

Evan Isham

Anthony Hall

Kendall Downing

Destiny Dixon

Jacob Cinn

Juliana Cerny

Ashley Armstead

Middle Division (grades 7-8)

Josh Williams

Ashley Weis

Andrew Warren

Matt Scarberry

Brittany Robinson

Justin Kellerup

Asya Harris

Heather Dye

Chloe Childress

Josh Cerny

Crystal Bennett

Andres Amundson

Making A Life Changing Choice

So here I sit, at the McDonalds in South Boston, Virginia, eating a sausage burrito and contemplating the immediate future. As of July 15^th, the day before my 48^th birthday, I will begin working here, as an Adult Education teacher with the Virginia Department of Correctional Education.

A couple of points might jump to your mind if you know me and are reading this. First, yes, I’ll be teaching in a jail. But it’s probably a mild assignment for this business. The facility I will be working at is a Level 1, which means that most of the residents are really on their way out of the system. In fact, everyone here works outside of the facility. If you’re living in Newport News, let’s just say it’s like City Farm.

Secondly, South Boston is not close to home; in fact, it’s 182 miles away. Part of my challenge right now is finding an affordable place to live during the workweek. Just looked at a studio apartment, which is at the back of a private home. In terms of simplicity, this could work. It’s all inclusive, furnished and comes with cable and Wi-Fi, which is probably hard to find in a country town of 9,000 residents. But, I’m keeping options open since it’s the first place I’ve looked at. The cost of living is dirt cheap down here in NASCAR country (Martinsville is nearby). I’ve seen three bedroom houses for rent for about $500 a month.

But this is a huge change, and I have been more than a little wistful for the past two weeks. My comfort zone is about to explode, being away from home 4-5 days a week. Never mind the part about mostly giving up my “mistress,” which is what my wife calls track and field. I’m hoping to stay involved with the cross-country and track teams at Menchville HS, but am not sure how useful a coach can be with only one day a week (Sat.) to be available. Thankfully, I am still writing with TrackSide magazine and have two American record holders lined up for interviews. Of course, I can keep covering Saturday games for the Daily Press, which automatically conflicts with what I just said about being available for track on that day. (laugh).

Regardless, this has been a tough decision. But the reality is that my attempts at landing a job with a local school system in Hampton Roads have not succeeded. That’s the irony to me. After eight years of attending graduate school, I have finished a master’s degree in education, all of the coursework for a doctorate, earned an endorsement in school administration, served on a statewide  SOL  committee, and am getting ready to take comps and begin my dissertation. But I can’t nail down a job. The irony is that when I go to admin interviews, it is implied that I have no school admin experience, and when I go for teaching interviews, it is implied that I'm really looking to get into administration. Amazing.

My hope is that none of this will matter and teaching with Corrections will be a better opportunity. I already know it pays a bit more than the school systems here, so it’s a start. There is the challenge of working with people who genuinely need help getting their lives back on track. I figure that most of this job will be preparing students for the GED and helping them transition to life on the other side of jail bars. Being that I have considered covering creativity and at-risk teenagers for a dissertation topic, I’m probably working in the right place – with an agency that is now linked with Juvenile Justice.

Even though I’m sad about leaving my jobs and friends, at least during the week, I have always been one to believe that things happen for a reason. My coaching colleague, Chris Chappell, told me to pray on this decision when I first told him. Last Saturday, I was in Norfolk for a wedding of my longtime friend Alicia Holloway (now Waldon). Turned out that one of the bridesmaids lived here in South Boston, and she has offered to help me. Thanks Tanya!! And thanks to Coach Chapp! I took his advice and resulting meeting with Tanya as my message from above that I wouldn’t be in this (meaning South Boston) alone, and to go ahead and accept the offer.

What is the role of the instructional leader? -- Thoughts from McEwan and Sergiovanni

      While leadership is a broad, all-encompassing topic, the definitions presented fall into a slightly different paradigm. In her book, 7 Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership, Elaine McEwan tackles this definition well, looking at the works of others while viewing its meaning from different lenses.

      To her credit, McEwan notes how the role of the instructional leader has evolved over the past 30 years. While earlier definitions may have focused on administrative tasks (i.e. staffing, budgeting) the more current definitions have much more depth.

Thomas Sergiovanni presented some of the earlier models and has made several revisions. His first models looked at instructional leadership as a meshing of five forces – technical, human, educational, symbolic and cultural. Of these, the first two are related more toward human skills while the last three are aligned more toward leadership within the building.

One element of the leader role that has evolved over the past few years is the role of instructional leader as creator of a learning community. While the leader may not be knowledgeable of all disciplines being taught, the leader should be able to work well with teachers and staff to assure that learning is occurring within the building. Human relations are a key piece toward achieving success.

McEwan introduces her book by introducing the findings of more than a dozen educational researchers and uses this meta-analysis to introduce the reader to her seven steps of effective instructional leadership. According to McEwan, the instructional leader needs to:

1.     )       Establish and implement academic standards – the effective leader sets the bar for standards. Goal setting is an important leadership tool.
2. 2)      Act as an instructional resource – even though the leader is not an expert on all subjects, a strong principal knows what elements are necessary for good teaching and can see when learning is occurring. This leader gives teachers and staff what they need to be effective.
3. 3)      Set the culture and climate – the leader needs to set the tone within the building and create an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. This can be as simple as keeping fresh paint on the walls, but it deals with facets of the human element. One example of this is the visibility of the leader within the building.
4. 4)      State and promote the mission and vision – while expecting the teacher to set goals, the leader also has a vision of what the school will become. This is the vision. Through daily management of the building, the mission will be accomplished.
5. 5)      Set high expectations – if the leader aims low, the result will be minimal. Low expectations lead to little progress. As a visionary, the successful leader sets the bar high and encourages others to aim for it. As noted in step four, expectations are high for the leader, just as it is for teachers and staff. Two-way communication is effective here as the leader seeks critiques from teachers in an effort to improve his or her abilities.
6. 6)      Develop teacher leaders – the quality leader inspires others to do the same. More importantly, the leader is not threatened by the idea of putting teachers in leadership positions. The manager who micromanages every detail within a school building will run the risk of burning out. Good leaders build self-efficacy among their teachers and staff and then validate their decision making capabilities by asking them to hold decision making roles (i.e. department chair, program catalyst).
7. 7)      Build positive relationships – just like a successful coach knows, the team works best when all of the parts are in working order. Relationships are the backbone of leadership success, whether the relationships are with staff or superiors. Part of the leader’s role is to serve as the “voice” of the building, so it’s imperative to keep a positive attitude and a cool demeanor in all dealings.

All of these components work together and serve as only part of the role of the

instructional leader. In a recent class, our group came up with over 20 different roles and divided them into five categories. The instructional leader’s role is diverse and can change from minute to minute. The most important quality of an effective instructional leader may be the ability to multi-task.