Mirror Sport 8-25

Sports irror Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Necessity is the mother of all in-vention. Repetition is necessary for success in sports. Therefore,

in theory, select and club level athletics are the creation of a necessity for practice and repetition in the world of youth sports.

It’s a simplistic way of looking at the system but there is little argument against it. Young people begin taking part in sports at younger and younger ages. The teams they play on put in hours upon hours of practice, traveling to local, regional, na-tional and even international events.

The experience is invaluable. The chance to be noticed is incomparable. Every season, an athlete’s success with some club or select program earns them a college scholarship or a look from profes-sional teams. Their work with those teams is noticed by coaches and scouts who can-not get out to high school games to watch them play during the school year.

But the benefits stretch far beyond just earning college scholarships or making memories. The extra training and work with these advanced teams translates into seasoned athletes at the high school level. State high school organizers limit the amount of practice and playing time a coach may have with his or her team. Playing outside of the school with these advanced programs allows athletes to continue honing their craft long after the high school season comes to end.

For the most part, it is a win-win situ-ation. But not always. There are costs in-volved, both fiscal and physical. The strain on a young body, no matter how healthy, can be under appreciated. The mental toll is often overlooked.

Everyday, high school coaches battle these issues with their athletes. From in-jury to arrogance, fatigue to inequality, the fight to be competitive, fair and suc-cessful is a tough task with so much going on in the outside world. The elements of success and failure are eerily similar and it’s their jobs to make sure those parts stay pointed in a positive direction.

Of the 18 coaches surveyed in this sto-

ry, each stressed the importance of their athletes getting touches on a ball outside of high school related events. Each ac-knowledged the most successful programs in the country have kids committed to the game in some form or fashion. There are no right answers, just as there are no wrong ones. For every good story, there is a bad one.

In the end, it is all about finding balance and that may be harder than any opponent on any schedule all season.

Physical: The making, breaking and

maintaining of an athleteHope Porter doesn’t deny it. Neither

does Sandy Fausett. Or Rhonda Currey for that matter. To be on top of the volley-ball teams, even just in the county, your players have to be at their best.

“For us to be a top notch program and stay a top notch program in the state we have to have kids committed to playing year-round,” Porter, the second-year head coach at Red Oak, said. “You can’t com-pete with schools that have kids playing year-round if your kids aren’t doing it just because they’re not gaining the knowl-edge, they’re not gaining the skill level. They’re losing out on aspects.”

The respective coaches at Red Oak, Waxahachie and Midlothian all know what it takes to be at the top of the pro-verbial heap. All three made the 4A play-offs last season, all three won at least one game.

What do they all have in common? Their best players all play some sort of club ball.

“I think we’ve just come to the point where so many kids are playing club and playing year-round that if you don’t you just can’t keep up,” Faussett said. “You’re just not going to be as competitive, there’s no way you can at the high school level playing a two-month season, compensate

By ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer

See YOUTH, Page 3C

With the rise of select and club youth sports, high school coaches’ jobs now require more than just preparing athletes for games. It is a watchdog situation monitoring a player’s health, attitude and general demeanor. All the while, players and coaches are working to

Become the best

Photo by Mike Sackett/Special to the Mirror

Midlothian running back Justin Seeton found plenty of running room during the scrimmage with Richland going for 62 yards on 10 carries in live play.

Running game gains ground

If you thought a pair of Division I level linebackers were going to stand in Midlothian’s way of a commitment to run the football, you were definitely wrong.

In the team’s lone two-team scrim-mage before the start of the 2010 sea-son, the Panthers showed they would run the ball, run it well and run it often no matter who the opposition was. And against a tough Richland defense, the team showed it was up to the challenge.

Combining the set-number play situ-ation with the regular game play be-tween the two teams on Friday night, Midlothian rushed the ball 43 times of the 59 plays executed Friday night. Those 43 attempts netted 298 yards with three rushing scores.

“We’re coming along and you’ve known all along that’s what we want

to do is to run the ball and I thought at times tonight we did a really good job,” coach Lee Wiginton said. “I was proud of the offensive line, coach (John) Broom’s done a good job with offensive line. Coach (Justin) Blackwell’s done a good job with our backs. The things we’re stressing they’re starting to do better which is exciting.”

The run game got an early boost when the second team offense faced the sec-ond team defense from Richland in the

first series of set plays to start the game. After Michael Glenn opened the game with a big rush into Rebel territory, Kalen Semper cashed in two plays later with a 32-yard score. Five plays later, Glenn finished a drive that featured a 45-yard pass play to Kyler Brown by cross the goal line from 11 yards out to score. For the second team offense it was a strong 10 opening plays that fea-tured five rushes of more than 10 yards and two touchdowns.

With the tone set, Midlothian’s first team offense took the field with Okla-homa State commitment Nico Ornelas and junior prospect Jeremiah Tshimanga staring them down. The duo wrecked havoc the first two plays, posting a sack and holding the run game to just one year. After the chains were reset the Pan-


See RUN, Page 2C

Backfield able to find solid footing against highly touted linebacking unit

Inside• Panther defense forces

the turnover issue

• Previewing the season opener against Grapevine

Agbaroji commits to BoiseSenior defensive back pledges to nationally ranked Bronco team

Last season, it was an injury that nagged Eric Agbaroji. It hindered him from being at 100 percent.

