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Saint Leo hires winning coach for basketball program

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Saint Leo University has hired a new head basketball coach with a reputation for winning.

“I’m very excited to come to Saint Leo,” said new head coach Vince Alexander. “I think they’re an institution that’s growing. I think it’s an athletic department that really wants to step up their game and really make some things happen.”

New Saint Leo basketball coach Vince Alexander will bring a fast-paced game to the court. He also brings a 285-187 record to his new school and a pedigree of success. (Courtesy of Saint Leo University)
New Saint Leo basketball coach Vince Alexander will bring a fast-paced game to the court. He also brings a 285-187 record to his new school and a pedigree of success.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo University)

Alexander is used to making things happen. He boasts a lifetime winning record above 60 percent during a 16-year coaching career, and spent a decade building his last school, the University of South Carolina-Aiken, into a perennial winner.

His new team has an impressive track record in recent years as well.

Saint Leo finished last season with a record of 14-15, but has enjoyed greater success in previous years.

The Lions reached the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Men’s tournament in each of the previous three seasons, setting a school record for wins in the 2012-13 season (22) and again in the 2013-14 season (24). The Lions reached the second round of the tournament in both of those record-setting campaigns.

After the off year, coach Lance Randall resigned to accept a position at Lindenwood University in Missouri.

That opened the door for Alexander, who had spent the previous 10 seasons with the Pacers. During that time he took the Pacers even farther than the Lions’ best seasons: In 2012-13, Alexander’s team reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II tournament, and the following year they made the Final Four.

In all, USC-Aiken won four Peach Belt Conference regular season championships. Alexander was named the PBC Coach of the Year four times, and National Association of Basketball Coaches Regional Coach of the Year three times. He has a career coaching record of 285-187.

Those accomplishments and that school might be behind him, but Alexander is bringing the work ethic and philosophy that earned those accolades with him to Saint Leo. He’s also bringing a couple of assistants from his former staff who are among his former players. And, he expects success from his new team both on and off the court.

“What we do is we develop young men. We want them to become champions in life. It’s not just about being a champion on the court,” Alexander explained. “Winning is a by-product of what we’ve done in establishing young men and helping them to become good fathers, good husbands and productive citizens of our community. We’re going to keep that same philosophy (at Saint Leo), and, God willing, we’re going to continue to have the success that we had at USC-Aiken.”

Alexander isn’t the type to preach to others, but is proud to say that God plays a big role in his life. He and his family prayed over the decision to coach at a new university, and he strives to lead by example when it comes to how he conducts himself in his life and career.

Alexander’s practices don’t feature a lot of cursing and yelling. But players would be making a big mistake if they assume practices will be easy. To the contrary, Alexander wants intense sessions as he establishes an up-tempo, fast-paced game plan, which requires moving up the court quickly when they have the ball, and a pressuring defense when they don’t.

NCAA rules do not permit practice over the summer.

Alexander said he has already spoken to returning and incoming players so they know what to expect, and he is working with the strength training coach to make sure that players will be in shape to handle the increased activity and intensity in practice and on game days.

The players have expressed enthusiasm about the style of play, but the coach knows it’s easy to say you’re on board before the conditioning starts. He wants those first practices to be difficult and to really test his players.

The coach said if they stick with his philosophy and follow the game plan, he’s confident the results will show up on the scoreboard.

“Our goal is to have 45-50 points at half time. Not for a game,” Alexander explained.

In a press release announcing Alexander’s hire, Saint Leo athletic director Fran Reidy stated the team’s goals are to challenge for the conference title and eventually reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament.

For his part, Alexander wouldn’t make any specific predictions regarding how much progress they’ll make toward those goals in his first season. They haven’t even had a practice yet.

But he does have one prediction for the fans: They’re going to like what they see on the court.

“It will be hard for you to sit in your seat because it will be up-tempo, aggressive defense and getting after it on both ends of the floor,” he said.

Published July 8, 2015

No more ‘co’ champs for Wiregrass Ranch tennis

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Last season, the Wiregrass Ranch boys tennis team captured a state title in Class 3A.

Technically, they had to share it with another school. And while that was an impressive accomplishment, it wasn’t good enough for their coach and his players. It meant another team was always part of the discussion.

“The first thing people ask is, who did you tie with? So instead of being able to talk about your team and what you did, you end up talking about the other team that was there as well,” explained David Wilson, the Wiregrass Ranch coach.

Wiregrass Ranch's tennis team isn't sharing the state championship trophy with anyone this year. The Bulls are the Class 3A state champion, building on last year's co-championship. From left, Sebastian Castillo, Daniel Moreno, Alejandro Feliciano, Foresight Okungbowa, Agie Moreno, Lorcan Kavanagh and Kris Cheung. (Courtesy of David Wilson)
Wiregrass Ranch’s tennis team isn’t sharing the state championship trophy with anyone this year. The Bulls are the Class 3A state champion, building on last year’s co-championship. From left, Sebastian Castillo, Daniel Moreno, Alejandro Feliciano, Foresight Okungbowa, Agie Moreno, Lorcan Kavanagh and Kris Cheung.
(Courtesy of David Wilson)

This year, no other team needs to be mentioned.

