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Show 1 1 1 V ''W9W8'WHSfW' THE PARK RECORD www.newschoice.com C-l SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1998 SPORTS EDITOR: Dave Fields 649-9014 ext. 1 10 Soorts. II Field Notes... by Oave Fields Duck hunting: Tell me again, why we do this? That war-like sound you may have heard this morning at 7:54 a.m. was not the start of World War III. No, it's the beginning of an annual tradition that sometimes is more like punishment punish-ment than pleasure. And that's not even taking into consideration the ducks. Thousands of camouflaged Utahns will take to the state's swamps, lakes, rivers and refuges this morning for the opening day of the duck hunt. It's called the duck hunt but actually all kinds of birds lose their lives between today and the middle of January. Die-hard duck hunters usually spend their summers playing golf or hiking or biking but really just delaying delay-ing until that day when they can get back in their boats, back in their boots and back in the mucky, stinky world that is a duck's home. I know this not only because I occasionally shoot at ducks, but because my brother happens hap-pens to be a fanatic. I sometimes wonder if my sister-in-law (his wife) ponders taking my life for introducing my brother to another life-consuming sport. It was bad enough that we skied every day of the weekend and played golf every Sunday morning but now this. Instead of just plunking his tired body on the couch after 18 holes or 10 runs, my fowling brother now comes home just as tired but drapes his stinky, mud-packed mud-packed equipment around the house. The only thing worse than the stinky neoprene waders and disassembled disassem-bled guns is the money - or lack of. Our duck-hunting progression, which started with blue ski coats and hip waders, progressed obsessively to full camouflaged suits, including face masks and gloves. But my brother, being the most severely compulsive in a long-line of have-to-have-the-bestnewestcoolest-equipment Fields, took it one step further. He bought a boat. Soon after he purchased the flat-bottomed flat-bottomed tin bathtub, someone told my brother the joke about boats: What is a duck-hunting boat? A hole in the water that you pour money into. Now, instead of just annoying his wife with slovenly post-hunting behavior, my brother has taken to emptying the checking account in an effort to create the ultimate floating hunting craft. This weekend, while his wife is at home getting the yard raked and ready for the first snowfall, my brother broth-er will be knee-deep in a southern Utah swamp hoping for one more shot before sundown. By Sunday night, he will be exhausted from two days of hunting and she'll be exhausted from working on the house. One day, when my brother is left with only his shotgun, decoys and a floating tin piggy bank, he may wonder won-der where he went so wrong. But in the meantime, if you want to find him in the next three months, check the swamp. Specializing jltf in repair and yZS restoration of ytflilZOS furniture in home touch up REFINISHING FURNITURE an' i oues and repair. NAVAJO uVI h"a A Vol Antique Specialist (801) 3S9-S238 Custom upholstery Pick up & delivery 801-359-5238 Free Estimates NSF umbrella changes for the 1998 season Snowboard and biathlon relocated; riders to PCMR, by Dave Fields OF THE RECORD STAFF The National Sports Foundation is getting back to its roots. Created in 1993 to facilitate youth ski jumping at the Utah Winter Sports Park, and originally called the Bear Hollow Winter Sports Association, the program expanded to include biathlon, freestyle and then snow-boarding. snow-boarding. As of this summer, sports not housed at the Sports Park are now separate organizations that no longer depend on National Sports Foundation (NSF) for coaching, administration or financing. The snowboard part of the program is still headed by Doug Moore but is called the Park City Snowboard Team and the name is not the only similarity to the Park City Ski Team. Moore envisions the program running run-ning in a similar fashion as the youth ski program pro-gram at Park City Mountain Resort - a sepa Randy Montgomery rides to vintage Utah Sports Authority Ex. Director wins race in Steamboat on 73 CZ by Dave Fields OF THE RECORD STAFF Twenty-five years after his last motocross race, Randy Montgomery picked up right where he left off - winning win-ning races. Considered the man to beat in the intermediate level of Utah motocross racing in the '70s, Montgomery scratched an old itch this summer by getting back into dirt bike racing. A long-time road rider in the Steamboat, Colo. Motorcycle Week, Montgomery, who oversees the administration adminis-tration of the state's $59 million fund for Olympic winter facilities, decided this year to race in the Vintage Motocross race two heats of dirt track racing around a 1 12-mile course. Montgomery's field of over-50 racers included 16 riders zipping around a track on bikes no newer than 1974. The Park City Motorcycle Club rider rallied to a third-place finish in the first heat and then avoided a crash of the first- and second-place riders to takekhe win in Heat 2. At the end of two heats, Montgomery had the same finishes - a first and third - as another entrant but since he won the second race, the title went to the 51-year-old Montgomery. "It was kind of fun to return to this Please see Vintage, B-10 Racquet Club's Pretorius achieves USPTA 10 years of community off for Park City Racquet by Dave Fields OF THE RECORD STAFF Warren Pretorius is no stranger to the public eye. As the director of tennis at the Park City Racquet Club for the past six years, Pretorius has improved the strokes of thousands