Now that he is healed, the Midlothian senior wasn’t going to let anything else mess up his con-centration on having a strong final high school season. With just days before the start of the 2010 season, Agbaroji made his verbal commit-ment to Boise State University to play football.

It was all part of a plan that got sidetracked at first but the decision just felt right.

“That was my original plan to commit before the season started and after the whole injury stuff happened and all of that, I kind of changed it to after basketball sea-son,” Agbaroji said. “I think it’s the prefect place for me.”

A two-year starter for the Panther program, Agbaroji has the size and skill set college scouts drool over. At 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Agbaroji has fluent movement, quick recov-ery time and a great knack for locat-ing the ball. All of that is backed up by his stats.

During his sophomore season, he burst onto the scene with 40 tackles, five pass break-ups and an intercep-tion. Last fall, he fought through a lingering leg injury for another 40 tackles, 13 pass break-ups and one interception.


Photo by Alex Riley/The Mirror

Midlothian senior Eric Agbaroji was proud to wear his Boise State hat during the team’s recent picture day. The defensive back committed to play for the Broncos next fall.

See AGBAROJI, Page 4C

Every coach is going to have to look at it and say what’s best for my team and what’s best for my kids and find a balance.

- Rhonda Currey, Midlothian volleyball

It would have been extremely easy for the Midlothian defense to lay down after those nearly back-to-back plays. Choos-ing to have that “here we go again” mindset was an option.

But the Panthers chose the exact op-posite.

Facing a fast Richland offense late in the set play period, the Panthers yielded a 70-yard touchdown pass after a break down in coverage. After an incomple-tion on the next play, the game switched to regular game mode, the Rebels get-ting the ball at the 30-yard line. Again, Richland hit for a 70-yard scoring strike as it went over the top of the defense.

The team bent, it did not break. After that score in the regular game

play, the Midlothian defense shut down the Rebel attack allowing just a field goal over the next three possessions. It was a reaction defensive coordinator Chris King could not have been prouder of.

“You look more at how you kind of respond to those and I thought we did. The first play of the game we had one go over our head and it would have been real easy for them to shut it down and we didn’t,” King said. “We battled back, in the red zone situation down here we held them to a field goal, which is always a good situation.”

A large portion of that improved play came in part to the unit’s ability to force turnovers. In the combined period of time the two teams played, Midlothian was able to force four fumbles and an interception. The defense recovered two of those fumbles while one was recov-ered by Richland in the end zone for a touchback to bring the turnover count of the night to four. On the flip side, the Midlothian offense didn’t turn the ball over once.

The first strip came after a reception by a Rebel player who turned up field only to find Nathan Fisher in pursuit. The senior reached in and stripped the ball as fellow senior Gage Windsor re-covered. After the series was reset, the Rebels turned the ball over on a fumble into the end zone, which was recovered for a touchback.

“We do strip drills almost every single day. It was just routine like we’ve been coached to do and it’s nice getting turn-overs because last year they were mostly ours,” Fisher said. “This year I think it’s going to be a different story with the in-tensity and everything. You can tell by watching the team that it’s a different team.”

The strangest turnover of the night came on the third from last play in the set play portion of the night. Richland threw a pass into the flat, which was tipped into the air by a Midlothian de-fensive back. Another defender made a reach for the football, managing to keep it in the air and putting it into the out-stretched hands of the original Rebel re-ceiver. As he raced toward the end zone, Quindale Daniels stripped the ball from behind allowing Chase Huff to recover.

Midlothian’s final turnover of the night came in regulation game play as the Rebels’ second possession of the

night ended with a great defensive ef-fort by Windsor. After being thrown for a two-yard loss by Vincent Panza fol-lowing a first down conversion, Wind-sor followed Richland’s quarterback on a roll out pattern as he attempted a throw to the sideline. The senior safety jumped the route and made a sliding catch on his knees for the interception.

The turnovers were a big morale boost after not being a big turnover de-fense last season.

“It’s wonderful. We get out there and we work these strip drills and every kind of turnover drills possible. It’s really nice to know that it’s working and pay-ing off,” Windsor said.

Getting fired upOne thing that is noticably different

from last season is the attitude on the Panther sideline. Last fall, the chatter was not nearly as loud as it was during Friday’s scrimmage. The team has come up with plenty of chants and activities to get fired up for the game.

The most evident of those activities were the push-ups and chants coach Lee Wiginton executed to end the halftime part of the live game action. The players did push-ups while responding to rally cries and then leapt up into a mob to pump up for the second period.

And yes, the other chant would be

heard from the sideline was in fact the “beef hot link” chant heard in the Hill-shire Farm “Go meat” ad campaign on television.

Rickey Dixon sightingMetroplex native and former colle-

giate star Rickey Dixon was roaming the sideline at the scrimmage. Dixon, win-ner of the 1987 Jim Thorpe Award for best defensive back in the nation, was a first-round draft pick of the Cinncinati Bengals in 1988 and played six seasons in the NFL. He left Oklahoma with 170 tackles and 17 interceptions, including a school-record nine his senior season.

