OCR Text |
Show Dave Wigham gives a George Plimpton account of sliding down the hydrotube. Lucky for Dive the tube sloped downhill or he may have gotten lost. TOUMST Ifyouth interest and participation continue Falcon wrestling coach Scott Tennis seems certain. run you promised never to do. Believe me. it was a lot quicker than the first run and at the end you found out how deep, or shallow , the heated pool really is. Tennis Turns To Wrestling Trainer Now-was ready for anything the younger kids could do. Before my reign of terror was over I would send my body down head first on my stomach, hook up on a four man train and even go down with a young man on my back. Originality is a big thing at the tube. When 1 left the pool for the last time. I realized that it had been fun once the fear of that first ride was over. Keith Duncan Bulletin Sports CLEARFIELD It appears almost certain, Scott Tennis was destined to one day head the wrestling program at Clearfield High School. If factors such as youth interest and participation continue to multiple, premier success will be hot on the horizon. TENNIS FIRST broke into his coaching career at nearby Viewmont High where for three years he assisted Monte Jones. While helping the Vikings to a few titles, Tennis became a member of the Latter-da- y Saint Church, an event which would later add a new dimention to his decision making. After his third year with the Vikes, T ennis applied at Clearfield High and was hired as Ron McBride departed for a new berth in Logan. I COULDN'T have been more excited when Clearfield hired me," said Tennis, "But a week later 1 had to make a very important decision becuase the church had called me to serve a mission." Tennis chose to serve the mission with no guarantees that he would have the job when he returned, instead, the Falcons hired Bob Steele. BUT JUST like it was "something supposed to be, Steele left for Woods Cross High just as Tennis was returning home. Tennis applied and this time he kept the job when they offered it to him. Getting the job was one thing, but having some decent team was talent to put together a another. Scott described it as a "bleak situation but and stumbled forward. he smiled "IT WAS discouraging five years ago, said Tennis, We just couldnt get anything going. Consequently the Falcons were the scapegoat of the league and suffered through a 9 season. The following year Tennis tried twice as hard but the record will never show it as the Falcons were two-ye- none-the-Ie- THE FOLLOWING day my body soon let me know that this type of activity should be reserved to a once in a month type thing. I had some bumps and bruises, nothing bad though, and I was cxtemcly sore and stiff, but the memories still remind me it was a fun time. On an average day the tube will take 400-50- 0 people down its two runs with the majority of participants being in the 2 year old category. "There are a lot of adults that come in the evening though. noted Mike Hall one of the managers of the facility . "Anf they bring the youngsters with them." he 10-1- Sliding through the slippery hydrotube, Dave Wigham recounts how he survived. added. David Slays Goliath Hydrotube ss 2-- 3-- 8 in dual matches. AFTER TWO years of it. Tennis was generally tired of losing and began right there to take a long look at what it would take to make his program productive. He streamlined a program for kids in elementary that eventually would feed into Clearfield High. A year after that he would move his family from Salt Lake City to Layton where he could really push that program. He literally lived with the junior high coaches and in three years has seen their programs rise to the top in Davis County. "We worked hard, said Tennis, I cant tell you how hard we wanted a winner in Clearfield. HIS THIRD year, Tennis finished with a record. The fourth season saw some results taking And finally last shape and the Falcons finished winter, Clearfield produced its first winning program in six seasons with a glossy 3 mark. said Tennis, Little The image is changing, kids around town are excited, the junior high athletes are dedicated and family participation has been -1 5-- 5. 9-- tremendous. TENNIS WAS right when he said family participa- tion. Three athletes who will be ninth graders at Sunset Junior High next year, all had older brothers who were star wrestlers with Clearfield. Mark Martinez, the little brother to Herman Martinez. Herman was state champion at Clearfield three years ago and was the states outstanding wrestler. Todd Kopecky, is the little brother to Doug Kopecky. Doug became the first wrestler in Falcon history to win back to back state titles. He did that last winter. Finally Craig Carter, the little brother to Mark Carter. Mark, though he didnt wrestle his senior year, was outstanding two years prior to that. Im glad the tube was downhill or I might have gotten lost, Dave Wigham 99 Dave Wigham Clipper Sports When someone mentioned to WOODS CROSS me that I do a piece on the new hydrotube in Woods Cross I had no idea what I was getting myself into. AT FIRST I figured the best shot would be to go out and watch while others came shooting down those green bending tubes, but soon the message was relayed to me that the editor insisted on a firsthand account. That meant sending my own body through those tubes. It took me three weeks to get up the courage to do THE POOL water is heated and then pumped up to the tubes w ith I ': inches coming dow n each tube. On seconds to ride the average it takes between down. It is a safe activity as long as the participants retain a certain degree of safety. "There are cuts and bruises, but most of them are caused w hen people start doing craxy things like long trains or riding head 20-2- ar half-wa- y to multiply, success for THIS COULDNT have been the thrill all the kids were experiencing. Up the steps again, only this time I feel more confident, and ready for the fancy stuff. This time down 1 go in the popular lay down position with my arms outstretched over my head. This time I had no idea where in the tube 1 was and at which point I would fall into the heated pool. Looking up in the tube you soon realize that you have placed your body in a position that on the previous first upside