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Lutz resident headed to Canada for martial arts games

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Ethan Dillon has a trip to Canada planned for later this year. He’ll probably pack a jacket and some long-sleeve shirts.

He’ll also bring his three black belts.

Ethan Dillon, 14, of Lutz, will represent the United States at the TAFISA World Martial Arts Games in September. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Ethan Dillon, 14, of Lutz, will represent the United States at the TAFISA World Martial Arts Games in September.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

Dillon, 14, of Lutz, is one of 60 martial arts athletes selected to represent the United States at The Association For International Sport for All World Martial Arts Games, Sept. 3-7 at The Olympic Oval in Richmond, British Columbia. TAFISA has had World Games every year since 1992, but September will be the organization’s first world games dedicated specifically to martial arts.

Dillon owns a first-degree black belt from Krav Maga Martial Arts, a second-degree black belt from Extreme Martial Arts and a second-degree black belt from Lee Jacobs Christian Karate. His disciplines include karate, mixed martial arts, jiu-jitsu, tae kwan do and Krav Maga, a self-defense program used by the Israeli Defense Forces.

He also has a couple of green belts and a white-yellow belt to round out his collection.

While he earns plenty of accolades, Dillon spends little time dwelling on them.

“I don’t look at it too long because there’s always someone out there trying to get that, and if I want it I’m going to have to fight for it,” he said.

When he travels to Canada, he’ll fight to defend three world titles he won at the organization’s 2012 World Games in Austria. TAFISA, which is recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Olympic Committee, operates under a “sports for all” philosophy, and includes adult and child competitors of both genders.

Dillon competes in both matches against opponents and through kata, a display of choreographed patterns of movements by himself. Of the two, it’s the one he does alone that’s hardest for him to master.

“I enjoy the kata. It’s a challenge, just because the way my head is, I don’t remember stuff very easily,” he said.

Dillon has been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, making it sometimes harder for him to focus or remain still for long periods of time. But his mother, Melony Dillon, said that a decade of martial arts has given Ethan a great deal of discipline and improved his concentration, allowing him to excel in areas on and off the mat.

Even his behavior and attitude is better than most of his peers.

“I have to say, he’s probably one of the better teenagers around,” she said. “I see a young man growing into being a really great young man. Not just with martial arts, but on the whole, being a nice productive citizen.”

Dillon’s productivity on the mat requires a lot of effort and a busy schedule. On Mondays and Wednesdays, Dillon works on traditional martial arts. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, it’s mixed martial arts, a sport that has gained popularity over the years due to high-profile professional leagues such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Fridays are private lessons, and Saturdays are spent with team training.

Most of those days also include weight training, and Dillon has to fit his education in during the school year as well. Dillon is home-schooled, which allows him some flexibility with his schedule. But even his day off, Sunday, is often spent doing some physical activity, like paintball or swimming.

Martial arts also has taken a toll on his body. Dillon has torn ligaments in his right foot and broken his left foot. But he’s always eager to get back from an injury, doing whatever work he can while he heals.

His fighting injuries might take a greater toll on his mother than Dillon himself. While Melony is supportive of her son’s martial arts career, and travels with him to other countries to watch him compete, she hasn’t gotten totally comfortable with watching him get hit.

“It’s really hard sometimes when he’s fighting for me to put my mom hat over here and not go, oh jeez, my son just got hit really bad,” she said.

While it can be tough on his mother, getting hit isn’t usually a problem for Dillon. In fact, he likes to give his opponent the first strike, so he can absorb the first blow and proceed with his own attack unfazed by his opponent.

“It wakes me up, actually,” Dillon said. “I actually laugh sometimes when I get hit.”

Getting hit in Canada is expected, but it also will be expensive. For Ethan and Melony to make the trip, they’ll need around $4,500 to cover basics like equipment and uniforms, flight and lodging.

After fundraising efforts, he still needs to come up with around $1,200 by the end of July.

Dillon’s family goes to a lot of effort to fulfill his busy schedule, with weekly trips to Lakeland, Odessa and Sarasota for training. His 7-year-old sister, Emma Dillon, and his grandmother, Betty Dillon, are also big supporters.

While he works hard to excel and gain recognition, it’s his family’s support that helps keep him going.

“That helps quite a bit because I know that there are some families that push their kids to do this, and then there are other families that don’t even support their kids doing this at all,” he said. “It means a lot to me.”

For more information about Dillon and his fundraising, visit tinyurl.com/EthanDillon. For information about TAFISA, visit TAFISA.net.