NotesDespite not having the MISD Stadium

field ready in time for the scrimmage, all indications are the field will be prepared in time for the season opener this Friday against Grapevine. The logos and letter-ing were not available to be stitched into the field in time for the scrimmage. … The Panthers threw just 16 passes on the night with a 50 percent completion rate. … No injuries were reported from the scrimmage.

Contact Alex at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456

Sports2C Midlothian Mirror, Wednesday, August 28, 2010

Alex Riley, Sports Writer469-517-1456 | [email protected]

Week 0 detailsWho: Midlothian vs. GrapevineWhere: MISD StadiumWhen: Friday, Aug 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Need to know infoGrapevine High SchoolEnrollment: 2,1672009 record: 6-5, bi-district finalistCoach: Dave Henigan (2 years)

Notes:Former Corsicana coach Dave Henigan arrived in Grapevine to a team that failed to win a game the season before. In one season, he has gotten the Mustangs to an above .500 record and a playoff berth thanks to six wins in the last seven games of the season. However, that team returned 12 starters. This year’s program isn’t quite as lucky. Only six defensive and two offensive starters are back, leaving a lot of holes to fill. That being said, defensive end Jarrod Lynn returns a year after setting the school’s single-season sack record with 12. The district defensive player of the year is drawing interest from Kansas State, SMU, TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma, among others. Nationally ranked kicker Alex Mueller, a player Midlothian’s Dillion Wilson outshined this summer to earn a scholarship offer, is as good as any kicker in the area, hitting a pair of game-winners last fall.

Other players to watch:Ted Hull-Ryde (WR), Rafi Cortez (RB), Bryan Popp (WR), Austin Anderson (S)

Three things to watch1. For the second straight week, the Panther offense will meet a very talented defensive player. With the success against Richland, can the offense keep it going?Running the ball against Richland was going to be a huge challenge with Division I prospects Nico Ornelas and Jeremiah Tshimanga on the other side. However, the running game started early and often refusing to settle for passes. While the offense was bland in the scrimmage, the formula isn’t all that bad. Getting past Lynn will be tough but the Panthers are committed to running the football. Don’t expect that to change.

2. With all the returning players Midlothian has, do the Panthers have an advantage over Grapevine’s relatively young team?From the way things look on paper, they do. The Panthers return so many players at nearly every position imaginable on both sides of the ball. In the scrimmage, that veteran play showed after the team yielded that 70-yard score on the first play of live action. After that, the team allowed just a field goal and really held the Rebels in check. Aside from Hull-Ryde (61 catches, 701 yards and five touchdowns) the returning playmakers for Grapevine are limited. The Panthers might be able to capitalize.

3. With Grapevine being one of just three teams on the scheudule that had a winning record last fall, could Midlothian really pull off the “upset?”Henigan’s turnaround job in one year was incredible. After going winless in 2008, the Mustangs went 6-5 with wins in six of their last seven games. But, Henigan was also a strong starter at Corsicana opening 20-5 in his first two seasons before posting a 15-16 mark in the last two years and missing the playoffs back-to-back years. Grapevine is picked by most publications to eke its way into the playoffs as the No. 4 team from District 6-5A but with the youth factor added in the Panthers could surprise the world on opening night.

– Alex Riley

Scrimmage Notebook

Turnover turnaroundDefense forces mistakes, looks to set tone for playBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer

Photo by Mike Sackett/special to the Mirror

Senior Nathan Fisher (19) forced the first of four turnovers by the Midlothian defense during the Richland scrimmage last week.

thers gained one first down but were shut down again.

That’s when a big re-ception moved the ball 14 yards followed by four runs by Justin Seeton. He was thrown for a loss on the first attempt but roared back with two runs for a combined 21 yards. Then the sophomore broke loose and galloped 39 yards for a touchdown with the two stud defenders giv-ing chase.

“Those guys were pretty good sized boys and they hit hard. Just getting a chance to lay a lick on them was fun,” Seeton said. “It might hurt right now but in an hour we’ll be feeling good. It was fun. It was just a bunch of

fun.”Midlothian’s offense con-

tinued to pound away with the run and despite some struggles in live game ac-tion, the Panthers were able to drive into the red zone twice. A pair of big runs by Seeton the first posses-sion of regular play put the team inside the red zone but the offense stalled out on fourth down. Another 10-yard burst on the final drive of the game set up a Dillon Wilson 22-yard field goal as the final play of the game.

Seeton finished with 63 yards on 10 carries in live action but, combined with the set plays at the begin-ning of the night, he rushed 16 times for 129 yards and a score. Glenn, who served as the starter for much of last season, finished with a com-bined 98 yards on six carries with a touchdown. His use as both a starting lineback-er and relief running back could be crucial this season to both facets of the game.

“(The offense is) a lot better. Now we can hit them with the run and the pass,” Glenn said. “I feel like I’ve got some conditioning to do but it’s going to be great.”

Contact Alex at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456.

RunContinued from Page 1C

Photo by Mike Sackett/Special to the Mirror

Junior Michael Glenn split time between running back and linebacker during Friday’s scrimmage. He finished with 98 yards on six carries and a touchdown for the offense while also amassing a handful of tackles on defense.