The Bulls are the sole owners of the state title after capping off a 21-0 season by taking out the competition at the state tournament in April.

And being a champion is a lot nicer than being a co-champion.

“It’s just a whole lot more fun to hold the trophy above your head and not have to hand it off to somebody else afterward so they can take their pictures,” Wilson said. “Getting rid of the ‘co’ in front of your state championship is nice.”

The team wasn’t very nice when it came to their matches.

It frequently breezed past its opponents, although Wilson said the regional tournament provided especially tough competition, and individual players had some challenging matches during their playoff run.

Before it took the state championship, Wiregrass Ranch had already claimed a title. The team won the DecoTurf High School Tennis Championships in Tennessee, back in April.

In that tournament it faced Hinsdale Central, a team that won the last two championships and hadn’t lost a match in four years. And, if spectators were hoping for a close contest, they didn’t get one.

“It was 7-2, so we actually beat them pretty good,” Wilson recalled.

The Bulls beat a lot of teams this year, but their coach wasn’t surprised. After last year’s success, Wilson (who also coaches the successful soccer team and is the school’s athletic director) thought this year’s team would actually be better than the co-state champions.

It was a sentiment shared by his players.

“We had an idea that we were going to be really good,” said Alejandro Feliciano, who was a big part of the championship team and part of last year’s team, too.

“I think our team had more chemistry this year than we did last year,” said Feliciano, who also is nationally ranked as an individual tennis player.

Feliciano could tell the Bulls had something special this year, and is proud to have completed his high school tennis career with an outright team tennis title. He’ll continue his time on the court with a scholarship to Newberry College in South Carolina.

With players like Feliciano and Foresight Okungbowa graduating, it might seem like a good opportunity for other teams to catch up and possibly dethrone Wiregrass Ranch. Unfortunately for those schools, Wilson is already replenishing the team’s depth, and he’s using familiar names to do it.

Okungbowa’s brother will be a freshman at Wiregrass Ranch next year, and other former and current players have siblings who will enter the school in future years. And with top player Agie Moreno returning, Wilson feels like the team will have the tools to remain competitive.

“I think we should be good for a little while longer,” Wilson said.

For now, the team can enjoy the school’s first outright state championship.

Wilson said the players have benefited from a little celebrity at school, which is common for some athletes, but pretty rare for a tennis team.

Wiregrass Ranch has taken pride in the team’s accomplishment, and Wilson is glad to have been the one to provide it.

“Personally, it meant a lot to me to be the first coach to bring home a state title,” he said. “Leading the athletic program, it was really important for me to sort of set the standard for how hard we should be working and what we do as a program,” Wilson said.

Published July 1, 2015

Real swings on computer courses

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When Jeff Sproat was offered a chance to play a golf simulator a few years ago, he wasn’t interested. He was a real golfer who played real courses. What interest could he have in a simulation of the game he loved?

Then, he tried it.

“I ended up spending about three hours in there. I got hooked,” Sproat recalled.

Golfer's Grail owner Jeff Sproat works in Tampa, but he can take on a driving range, or even Augusta, anytime he wants. Golfers have 66 options on the simulators, plus putt-putt courses and other games. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Golfer’s Grail owner Jeff Sproat works in Tampa, but he can take on a driving range, or even Augusta, anytime he wants. Golfers have 66 options on the simulators, plus putt-putt courses and other games.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

Years later, it’s become more than his hobby. It’s his business.

Sproat is the owner of Golfer’s Grail Indoor Golf & Tap, 10019 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Suite 100, in Tampa.

With four simulators, he’s spent the past couple of years encouraging people who are skeptical of the concept, like he was, to give it a try.

There are many aspects of the indoor golfing simulation that mirror the outside game, Sproat said.

Customers bring their own golf clubs and use them for different shots, just like they would on any course. They use real balls. They swing as hard as they would outside. And they can play just about any game you’d find at a golf club or tournament, including driving contests, closest-to-the-pin competitions and even target golf games. And the game is scored the same way, too.

Still, there are important differences, he said.

Golfers are competing on simulations of real courses and some imagined ones — 66 in all, not counting five putt-putt courses and a program that lets players smash windows for fun.

When they hit the ball, it actually makes contact with a screen onto which the course is projected. While they’re playing, LED sensors track the club swing, and audible sensors track the ball. That data provides an estimate of the accuracy and power of the shot, and the results are displayed by showing the ball either landing in a preferred spot, or somewhere else that reveals flaws in the previous swing.

The simulator is accurate enough to make golfers better at the real game, said Sproat, who plays with a single-digit handicap. Since practice is what improves technique, the simulator allows players to get in extra rounds.

Golfer’s Grail isn’t designed to replace anyone’s outside golfing experience. It’s supposed to supplement those rounds and allow players to get in the practice time they might not get otherwise.

“Every golfer wants to be better. They know that they can be better,” Sproat said. “For the avid golfer, it’s more golf.”