Published July 2, 2014

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Pay college athletes? Saint Leo poll says no

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The topic of paying college athletes is a controversial one.

Yet a new poll by the Saint Leo Polling Institute suggests most people have already picked a side, and the answer is no.

Jerrel Harris, a guard with the Saint Leo University basketball team, attempts a free throw during a game last season. Like typical college athletes, Harris is not paid for his work, and a new survey says most people believe it should stay that way. (Courtesy of Saint Leo University)
Jerrel Harris, a guard with the Saint Leo University basketball team, attempts a free throw during a game last season. Like typical college athletes, Harris is not paid for his work, and a new survey says most people believe it should stay that way.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo University)

The national poll, conducted between May 28 and June 4, asked 1,016 people —including 802 likely voters — about the subject of paying athletes, specifically football and basketball players at high-profile schools, an undetermined amount of money above and beyond traditional athletic scholarships. A strong majority, 66 percent, agreed with the statement “Giving athletic scholarships and the chance to earn a college degree for free is fair compensation for college athletes, and they should not be paid.”

Just 21 percent of respondents agreed with the statement “College athletes deserve to be paid for the time they spend practicing, traveling, and playing, above and beyond the value of any scholarships they might receive.” The remaining respondents, representing 13 percent, said they didn’t know or weren’t sure.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent along with a 95 percent confidence level, which represents the degree of likelihood that the results truly fall within the stated margin of error.

While the pollsters at Saint Leo are mainly concerned with creating a scientific poll, collecting the data and reporting their findings, even they weren’t expecting such a lopsided result.

“It was definitely surprising,” said Drew Gold, executive director of the Saint Leo Polling Institute. “I don’t think anybody expected it to be that overwhelmingly against paying the athletes.”

With the Olympics now utilizing professional athletes, college sports is one of the last true high-profile amateur competitions, and people seem to want to keep it that way, he said.

While it was a local school, Saint Leo, that created the poll, the results have had global appeal. In addition to being discussed in the United States, the findings have been reported in countries such as France, Germany and India.

And even as the findings might surprise some people, Gold said the methodology is sound, and the institute stands behind the results.

Pasco-Hernando State College athletic director Steve Winterling wasn’t one of the people surveyed for the poll. But if he had been, he’d be part of the 66 percent against paying athletes.

“I’m definitely with the majority there. I just think you’re opening up a can of worms,” said Winterling, who also serves as the school’s baseball coach. “I’m in favor of them not getting paid.”

Getting a free education in exchange for athletic play is a good deal for students, he said.

And his philosophy doesn’t change when taking into account that some athletes generate a lot of revenue for their schools by playing popular sports in a big spotlight. In fact, he believes athletes seek out those opportunities knowing that an education and a big stage is their compensation.

“They know what they’re getting into with that,” Winterling said. “Athletes know going in they’re just getting the scholarship.”

Students often choose those schools so they can showcase skills at a program that gets wide media exposure and the possibility of playing for a championship, he said.

While PHSC is primarily a two-year college whose athletes play at the Division II level for the National Junior College Athletic Association, Winterling spent several years as an assistant baseball coach for Florida State University, and is familiar with its successful baseball and football programs.

Florida State’s athletes train in world class facilities, have access to top-rate medical staff, and travel in above-average accommodations, he said. In fact, baseball players from the school who went on to play professionally for Class A or Class AA Minor League Baseball teams told him how much better the school’s conditions were compared to their professional teams, from uniforms to locker rooms to equipment.

“One thing they always said when they came back was they didn’t realize they had it so good at Florida State,” Winterling said.

He believes paying players would create more disparity between bigger schools with popular programs and wealthy boosters. At the same time, however, Winterling said he understands smaller schools don’t generate as much revenue and that some athletes have trouble making ends meet while in college. He supports loosening college rules to allow students more freedom to hold jobs while they go to school and play sports.

The poll might not be used to actually affect policy, the National Collegiate Athletic Association could consider it strong evidence that most people don’t support paying players, Gold said.

In any case, the results show that while the topic generates interest and discussion, it’s not an evenly divided issue at this time.

“The public feels overwhelmingly that they should not be paid. That’s what the numbers tell you,” Gold said.

Published June 25, 2014

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Already a local inspiration, Keppel now takes national coaching stage

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Brooks Sports Inc., is known for its running shoes and apparel. But once a year, the Seattle-based company gives people a chance to choose among 25 high school coaches across the nation they feel is the most inspiring.