SportsWednesday, August 28, 2010 Midlothian Mirror 3C


for every team that’s played six months out of the year.”

Every athlete is different and every club athlete on their respective rosters takes part at a different level. Some remain local with teams in Ellis County, playing in tournaments only in Texas or within a narrow region. Oth-ers go to national events across the country. And some even head overseas for showcases. It all depends on the athlete.

The good that playing in club does is evi-dent. So is the bad.

Looking for the good – see Kate Praslicka. The Waxahachie junior plays on a club squad that spent the summer traveling from tour-nament to tournament showcasing the team. That travel eventually landed the team in Las Vegas for nationals.

In the end, Praslicka was named as an All-American. She was already the district MVP back in Texas from the previous season. The chance to shine is an example of seizing the opportunity.

“When you’re trying out for clubs, you

could not only be going against their (own) school but everyone in the Metroplex. And then taking those and competing against the best teams in the nation, that’s definitely a higher honor,” Faussett said of Praslicka’s superlative. “I think she’s going to get a lot more recognition too. Just a sophomore last year, being named MVP in our district was a huge honor. We had some great kids but I just think she’s going to get more and more of that as things progress.”

For one Praslicka, there are a dozen Tadam Mergener’s.

Last fall, the then-sophomore was expect-ed to be a standout player on the Midlothian team. Her hitting and defense were an ele-ment to the team Currey fully counted on coming into the season. But in an instant, that was gone.

Just a few weeks into the high school sea-son, Mergener headed overseas to take part in a showcase event in Italy with a non-club, invitation only event. With the blessing of Currey, the young player took her game to an international level. Ultimately, it cost her a season.

In a play on the ball to the outside, Mer-gener’s leg became entangled in the referee stand. Her knee was severely damaged requir-ing surgery and months of recovery. Speaking in terms of hindsight, Currey calls it a combi-nation of good and bad – good now, bad then.

“Obviously asking me that question right now, you would probably get a different an-swer because now I’ve seen the worst pos-sible scenario happen for the team. Not nec-essarily for Tadam. I think Tadam has grown leaps and bounds from that injury,” Currey said. “I do believe that things happen for a reason and no matter where she was it could have happened. Hindsight I’m sitting here go-ing that did change our dynamic. Losing one of our strong left side hitters is hard to recover from.”

The Lady Panthers did recover to a third place district finish and a bi-district title. Not every team is as lucky.

If anyone can understand that from both angles it might be Porter who has the rare viewpoint of high school coach, club coach and mother to a highly touted volleyball player. Her daughter, Red Oak senior Hunter Porter, suffered a knee injury midway through the 2009 season. Doctors said she could do no more damage to the knee by playing as long as she was careful.

With the Lady Hawks in the hunt for a state title, Hunter pushed through the injury, switching from a front row hitter to back row defender in the process. The team eventually fell one game short of the state tournament. After the season, Hunter’s knee was operated on to repair the damage.

Her play at the high school level helped the team nearly reach the pinnacle of Texas high school sports accomplishments. What did it cost her? A valuable stretch of recruiting time.

“Before her injury in November, we were

getting weekly contacts. And I made her put it out there that, ‘Hey this is what happened and I’m having this surgery.’ It’s kind of just, swish,” Hope Porter said making a downhill motion with her hands. “Slid off majorly. She’s struggling with that mentally right now. I’m trying not to worry about it as much. I’m hoping she’ll come around, have a good sea-son this year at school and we can keep peo-ple updated about it.”

The wear and tear and injury rate is all too prevalent for Dr. Keith Meister, who heads up TMI Sports Medicine, which specializes in treatment of sports related injuries. Meister, who is the team physician for the Texas Rang-ers, sees the problems firsthand.

He cites a lack of conditioning and over-use as the two biggest factors that tie into the problems he sees. Both are preventable.

“Ultimately if these kids aren’t healthy they’re not going to have a chance at any kind of successful career and it may just be a collegiate career but going beyond on that professionally. If they’re broken when they’re 12 then they’re not going to be healthy when they’re 25,” Meister said. “You can go through our clubhouse at the professional level and these guys were not hurt when they were teenagers. It’s pretty rare, it happens, but

it’s pretty rare I should say. If you break down early there’s a chance you’re go-ing to break down before you reach your ultimate goals.”

Meister offers up the an-ecdotal story of the parent who sits in his office and proclaims their 12-year-old child to be the MVP of every league he plays with phenomenal skills that will surely get him or her to the next level. The problem – look where they are.

The equation he offers up is talent plus health equals success. Combined with hard work and the

probability of becoming a standout player in-creases. He encourages time away from the game for rest, taking a season off, playing an-other sport to give the portion of your body that has been used a break.

Midlothian trainer Russell Wagner knows more often than not recommendations like that can fall on deaf ears.

“I see a lot of kids try to hide injury because they think the coaches are going to be mad at them when they get hurt. I don’t think they hide it just because,” Wagner said. “Now, I’ve see a few kids hide injuries they got during club because it was the playoffs in the high school sport and they tried to hide an injury of a club sport from their high school coach and I have seen that.”

