Sports Programs

Acrobatics & Tumbling Coach: Laura Chiriaco (Third year) Athletes: 42 The Terps are one of six Division I programs in the nation to have an acrobatics and tumbling team, all of which are part of the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association. The sport was launched at Maryland in 2003 and has seen rising support since. The team is coming off an undefeated season and has welcomed 13 new athletes this fall semester. But coach Jarnell Bonds, who led the Terps to three National Cheerleaders Association championships in 2007, 2008 and 2010, decided to step down in July.

It was a tumultuous spring off the field for the NCAA, and the effect could change college lacrosse in substantial ways. The consensus to this point, however, is that there's still so much to be determined that it's impossible to project how lacrosse fans should ready themselves for the future. How this future looks could hinge on the development of two major storylines that might reshape college athletics: In late March, a National Labor Relations Board regional director decided that members of the Northwestern football team were, based on the nature of their work (playing a sport)

Move over boys, it's prime time for girls now.Twelve Anne Arundel County high school principals struck an agreement this week to let girls' sports teams play more often, at better times, and on better-kept fields.For a change, girls' sports teams will be offered a chance to play at 7 p.m. -- prime time for school athletic programs because it's the time parents are most likely able to attend to cheer their children. Girls' games traditionally are scheduled at 5 p.m. New schedules are to be submitted next week.

Maryland linebacker Marcus Whitfield and cornerback Isaac Goins , Towson offensive lineman Eric Pike and Morgan State offensive lineman Karim Barton were among the undrafted area players who signed free-agent contracts with teams this weekend. Whitfield signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Goins with the Miami Dolphins, Pike with the Indianapolis Colts and Barton with the Philadelphia Eagles. Meanwhile, Towson cornerback Jordan Love was invited to participate in New England Patriots rookie minicamp.

Youth league activist Ed Kelley of Ellicott City is launching a program to get local businesses to help relieve chronic funding shortages in area sports programs.Kelley, on the board of directors of the Howard County Youth Program, has already pledged $50,000 in donations from his business, Sgt. Peppers restaurant in Columbia Town Center. "There's just not a lot of money from the county coming in," he said.A month ago, the restaurant started a program in which youth athletes get cards punched every time they eat at Sgt. Peppers.

ARCTIC BLASTS and a dusting of snow have failed to keep our neighbors inside. The calendar is gradually filing up with spring sports registration sessions, programs and events to tempt those hibernating bears among us to get out and about.Breakfasts resumeThe Ladies Guild of Magothy Chelsea Community Lutheran Church will resume its monthly all-you-can-eat breakfast bonanza, from 7 a.m. to 10: 30 a.m. tomorrow.The cost is $4.50 for adults and $2.50 for children age 12 and younger; children age 3 and under eat free.

LITTLE LEAGUE Baseball Inc., which claims more than 2.7 million players and 1 million volunteers, made a news splash last week by announcing that it will require, starting next year, screening for sex-abuse convictions for all adults in any of its affiliated programs. The idea by the world's largest youth sports organization, which has no affiliates in Howard County, is to ensure the safety of young players from pedophiles, who turn up with distressing frequency in any child-oriented program, be it sports, Scouting or church activities.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to allocate $300,000 in taxpayer money to save Towson University's baseball team came under fire Wednesday from some legislators and key fiscal policymakers for being unprecedented and unfair to other college sports programs. Comptroller Peter Franchot said the money, recently included in the governor's 2014 budget, is a "bailout" that rewards bad financial decisions by a university. Towson President Maravene Loeschke decided last month to eliminate the university's baseball and men's soccer programs because of insufficient funding and a lack of gender equity in the university's sports.

When CBS Inc. started an unprecedented spending spree for sports programs 2 1/2 years ago, it was a broadcasters' market. More fans were tuning in. More advertisers were paying the highest prices for commercial time. And the economy was rolling along.So, CBS had no qualms about paying $243 million for the 1992 Winter Olympics, $300 million for the 1994 Winter Olympics, $1 billion for the college basketball tournament and another $1 billion for major league baseball. The competition followed.