One of the coaches making the cut is none other than Land O’ Lakes High School cross-country coach Kris Keppel. And now his team — and the school — is depending on everyone to get to Facebook and vote for him in the 2014 Brooks Inspiring Coaches Award before the end of July.

Coach Kris Keppel, right, warms up with his Land O’ Lakes High School cross-country team during summer training at Pine View Middle School last week. Keppel is up for a national coaching award based on how he inspires his runners. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Coach Kris Keppel, right, warms up with his Land O’ Lakes High School cross-country team during summer training at Pine View Middle School last week. Keppel is up for a national coaching award based on how he inspires his runners.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

“I opened up my email on the first day of my treatment this cycle, and I was just kind of blown away,” Keppel said. “I didn’t think this was real.”

The treatment Keppel is talking about is chemotherapy, which he’s undergoing to battle pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed late last year, but still made it out to as many practices and meets as he could muster.

Enduring a new round of chemo hasn’t stopped Keppel from moving forward with summer practices, waking up as the sun rises to get that little bit of cool air typically found only in the mornings during Florida summers.

That’s the kind of effort that really motivates his runners, like incoming senior Noah Thomas.

“He’s just one of the strongest men I’ve ever met,” the 17-year-old said. “All throughout this, he’s still been there for us, and he’s still pushing us hard, and we push back for him.”

It’s the runners, his fellow coaches like Karen DeHaas, and the parents that motivate him to get up and tackle each day with fresh energy, Keppel’s wife Dar said.

“I think cross-country has been a godsend,” she said. “It has monopolized our life, and I was jealous of it at times. But I think if he didn’t have cross-country, he wouldn’t be in the mindset that he’s in. And that is something that is a great outlet.”

For just being named a finalist, the Land O’ Lakes team has won $5,000 in running shoes, apparel and accessories from Brooks, as well as $500 in cash for team expenses.

The coach chosen as the most inspiring on Facebook will win an additional $5,000 in Brooks apparel, plus $2,000 more in cash to the school’s athletic department.

DeHaas, who Keppel recruited some years back to coach the girls cross-country team, did the initial work to get her colleague nominated. But it was a nomination that almost didn’t happen.

“I spent a couple hours writing up everything online, and then when I went to go get a picture, I came back, and what I wrote wasn’t there anymore,” said DeHaas, who runners affectionately refer to as “Mima.”

“I had some good ideas there, too, and so I had to think of it all again so that I could write it a second time,” she said.

Keppel spent years as a media specialist at Land O’ Lakes High, but moved into the American history department after those positions were cut last year. Yet, he still finds a way to connect with students, even off the track.

“He’s a model for so many kids,” DeHaas said. “He has helped so many kids get into colleges, and wrote letters — you wouldn’t believe how many. Anyone who came to him for help, he would help them, whether it was something to do with sports, or something to do with academics. He is just a wealth of information.”

Keppel and his wife are heading to Seattle to learn who will win among the 25 coaches in August. For someone as well-traveled as Keppel is, this is the first time he’s ever been to Washington, and he’s looking forward to it.

However, he’s also looking to not have too many distractions as he prepares his runners for what Keppel hopes will be another successful season, both as a team, and as individual athletes.

“The true gratification of a coach is to see the transformation of a kid who just ran a couple miles to a kid who can run a half-marathon by the end of summer,” Keppel said.

To vote, visit tinyurl.com/KeppelInspire.

Published June 25, 2014

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Teen coach is all business on football gridiron

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On a rather hot day earlier this month, Zachary Cooper attended a football camp at Lutz Chiefs Stadium.

The 16-year-old did some conditioning, went through drills, and even participated in a scrimmage. Later, Cooper said it was a worthwhile event and the participants had a good time.

Zachary Cooper is a 16-year-old coach who takes his work seriously. He’s already coached at the youth football, middle school and high school levels, and has college and arena football in his sights. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Zachary Cooper is a 16-year-old coach who takes his work seriously. He’s already coached at the youth football, middle school and high school levels, and has college and arena football in his sights.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

But he wasn’t there to learn. He was there to teach. It was his camp, and he was the coach.

“I felt it went fantastic. The coaches really came out and they worked their butts off,” Cooper said. “We definitely had some kids that showed their talent and just showed that they are dedicated, and that’s what matters most is dedication. If you’re not dedicated you probably can’t play the sport.”

With some Steinbrenner High School football players to assist him, Cooper led around 50 middle school-aged attendees through a free two-hour camp, teaching them football basics as well as specific skills according to their position.

