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Show I Reflex 1 Journal Bulletin Leader JULY 22, 1982 Future Keith Duncan Bulletin Sports Its been a couple of years since a Clearfield High School baseball team has been able to bpast about its domination, but that may be coming to an end. A group of incoming juniors have the unmistakable eye of the tiger. THIS BUNCH of 16 year olds combined in the summer of 1982 for one of the most impressive seasons any first year squad has enjoyed in Utahs Colt League. After gliding through regular season play undefeated in 1 1 games, they traveled to last week to make a run for the Northern District Championship. Though they fell in the championship duel against Bear River, the opposing Bear River coach had nothing but praise. What a bunch of gutty kids. The Clearfield bunch made us earn it every step of the way, he said. Clearfields first-ye- ar Colt League team, top row, (I to r) Manager John Gardiner, Page THE SPIRIT of the team was Greg Folk who always was fighting. He too was an excellent pitcher and along with Parry and Higgins, Randy Phil Peterson made up the starting pitching Nicholas, Greg Folk, row. Phil Peterson, Jeff Parry Jared Martin was the wheels of the team and Darwin Henrie, he If ever got on base he could always stretch a couple of stolen bases. In the outfield he was coach. Middle row, Troy dangerous, mainly because of his speed. As a , Van Buren, Ed Naylor, sophomore he was a very big part of CleaI Mike Henrie, Ray Dixon rfields region championship track and field team. and Dave Gardiner. Tre-mont- CLEARFIELD blasted Provo in the first game of the tournament 10-- 3 then lost to Tooele 1 for their first defeat of the season. Clearfield then came back to deal both Logan and the same Tooele team solid defeats, 12-- 2 and 1 respectively. RivThat set the stage for a Clearfield-Bea- r er confrontation. The host team, Bear River, hadnt lost yet in the double elimination tourney. Clearfield, however, beat Bear River 5 in the first game but lost a disheartening 10-- 0 in the second and deciding contest. Bottom row, Dave 2-- ' '1 Xi 11-- peterson, Jared Martin, Hal Moore and John Kelley. 6-- I THIS IS Clearfields first year in the Colt League, a very organized league that consists of teams from Bear River all the way south to St. George and is designed for high school kids who were sophomores last spring in high school. It was Ken Hicks, the head baseball coach of Clearfield High, that spearheaded the drive to get the Clearfield kids into the league. He worked with tremendous cooperation from Sunset citys recreation department, Clearfields Rec. Dept, and R.C. Willeys to help fund their position in the league. The team received a very solid shot in the arm from all three of these sponsors and without them Hick says there would have been no Colt League team. SO WITH Hicks as the business manager, John Gardiner as manager and Darwin Henrie HURTING HIS back before the tournament was catcher Dave Peterson. Despite that he played anyway and he played all the games. He wasnt able to bat because of the bad back but when it became necessary in one game he did bat. He stepped up and got a double. Another talented pitcher was Phil Peterson who also turned out to be an excellent hitter. In the first game against Bear River, Phil home run that probpounded out a three-ru- n ably carried an estimated 400 feet. fi vw V. , f ,' win-los- 15-- two double plays occured. PAGE HIGGINS played the entire regular season for the team but had to sit out in the tournament because he wasnt old enough. i , as the coach, the team went on to post a very s record memorable season and a final of 'if 2. Gardiner has long been an advocate of Clearfield sports, especially since his sons have played leading roles in various sports there. HE COMMENTED about the past few years at Clearfield by saying, I dont know exactly how you would describe the problem Clearfield High has had in baseball the past few years maybe its been some seniorities but whatever its been it probably HAL MOORE played the outfield and made some difficult catches when they counted most. John Kelley was another outfielder but turned catcher in the final game of the tournament when Peterson went out because of injuries. At catcher he performed very well. Troy Van Buren, though small, was an excellent second baseman. He was a key link in several double plays, including a game where won't be there long with this group of kids coming up. They are winners. They remind me a lot of th team of 1976 who blended so well together and took third in state. The 1982 summer group had no individual star. They work well together as a team, better than any team Ive seen or coached in a while, said Gardiner who had a boy on the 1976 team as well as the Colt league team. DURING THE course of the season, Clearfield obtained impressive wins over teams from Woods Cross, Bountiful, West Valley, Grantsville and Tooele. Members of the team include players like Jeff Parry who pitched and who also played second and shortstop. He collected two g hits in the northern tournament while turning in some excellant pitching. He player. may have been the best Higgins, who is 14, is described as an excellent ball player who will be seeing plenty of action next summer. Ray Dixon was another with top speed who played the outfield positions. Naylor was usually a starter. game-winnin- ANOTHER IS Dave Gardiner who turned in many innings of valuable relief pitching. Dave also played first base. Mike Henrie played either second or third and though his batting average wasnt consistent all season he did bat over .500 in the final two games. RANDY NICHOLAS stole plenty of bases and made a super catch in the first game of the tournament. Damion Gutierez played the regular season but did not make the tournament because of conditioning for football. John Grotsky had to bow out early because of an injury. The biggest reason we won often is that on one thought they were a show, said Gardiner. one-ma- n Soccer Gamp Summer Baseball Needs Unity The Cost Didnt Matter When it comes to pleasing your own kids , especially in soccer, money wasnt an issue this time. In City Programs Keith Duncan Bulletin Sports Keith Duncan Bulletin Sports Ken Hicks, the veterCLEARFIELD at Clearfield High mentor an baseball baseball situasummer the knows School, tion in Clearfield and Sunset better than anyone. Thats why a few of his latest proposals and suggestions have paid some dividends. weve found a solution to a improvement of summer baseball in the