Noting spring and its breaks …
Of course, a lot of mountain kids competing in spring sports get a real snow job. This is Colorado, those are the Rocky Mountains and we know all about the crazy conditions.
Then there’s Steamboat Springs High School … its mascot, Sailors, isn’t the only quirk – the ski town superceded 400 inches of snow and more is on the way. Can you imagine? It’s at 35 feet and counting. Town officials got to the point that they were running out of places to put it.
No, it’s not like all of it is still there, but the past, immediate and longer-term effects indicate snow-covered and wet ground for months.
“You’re not looking at 30-foot piles of snow,” Sailors baseball coach David Roy said. “A lot of it is packed down and melted, and you don’t see the evidence of it, but it is tremendous in terms of what it does to the landscape.”
More than one townie has had to peek around a snowpile after wondering what was behind it.
As a result, members of Steamboat Springs baseball, lacrosse, soccer and track prep teams get to know, learn, live and love the inside of the school’s two gymnasiums as well as assorted vehicles. If they want to compete, it has to come from practicing inside, then having events somewhere else.
However, Roy said, “we don’t allow any whining.”
And that’s a good thing, as it’s tough to be a Sailor (Class 4A, enrollment of 631) in spring. Girls tennis players have use of a local indoor facility, but other spring participants probably won’t see many home events. For practice, a nightly rotation between several programs “is a three-ring circus,” the 66-year-old Roy said. Sailors lacrosse coach Bob Hiester agreed its sort of like banging heads against the wall in “trying to teach a field game in a gym.”
Experiencing live flyballs and popups in baseball do not happen within town boundaries, although the Sailors are on their way to becoming the best Wiffle ball team in Colorado. Taking groundballs – on hardcourt as opposed to dirt or grass – also is a problem in lacrosse. Forget about long passes in soccer and most events in track. And indoor tennis isn’t preferred.
“You put up with it,” Hiester said, adding that coaches must be cautious. “You blow your whistles quickly. You don’t want your kids running into the bleachers.”
But the attitude at altitude remains good. Roy is thankful the program survived a tough stretch five years ago and still has enough kids to keep in caps, bats and gloves, and Hiester said numbers in lacrosse have increased.
It’s difficult, Hiester said, “but on the other hand, you’re teaching games and the kids are loving it.”
No Big Mac for Matt
In case you were wondering, no, Matt Bouldin will not play in the McDonald’s All-American basketball game next month. He wasn’t chosen, according to ThunderRidge coach Joe Ortiz, despite Bouldin’s signing with Gonzaga, his stellar in-state prep career – the Grizzlies won a title, finished runner-up twice and were 87-16 with the 6-foot-5 guard on the roster – and considerable offseason showings in stops outside the state.
The most recent McDonald’s schoolboy from Colorado was George Washington’s Chauncey Billups, in 1995.
Generally regarded among the top 50 players nationally over the 2005-06 season, Bouldin had been the state’s top Big Mac hopeful since Billups.
Keep in mind two things the next time we get someone here who really can play: It’s a big country, and the fact he plays in Colorado obviously doesn’t help.
Blow me down
Interesting segments for Cherry Creek District fields. Tom McCollum Field, the ballyard at Cherry Creek High School, lost its hitting background in center field for a spell, and a portion of lights at the district’s Legacy Stadium also bit the dust.
Thank the wind.
Katte and kids
He just won his seventh boys basketball state championship in his 42nd season and notched his 775th victory. So what was Denver Christian’s Dick Katte going to do?
He went to Disney World.
Actually, Katte was helping to oversee Crusaders on a band trip over spring break.
Jackson sighting
In 2006-07, Aurora Central boys basketball will meet Cheyenne Central, Wyo., which is coached by Mike Jackson, a former Aurora Central star who excelled for Wyoming’s Cowboys before injuries prevented a chance at an NBA career. Jackson’s brother, Danny, a left-handed pitcher as a schoolboy for the Trojans, went on to win 23 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1988 in a 15-year career.
Neil H. Devlin can be reached 303-820-1714 or at ndevlin@denverpost.com.