Cooper is already a recognized leader, serving as head coach for Martinez Middle School and an assistant coach for the junior varsity team at Steinbrenner. He’s also coached for the youth football Lutz Chiefs and been in touch with the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm about participating with their staff.

And Cooper is in discussions with a college in Georgia to continue his education — and his coaching career — once he graduates high school in 2015.

He might still be a couple of years away from voting, but Cooper’s already an experienced football coach who loves teaching the game.

“Being a coach, I really enjoy helping the kids out,” he said.

Cooper acknowledges it might sound strange to hear a teenager talk about “the kids,” especially considering he sometimes coaches athletes who are older than he is. But when teaching middle school players, he believes his age is an advantage.

Instead of having decades separate them, Cooper is just a few years older than they are, so the players relate to him and communicate with him easily. And while the older players might be skeptical at first, after a meeting or two, they’re on board as well.

“What I try and do is prove that I know what I’m doing and help these guys,” Cooper said. “After that, it’s full-on respect.”

That respect comes from the effort Cooper puts into his work. If he’s not guiding players on the field, he’s reviewing game film, or designing his own plays. Even though most of his coaching is for the defensive side of the ball, he has an offensive mind for the game as well. Cooper played offensive line as recently as his sophomore year.

That effort has paid off with players like Steinbrenner wide receiver Fernando Mallicote. The soon-to-be sophomore has learned a lot from Cooper from his time on the Steinbrenner junior varsity squad and the Chiefs.

Mallicote has made the jump to varsity for the fall campaign. Cooper played an instrumental role in helping him improve his game, he said.

“He cares,” Mallicote said. “He doesn’t just coach. He knows what the players are capable of.”

Mallicote helped Cooper with the football camp and said he enjoyed working with younger players, and even learned a few things himself at the event.

While he’s become friends with Cooper, Mallicote said that doesn’t mean anything when they take the field. The young coach will yell with the best of them, trying to wring the most out of his team on game day.

In fact, Cooper is as excited to participate now as he was when he was wearing a uniform.

“I’m probably just as hyped if not more,” he said. “When referees are making those bad calls like they always do, I’m definitely the first one out there to give them the what for.

“When my guys score, you’ll see me jumping up and down, hugging the guys just like I would if I was padded up.”

Cooper might still be padded up if not for a concussion that sidelined him earlier in his career. Coupled with other injuries, Cooper decided that playing the game wasn’t in his future and figured he’d give coaching a try. He didn’t expect to like it as much as he does, but coaching activities now dominate most of his time.

Due to the success of his camp on June 7, he wants to schedule another football-focused event in the future as well.

When he’s not in school or focused on his sideline duties, Cooper is producing the “Two Cents Radio Show,” a sports-related, Internet-based audio program. He also handles commentary for local wrestling shows, which are then streamed on the Internet.

But coaching is never far from his mind, and it’s something he expects will be a part of him for a long time to come.

“I tell my kids, I plan on doing it until my 60s or 70s,” Cooper said.

For more information about Cooper’s show or football camps, visit 2CentsSports.com.

Published June 18, 2014

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PHSC finishes fourth in first-ever World Series trip

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The Pasco-Hernando State College baseball team didn’t have a great start to the 2014 season.

It was a slow beginning in February by going 1-6. By the middle of March, the Conquistadors sat at 8-11 with no momentum and the season slipping away.

Sophomore Brennan Allen was one of the athletes whose play helped the Pasco-Hernando State College Conquistadors reach the World Series for the first time in school history. (Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College)
Sophomore Brennan Allen was one of the athletes whose play helped the Pasco-Hernando State College Conquistadors reach the World Series for the first time in school history.
(Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College)

So when longtime head coach Steve Winterling made vacation plans for the end of May, he assumed there would be nothing on his schedule.

“I didn’t have the World Series marked on my calendar book. I haven’t been there in 23 years, so why would I have it on there,” he said.

Big mistake, coach.

The team went on a 10-game winning streak and eventually qualified for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II district tournament. The Conquistadors qualify for the tournament on a regular basis, but this time they did something they had never done before: They were the last team standing and qualified for the first World Series berth in school history.

Winterling was happy to cancel his vacation plans and lead his team to Enid, Oklahoma for the Division II World Series last month. PHSC came to play in that tournament as well, winning a couple of games before being eliminated by regular World Series participant Madison College. The Conquistadors finished their run in fourth place and with a feeling that their success was a total team effort.

“We just had some clutch players. Like I told the guys afterward, as hard as it was losing, everybody at one point in the season did something to help us win,” Winterling said. “We had some guys who would get that key hit. We didn’t have one guy that really carried us.”