The biggest battle Wagner sees on a day-to-day basis appears to be between his own responsibilities as a high school trainer and what a player does outside of the school. Of-ten times he sees a player being told he or she cannot play in high school competition but is allowed to take part in club or select games. The problem is chaotic at best.

“There are some club coaches out there that do respect an athletic trainer’s opinion and will actually do what they can to help the kid. But there are club coaches out there that could care less about what we say or even what the doctors say because they know that their pay-check is based on the kids being there,” Wag-ner said. “I’ve had many instances where a kid has had a concussion and their (club) soc-cer coach wants them to play and has pushed that kid to play in a game. And there are no ifs, ands or buts about it, they shouldn’t be playing.”

Keeping athletes healthy and ready for play becomes a nearly impossible task with the amount of play they are taking part in. Nearly year-round events limit the downtime and rest their body needs to recuperate from playing.

Ultimately, Currey labels it a balancing act with no real wrong or right solution. It all comes down to a few simple factors – health, preparation and, yes, a little luck.

“It’s a tough call, it’s tough to answer. Ev-ery coach is going to have to look at it and say what’s best for my team and what’s best for my kids and find a balance somewhere,” Currey said.

Financial: The cost and rewards of

athletic achievementMaybe Preston Foster is a bit old-fash-

ioned. Perhaps he doesn’t understand the sys-tem fully or maybe he understands it all too well. Either way, the Red Oak boys basketball coach is wary of the AAU basketball world.

In a time where every transfer stu-dent, college recruit or future prospect is scrutinized, studied and questioned, Fos-ter knows the benefits of playing on these travel teams. He can also see the downfalls. “My main thing is to be careful because there are some people out there that I think are just

trying to take advantage of the kids and make a buck,” Foster said. “I don’t know a lot about it but I think it’s pretty big business from everything I’ve heard and I’m afraid some of them are just trying to use the kids.”

Foster’s focus is the same as every other coach in any sport – doing what is right for the team and doing what is right for individual players, in that order. He offers abundant amounts of open gym time and tries to find summer leagues he can suggest his team take part

in all in an effort to build the team factor and showcase his players.

Don’t think for a second he is a fool to think players would put aside personal pur-suits to help the team every time. He knows the allure of AAU ball and the ease at which players can be seen by college scouts at mas-sive tournaments.

Midlothian boys basketball coach Glenn Hartson couldn’t agree more. He also knows the system guarantees nothing. Making peo-ple understand that seems to be harder than trying to win the game itself.

“It’s good for some but not for all. I think a lot of parents get caught up in, ‘My kid’s playing on a select team so therefore they’re good.’ Well what is that select team doing? They’re telling them they’re good. Why? Be-cause it’s money, it’s a business. They’re go-ing to tell them that,” Hartson said.

The practice and elevated competition is something both coaches acknowledge as ben-efits to playing. This summer, Midlothian ath-letes took part in numerous Metroplex tour-naments against AAU and select teams from across the country in an effort to develop mental and physical toughness against bigger, faster and stronger teams. While the work on the court during the summer months undoubt-edly aids their cause on the high school level, the exposure is something Waxahachie boys coach Steve Weeks knows his season cannot provide as well as the summer months do.

With college and high school seasons overlapping, the odds of getting a major institution out to prep game is nearly im-possible, if not entirely. But with dozens of courts running at the same time, players stand a better chance of being noticed in the summer. It’s a fact Weeks and his coach-ing counterparts cannot shy away from. “It’s exposure for the kids to college coach-es and to a high level of kids that they play against. You look at college coaches nowa-days, during our season they’re obviously in season as well, so they don’t really get an opportunity to go out and see these kids and see what they can do,” Weeks said. “They can look at stats, they can watch film. They would rather get out and watch them play. I think in that regard it’s great for our kids.”

The problem, Weeks and nearly every other coach surveyed quickly points out, not every kid is big-time college material.

Red Oak girls basketball coach Melissa Fullmer offers up the example of her sopho-more guard Diamond Lockhart. Last year,

Lockhart burst onto the high school scene capped by a landside vote to be named Dis-trict 15-4A newcomer of the year.

Long before she was a standout Lady Hawk she was a highly touted young AAU player. College coaches across the country have known about Lockhart’s talents long before she earned a varsity letter. The phone calls and letters of recruitment back that up. Not every player is a Lockhart and making play-ers and parents understand that is a tall task. “Statistically not every kid can go play Di-vision I, statistics prove it. Not every kid is going to play college athletics,” Fullmer said. “Now, there are lots of opportunities whether it’s at the NAIA, junior college, Division II or Division I, there are those opportunities but I think everybody has to keep in mind not ev-eryone is a Division I type player.”

Grasping the situation and understanding what is best on a personal level is often the hardest concept to grab hold of. Midlothian girls basketball coach Brooke Walthall has been at every level imaginable. She knows the cost, physically, financially and mentally.

The former Texas Tech player understands the appeal of playing select basketball as the future opportunities the sport brings are abun-dant. Still, there are some experiences that no amount of travel or weekend tournaments can replace.

“As a player I played on both. I played in AAU and I played in high school and to win a state championship in high school is so much different than winning a national champion-ship in the summer. There are 20 national championships for AAU, that’s just how it is now. But there’s only one whenever you’re in high school that you can win,” Walthall said. “In high school, you focus on the whole kid.

