OCR Text |
Show D6 Wednesday, March 1 7, 2C f IIZZL Semiooir temnnis pDayeir DneaeJs tieaim off 22 Oaweirs By Loren Webb Express correspondent Bruce Haines was working at a government desk job in Kalispell, Mont., when he decided he needed more physical exercise for his middle-aged body. It so happened Kalispell boasted an indoor tennis facility so Haines decided to check it out. Haines not only liked the physical activity he got from the game, he loved the competitive nature of the game. So when he transferred to Vernal in 1989 to work as a full-time fish biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Haines also sought out the nearest tennis courts for an after work workout. Because the only public tennis courts in Vernal are located at Uintah High School, Haines drove to the courts one weekend. On that first day of tennis practice, he ran into Eric Pye. Pye, that very day, was coaching members of the UHS tennis team and invited Haines to volley with members of the team. Pye also invited Haines back to assist with instructing the tennis team. Haines did just that, working three to four days a week, for about two hours a day, helping with tennis instruction. Haines continued to work part-time part-time as an assistant UHS tennis coach under Pye, Ron Enlow, and then under Mindy Merrell. When Merrell became pregnant this year, she resigned the position and recommended Haines, 62, take over the duties of head tennis coach. Haines admits he was reluctant to take over the head coaching duties. "My preference was to volunteer, rather than be the main coach," he said. "I like to pursue my own tennis ten-nis tournaments. Usually, I go play a national tennis tournament in Palm Springs, (Calif.)." But because Haines is now head coach, he said he Is foregoing his usual personal tennis schedule in a national tennis association, to help youthful tennis players at Uintah High School learn the fine points of the game. "I hope to carry on Mindy's tradition tradi-tion of exposing a lot of kids to tennis ten-nis and to help kids realize their potential in tennis," he said. This year, 22 students are on the team, and with only six players returning from last year, Haines admits he has a mostly young team. "I think Park City is going to be hard to beat," he said of competing with other Region 10 high school teams. So to get his team ready, Haines holds daily practices from 3 to 5 M 4Vv- h ' : - ' 6 A V m 11 rr A vw' ''Atit tT'Vvte f ''A Ill -K4 miii ' fVlH fe t W ft W J.C. Lopez, Rachel McPhie and p.m. Last Friday, Haines was on the court conducting an Olympic tennis drill that teaches team members net and passing shot skills. "Nice volley, Tappan. Nice volley," vol-ley," he says to team member Tappan Brown after Tappan returned an opposing player's tennis ten-nis volley. "All right, back up," Haines tells Tappan. "You've got to get between the service line and the net." "I think it is awesome that he's still out here," UHS team member Jason Fuller said, of 1 Iaines. Adds team member Brad Gessell, "He's old and he's still good at tennis. ten-nis. He did beat the other day." Gessell and Fuller agree Haines is a great coach, has a lot of experience, experi-ence, and teaches them a number of skills that are designed to make team members better tennis players. Assisting Haines this year, is former for-mer UHS head tennis coach, Eric Pye, who now teaches atUintah River High School in Ft. Duchesne. "Bruce has the experience," Pye said of Haines. "He has been involved with Uintah tennis for several sev-eral years. He's great w ith kids and he's good with parents. He knows the game and he's a great guy." Even though Pye has also coached football, he said tennis "is the toughest sport here because it's one person out there (on the court), there's no teammate out there" to back he or she up. In addition. Pye said tennis is the only competitive sport left that is based totally on the honor system. "There are no umpires or judges. Their (competing tennis players) integrity is being tested every time Nathan Peterson get instruction in volleying. the ball comes on their side of the court." And helping this year's crop of tennis players meet those competitive competi-tive challenges is Haines. "He will be able to give them great advice and he knows the challenges chal-lenges they have on the tennis courts," Pye said of Haines' instruction instruc-tion of the tennis team. Haines, who retired a few years ago from his Fish and Wildlife Service job, admits he loves working work-ing with high school students. "I enjoy the company of the kids," he said. "I like to see them improve and get interested in tennis. It's a great game and you can play (it) your whole life. You can play with kids and with your wife and even with your grandkids." Because of his years of volunteer service to the high school tennis team, Haines received a Community Service Award from the U.S. Tennis Association's Utah Tennis Association Chapter. Haines, was nominated for the award by Mindy Merrell. Because of his dedication to the game of tennis and to coaching young tennis players, Pye said Haines is also donating his coach's salary to buy a tennis racket stringer for the team. Because volunteerism runs deep in Haines' veins, Haines also volunteers volun-teers four hours a day with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish biology biol-ogy projects. When he isn't involved in volunteer volun-teer projects, Haines spends time with his wife, Charlotte, and maintains main-tains contact with a grown son in Utes continue strong preseason The Uintah High School soccer team continued with a positive spin on the season last week by defeating defeat-ing Spanish Fork 2 - 1 on March 9 then returning to Vernal to tie Pleasant Grove 2 - 2 on March 1 1 . They now enjoy a 4 - 0 - 1 preseason presea-son record. The Utes scored once in each half against Spanish Fork. Mike Matson and Daniel Hyde each found the net for Uintah. Spanish Fork scored their only goal in the second half. At home against Pleasant Grove on Friday, the Utes battled back after being shut out in the first period. 