Sophomore Brennan Allen is one of the players who earned a key hit when the team needed it. In the district tournament, Allen hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to erase a 4-2 deficit and tie the game against Wake Technical Community College. PHSC would go on to win. But after that play, they never doubted the outcome.

“At that point, everyone thought this was our game no matter what,” Allen said. “We had all the momentum.”

Allen batted .311 during the season (.378 with men in scoring position) and said the team always had talent, but needed to get past early-season struggles and play up to their potential. As he considers options for playing baseball farther into his college career, having a World Series appearance on his resume should help attract attention from potential schools, he said.

The trip to Oklahoma should help PHSC as well. Winterling said athletes who want to be part of the program already are contacting him, making his recruiting job a lot easier.

“People want to come to a program that’s been to the World Series or won a regional tournament because that’s what everybody plays for,” he said. “E-mail and phone calls have been pretty heavy.”

The tournament run concludes a year of firsts for the baseball program and the school. In addition to their first World Series berth, the team registered their first no-hitter when Danny Rodriguez, a Steinbrenner High School graduate, threw one back in March.

And when the school raises a banner for the team’s achievements, it will be the first at the school to read “Pasco-Hernando State College.” The school changed its name from Pasco-Hernando Community College in January.

Winterling, who was also named the school’s athletic director last year, isn’t the type of coach to take much credit for himself or dwell on previous successes. He’s proud of his players and what they accomplished, but he’s already back to work, with a showcase coming up and some players to sign.

For his part, Allen said he recognizes the district title and World Series run as something he and the other players won’t soon forget.

“Going from such a small school, not being known by many people and now putting them on the map, and finishing fourth in the nation, is going to a pretty awesome thing to look back on for the rest of our lives, really,” he said. “It was a great experience. It was a lot of fun, and I wouldn’t change anything.”

Published June 11, 2014

Saint Leo’s women finish as national tennis semifinalists

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Saint Leo has a good women’s tennis team. But when the sixth-ranked Lions (20-5 at the time) entered the NCAA Division II Tennis Championships last month, they faced a much better one.

Junior Paula Montoya was part of the Saint Leo Lions’ record-breaking season in women’s tennis. (Courtesy of Mike Carlson)
Junior Paula Montoya was part of the Saint Leo Lions’ record-breaking season in women’s tennis.
(Courtesy of Mike Carlson)

Headed into their first-round match-up, the Brigham Young University-Hawaii Seasiders were undefeated in the 2014 season. And while they were ranked just third in the tournament, losing to anyone was a rarity: In the past 16 seasons, the team had been defeated just nine times.

After facing the Lions, though, they now have 10 losses.

Saint Leo upset BYU-Hawaii 5-4 in a match that lasted more than six hours. Following that victory, the Lions toppled the 12th-ranked California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans to advance to the semifinals.

It was the first time the Lions reached the Final Four and their first trip to the national tournament, as well. Saint Leo’s run ended after a loss to second-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University. Still, acting head coach Sarah Summerfield is proud of the team’s accomplishments.

“Obviously, I was thrilled,” Summerfield said. “The way we performed at the end of the year, it was spectacular. It was the best tennis I’ve seen them play all year.”

While defeating the Seasiders was the highlight of the year, Summerfield said it wasn’t the only big match the team won during their memorable season. Avenging an earlier loss to Lynn University, one of the top teams in the competitive Sunshine State Conference, Saint Leo defeated the Fighting Knights in the conference semifinals and again in the second round of the national tournament.

The conference victory against Lynn came down to a final singles match — college tennis competitions are determined by counting victories in both doubles and singles play in a best-of-nine format — and it was junior Paula Montoya who came through with the deciding win.

Montoya, who hails from Venezuela, said that her country’s tennis play is marked by a combination of consistency and aggression, and she used both to secure the win for her team.

“In the beginning it was consistency. I played the ball so she was getting tired,” Montoya said. “But then in the second set she got aggressive and I got kind of defensive, so I almost lost that second set. It was 5-2 (in favor of her opponent) and I got my confidence back and I was able to play my aggressive game.”

The Lions’ success this season will help juniors like Montoya prepare for a larger leadership role next year, she said. And her coach agrees, noting that a regular challenge for sports teams is replacing veteran leadership.

But Summerfield thinks that the current team set a standard that the team next year will be eager to match.

“I believe that they’re going to want to do just as well or better than we did this year,” she said. “I definitely think that the new seniors have to step it up, and I know they’re going to do it because they know what it feels like to get to the Final Four, they know what it takes and I know they’re going to be up for the challenge.”