two cities, said Hicks in an interview I dont mean to imply conducted last that the programs the two cities have arent doing the job because they are w'ell organized. But there are a few areas that could use some improvement. Hicks feels one area that could use some is the division for kids who are 15 13, 14 and years old. He feels it is too wide to be playing in the same age all a span for I BELIEVE long-ter- m division. THATS A very good reason why Hicks presented a proposal a few months ago to a team urge Sunset and Clearfield to support in the Colt League. They did support it and Hicks claims that without them, the successteam had would ful season the have never been. The Colt organization is also very organized and the thing I like is that they run their segments such as the divisions in year old division that our kids played in this summer. first-ye- two-ye- 15-1- ar ar 6 ANOTHER THING 1 appreciate about the Colt League is that the kids can compete ultimateagainst teams all over the state and on district, ly can graduate to competition levels. state and regional Bountiful organizes most of its system it seems to through the Colt League and see it I dont However well. them serve cities to for our being so advantageous this point. Perhaps it change everything at senior the with league age was good to start there. from kids and expand CLEARFIELD Syracuses Bob Perez admits that his kids are the only thing in life to him, and if they happen to like the sport of soccer then why not give them the best? AND BESIEGED with that kind of determination, Bob enrolled three of his children in last weeks Eagle Soccer School conducted in Clearfield where more than 30 local children received some of the most qualified soccer instruction given in the U.S. For the past two years Ive coached my three children to play soccer. My eight year old daughter, Angelic, has probably been the most resistent. In fact after last season she said she didnt want to play anymore. But I talked her into coming to the school and Im completely amazed at the turnabout she has taken. We had company at home last week during the camp and Angelic put on a demonstration of what she had learned, said Perez. She hardly takes the ball out of her sight. MR. AND Mrs. Perez also have two sons enrolled in the Camp, Edward and Tony. They claim their enthusiasm nearly tripled from what it was before. The Eagles Soccer School came to Clearfield for the first time this year via the recreation department. The school has been specifically designed to teach and help improve individual skills, team tactics and knowledge of the game. It is instructed by qualified soccer coaches who appear not only to have a good knowledge of the game but have a special knack of teaching and relating to kids. THE EAGLES program conducts similar camps in more than ten states, in Britain, Mexico and France. The Eagles program was established in the U.S. in 1973. The Eagles School came to Kaysville three years ago; was in Ogden last year, and finally in Clearfield this summer. Sometime in September, the noted school plans to make a return to either Clearfield or Salt Lake City to put on indoor soccer camps. Other indoor sites include Grand Junction, Colorado and Fairbanks, Alaska. Jt2 Thirty-tw- o kids turned out for the Eagles Soccer School in Clearfield last week. THE 32 Clearfield participants in last weeks camp were directed by two quality coaches including the Eagles Soccer School, executive director, P.J. Peters. Also assisting was Lucien Niang who is a former semi-pr- o player and coach in San Diego. P.J. was bom and raised in England while Lucien came from Northwest Africa. The school went for a week and started each day at 8:30 a.m. and went to noon. From the beginning, P.J. and Lucien taught the basics of passing, hitting, dribbling, shooting, butting, ball control, goalkeeping and receiving air balls. As the week progressed the kids got more into technical aspects of the game with positional play, learning offside rules and important game tactics. THE PARTICIPANTS, between the ages of and spereceived Eagle School cial trophy awards on the final day of the 5, school. P.J. who began playing soccer when he was but three years old in England, commented, I really believe the kids enjoy the learning aspect and the fact they are getting in shape. Even though these children arent ours, we see a tremendous improvement in just one week. THE ONLY people who know the real value of a program like this are the parents. The parents know what their kids can and cannot do. After a week in our school Ive seen some parents who are surprised what their child is capable of doing with a soccer ball. Another group of people who see a difference are the teams and the coaches that these kids go back to when soccer season starts, said Lucien. The kids just have a ball of fun. THE ONLY money that is generated from the Eagles Soccer School program is the $40 tuition fee. This helps to pay for the coaches plane fare, accommodations and salary. No money is put up by the recreation departments. The two soccer teachers who were headed for schools in Reno, Carson City, Sparks and Incline Village, will spend the rest of the summer coaching and teaching children just as they did in Clearfield this past week. Altogether, they, along with 12 other Eagle instructors, will visit over 24 cities in the U.S. and put on soccer schools. THESE SCHOOLS are excellent for the kids who dont play baseball or football and even for those who do. The sport of soccer is growing tremendously, especially in southern California where most of the Eagle soccer teachers are from. Soccer is very economical to play in comparison to other sports, said P.J. PETERS, WHO believes sincerely that the Eagles program will continue to mushroom into popularity over the next few years, coaches high school soccer in California and has been a college coach in the past. He started as a regular instructor in England before moving to the U.S. four years ago. He quickly was promoted to the director of Eagles operations in southern California then later put over governorship of west coast activities. Today he serves the entire country as the executive director. Its pleasing to see the progress the kids make. Take for instance the juggling exercise. Every Monday morning we test the kids ability to juggle the ball. By the following Friday at least 95 percent of the kids in our school can juggle the ball as much or more than they did on opening day. Its a lot of kids having a lot of fun learning, he said. t |