With the fiscal woes facing the Carroll County Board of Education, officials have had to slice about $3.5 million from this year's $107 million budget.Some people have suggested cutting certain extracurricular activities and reducing the number of sports programs insteadof slicing instructional expenses.Do you want school officials to cut some extracurricular activities and sports programs and leave money for academic programs intact? Why or why not?Mail your comments (you may use additional sheets of paper)

Harford Cable Network's Chesapeake Sports Desk program recently won a Gold Aurora Award for its "Punkin Chunkin at Eden Mill" segment that aired in December 2011 and January 2012. The Aurora Awards is an independent and international film and video competition for commercials, cable programming, documentaries, industrial, instructional and corporate videos. The "Punkin Chunkin at Eden Mill" segment won a Gold Award, Low Budget category, in the Aurora Awards Spring 2013 Competition.

Towson University's new arena opens to the public Wednesday night when the Harlem Globetrotters tip off the first of three games in three nights. The traveling basketball troupe is making a special stop - it usually tours in the United States from December to March - to make history at the nearly $70 million arena, which the school calls "the best basketball facility in the Mid-Atlantic. " What Towson officials have been less bold about, so far, is outlining how Tiger Arena may help the athletic department, and the university, raise revenue.

Gov. Martin O'Malley suggested Towson University form a task force to study how better to deal with meeting Title IX rules on gender equity. The governor, who proposed giving state money to save the university's baseball program, told a group of reporters Monday that all his questions about the decision to eliminate some men's sports had been answered. But he suggested that perhaps the public would benefit from a task force. "I think a lot of us have trouble with the idea that to create more sports opportunities for our daughters, we have have to eliminate opportunities for our sons," O'Malley said.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to allocate $300,000 in taxpayer money to save Towson University's baseball team came under fire Wednesday from some legislators and key fiscal policymakers for being unprecedented and unfair to other college sports programs. Comptroller Peter Franchot said the money, recently included in the governor's 2014 budget, is a "bailout" that rewards bad financial decisions by a university. Towson President Maravene Loeschke decided last month to eliminate the university's baseball and men's soccer programs because of insufficient funding and a lack of gender equity in the university's sports.

The elimination of the men's baseball and soccer programs at Towson State University is a tough pill to swallow ("Towson president: Cutbacks of baseball, soccer painful but necessary," March 15). It is a great disappointment to fans, the administration, friends of the university and the athletes in these two programs. Yet it is the only viable option if Towson is to comply with Title IX. Athletic Director Mike Waddell spent a year studying alternatives to cutting the two sports. University President Maravene Loeschke then appointed a task force to review his recommendations.

Jeff Berthney, a recreation specialist with the Harford County Department of Parks and Recreation, has been named 'Employee of the Month for February by Harford County Executive David Craig. For the past 15 years, Berthney has conducted coaching education for the Department of Parks and Recreation. Arden McClune, director of the department of parks and recreation, nominated Berthney for the award. In her nomination, McClune stated, "Jeff has been an integral part of conducting the National Alliance of Youth Sports (NAYS)

Varsity boys basketball Gilman seeks to join MIAA A Conference Gilman has petitioned for its basketball team, which has been competing in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference, to make the jump to the A Conference. The school has applied to the conference's competition committee, which will consider the petition at a meeting set for March 18. After capturing the B Conference championship in the 2011-12 season, the Greyhounds went 16-15 and advanced to the title game this year.

Virginia Commonwealth will add women's lacrosse to its athletics lineup beginning with the 2015-16 season in order to maintain compliance with Title IX, the school has announced. The VCU Board of Visitors on Thursday approved adding the sport to its intercollegiate athletics program, which currently sponsors 16 intercollegiate sports programs -- eight men's teams and eight women's teams. Over the past four years, the number of student-athletes per academic year has consistently been between 265 and 279, and student-athlete composition has generally been equal between men and women.