Part of that challenge will be to adapt to a new head coach.

While Summerfield will be a graduate assistant coach for Saint Leo, a permanent coach will be chosen to lead the team going forward.

Summerfield said she had a great experience as head coach, and believes taking a team to the Final Four will serve as a nice highlight on her coaching resume.

She plans to pursue head coaching opportunities in the future.

The run to the Final Four also will remain a highlight of Saint Leo’s tennis resume. While Montoya said she’s already starting her training program for next season and believes the team can improve its fitness to be better prepared for grueling matches, she acknowledges the accomplishment that puts this year’s women’s tennis team in the school’s record books, and the work that went into attaining that success.

“It’s amazing because we’ve been playing and training for that goal,” she said. “We’re ranked No. 3 now and that’s amazing. That’s the first time we’ve been ranked that high.

Published June 4, 2014

Four Gaither athletes officially sign on with future colleges

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College signings are always bittersweet — parents and coaches proud to watch their athletes move on to the next level, but still sad to see them go.

Randy Oliva, from left, Veronica Garcia, Bryan Hartman and Brad Smith take a big step toward life after Gaither High School sports. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Randy Oliva, from left, Veronica Garcia, Bryan Hartman and Brad Smith take a big step toward life after Gaither High School sports.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

And Gaither High School has a strong contingent of athletes heading on to college with scholarships, including four who officially signed with their respective schools last week.

Brad Smith and Bryan Hartman, part of a Cowboys football team that went 5-6 this season, will find themselves playing together next fall as well. Smith, a defensive end and inside linebacker, and Hartman — an inside linebacker — will head to Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

“Football isn’t easy nowadays, especially all year round,” head coach Jason Stokes said. “The thing that I know that these young men are going to be successful is just because of their attitude. They do whatever it takes for their teams. They lay it on the line, they play multiple positions, and they don’t come off the field.”

Also heading to college is Veronica Garcia, one of the leaders of Gaither’s volleyball team, who will spend next season at Ave Maria University, located on the northwest side of Alligator Alley in South Florida.

“The best thing I can say about Veronica is that she loves to play volleyball,” coach Tim Boylan said. “I’m so happy for her that she’ll be able to continue playing at the next level. It’s not work for her. She just loves being on a volleyball court.”

Randy Oliva won’t stray too far from home, either. He’s heading to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where he’ll play baseball for the Owls.

“He’s a hardworking guy,” Gaither baseball coach Frank Permuy said. “He’s the first guy on the field, and the last guy to leave every day. He’s one of the guys that always makes me late for dinner.”

Oliva started as a catcher for the Cowboys, but was playing third base by the time his freshman year ended. He moved to second base in his junior year because of an injury, and ended his time at Gaither at shortstop.

“He’s going to have a wonderful career, and not only that, he is a great student,” Permuy said. “He isn’t going to have any problems in college because his work ethic is going to carry him a long way.”

Published May 28, 2014

 

Sunlake’s Skye Nichols signs on to acrobatics and tumbling in Connecticut

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Athlete signings are common for high school players. If someone excels at their sport, they often get a chance to continue competing at the next level.

Football, basketball, soccer and baseball are just a few sports where graduating seniors continue playing as college freshmen.

Skye Nichols takes part in a ceremonial signing with Sunlake principal Steve Williams, left, cheerleading coach Pennye Garcia and Nichols’ mother, Sheri. Nichols will enter Quinnipiac University with championship cheerleading experience, and she’ll use it to compete on the school’s acrobatics and tumbling team. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Skye Nichols takes part in a ceremonial signing with Sunlake principal Steve Williams, left, cheerleading coach Pennye Garcia and Nichols’ mother, Sheri. Nichols will enter Quinnipiac University with championship cheerleading experience, and she’ll use it to compete on the school’s acrobatics and tumbling team.
(Courtesy of Sunlake High School)

Cheerleaders, however, are now becoming part of that group.

Skye Nichols, a captain for Sunlake High School’s state championship cheerleading team, will attend Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, and compete for the school.

But technically, it won’t be cheerleading. The Bobcats have an acrobatics and tumbling team, and Nichols was recruited to be a member of the squad.

“I feel very blessed. That’s the only way I can describe it,” she said. “I only dreamt about it, and I still can’t believe it’s reality.”

The Bobcats do have a spirit squad, but Nichols isn’t planning on participating. That group performs more of the traditional cheerleading functions, but the acrobatics and tumbling team is part of a sport, which suits her better.