It’s actually more golf with a few enhancements. If a player wants a mulligan, or just to replay a hole over and over, it can be done with a couple of buttons on the console. A round of golf that takes four or five hours outside can be done in less than an hour inside. There’s no dress code, they sell beer and wine a few steps from where players swing, and food can be delivered from neighboring restaurants.

And while you might only spend time with the people in your foursome during your round outside, everyone can be part of a gallery of sorts inside, socializing and watching all the participants.

“In here you can play at whatever pace you’re comfortable,” Sproat said. “The clubhouse and the golf course are together.”

The golf courses draw a lot of attention from customers, Sproat said.

The owner himself got in some real golf at Northdale last week, then took a few swings at the challenging 12th hole at the Augusta National Golf Club (home of the Masters Golf Tournament) on the simulator that afternoon.

It’s a day of golf that couldn’t be accomplished in real life, but pretty simple to manage with a program that stays loyal to the courses they’re modeled after.

Sproat has played a little from every course on the simulator, and said they’re accurate to the real-life counterparts he’s tried out in real life.

The most popular ones are Augusta, TPC Sawgrass in Ponta Vedra Beach and the Pebble Beach Golf Links in California.

And while the players aren’t actually at those locations, they won’t get any closer to the courses without airfare, time off from work and a hard-to-get tee time.

“It is the next best thing, because you actually are hitting the ball. You’re playing the shots. When it’s uphill, you have to hit it harder; when it’s downhill, you have to account for that,” Sproat said.

While regular golfers are a big part of his customer base, he particularly enjoys bringing the game to new people.

Sproat has been hitting the links for nearly 50 years, but he knows that many people who try out the simulators don’t play at all. Fathers with younger children can spend time trying out courses together, and disabled players can do things that wouldn’t be practical on a real course.

Golfer’s Grail works with veterans groups, and that sometimes includes amputees being able to get in a round or two.

Expanding the game to those who might not get to enjoy it otherwise is a big plus for a guy who’s been playing since he was 8 years old.

“I love it. That’s probably the best feeling you can have,” Sproat said.

An hour of golf at Golfer’s Grail costs between $27 and $37, depending on the time and day. That cost is split among all players.

The venue is available for individuals, groups and charity tournaments. For more information, call (813) 969-2100 or visit GolfersGrail.net.

Published June 24, 2015

YMCA’s adaptive programs make strides with swimmers

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When Land O’ Lakes resident Kass Pilczuk came to the New Tampa Family YMCA 11 years ago, she was a swim coach.

Now she’s the adaptive coordinator, creating and maintaining programs for adults and youth with developmental or physical disabilities.

It’s grown a lot over the years, especially considering where the program was when she first arrived.

Kass Pilczuk, left, and her daughter Kathy look at the board commemorating the New Tampa Family YMCA's adaptive program. When Pilczuk first came to the facility as a swim coach 11 years ago, the program didn't exist. Now, she runs it. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Kass Pilczuk, left, and her daughter Kathy look at the board commemorating the New Tampa Family YMCA’s adaptive program. When Pilczuk first came to the facility as a swim coach 11 years ago, the program didn’t exist. Now, she runs it.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

“There was nothing,” Pilczuk recalled. “There was a group coming over that would use the pool once in a while, but the Y itself had nothing at all.”

Today, the YMCA’s adaptive programs serve more than 40 people.

The facility has adaptive programs in swimming, art, basketball and volleyball. It also has a group that participates in area walks and runs (they call them “rolls” if the participant is in a wheelchair).

The main program is close to Pilczuk’s heart: Swimming. With both beginner and advanced classes, the swimming program has given people of all ages new confidence in the water.

On May 3, the YMCA hosted its Fourth Annual Adaptive Swim Meet at its pool, 16221 Compton Drive. The meet included swimmers from an Orlando special-needs program and from the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation department.

Pilczuk would like to get more YMCA facilities involved in future events.

The swimming classes give the participants a lot more than lessons on good form, according to Pilczuk.

“It’s something they can succeed at. They may not have the best technique, but they can have fun, and they can feel good about themselves,” she said.

Pilczuk speaks from experience, and not just as the YMCA’s adaptive coordinator, or as a swim coach. Her daughter, Kathy, is developmentally delayed and has been swimming for decades. She participated in the adaptive meet, including making flip turns when she swam freestyle.

Even though she’s one of the more advanced swimmers, Kathy enjoys being a part of the program.

“You have fun and do all the different strokes,” she said.

Some members become very skilled at those strokes. A couple of swimmers went on to swim for both the YMCA’s swim team and their high school’s team, Pilczuk said. That kind of acceptance is important, especially to individuals who don’t assimilate as often as they’d like in school.

Most of the adaptive program swimmers don’t get that far, but they still reach milestones in the pool.

Many had never been swimming before, and Pilczuk recalls one participant who had never owned a bathing suit before joining. But they learn new skills, improve over time, socialize and support each other.

The adaptive activities have helped hundreds of participants over the years, but increasing the size of the program is a constant challenge. Some families might have transportation issues, and the fact that participants must be facility members might discourage some from joining.