while dealing with the administrative trials of management. The athletes of Park City High School who call Pretorius coach are accustomed to his driven coaching style and demand for perfection, which has earned region championships and respect for the ever-improving ever-improving boys' and girls' teams statewide. In between high school matches and practice, private lessons and raising his 3-year-old son Logan, Pretorius also finds time to write a weekly week-ly tennis column for The Park Record programs renamed and biathlon to Soldier Hollow rate entity that trains on the resort's facilities. In this case, the facilities used by the Park City Snowboard Team will be the half pipe and terrain park. Depending on the level of participation, Park City Snowboard Team riders will pay between $495 and $895, which includes a PCMR season pass. Moore said that the general gen-eral age guidelines are boys and girls ages 8 to mid-'20s but several parents have expressed interest in joining the club and competed alongside their children in Intermountain Division U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association events. Moore says the change from working as a NSF team to independent benefits the participants par-ticipants the most. He has arranged corporate, corpo-rate, local and private sponsorships for the 40-50-rider team. That sponsorship money will got directly to the financial drains of travel, training and coaching. 4. Randy Montgomery wheels his way service, teaching pays Club head tennis pro called "Dropshots." For these undertakings and many more, Pretorius has achieved the United States Professional Tennis Association's (USPTA) highest ranking - Master Professional. Pretorius and two other tennis professionals profes-sionals from Florida and Idaho were recognized rec-ognized during the recent USPTA World Conference at the La Quinta, Calif. Resort and Club. "It was a great sense of relief that 1 had done it," Pretorius said of the distinction he worked 10 years to achieve. "I had to earn it, it didn't just happen." Even though it was the 33-year-old South Africa native who did the volunteer volun-teer and community service that is required in addition to years of teaching at the Professional I level, Pretorius Fall Blowout call kllkn's landscaping A Complete LandscapingService Residential or jCommercial FEATURING, FALL SPECIALS ON: Sprinkler Blowouts Winter Preparation Hauling & Clean-up Hanging of Xmas Lights Call Kevin at 647-3972 l . itM . " Similarly, the biathlon program, now called the Utah Biathlon Club, will be based at a venue better suited to cross country and shooting training and competition. Instead of becoming an independent organization, the biathlon club now falls under the umbrella umbrel-la of the U.S. Biathlon Association and Park City now is the new home of the organization's organiza-tion's western region office. "It doesnt make sense to be based at the Utah Winter Sports Park," said U.S. Biathlon Association Regional Director and Utah Biathlon Club coach Joan Guetschow. Even though she has a new title, Guetschow will continue to help coach the 50 biathletes between the ages of 7 and 20. Former national champion and member of America's World Cup team for the last four years, Jay Poss, will be the primary coach for the young biathlon team. The one exception to the NSF's consolidation consoli-dation for the upcoming winter is the addition addi-tion of another "free" sport - free skiing. NSF Executive Director Lori Nuss said free skiing will combine mogul skiers, racers, aeri-alists aeri-alists and other skiing disciplines and provide around the 112-mile track atop his 1973 credits his employer, Park City, with seeing see-ing "the big picture." "I'm really lucky I had the full support sup-port of the city to pursue it," Pretorius said. "It took a lot of time." Approximately 1 percent of the organization's orga-nization's 11,000 members are rated Master Pro. "It takes years of dedication to become a Master Professional," said USPTA CEO Tim Heckler. "It is truly an earned distinction and a very special achievement in a teaching professional's career. We are very proud of Chip (Brooks), Jo Ann (Kurz) and Warren for their commitment to excellence in the tennis profession." Pretorius, who last made news when he became a U.S. citizen two years ago, said the rating won't change much - not even his lesson rate. "Everything is the same except I have a plaque on the wall that says Master Pro." "I was really proud to be recognized." Soup is f r 1100 Ironhorse Dr. "formalized training for their overall skiing." "The National Sports Foundation's interest inter-est in free skiing is that this new program offers kids who are good skiers, but may not be interested in competitive ski sports like alpine racing, mogul skiing or ski jumping, an opportunity to be part of a program, be part of a team and wear a team jacket." Nuss said. NSF's ski jumping, nordic combined and freestyle programs will not change for the 1998 season. Sign-ups for the NSF programs will be held Nov. 11, for more information call 645-7660. A meeting for parents of prospective biathletes will take place Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. at Miners Hospital. Call Guetschow at 649-7005 for more information on biathlon. Dry-land training lor Park City Snowboard Team members begins today at Jeremy Ranch Elementary School from 9 to 1 1 a.m. The team then will be skating at the PCMR skateboard park at noon. On-snow training begins Nov. 21, depending on snow. Moore can be reached at 649-5810. race victory PHOTO COURTESY OF RANDY MONTGOMERY 250-cc CZ motorcycle. Master rating -Vf ) Warren Pretorius tgw Available if Take-Out (behind Rite Aid Drug) 658-3200 |