They’ll have a schedule where they square off against other teams in group and individual categories, and do extensive traveling to compete in different locations around the country.

While Nichols is excited to be part of the competition, she realizes it will mean a lot more work. Rigorous practices and weight training are just part of the schedule, and she’ll have to balance that with pursuing her studies in sports management.

But her cheerleading coach at Sunlake, Pennye Garcia, believes Nichols’ time as a cheerleader has her well-equipped to succeed.

“It’s her drive,” Garcia said. “When she really wants something, she will keep working at it.”

Nichols was a team captain, and was called upon to not only study technique and offer corrections, but also motivate her teammates when they were losing focus, Garcia said. Her ability to remain motivated while also motivating others helped separate her from less-driven athletes.

Nichols believes the leadership role helped her as well.

“I definitely think it gave me experience how to work with people, and how the best way in working with people is leading by example,” she said. “Also, being friends with them makes a big difference. If you’re just strict all the time, I feel like you kind of lose respect, but you’ve got to care about them to earn respect.”

But there’s also a physical aspect to cheerleading, and Garcia said it revolves around strength. As a base — someone who stays at the bottom of the formation and helps support others — Nichols needs good leg strength. Those physical skills helped her get recruited by Quinnipiac.

And while Nichols feels the school is a perfect fit for her, it wasn’t part of her original plan. Her first choice of school didn’t work out, and her path wasn’t shaping up the way she wanted.

But when she visited the Quinnipiac’s campus, she realized that the new opportunity was actually better than her planned one.

“Right when I went to the school I was like, this couldn’t have been any better for me,” she said. “It just felt so right.”

School also is important to Nichols, whose GPA is 4.05. She considers herself to be competitive and something of a perfectionist, and while that’s translated to success in the classroom and on the mat, she believes that self-confidence and hard work will help her face the coming challenges of a new city, new school and a new level of competition.

“I think anything you do that’s really new is a little nerve-racking, but I just believe in myself that I can handle it,” Nichols said. “I pushed myself really hard these four years, and I think that definitely conditioned me for the next four years.”

Published May 28, 2014

Sunlake trio has football in their future

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Last football season, the Sunlake Seahawks had a suffocating defense. They recorded four shutouts, and held their opponent to less than seven points three additional times, en route to a 9-2 record and a playoff berth.

Joe Jean-Baptiste, left, Ricardo Williams and Nick Larry take part in a ceremonial signing at Sunlake High School on May 16. All three will continue their football careers after graduation. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Joe Jean-Baptiste, left, Ricardo Williams and Nick Larry take part in a ceremonial signing at Sunlake High School on May 16. All three will continue their football careers after graduation.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

Last week, three of their standout players got together to do a little paperwork.

Seniors Nick Larry, Joe Jean-Baptiste and Ricardo Williams participated in a ceremonial signing session to cement their college plans. Each of them will attend a different school, all on scholarship and with an opportunity to continue their athletic career in the collegiate ranks.

Even though head coach Bill Browning has been a football coach for 36 years — including his tenure at Sunlake, which began when the school opened in 2007 — seeing athletes commit to colleges and continue their careers never gets old.

“It’s something they work for and something they dream about, so it’s always exciting to see someone go on and get an opportunity that they’ve been working for,” he said.

All his athletes have worked hard, Browning explained. They have a rigorous practice and preparation regimen, and he feels that their program — being in Florida, which is known as a strong area for high school football — will serve the players well at the next level.

And the players who participated in the signing last week can’t wait to get there.

“It’s honestly a dream come true,” said Jean-Baptiste, who played safety for Sunlake.

He’ll attend Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, and play for the Storm on a partial scholarship.

While he acknowledges the Seahawks had a strong defense, Jean-Baptiste also realizes that playing at the next level will include new challenges. Just as the speed of the game changed for Jean-Baptiste when he made the jump from junior varsity to varsity, he expects a similar increase in game speed in college.

To prepare, he plans to spend time watching game film and scouting opponents when he’s not studying criminal justice.

Larry will play football for Gattaca, a post-graduate team whose players attend Hillsborough Community College with an eye toward playing for bigger schools in their future. For him, attending college on a full scholarship validates the effort he put in to improve and excel during his high school career.

“It feels amazing. It just shows that everything I did, I did right. And all the work I put in, it shows that it pays off,” Larry said.

While the defensive tackle wants to take this time to improve and prepare for a football opportunity in the future, Larry doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. He’ll study sports management and make sure his grades are strong while he also focuses on football.