That’s disappointing to Pilczuk, because the YMCA offers scholarships for those with financial hardships, and it has a reputation for not turning people away due to inability to pay, she said.

The adaptive program is free with a YMCA membership.

While swimming will always be important to Pilczuk (her son, Bill, was a five-time national champion and took gold at the 1998 World Championships), she also wants to keep building the adaptive program out of the water.

A drama program would be a great addition, she said, but would depend on finding the right teacher.

They’ve added a wellness program for adults, including participating in cardio and yoga classes, which is a separate activity a few days each month and is not included with YMCA membership.

Pilczuk continues to work toward building a stronger, more diverse program.

The most rewarding part of her job, she said, is “seeing the look on their faces when they accomplish something. They’re just so proud of themselves and happy.”

For more information about the adaptive programs at New Tampa Family YMCA, call Pilczuk at (813) 866-9622, or email .

Published June 17, 2015

PHSC baseball stops just shy of World Series

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Last year, the Pasco-Hernando State College baseball team reached the World Series for the first time in the program’s 23-year existence.

This year, the team fell just short of making back-to-back trips.

When Pasco-Hernando State College’s baseball team takes to the field next season, Jordan Feist will be expected to continue the strong defensive play that defined this year's team. (Courtesy of Steve Winterling and Pasco-Hernando State College)
When Pasco-Hernando State College’s baseball team takes to the field next season, Jordan Feist will be expected to continue the strong defensive play that defined this year’s team.
(Courtesy of Steve Winterling and Pasco-Hernando State College)

PHSC reached the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Southeast District championship game last month at its tournament in Martinsville, Virginia.

The third-ranked Conquistadors faced off against the top-ranked Catawba Valley Community College Red Hawks.

A win would have meant a tie-breaking rematch with the same team, with the winner earning a berth in the NJCAA DII World Series.

PHSC battled back from an early 5-0 deficit to cut the lead to 5-3, but couldn’t keep up with Catawba Valley and fell, 13-3.

They had lost to the same team by a 3-2 margin earlier in the tournament.

The Red Hawks would go on to finish third in the World Series, in Enid, Oklahoma, while PHSC went home.

But barely missing another World Series trip, while disappointing, doesn’t diminish what the team accomplished in coach Steve Winterling’s eyes.

“Besides just falling short of the World Series, I couldn’t have been happier with the way the guys played and fought all year,” he said.

They fought with defensive skills more than anything else, Winterling explained.

In some years, hot bats that compensate for average pitching define a team.

This season, the Conquistadors weren’t knocking everything out of the park, but their pitching and defense were strong and kept them in many games.

Some statistics tell the story: PHSC recorded a school-record .972 fielding percentage, and committed just 51 errors all season. Some years they’ve had twice as many errors, and the fielding percentage is normally a good 18 points lower or more.

While they didn’t have their strongest offensive year, Winterling said there’s no question which type of team he’d rather have.

“I’d definitely take what we had this year. It was a pleasure watching young kids pick it up, throw it over and make plays,” he said. “This club made the routine play, they turned double plays, they ran balls down. It was fun to watch them play and not worry if the ball was hit.”

Even when opponents hit the ball, it usually wasn’t enough to win the game. PHSC finished 32-15 on the year and had little trouble qualifying for the Southeast District Tournament, which required a .500 or better record during the regular season. The team started the year 11-3, and a particularly strong nine-game win streak in March saw PHSC score 75 runs while recording five shutouts.

Their record became just one of a handful of 30-win seasons the team has logged in their 24 years, and is better than last year’s World Series team.

Once the team qualified, the rest of the season was simply a tune-up for the tournament. There was a concern that the players would ease up and not take the games as seriously, Winterling admitted, but they remained focused and played hard despite facing tough competition.

Besides playing far into the tournament, the team also traveled far during the tournament: What began in Kinston, North Carolina was completed more than 160 miles away in Martinsville.

Tropical Storm Ana forced the games to be moved.

The team had to scramble to find lodging, and ended up staying in multiple hotels over the course of the tournament.

“That was an amazing trip,” Winterling said. “Definitely one not to forget.”

Now that they’re back home, Winterling isn’t wasting any time getting ready for next season. He recently signed a catcher from Indianapolis and is working on bolstering the pitching staff.

Those players will be needed, considering PHSC will only have eight returning players plus a red shirt pitcher as holdovers. With around two dozen players making up a typical team, that means a lot of new faces.

Despite losing three of the team’s strongest pitchers, Winterling feels good about next season.

Some of the returning players are part of that stingy defense, and he identified Jordan Ding and Jordan Feist as part of a successful left infield that will be intact next season.

The coach believes they’ll form the nucleus of a team ready to extend the team’s successful streak.

And while he already has his sights set on the school’s 25th baseball season, Winterling is proud of what the team accomplished in Season 24.

“We just had a good group of guys. it was all about winning and playing well,” Winterling said.

Published June 10, 2015

Team Tampa will compete in California

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The Team Tampa U12 travel ball softball team has been around for less than a year. And, while they’re still getting used to playing together as a team in Florida, they’re now planning to compete on a national stage in California.

