Youth Leagues

It's almost time for the young bowlers of the county to get out their bowling balls and shoes for some serious competition."Next weekour youth leagues will begin," said Tom Bell, assistant manager of Fair Lanes Southwest Lanes. "On Aug. 17, a Saturday, of course, the Young America fall/winter leagues will begin."That league is for youngsters from age 4 and up. Call Sandy Mize,the youth director, at 789-2400 for information on times.JoiningTom Bell and Sandy Mize in greeting the returning bowlers will be George Zelinski and Assistant Manager Judy Tsay.

It was the spring of Gavin Floyd's senior year, and professional baseball scouts were flocking to his games at Mount St. Joseph High School. A right-handed pitcher with a blazing fastball and knee-buckling curve, Floyd was considered one of the top prep pitchers in the country and perhaps the closest to being major league-ready in 2001. "Pitching that year was really fun," reflects Floyd, now 30, a dozen years after drawing national attention. "I remember the visuals. It was a long time ago. " Born in Annapolis, Floyd grew up in the Chartwell neighborhood of Severna Park and honed his skills with the Green Hornets at Kinder Park and in youth leagues in Gambrills, according to his mother, Elaine Floyd.

If Jane and Johnny want to play in Howard County's youth athletic leagues, their parents will have to pay to use the county's parks -- a new measure that has youth groups fuming."

The Winfield Cavaliers' 6-8 Federal Black youth football squad, members of the Mid-Maryland Youth Football and Cheer League, capped the season with a 14-6 Super Bowl championship win on Nov. 17 against the Catonsville Stars. The contest was played at Blandair Park in Columbia. The Cavaliers, who went 8-1 during the regular season, defeated Woodlawn and Bowie on teh way to the Super Bowl berth.  In the title game, the team saw points scored by Peyton Thomas and Landon Rutley.

SOCCER MOMS, the most discussed political demographic since angry white males, got a temporary break when Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker announced that he would halve fees for youth leagues using county fields next year. The relief may be short-lived, lasting only in 1997, but is welcomed.Soccer moms -- and dads -- have been sacked with rising costs in recent years, as the county has relied increasingly on fees from youth leagues. The fees get passed on to families in the form of increased registration costs, straining households on tight budgets.

WOULD BOBBY KNIGHT qualify to coach your kid's recreational basketball team? Perhaps not in Anne Arundel County, under an effort to closely scrutinize youth league coaches. The former Indiana University icon will undoubtedly land a coaching job at some sports-craved college willing to overlook his background -- as long as the guy delivers championship trophies. But what if Mr. Knight were to swear off big-time hoops? What if he decided that he couldn't tolerate another intellectually inferior college president or another imbecilic athletic director?

"I've been in the bowling industry over 20 years," said Sharon Scott, marketing director at Fair Lanes Annapolis. "And the crew that we have at Annapolis now is one of the best I've seen."Scott said a new system using three units of oil on the lanes is in place for the start of the fall/winter season.Approximately 40 leagues will begin the last week in August and just after Labor Day.The youth leagues will be on Saturday mornings, and the Senior League will bowl Friday mornings at 10."We do have a new league that should prove interesting," Scott said.

Yes, it's time to start thinking of the fall/winter bowling season -- it's right around the corner.So let me update you on a few changes at the local lanes that you'll want to be aware of come the new season.Bob Marshall Jr., manager of Harford Lanes in Aberdeen, says he has three units of oil in place for the first 24 feet of the lanes. "The returning bowlers won't see much difference from last year in the lane conditions. The condition will be pretty much as it was last year."Fall leagues at Harford Lanes will be starting the last week of August and the Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend.

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.

Brunswick Columbia and Brunswick Normandy, with a few changes, are ready for the winter tenpin season.Mechanic Wayne Jones has transferred from Normandy to Columbia. He'll be working under the supervision of John Newby. Royal Antoine will be the lane man, and Kim Dyer is the pin chaser.At Columbia, Gwen Huckaby will be at the control counter. The daytime snack bar attendant is Helen Hines and at night it's Anita Harris.In the lounge, open the same hours as the center, Ginny Copley and Bob Lamartina will be pouring for the bowlers.