Williams also was part of the team’s excellent defense as a cornerback, but he also played wide receiver. But when he attends Peru State College in Nebraska on a partial scholarship, he’ll play for the Bobcats on the offensive side of the ball at running back.

And Williams believes that playing on defense in high school will help him when he suits up in college.

“As the cornerback, you have to have quick hips and you have to stay focused at all times,” Williams said. “And I feel like that if you translate that to a running back, those are really good features to have.”

He believes that his time playing defense will help him anticipate their moves and positioning, since he’s spent a lot of time thinking like a defensive player. When he’s not on the field, he’ll study nursing.

All three players are eager to get their college careers going, but their coach has some advice for the soon-to-be college freshmen: Savor the moment and focus on what’s important.

“Just work hard and enjoy the experience,” Browning said. “And the bottom line is, get the education.”

Published May 21, 2014

Back to back: Nikki Carroll repeats as state pole vaulting champ

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When you’re an athlete in your junior year of high school, there are few titles better than “state champion.”

But “two-time state champion” is one of them.

Land O’ Lakes resident Nikki Carroll won her second state pole vault title as a junior by clearing 12 feet — her personal best. She’s already eyeing a shot at a third title next year. (Courtesy of Carol Carroll)
Land O’ Lakes resident Nikki Carroll won her second state pole vault title as a junior by clearing 12 feet — her personal best. She’s already eyeing a shot at a third title next year.
(Courtesy of Carol Carroll)

Land O’ Lakes resident Nikki Carroll earned that designation by claiming her second straight Class 2A pole vaulting title earlier this month at the state meet, on the University of North Florida campus in Jacksonville. She cleared an even 12 feet to best her closest competition by six inches.

“It feels amazing doing it twice,” Carroll said. “I really wanted to win it again and I knew that a lot of people were expecting me to win. It was definitely my goal to win again and to jump 12 feet.”

That mark — a full foot better than last year’s winning height — not only gave the Tampa Catholic High School junior a second state title, but a new personal best as well.

While it was the perfect ending to another year of track and field for Carroll, it didn’t happen under perfect circumstances. Pole vaulting, is the kind of competition where the weather can make or break an athlete’s day. Since participants are using a long pole to propel themselves above and beyond a set bar, anything that makes it harder to run, set and grip can mean the end of the competition.

So when it was raining on the day of the meet, and didn’t stop when she had to perform, Carroll had every right to be concerned. But her coach told her that holding the pole lower makes it less likely that an athlete will slip, and Carroll naturally has a lower grip than many pole vaulters.

While it wouldn’t help in good weather, she said the lower grip might have helped succeed in the rain.

But Carroll had to overcome her own miscues as well, and the pressure that came with them. A pole vaulter has three chances to clear each height. After the third miss, they’re out of the competition — and, in this case, the running for the state title.

Twice in Jacksonville, Carroll found herself down to her last try.

“I was on my third attempt at 10 feet, 6 inches and at 11 feet, so that definitely freaked me out a little bit because I was almost out,” she said.

But Carroll was able to stay focused, keep her grip and clear the hurdle both times to stay alive in the competition and eventually claim the title.

Successfully clearing a certain height and being successful at pole vaulting in general is harder than it looks, Carroll said. On television, such as during the Olympic Games, the athletes make it look easy. But it takes a lot of training and practice to get it right.

As a state champion, Carroll definitely puts in the time to be the best. She does gymnastics every day (a sport she’s been doing for several years) except Sundays, and said the skills she hones at those practices are a natural fit with pole vaulting.

But Sundays aren’t a day of rest. She travels across the state to Melbourne, where she practices at Pole Vault City to stay prepared for the actual competitions.

Bobby Haeck, co-owner and head instructor of Pole Vault City, said Carroll’s skills give her an immediate advantage over the competition.

“It’s speed and tremendous gymnastics,” he said. “If you put those two things together, you get a really good pole vaulter.”

Height also can be important for an athlete, he said. While Carroll isn’t tall, her quickness and ability to clear the bar more than compensates for a lack of height.

Haeck, who has trained pole vaulters for nearly 15 years, was there to see Carroll defend her title, and he was impressed with her ability to succeed in the rain and convert her third attempts. He believes she has a bright future continuing the sport in college.

Carroll said she’d like to continue pole vaulting after she graduates high school, and will pursue a pre-med course load in college in order to become a doctor. But before any of that happens, she still has her senior year ahead of her. And that means another chance to defend her title.

“Not a lot of people can win it back-to-back, and then even less can win it three times,” she said. “I’m definitely going to go for three.”

Published May 14, 2014