They are heading to Sacramento at the end of July to compete in the Amateur Softball Association’s national championship tournament for that age group.

Lilly Kiester and her fellow Team Tampa softball players are headed to Sacramento next month for a national softball tournament after winning a qualifier over Memorial Day weekend. (Courtesy of Laura Kiester)
Lilly Kiester and her fellow Team Tampa softball players are headed to Sacramento next month for a national softball tournament after winning a qualifier over Memorial Day weekend.
(Courtesy of Laura Kiester)

The Rebels qualified by winning a tournament over Memorial Day weekend. Only a handful of Florida teams will punch their ticket to Sacramento at the end of July, and around a dozen local players will now take the trip of a lifetime.

Coach Autum Hernandez is impressed with both reaching the national tournament and how quickly the team reached it.

“It’s definitely a huge accomplishment, because it takes teams sometimes two or three years to gel together,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez knows about building team chemistry. She’s been the softball coach at Freedom High School for seven years, and has been a softball coach for 12 years. The challenge in travel ball, according to Hernandez, is that players might move or switch teams from year to year, making it harder to build a consistent identity or benefit from the experience of working together. But Team Tampa didn’t need much time to find a winning rhythm. While some members played together with other teams such as the Lutz Lightning, many didn’t know each other when they formed last September.

The coach, who came on board a couple months later, saw a group of girls with intangibles that made them special.

“The girls work really hard. It’s a good group of young kids who want to learn,” she said. “And they never quit, and that’s one thing that you can’t coach.”

So Hernandez focused on the things she could coach, which is showing players how to use their talent and tenacity to maximize their effectiveness as a team. Good hitters don’t always have to hit home runs, and strong fundamentals and good defense can win close games even if the team isn’t firing on all cylinders.

The coach doesn’t go easy on them in practice, and it’s paying off.

Players, like Lutz resident Lilly Kiester, are happy with the results, even if it means challenging days on the practice field.

“We run, stretch and throw. Some days we’ll do fielding, and some days we’ll do hitting,” Kiester said. “She holds us accountable.”

While Hernandez is quick to spot a mistake and explain how to fix it, Kiester said, she’s also the first one to cheer and offer praise when players get things right.

This team has been getting lots of things right, especially in close contests.

In the Memorial Day weekend tournament, Team Tampa had to come back at the end of games to win, and came out on top in a tiebreaker situation, too. At that level, if nobody has won within a certain time period, the rules put runners in scoring position and give both teams chances to score. In one instance they broke a tie with five runs to seal another victory.

In the championship game against a team from Jacksonville, the Rebels were down 3-1 heading into the final inning and put together four runs to earn their national tournament berth.

While she’s proud of her team, there are things the longtime coach wants to tighten up before they get on a plane this summer.

For instance, she’d like the Rebels to start the games a little hotter, and take less time to get a feel for the opposing pitcher.

There are also two positions that need to be on the same page at all times.

“I’m a former catcher,” Hernandez explained. “I want my pitcher and catcher communication to be a little bit better. That’s really important.”

If they can sharpen their communication skills and stay focused, the coach thinks the trip will be more than a sightseeing adventure. Team Tampa has a chance to do well at the national level, and is bringing the confidence to make that a reality.

Kiester agrees.

“I think if our confidence is high and we keep fighting and have a good attitude, we’ll go far,” she said.

Team Tampa is still in the process of funding the trip, which will cost thousands in travel expenses alone.

The team has set up a GoFundMe page, a crowd-sourcing Internet opportunity where people can make donations to causes in various dollar amounts. For more information and to donate, visit GoFundMe.com/ug28qc.

Published June 3, 2015

 

Saint Leo’s Reidy is top athletics director, again

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Fran Reidy doesn’t play baseball for Saint Leo University. He doesn’t shoot a basketball. He’s not on a swimming relay team. And he’s not a threat running track.

Still, he’s a critical part of the university’s athletic success.

As athletics director, he’s responsible for all of those sports and more. There are 19 in all, and it’s his job to see them grow and prosper.

Clearly, he’s doing something right.

Fran Reidy oversees 19 different sports at Saint Leo University, but that wasn't the case when he took the job 16 years ago. They had just 10 sports back then, and only eight when he was the men's soccer coach 28 years ago. (Courtesy of Saint Leo University)
Fran Reidy oversees 19 different sports at Saint Leo University, but that wasn’t the case when he took the job 16 years ago. They had just 10 sports back then, and only eight when he was the men’s soccer coach 28 years ago.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo University)

Reidy has been named the Under Armour Division II Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. He will be honored at an awards luncheon next month in Orlando.

This is the second time that Reidy has earned the designation. He also achieved it in 2012.

“I feel good about it,” Reidy said via phone from North Carolina, where he was cheering on the Lions at the NCAA Championship for men’s golf last week. “I think it’s a sign of the great things that Saint Leo has been accomplishing, and I get recognized for what our teams have been doing.”

Saint Leo is currently ninth in the Division II Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings, a competition that measures a school’s overall athletic success across all sports.

The Lions have never finished better than 18th in the competition, and have placed lower than that in many years. But they’re now in the top 10 after the winter season.