4-itF s Matt Clark dribbles the ball down i 1 Jf i 1 iter jr;&x?r ''v$v Photo by Steve Wallis r - ' J In I i ( Photo by Steve Wallis Bruce Haines Salt Lake City. During the off tennis season, Haines stays fit by following a year round physical fitness prngram that includes lifting weights four to five times a week. Ultimately, Haines said he hopes to compete in tennis until he is 90 years old. "My goal is to make it to the 90's category of tennis players on the national championships," he said. He says tennis builds self discipline disci-pline and the mental techniques for players to play their best. Lessons learned from tennis are also useful for life in general, he believes. But it also has to be fun. "If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be coming out every day, day after day," he said. Pleasant Grove entered the half with a one point lead and added another in the second. Uintah's Gavin Kron and Alex Spendlove kept the game within reach by scoring a goal apiece to tie the game in the second half. The score remained knotted at the end of regulation play to add a tally in the third column of each school's preseason record. The Utes play Granger today in Salt Lake City. Uintah then begins Region 10 league play at home on Friday. They will host the perennially perenni-ally tough Park City Miners in their first conference game of the year. n the field. f-i i Photo by Steve Wallis Nathan Barnhurst gets instruction in forehand ground strokes. Prairie dog season closure begins in April A petition requesting that two species of prairie dogs be considered consid-ered for the endangered species list has prompted a season closure. The Gunnison prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) and the white-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys leucurus) were both listed in the petitioning request. A special hunting season has been established that will protect both species through a closed period of April 1 to June 15. During this time period, no taking of prairie dogs will be allowed. This will include shooting, trapping and any other method of capture or killing. The white-tailed prairie dog is the variety that is native to the Uintah Basin. The closure is inclusive for both species throughout their entire range. The seasonal closures for both species are part of a protective action to try and keep the two from further population declines. Both varieties have experienced serious declines in their population numbers num-bers and their required habitat. In addition to the range wide hunting closures, the white-tailed prairie dogs in the Coyote Basin area of the Bonanza desert are protected year-round. This action was taken several years ago in an effort to help reestablish populations of black-footed ferrets. The actual boundary description of the Coyote Basin protected area can be obtained from the Vernal office of the Utah Division of Wildlife Teen trip registration begins Uintah Recreation is now taking registration for the teen trip scheduled sched-uled on April 10 for youth ages 14 and older who will be going to Salt Lake City to a Utah Jazz game. Participants will ride the Wilkins Bus to downtown Salt Lake and spend the afternoon at the Gateway Shopping Center and then go to the Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets NBA game that evening at the Delta Center. The bus will leave at noon on Saturday from Vernal Middle School, and returns approximately approx-imately three hours after the basketball basket-ball game ends. The registration fee is $32 per participant, which includes transportation trans-portation and the ticket to the game. - J v 1 T3 & , Some prarie dogs may soon be considered endangered species. Resources. Prairie dogs that are directly involved in damaging agriculture and private lands are from the closure clo-sure rule. Landowners experiencing problems should contact the Division of Wildlife Resources prior to removing offending animals ani-mals during the closure period. The registration deadline is Friday, April 2, or until all spots are filled. Uintah Recreation recommends that participants register with a friend or someone they know. For more information about this program, call 781-0982 or register at Uintah Recreation District, 134 W. Main, Suite 101 in the Chamber of Commerce building. Softball sign-up begins Uintah Recreation is now accepting accept-ing registrations for Men and Women's Softball Leagues and the 2004 Ice Breaker Softball Tournament. The season will begin with the 2004 Ice Breaker Tournament on May 7 and 8, and regular league play begins the next week, May 10. Participants who are 16 and older are eligible to play. Teams in the men's leagues may choose to play in A, B or C divisions, and the women's league will consist of a round robin format. The early registration fee for the men and women's teams is $380 until April 16, then it increases to $435 per team. The final registration registra-tion deadline is April 30 or when leagues are full. The registration fee for the Annua Ice Breaker Tournament is $135 per team. No late registrations will be accepted, and payment must be made in full by April 30 to be placed on the schedules. Register at the recreation office in the Chamber of Commerce building,134 W. Main, Suite 101, or call 781-0982 for more information. Alex Sendlove works to get the ball away from Pleasant Grove player. I ... V ' |