From the Goal Line

This morning Reporter photographer Chad Coleman (check out his blog Focus Northwest for more great pictures) and I ventured down to the Community Center to check out the Nate Robinson basketball camp. Robinson himself walked into the gym just a head of us and much to delight of the little boy on the stairs who got his UW hat signed, he was willing to take a minute for a pint sized fan.

The gym was pretty full with 130 kids of all ages learning and drilling in the basics of basketball as you can see in our video here:

The Washington Stealth professional lacrosse team resigned Mercer Island resident Jason Bloom to another season. The captain had 111 loose balls in 2010 and scored 11 points on two goals and nine assists, despite being a largely defensive player. The team won the National Title this past season in their first season in Everett.

According to a press release from the team: “Having our Captain Jason Bloom amongst our first group of signings was very important to our organization,” said Stealth General Manager Doug Locker.  “Jason is an exceptionally talented player who provides stability on and off the floor.  He is a natural leader and we could not be happier to have him with us again this coming season.”

For more on the Stealth visit their homepage.

This week’s sports section featured a profile on MIHS student athlete Nicholas Sinclair. He’s preparing for a trip to the US Track and Field Junior Olympics in California, which start on July 27.

Nick’s mom Heidi told me this week, after the paper went to press, he jumped 21′5″ at a meet in Eugene, the last meet he’d jump in before the Junior Olympics. His mom said he could have easily jumped farther and obviously he’s hitting his goal of jumping in the 21 foot range, something he talked about during our interview.

Best of luck to him and I’ll update on how he does at the JO’s in early August.

I talked to Nate Robinson, of Rainier Beach/Boston Celtics fame, a couple of weeks ago for a story that comes out in today’s paper. He’s currently enjoying his summer break after a longer than usual season with the Celtics (thank the NBA playoffs for the extend playing time).

Of course when I sat down to figure out what to talk to him about, other than the fact that he’s returning for his basketball camp on Mercer Island for the third year, the Sonics came up. It’s probably become status quo these days to ask anyone affiliated with the NBA their opinion about the Sonics, and it might be becoming a cliche, but I was still curious.

“Of course I want the NBA to come back,” Robinson told me toward the end of our conversation. “It would be the highlight of my life.” He said he wasn’t sure how they could just take a team away, especially when an NBA team would be so good for the city.

“It’s a great place and teams have a lot of good support,” he said, pointing out everyone from the Mariners to the Storm who all have large fan bases.

For the full story see tomorrow’s edition of the Reporter and you can follow Robinson on Twitter.

Mercer Island boys soccer player Matt Johnson earned an honorable mention as a defender for the All-State boys 3A soccer team. The list of list of players is voted on by sports writers from around the state and compiled by the Tri-City Herald.

Islander baseball player Willy Reel was also given the honor, named to the All-State first team in baseball.

If you know of anyone else who was named to the list (these two are the only from Mercer Island I found) or has received any other awards please feel free to let me know via email at mmanagan@mi-reporter.com.

Ever wanted to give paddle surfing a try? Check it out this weekend as the ‘Round the Rock organizers Jeff Underwood and Dan Eberhardt will be offer a free demo on Sunday, July 11 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Luther Burbank swimming beach.

Jeff said in an email: We will have ample boards and paddles of various shapes and sizes for you to try. Expert instruction will also be provided for the uninitiated. If you happen to already own some equipment, bring it, and join us on the water. There’s nothing cooler than seeing dozens of people “walking” on the water.

From previous experience I can say paddle surfing is a blast, easy to learn and a great way to get out on the water, especially now that the weather has made a turn for the beautiful.

The duo will be gearing up for the second annual ‘Round the Rock race,  Sept. 12.

Here are the roster for the summer’s All Star Little League team’s on the Island. Visit the Little League’s homepage for schedules, tournaments and results.