Sometimes in AAU you’re just focused on you meet them at the game, you play the game, you have your practices and you move on. When you’re a high school coach, you’re worried about them as a whole.”

Basketball’s boom seems to hold the national spotlight more than any of the other big select sports. Baseball, softball and vol-leyball are all large in their own rights but all four of these games seem to pale in comparison to the largest youth sports league in the country – soccer.

The rise of club soccer teams across Amer-ica has been rapid and varied. Recreation leagues once dominated the landscape but have now been replaced by pay-to-play club teams for players of all ages with a wide range of commitment levels.

With an elevated level of play, club soccer provides numerous opportunities that high school soccer does not, the biggest of which is collegiate recruiting.

“Soccer’s different, it’s always different, than other sports because soccer, if girls or boys want to get recruited for college, they’re going to be seen in club, plain and simple,” Red Oak girls soccer coach Laurie Norrell said. “High school soccer is more of a social, let’s have fun but be competitive, I get to play with my friends who I grew up with. Club is where the money is. Club is where they’re go-ing to be seen. Club is their main focus.”

None of the soccer coaches surveyed deny the benefits of club soccer when it comes to college recruiting. Seeing a scout at a high school soccer game is a rarity as the level of play in a high school soccer match is extreme-ly different from a club match.

Regional and national tournaments pro-vide college coaches with a one-stop recruit-ing location as they can take in dozens, if not hundreds of games within a short period of time, evaluating players and finding potential signees amongst a strong field of competition.

The positives for the sport are strong. How-ever, there is a catch – unlike all the other select or club sports, soccer truly runs year-round, even during the high school season. That conflict is cause for plenty of concern and stress among high school coaches.

“In our code of conduct, high school comes before any clubs so if they have a conflict they’ve got to be in high school. That’s what they’re told,” Waxahachie soccer coach Jason Venable said. “That’s a debate that we’ve got going on, what do you do? Do you let them go? If you let them go, then you’re going to have a problem from now on.”

Every high school soccer coach talked to for this story had some sort of policy or rule that once the high school season starts club play takes a back seat. There are exceptions to the rule.

Each coach acknowledges the biggest con-flict as the annual Dallas Cup tournament where some of the best youth club teams from around the country play each year. If a play-er’s club team makes that tournament there

is a general understanding they will be allowed to play in the Cup with the stipula-tion of making it up through extra work at practice.

However, the rule does not always stop players from trying to squeeze both teams in at the same time. Venable cites a time last season when one of his female players had a huge tournament with college implications on the same day as a playoff match. The player took part in both as the schedule allowed her to make both games.

“It’s a shame to put a 16-17 year old kid in that situ-ation because she lives with

daddy everyday. What are you going to do?” Venable said. “Me and (Waxahachie women’s athletic director) Sandy Faussett talked it out for a long time. Sandy would have said, ‘Turn your stuff in.’ I said, ‘Sandy you can do that because you’ve got a lot more athletes that play volleyball in club. ‘I said, ‘What if it was Kate Praslicka that’s your stud?’ She said,, ‘Well, Katie would never choose club over high school.’ And I said, ‘That’s not the point – what if she said, what would you do?’ (Fau-sett) said, ‘I don’t know that’s a tough one.’”

The situation only grows more complex with the recent creation of a new level of club know as the academy. Designed as a train-ing ground for truly gifted soccer players, the academy is the top level of club soccer in America and is truly an elite system.

Players try out and are selected to make an academy team. If they are chosen, they train year-round with this team for national and in-ternational tournaments. The hope is that the elite soccer players will be trained at a higher level than even the most advanced club, pre-paring them for at least a Division I college career, if not a shot at being a professional.

The catch – if you accept an invitation to join an academy team your career in high school is over.

“The academy teams take the best play-ers, the commitment is huge. Originally they were set up to play academy and high school and no other club events. That’s starting to change,” Midlothian coach Austin Guest said. “FC Dallas told their kids they couldn’t play high school last year. The elite level of club is still very elite. Any one can find an opportu

YouthContinued from Page 1C

See FINANCIAL, Page 4C

For us to be a top notch program and stay a top notch program in the state we have to have kids committed to play year-round.

- Hope Porter, Red Oak volleyball

It’s a shame to put a 16-17 year old kid in that situation because she lives with daddy everyday. What are you going to do? - Jason Venable Waxahachie soccer

There are some people out there that I think are just trying to take advantage of the kids and make a buck.

- Preston Foster Red Oak basketball

I think over the next three years, the kids that play academy aren’t going to play high school. - Austin Guest Midlothian soccer



nity to play club soccer who wants to, who can find a team, make a commitment and pay the fees.”

The worry of losing players to club teams just solely for the purpose of college recruit-ing is a reality most soccer coaches have to deal with everyday.

“In soccer, the burden of getting noticed by a college program still mostly falls on the player and the parents. Let the coaches know what tournaments you’re going to be at, coaches of schools you’re interested in. We had a ton of our kids go to play in college, most of them have been noticed in the college showcases,” Guest added. “I’ve got a couple kids that I’m afraid as the academy program builds I think there’s a chance we’ll lose those kids. I think over the next three years, the kids that play academy aren’t going to play high school. This year, for us, it would have meant we would have lost one player if he decided to play in the academy. (Mansfield) Legacy would have lost seven or eight. It very much depends upon the schools.”