down, 5 Hall added. At first they had some problems with one of the tubes but that has been changed. One of them used to throw the people up and down right near the opening at the bottom but we installed a bigger tube which now throws the people straight out into the pool," he noted. RENTAL equipment is available at the hydrotube including protective shorts and a donut life preserver for the youngsters. Cost of the rides is $3 for ten rides. Its a fun time for the family once the fear of that first ride is overcome. what many call fun. Even at that it took a friend to get me down to the tubes. On Friday evening my time had come. It took me exactly 15 minutes to walk the 20 yards from my car to the pool. As you can tell I was anxious to throw my body into the green pipe. THE FIRST good news was the fact that the water was heated. At least when I came to a stop after the ride my body would be warm. Then came the first bad news: there was no elevator to take me to the top of the tube. The thought of climbing up those steps set in and the message started coming from my legs to make sure the first ride was all that was needed for this story. with the I reached the top and came with tube water round the of shooting giant opening inside. By now there was a line behind me so the thought of walking back down the steps was out. There were no instructions at the beginning, simply you against this tube and you already knew it was going to win. After stalling a few minutes you say youre waiting for someone else and you watch the little kids go shooting down and smiling the entire time; my turn had come. I CAUTIOUSLY sat down in the tube and before I could say anything, like a small prayer, I was on my way down the thing. It became evident, even to me, that if you sat straight up in this thing you went slower than if you laid completely down. For my maiden voyage I decided on the sitting up style. Unlike all the kids under the age of ten who seemed set on setting a world record on getting to the bottom, going through this tube is like going through Logan Canyon at night, thinking every turn is the end. Soon the end was in sight. The average ride takes about 25 seconds, and your body is thrown into a heated pool. face-to-fa- see TENNIS on next page commentary Dave Wigham Clipper Sports Maybe now with the world cup soccer finals being televised live in the United States the American people will see what a true world champion looks like. ITS ALWAYS amazed me that in basketball the four finalists for the so called world title were Lso Angles, Boston, Philly and San Antonio. In baseball the story is the same with the likes of Los Angles, New York, Montreal and Milwaukee. Did you see the four semifinalists for the soccer title, West Germany, Italy, Poland and France. Wait a minute though those are four teams from different . countries in the world. THE TELEVISION networks in this country are always fighting for the ratings and they must have done a double take when the number of people that watched the opening game of these world cup soccer games was announced. One out of every four persons on earth turned in their television sets to that game. Figures came out thatwhenthe month long tournament is over about 10 billion, thats right billion, people will have watched Thats A leal World Champion the games. THE FINAL alone will draw abouh one and a half billion viewers around the world, compared to the 20 million that watched the Super Bowl last year. Speaking of the Super Bowl it really astounds me that the network news people keep referring to the world cup tournament as the Super Bowl to the rest of the world. COME ON, thats putting the Super Bowl up in a catergory it doesnt belong. That would be like comparing the basketball game between the Centerville 4th Ward and the Centerville 8th Ward to the seventh and deciding game of the NBA championship series. THE LAKERS, Dodgers and 49ers are all national champions, they are by no means the world champions as the American media keeps telling us. All the nations in the world have leagues in soccer and they are simply referred to as the English or Italian champions. This world cup event takes place every four years, at least the actual tournament does. t DURING THOSE years that the tournament isnt played the teams are all busy trying to qualify as one of the 24 teams to make it to the big event. This time 106 countries around the world competed in the various groups for a spot in the tournament in Spain. Soccer is still by far the most popular sport in the world. ITS POPULARITY is even being felt in Davis County as more and more youngsters turn to little league soccer each year. Now the high school people have adopted it as a recognized sport. That strikes me funny that it took them all this time to recognize the most popular sport in the world. YOU JUST cant catch the true feeling that nations have for this tournament until youve been part of it. I remember in England when the team would play anyone, whether in world cup competition or not that the entire country would forget about all their problems and rally behind the team. To be in a stadium of 100,000 people and hear them chant for their country is a feeling that isnt easy to forget. Americans got a small slice of the feeling when the hockey team knocked off Russia but that was still small scale compared to the soccer fans. LITERALLY FACTORIES are closed in order to watch the national team on television. There are no one on the streets during those games. Ask the missionaries who served in those countries what its like trying to talk to people with their country on the tube playing soccer. I ENJOY the American sports but when it comes to a true world championship there is only one in the world and that will be decided this Sunday in Spain with the final game of the soccer tournament. I know some Americans say that soccer is boring, some games are 1 agree. But what gets me is the same guy that notes soccer as boring insists he likes baseball. That is not logical in the boring department. SOCCER IS catching on in popularity and one day this nation will have their team battling in the world cup, then maybe theyll get the sense of national pride that the rest of the world enjoys right now. |