Part of that success stems from being involved in more sports. When Reidy first came on board as the men’s soccer coach 28 years ago, the Lions participated in just eight sports. By the time he became athletics director 16 years ago, they inched up to 10. Now they’ve nearly doubled that number, and can claim success in many of those programs.

Doing well on many fields is important to Reidy. He doesn’t want Saint Leo to be known for just one or two sports, with the rest treated as an afterthought.

“A lot of schools to tend to tier their sports and push the majority of the resources toward certain sports, and we have resisted that temptation,” he explained. “We want all of our student-athletes to have a championship experience.”

Reidy and his staff have worked to equip their teams with the resources to provide those quality experiences. That means new facilities for sports like soccer, softball and lacrosse, and more full-time assistants for coaches.

As recently as five years ago, only the baseball program had full-time assistant coaches. To beef that number up, the university has invested around $250,000 in assistant salaries, Reidy said, and now a dozen sports have them.

“That’s been an area of focus. We needed those extra positions to help recruit, to help academically and keep our teams successful,” he said.

The investment appears to be paying off.

In the past three years, Saint Leo has earned three titles in the Sunshine State Conference, which is known to be a competitive collection of schools. That success continues a trend over the past decade, during which time the Lions have won a dozen conference regular season and tournament titles. They’ve also claimed the SSC Mayor’s Cup, which measures overall conference success, in both 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Saint Leo’s athletes are accomplished in the classroom, as well.

The university has approximately 375 athletes, and their grade point average reached an all-time high this past semester with a 3.22 mark. To achieve an academic record at the same time they’re achieving great things on the fields of play is a source of pride for Reidy.

Now that the school has reached new heights, the real challenge is staying at that level. It can be harder to maintain success than it is to achieve it, Reidy said.

To continue progressing, they have specific goals and constantly evaluate how they’re doing and what can be improved, he said.

For now, the near future includes keeping their existing sports operating at a high level. As far as adding sports, Reidy said women’s rowing and wrestling would top his list.

He understands that football would be a popular choice for many fans, but he needs to know more about the long-term effects of concussions, and the legal ramifications of those effects, before giving it serious consideration.

In any case, adding new sports isn’t a near-term priority.

Instead, Reidy would like to see a top-10 finish in the Directors’ Cup and perhaps the university’s first-ever national championship.

And he doesn’t want to accomplish those goals by micro-managing his team. Instead, he’ll rely on five assistant athletics directors and the coaching staffs for each sport to keep the university on track and moving forward in athletics.

“I think from a staff standpoint, you try to do it all on the front end,” Reidy said. “You try to hire the right people, and then just give them the right resources and stay out of the way.”

Published May 27, 2015 

Steinbrenner adds on another district title

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The Steinbrenner High School baseball team had a great season, winning many games and establishing themselves as a force in their district.

But really, that’s not news.

They’ve done that every year since the school opened in 2009.

The Warriors didn't always score a lot, but they usually got what they needed by manufacturing runs and getting smart play from players like Andrew Lindsay. (Courtesy of Evan Abramson)
The Warriors didn’t always score a lot, but they usually got what they needed by manufacturing runs and getting smart play from players like Andrew Lindsay.
(Courtesy of Evan Abramson)

What is news is how the high school team — which loses players every year to graduation and turns over its entire roster every few seasons — continues to operate at a high level of success.

All signs for that achievement point to head coach John Crumbley.

He’s been a constant presence since the Warriors began playing baseball.

But Crumbley isn’t taking the credit for the team’s consistent success.

“We’ve got good kids at our school, and we have coaches who feel we have a formula that works,” Crumbley said.

Still, what has worked at Steinbrenner the past six years also worked at Jesuit High School, where Crumbley coached baseball for 22 years and was athletic director for three years.

The coach’s resume at Jesuit includes 11 trips to the state final four, two runner-up finishes and three championships.

Now, with two district titles in six years, Crumbley wants the Warriors to experience the same kind of success as Jesuit’s team achieved.

“I kind of want these kids to feel that experience of what I’ve been fortunate enough to succeed at in my career,” he said.

At first, it didn’t look like this season would be like the others.

The team struggled when the year began.

The Warriors lost their first two games and were still struggling a quarter of the way through their campaign. But they righted the ship, at one point winning 10 out of 11 games in a row. In one three-game span during that run, they outscored their opponents 56-2.

But most of their games were closer, and Steinbrenner came out on top most of the time with good defense and pitching. They held their opponent to one run or less 15 times, and went 13-2 in those games.

Unfortunately, one of those two low-scoring losses came in the regional semifinals, when Durant High School beat the Warriors 1-0 in extra innings. Steinbrenner finished the year with a 19-7 record, a Class 7A-8 district title and matched the school’s farthest journey into the playoffs to date.

Crumbley credits the team with sticking with the game plan, even when the wins weren’t coming early on, and following the path to success they’ve built at Steinbrenner.

“The kids and teams that buy into our system, our philosophies and our techniques — those teams are able to do a little better,” he said.