Youth lacrosse Martin named director of Charm City league Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler , founder of the nonprofit Charm City Youth Lacrosse League, and league president Miles Harrison announced Thursday that Jody Martin has been named executive director of the league. Martin has served as men's division director at USLacrosse since the organization's inception in 1998 and was director of membership and chapters at the Lacrosse Foundation from 1994 to 1998.

The Greater Laurel United Soccer Club, an all-volunteer organization, is currently registering players online for the spring soccer season, which begins late March/early April. Those who register by Nov. 5 pay only $60. The league is for players ages 4-18, and offers single-gender teams. Players play at least half of each game. Teams practice once or twice weekly, and games are on Saturday, with occasional Sundays and weeknight evenings. Practices and games are on fields in the greater Laurel area.

Generations of kids have spent summer evenings pounding their cleats and sliding into home on a West Baltimore baseball field. Now, a longtime youth baseball organization is hoping to refurbish the fields on which it has instilled teamwork and responsibility in those children for more than half a century. James Mosher Baseball, Maryland's oldest continuously operating league for African-American children, started in 1960 to keep kids occupied in the summer. But after decades of play, its fields need help.

Brenda Arbogast was one of those mothers who swore her son would never play football. Fearful of injury, and not knowing much about the sport, she was completely against the idea until a trusted friend convinced her it would be OK. Many years later, with her son's playing days long behind him, the 48-year-old full-time accounting assistant is not only still a fan of the game she grew to love, but now spends much of her free time supporting it at the...

Omaha, Neb. -- One of my favorite things about sports is also one of the cruelest things about sports: Not everyone goes home a winner. For there to be joy, there has to be anguish. For an athlete to be thrilled by his or her sense of accomplishment, another athlete has to feel devastated. It is the natural order of competition, and it is also, in many respects, a metaphor for what drives us as a country. You see it play out every four years at the Olympic trials in every sport. For four years, American swimmer Brendan Hansen was the best 200-meter breaststroker in the world.

Leslie and Tom Fraley are fond of living next to Kiwanis-Wallas Park in western Ellicott City, but they say they have grown irritated with the advertising signs that hang from the ball field's fences. "They're not very attractive to look at. They're kind of like big billboards," Leslie Fraley said, adding that the signs "flap around on windy days" and make too much noise. That's why the Fraleys oppose a County Council bill that would legalize the signs, which are used to raise money for two private recreational sports leagues.

If you are going to have to travel to Connecticut to bowl in a duckpin tournament, it would be nice to have someone hand you $300, wouldn't it?You bet.In John Estanich's case, he had to do a little work to get the $300; he had to team up with Steve Conners and win the 10th Annual Wayne Logue Memorial Doubles tournament at Mount Airy Lanes last weekend. No problem.Estanich threw games of 156, 147 and 185 for a 488 series; Conners had games of 139, 128 and 141 for a 408 set. Add 156 handicap pins, and the total of 1,052 did the trick: first place and a $600 first prize to share.

It's hot. It's August. Deep summer.It's time for swimming pools and barbecues, picnics and iced tea.And it's time to start thinking about the fall/winter bowling season.Here's what in store for the tenpin -- and duckpin -- bowlersat the Carroll County lanes:* County Lanes, Westminster ShoppingCenter, 857-1977 or 876-8430.Tom Biebl is the manager, and Ken Frock Jr. is the assistant manager, mechanic and lane maintenance man."The new system of bowling is in place," Frock said."There's at least three units of oil on the lanes down 23 1/2 feet from the foul line."

The phone calls start around 7 a.m. for David Marcus and Rick Peacock. What time is practice? Where do we play? What kind of equipment does my son need? Why doesn't my son get more playing time? "My cell phone is ringing off the hook non-stop until midnight," said Peacock, who runs the Anne Arundel Youth Football Association and coaches a Gambrills-Odenton Recreation Council team. Marcus, founder and president of the Brooklyn Park Broncos recreation football program, faces the same all-day litany of questions.

Cheryl L. Niemann, who worked in insurance sales and lived in Sykesville, died Tuesday of liver failure at Carroll Hospice. She was 51. Cheryl Branick was born in Baltimore. She spent her early years in the Woodmoor section of Baltimore County before moving to Sykesville in 1966. A 1974 graduate of South Carroll High School, she attended what is now the Catonsville campus of the Community College of Baltimore County and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Ms. Niemann worked at Noxell Corp.