Young Players

Football for pre-high school youngsters is alive and thriving in Anne Arundel County. In fact, it's expanding. Bob Brandenberger, who supervises youth leagues for the county's Department of Recreation and Parks, said Anne Arundel has 22 youth football organizations competing in those leagues, plus a few more programs that compete elsewhere. The largest of the county-affiliated programs, in terms of players, serves the Severna Park and burgeoning Gambrills-Odenton areas; the smallest is in the Marley section.

COLLEGE PARK - For decades, Ralph Friedgen's summer coaching ritual has included a page-by-page review of the previous playbook, watching each game once more, and other tedious tasks intended to analyze the football season and improve upon it. For fear of being redundant and boring, he didn't do it last year. It was Friedgen's first losing season in 17 years. "I don't think I'll ever make that mistake again," said Friedgen, whose Terps finished 5-6 last fall. "I put that on me." And now it's on him to turn it around, just as he did in 2001, when he took over the program.

At the Ice World hockey rink in Abingdon, the Beijing Cubs were making a comeback against the Baltimore Stars, much to the delight of the half-dozen Chinese parents jumping and hollering in the bleachers. "Step on the gas! Step on the gas!" they chanted in Chinese as their pre-adolescent sons advanced the puck against the favored home team from Baltimore. The Beijing Cubs, ages 7 to 10 - who lost the game, 6-4 - are in Harford County this week for the sole purpose of improving their hockey skills.

Robbie Robinson is unlike many recreation softball coaches. Robinson, who coaches teams in three different age groups in the Green Haven softball program, doesn't do so to help his children or relatives. He's not married, and he has no children. He also doesn't run those teams to funnel talent to a high school program he likes. Some who know Robinson says he is the definition of an old-school coach. And that's fine with him. "I'm out there for the girls to have fun," Robinson said. "I keep telling the girls that they keep me going.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland freshman center Crystal Langhorne and Ohio State sophomore center Jessica Davenport would never be caught boasting about their basketball skills. Their teammates, however, have no such reservations. "I don't think anyone matches Crystal's strength or her skills," sophomore guard Shay Doron said of the 6-foot-3 Langhorne. "She's unbelievable." "We've got Jessica," Buckeyes sophomore guard Brandie Hoskins said. "She's, what, 6-5, 6-6, [Davenport is listed as 6-4]

WHAT COMMUNITY can oppose a teenage activity that does not involve alcohol, drugs, sex, fast cars or violence? Apparently, quite a few adults object when the pastime is poker. The hobby that stereotypically attracts middle-age men with fat stogies and even fatter beer bellies is now the divertissement of choice for teenage boys. A notoriously fickle lot, young males have helped to make poker games such as Texas Hold 'Em wildly popular. Yet they are dumbfounded by the parental furor over a diversion that reinforces math, improves reasoning skills, involves social interaction and might even be profitable.

As No. 6 St. Frances avenged an early season loss to No. 3 McDonogh last night, the 58-42 victory came as a result of the young Panthers' development as a team rather than McDonogh falling into a slump. The visiting Eagles, who started the season 16-0, suffered their second straight loss. The Panthers (12-6) have won five of their past six to pull even with McDonogh at 11-2 in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference. "This says a lot about St. Frances' growth as a team," said McDonogh coach Tom Gizzi, whose squad won a 54-41 decision on Dec. 6. "We caught them in the second game of the year, but they were very, very young.

In making their last major cutdown, the Ravens opted for youth over experience when they unexpectedly released veteran special teams standout Harold Morrow, according to moves reported to the NFL last night. The decision opened an extra spot on the team's 53-man roster, enabling the Ravens to keep three young players - receiver Clarence Moore, defensive tackle Aubrayo Franklin and quarterback Josh Harris - who all had been on the bubble. Morrow, 31, was known for his bruising style on coverage teams, recording 140 career special teams tackles.

American youth soccer coaches once took as gospel the word of foreign-born coaches, whom they thought "naturally" knew more about the game because of its popularity in England, Spain, Brazil - wherever. But many in the United States now wonder whether that is still a valid belief. American national men's and women's teams, fed by growth in the youth game for more than 30 years, have become highly competitive internationally. Increasingly, American players are being recruited by European pro clubs.

By first grade, Mike Jefferson knew his destiny. He'd be a hockey star. A Scud missile on skates. The Great One, redux. It was the quintessential Canadian dream. In Brampton, Ontario, where Jefferson grew up, kids learn to skate figure eights before they can count. While American youths decked their walls with posters of Magic and Bird, Jefferson's room lionized the likes of Mario and Wayne. His parents embraced their son's goal. You've heard of soccer moms? Up north, they have hockey dads.