According to senior pitcher Ryan Fatzinger, part of those philosophies and techniques involve limiting mistakes and finding ways to manufacture runs.

“We’ve had a lot of success with discipline at the plate. We don’t strike out much, and we minimize the errors on defense,” Fatzinger said.

Knowing that he has a strong defense behind him gives him confidence on the mound, since the pressure isn’t solely on him to perform.

Fatzinger will carry the confidence he gained at Steinbrenner to Pasco-Hernando State College, where he’ll be part of the Conquistadors’ potent baseball program.

He feels prepared to join a successful college program after being a part of a successful program at Steinbrenner, which he attributes in part to Crumbley’s straightforward attitude with his players.

The coach’s successes — at Jesuit and now at Steinbrenner — are widely known, and motivate his players to not let him down, Fatzinger said.

“People don’t want to lose, especially with him as the coach,” he said.

The Warriors haven’t done much losing with Crumbley at the helm, regardless of who’s on the field in any particular year.

Next season will definitely include some new faces: Steinbrenner will lose 10 seniors, although not all of them were starters.

There were effective pitchers, like Fatzinger, that they’ll have to replace, but Crumbley is confident his developmental team has the players necessary to provide a roster that will enable Steinbrenner to continue its pursuit of excellence.

For now, Crumbley can reflect on the year, appreciate the team’s accomplishments and recognize this year’s performance as a successful continuation of Steinbrenner baseball’s already-strong pedigree.

“Winning the district title is huge,” Crumbley said. “and being that we’re six years old, and we’ve got two of them already, that’s pretty quick for a lot of places.”

Published May 20, 2015

Steinbrenner softball claims best season in school history

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When Brenda Leach took over as coach of the Steinbrenner Warriors, everyone was hoping for a good beginning, but they didn’t know exactly what to expect.

Leach is just the second head softball coach in the school’s history, and the team has never had a losing season since they began play in 2009.

So, when Leach led the team to its best season in school history, it certainly was a good start to her tenure.

The Warriors had a lot of youth on their softball team -- just two seniors -- but they came together and had the best season in school history. (Courtesy of Maureen Famiano)
The Warriors had a lot of youth on their softball team — just two seniors — but they came together and had the best season in school history.
(Courtesy of Maureen Famiano)

And while she expected a good year, even Leach wasn’t expecting as much as her team delivered.

“I had no idea that our record and accomplishments would be what they ended up being,” she said.

The numbers ended up being impressive no matter how you analyze them.

The Warriors compiled a 22-8 record, eclipsing 20 wins in one season for the first time in school history.

And while they won some close games, many victories were dominating performances. Steinbrenner recorded eight shutouts and scored 10 or more runs 10 different times. They began their season with 53 runs in their first three games alone.

While it is important to score runs and win games, those aren’t the only measures of a successful year.

If a team falls short in the district tournament, for instance, all that work won’t amount to much.

But Steinbrenner had its most successful year in that regard. The team claimed the Class 7A District 8 title after slipping past Wiregrass Ranch by a 2-1 margin.

The team then went to the regional tournament.

The Warriors have done that before, but after beating East Bay and Plant City, they reached the regional final for the first time. And while it ended that tournament with a 7-1 loss to Bartow, Leach remains very happy with how the year turned out.

“I’m so proud of all the accomplishments, so many successes this year to be proud of, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said.

While it was Leach’s first year at the helm, it wasn’t her first year with the school. She had served as an assistant the two previous seasons, so the players didn’t have to adjust to hearing advice from someone they didn’t know.

Still, Leach wanted to do things her way, and that meant both adding and eliminating some things from the program.

For instance, she added conditioning for six weeks before spring tryouts so the team would be physically ready for the upcoming season.

Before that, she encouraged all players — not just freshmen and sophomores — to participate in Miss Tampa Bay Softball, an unofficial fall league utilized by players who want to get in some year-round work. Playing together earlier helped them work as a team from the beginning, since they were already familiar with each other.

There were eliminations, too. Specifically, the bickering that sometimes occurs in sports teams. Leach wanted everyone to understand that there’s a job to do, and the Warriors weren’t going to waste time fighting with each other when they could be working to defeat their next opponent.

According to sophomore pitcher Emalee Jansen, it worked.

“We had a great bonding relationship, the entire team,” Jansen said. The Warriors would do things together outside of softball as well, like a dolphin tour over spring break. And when they won the district title, Leach invited them to her house to watch the game together.

Part of the team’s synergy came out of respect for their coach, Jansen explained. After playing softball at Gaither High School (where she won a state title in 1996), Leach was a first-team, all-region outfielder at Hillsborough Community College. She then continued her softball career at Ashland University in Ohio. Having an accomplished athlete guiding them gave the team an opportunity to learn from someone who had already achieved success, and gave them confidence in her approach.

“It was easy to relate to her, because she played college ball,” Jansen said. “She’s just a great overall coach.”

Leach will have a chance to repeat the team’s success next year with returning players like Jansen. Overall the team is losing just two seniors, and while they were important to the team, Leach believes they can fill those gaps and compete in the district and region again.