The creation of the academy team furthers the pecking order of club teams. While the academy is the top ladder of the select chain, academy starts at age 16 with select play starting as young as 8-years old. Most high school coaches estimate the average club player spends at least $1,500 a year to play club but it depends on the level of play.

According to a Dallas Morning News study in 2006, the Dallas Texans Soccer Club brought in $2.8 million in revenue while pay-ing its coaches $1.3 million. Hassan Nazari, the director of coaching, led all club related employees with a salary of $146,090. Six of the top 10 spots were held by soccer-related officials. Of the other four, two were golf-

related while one was baseball and the other was tennis.

Each of the soccer coaches quoted in this story easily acknowledges they could leave their current positions at the high school level and go into club coaching where they would make more money with less responsibility.

Playing club soccer offers benefits to ev-eryone involved. Players get exposure while playing against top tier athletes. The competi-tion enhances their game, making them better players for the high school season while giv-ing them a chance to be noticed by colleges.

The system’s flaw is one most coaches recognize parents and players fail to under-stand – Title IX laws have eliminated a large portion of men’s NCAA Division I soccer programs. Only 198 such programs still ex-ist in America, of which only one is in Texas (Southern Methodist). The limited number of spots at the biggest level of soccer versus what players and parents are often being told doesn’t seem to add up.

Of the four 4A soccer teams in Ellis County last season, only one senior signed with a Di-vision I university, Red Oak’s Ricky Tellez with Bradley University. That scholarship of-fer came after Tellez caught the eye of Braves coaches with strong club tournament play.

The selling point of high school soccer and high school sports in general seems to remain the opportunity to play with friends, for pride in your community. Every coach acknowl-edges the goal of moving on to the next level will come from what a player does in club.

The hope is that cost will balance out in the end.

“It’s a business and unfortunately that’s why you see this vacuum ef-fect happen. When I was young, you were selected to play club. They wanted you. There was very few teams and it was a privi-lege to get there and ev-erybody else played rec (league soccer),” Red Oak boys soccer coach Trent Kutch said. “Nowadays, rec is gone, it’s all vacu-umed and there’s a million different clubs. And some-how you’re telling me these kids are all select players? And there’s only a very, very small handful that are rec? It should be the opposite.”

Mental: Can there be too much of a

“good thing?” If anybody understands the need for select

sports, it’s Jennifer McFalls. There is no question that in a career which

featured an Olympic gold medal, internation-al titles and a hall of fame election, McFalls is easily regarded as one of the top softball players to ever come from the state of Tex-as. Funny thing is, when she graduated from Grand Prairie High School, softball wasn’t an option.

“I grew up playing softball in ASA and I started off on just a little Grand Prairie team and before you know it I was getting recruit-ed to play for higher level teams,” the for-mer Midlothian High School softball coach said. “It’s imperative now that kids play al-most year round at a pretty high level if their dreams and aspirations are to play collegiate-ly. On the softball side of it, it’s how they get

recruited honestly. The college coaches go to the select tournaments in the summertime. The high school season and the col-lege season unfortunately parallel each other so it’s very difficult for the col-lege coaches to get out and watch high school ball.”

An all-district and all-state performer in bas-ketball, soccer and vol-leyball, McFalls spent her summers traveling with that softball team, playing in tournaments around the region and the country. The end result – a schol-

arship to Texas A&M and a gold medal in Sydney Olympics in 2000.

McFalls, now a University of Texas as-sistant coach, fully understands the pressure associated with playing at a high level for extended periods. She understood so well, it influenced her training program while leading the Lady Panther program.

“It kind of shaped what I did in the fall with my kids because I knew coming off of our season in the spring they go right into the summer and sometimes they play 80 games and actually they play through the fall,” Mc-Falls said. “There is definitely the need for a break and that’s why I started looking when I became the high school coach I realized that one thing the select teams don’t do is strength and conditioning. They don’t focus on all that. So our off-season really became a focus of strength and conditioning. It got us off the softball field, quit worrying about their hitting or stats and all of that and just started to build the athlete.”

No matter the sport or school, burn out resurfaces as a catch phrase surrounding the program. Some coaches have seen it more than others. Some worry about it more than others.

The overlying question is simple – how much is too much?

“I’ll get dads that will come up to me and say, ‘Hey, we’re on this team and we played 60 or 80 games this summer.’ And I’ll be like, ‘I’m sorry that you don’t have a life,’” Midlothian baseball coach Ray Hydes said.

“I think kids need to be kids. I want them to be fired up when they come play for us. If we’re blessed and we did have a good year, we’re going to end up playing close to 40 ball games, hopefully more than that if we go to the state tournament. I don’t want a kid burned out.”

As much as Hydes and every other baseball or softball coach worries about getting play-ers back with sore arms and tired bodies, the mind plays an equally important role in the success of a team.

Tracy Wood understands the system from two perspectives, as both a coach and a father. His son, freshman Kyle Wood, is a player for the Waxahachie Indian baseball program as well as a select baseball player.