Majors All Stars
Michael Bantle
David Emanuels
Harrison Goonewardene
Griffin Kane
Eric Kim
Peter Lopes
Michael Petrie
Sam Pugel
Anthony Scalzo
Josh Stenberg
Brenden Yan
Manager: Steve Stenberg
Coach: Anne Emanuels

11U All Stars
Bligh Bjarnason
Luke Boksem
Drew Christofferson
Eric Dreyer
Jacob Evans
Devon Hayes
Noah Hsue
Kenneth Koning
Justin Myers
Scott Ramseyer
Johnny van der Velden
Alternates: Shain Scott, Spencer Fuhr
Manager: Brad Myers
Coach: Ed Dreyer

9-10U All Stars
Boissoneault, Matt
Fuchs, Greg
Ho, Justin
Jenkins, Andrew
Nayer, Nikhil
Rosenstein, Sam
Sandwith, Carson
Shanks, Alex
Simpson, Parker
Sims, David
Smith, Jack
Manager: Bob Sims
Coach: David Sandwith

There is a trial going on in Connecticut right now to determine if cheerleading is a sport. A federal judge will decide if schools in Connecticut can count it as sport as they look for ways to meet the Title IX gender equality requirements.

There’s a story in the Washington Post about it today. Apparently a university in Connecticut is padding rosters in order to get around the Title IX issue, then either cutting or adding after the rosters are submitted to get what they want.

The lawsuit came forward because Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University cut it’s women’s volleyball team in favor of a competitive cheerleading squad. The school said it was a budgetary move and members of the team sued to keep the program. Through the process of the suit, a judge issued a temporary injunction last year to keep the school from disbanding the volleyball team as it was discovered the school over reported opportunities for female athletes and under reported the opportunities for male athletes.

The trial starts on Monday in U.S. District Court.

If judge decideds that yes cheerleading can be considered a competitive sport the implications could be long reaching. Many schools, especially during the last several years of budgetary woes, have struggled to find ways to make sure the offerings are equal, while balancing paying for coaches, equipment and fields. If a judge sets a precedent that says cheerleading counts, even if it is not recognized by the NCAA, high schools could perhaps count it as a sport, not an activity.

Under Title IX an activity can be considered a sport if certain criteria are met. To be considered the activity must have a coach, competitions as part of a defined season and have a governing organization.

Should be interesting to see what could happen in the logn run with this. Also it begs the question what is a sport? The Title IX definition seems like a pretty standard one to me, but under that the case could be made for a lot of different activities to be counted. The WIAA consideres these things to be activities: cheer, dance/drill, drama, forensics and music.

So what do you think? I know many long time cheerleaders and programs, especially those who compete at a regional and national level who consider it to be a sport, even if the WIAA and NCAA does not.

Do you consider cheerleading to be a sport?
(polls)

Here’s a list of the 3A/2A All KingCo baseball honors for Mercer Island for the spring sport season.

Player of year — Willy Reel, Mercer Island

First Team
P/SS Willy Reel, Sr., Mercer Island

OF Jordan Richartz, Jr., Mercer Island

Second Team
DH Cameron Ogard, So., Mercer Island

3B Evan Thompson, Jr., Mercer Island

Honorable Mention
Mercer Island — Max Dammeier, Ben Emanuels, Kirby Ingram, George Jiranek, Mike Potoshnik.

It’s hardly even summer yet (or maybe never will be if this rain doesn’t let up sometime), but here’s a quick look at the fall football schedule for Mercer Island High School. The team finished the 2009 season 4-6 under first year head coach Brett Ogata, who returns for a second season in the fall.

2010 Varsity Schedule (preliminary)
Home games in bold
• Sept 3: at Seattle Prep (West Seattle stadium)
• Sept 10: Newport
• Sept. 17: at Juanita
• Sept 24: Interlake
• Oct. 1: at Bellevue
• Oct. 8: at Mt. Si
• Oct. 15: Liberty (homecoming)
• Oct. 22: at Sammamish
• Oct. 29: Lake Washington
• Nov. 5/6: Playoff or Metro crossover game