She also believes that the team’s playoff experience, including the loss, will help them going forward.

“These girls did not enjoy the feeling of losing in the regional final, and I think they’re going to come back more determined and more ready to work, and I think they want it bad as well,” Leach said.

Jensen agrees.

“We’re not done yet,” she said. “We’re striving for better achievements.”

Published May 13, 2015

 

Four Sunlake athletes choose college teams

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Four different athletes. Four different sports. Four different colleges.

And one very proud high school.

From left, Jake Roberts, Logan Wolfe, Cobi Shirmohammad and Justin Pipes all signed on with colleges at a ceremony at Sunlake High School on April 30. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
From left, Jake Roberts, Logan Wolfe, Cobi Shirmohammad and Justin Pipes all signed on with colleges at a ceremony at Sunlake High School on April 30.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

“Seeing them sign to continue their sports career while they’re continuing their education — it’s like the best thing,” said Sunlake High School athletic director Reesa Pledge. Pledge helped moderate a special signing event in the school’s gymnasium on April 30, where four students earned praise from their coaches and cheers from their friends and families.

And then they signed commitments to play their sport of choice at the next level.

Basketball at PHSC
Justin Pipes wasn’t thinking about college basketball when he started playing the game at age 6. But now that it’s his future, he feels grateful for the opportunity.

“I’m just truly blessed,” Pipes said.

He’s blessed with a full scholarship to Pasco-Hernando State College, and blessed with talent at the shooting guard position.

But he’s aware that the competition is tougher at the college level than what he faced during high school.

To prepare for the extra difficulty, he’s already making some changes to prepare for his college career.

For instance, he’s hitting the gym every day to put on 20 pounds or more of muscle as he prepares to face bigger and faster players, and to take advantage of opportunities to score for his new team.

But the opportunities in the classroom are also important to Pipes.

He plans to study business in the classroom even as he studies his opponents on the court. He chose PHSC because they have a strong program, and he’s looking forward to the task of facing college-level players and matching his growing skills against theirs.

“It’s a challenge, but I’m willing to face that challenge and make myself better as a person, and as a player,” he said.

Golf at Trinity Baptist College
Jake Roberts’ golf swing is taking him to the next level. He enjoys the pressure — and the risk — that comes with an individual sport like golf.

“I like it better than team sports, because if you mess up it’s all on yourself. It’s no one else’s fault,” Roberts said.

It’s also on the individual when they succeed, and Roberts’ talents will bring him to Jacksonville’s Trinity Baptist College on a partial scholarship. Now he’ll face longer, harder courses than he tackled in high school. Roberts plans to face them by focusing on his own improvement, spending hours practicing and working with a personal trainer to stay in shape.

He’ll study sports management in college, and would like to consider broadcasting opportunities as well. But he won’t be thinking much about his college competition. The key to his success has been managing his own game rather than his opponents on any given day.

“I just think about myself. I don’t ever think about anybody else. I just think about playing the course every day,” Roberts said.

Football at Southeastern University
Logan Wolfe was a standout fullback and outside linebacker at Sunlake, and he’ll be playing football for Southeast University in Lakeland.

But not at either of those positions. He’ll be playing safety.

“It’s exciting,” Wolfe said about his new job on the gridiron. “Safety’s a position I’ve always wanted to play because my idols like Sean Taylor (the Washington Redskins player who passed away in 2007) and Ed Reed (longtime Baltimore Raven) played safety. So it’s pretty exciting to get a chance to play what they played.”

To play that position, he’s adding some weight in order to match up better with the competition.

His eventual goal is to become a firefighter. But until then, Wolfe will be playing defense at the college level.

That might be intimidating to some incoming freshmen, but he feels like the Seahawks’ football success has prepared him well to tackle the new challenge. The coaches worked him and his teammates hard, he said, and they expect a lot out of each player. He might not have realized it at the time, but it got him ready for the next stage of his career.

“I did not know that it would prepare me to play at this level, but now I realize all the stuff they did, and I’m forever grateful for all my coaches and what they did for me,” Wolfe said.

Soccer at Corning Community College
Cobi Shirmohammad’s first long journey is an important one. He’ll be attending Corning Community College in New York.

“I’ve lived here for 18 years, and I’ve actually never been on a plane before, so it’s going to be a trip,” Shirmohammad said.

Just getting back on the pitch will be a trip for the midfielder/striker, since he’s been out of commission since breaking his collarbone in the state semifinal. He’s already back up to 95 percent movement and was cleared to play a couple of weeks ago, which is just a few months after the injury. The time of the field hurt in terms of not getting in time with the Rangers, his club team. But it did let him focus on studying which college opportunity would be right for him, getting his schoolwork in order and taking care of business away from the game. In college he plans on studying sports medicine.

Now that he’s ready to return, he plans on making sure his stamina and conditioning are up to par, especially since he’ll be dealing with a colder climate. But he’s excited about playing college soccer, and hopes his community college time turns into another opportunity at a four-year school.

“I think it should take me to the next level after this to complete my college career, and hopefully move forward from there,” Shirmohammad said.

Published May 6, 2015