Wood, who says he spent the first six weeks of his summer in hotel rooms following his son in tournaments, knows the positives of select baseball are high. So are the negatives.

“They play a pretty high level every time they go out there and I have seen it. To be good, you’ve got to know what it looks like,” Wood said. “I think the positive is they see good people every time they go out there. They’re seeing a little more advanced play, the competition is a little better. That’s the good part. The downside to it is I am so team-oriented. I am so big on team and that don’t really exist with that level. And even with my son’s team, you sat back and watched and you didn’t see that. It’s not like they’re not trying to be team kids. It’s just how do you get tight with a guy when you’ve known him for four months? How do you cheer for a guy when you’ve known him for four months?”

Every coach has a story of some player who either opted out of playing before their final season of high school ball or gave up a promising college opportunity due to not be-ing committed to the game.

Waxahachie softball coach Steve Howell recalls a player he worked with at Corsicana Mildred who played her first two years of col-lege and then informed her college coach she wouldn’t play her last two seasons.

“I encourage my girls to play. But on the same aspect I want to make sure that they’re not burnt out playing too much ball. There’s a fine line there. How much is too much?” Howell said. “I encourage them to play be-cause the more they play the better they’re going to be. When they get to me, they’ve got a lot of the fundamentals down and it increas-es their skill level.”

Sometimes, the players don’t even reach that point. Hydes, who has been at Midlothian for more than a decade, finds that players of-ten don’t understand the demands of playing at a highly competitive level.

If participation in select ball doesn’t teach

them that lesson, reality quickly sets in as they look to move on in their careers.

“Most of the kids find out once they get there, it’s a job, brother. And it’s not like high school baseball. The competition is very, very intense,” Hydes said. “I had a kid that went off and he was outfielder and he was home about a week after he left. And I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And he said, ‘They had like six outfielders coach.’ I said, ‘What, you think you’re the only one they went after?’ He didn’t understand that. He’s not the only fish in the pond, there’s a lot of them out there. Kids need to be prepared for that.”

Of course,not every coach sees burn out from the same perspective.

Red Oak baseball coach Heath Autrey points to a player’s passion and commitment to the game as what drives them to do what is necessary to further their career. Autrey, who has been at the helm of the Hawk program for five years, played at nearly every level of baseball in his career, ranging from high school to top tier select.

The drive to be the best is personal, as Au-trey sees it.

“I don’t believe in burn out. I have no belief in burn out or anything. I think that’s an ex-cuse for parents and kids that get tired of play-ing. If you have passion for something you’re going to want to do it all the time,” Autrey said. “I think that when kids are burned out it’s because their parents are pushing them to do things they don’t want to do. So then they say they’re burned out. I’ve always laughed when I hear that. It’s an excuse. It’s an excuse that they don’t want to work anymore. They don’t want to be committed to it. I think it’s hilarious actually.”

His label as a high school coach is just one part of his coaching hierarchy. Autrey offers private lessons to aspiring athletes, helps with select teams in the Dallas area and works summer camps at the high school and colle-giate level. He sees and knows what college and professional coaches are looking for in players they would like to work with.

The biggest hindrance, according to Au-trey, isn’t the athletes, the coaches or the in-jury factor. Support is everything and often times it sets those who make it apart from those who don’t.

“Parents are the No. 1 problem. They see things with their eyes. They don’t see things through coach’s eyes, they don’t see the things through college recruiter’s eyes,” Au-trey said. “Parents, the ones that are realistic, are the ones that generally their kids end up making it. The ones that are not realistic, their kid usually ends up doing something else.”

Playing constantly, travel time and sizable commitments are all part of the world of se-lect athletics. The demand is high and having an athlete who can balance all those things, remain focused and still come out on top is a challenge high school coaches see everyday.

The price to pay can be high, both in nu-merical value and personal sacrifice. But the rewards, be it a college scholarship, personal accolade or even a state title, can be worth the cost.

“Go ask Colton Cain, who’s playing rookie ball right now, go ask him. Did he get a mil-lion dollars? Sure, he got a million dollars. But go ask him about that experience and playing in 2008 for a state championship with his teammates, with guys that he showed up with every day to this park at two o’clock and we practiced together, we get better together, we take the butt chewing from coach Wood

together, we get the ac-colade together. I just don’t think you can ever replace that,” Wood said. “I think when it’s all said and done and you grow up and life happens and you’re going down the road I think they’re going to remember those expe-riences a lot more than playing that select ball.”

Alex Riley is a sports writer covering athlet-ics in Ellis County and around the Metroplex. Contact him at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456.

FinancialContinued from Page 3C

The downside to it is, I am so team- oriented. I am so big on team and that don’t really exist at that level. - Tracy Wood

Waxahachie baseball

It’s imperative now that kids play almost year-round at a pretty high level if their dreams and aspriations are to play collegiately. - Jennifer McFalls Former Midlothian softball

I don’t believe in burn out. I have no belief in burn out of anything. I think that’s an excuse for parents and kids that tired of playing. - Heath Autrey Red Oak baseball

First-year Midlothian coach Lee Wiginton has yet to see Agbaroji in live game action but offered high praise for a player he has seen be-come more than just a great athlete but a great leader.

“I think it’s really neat for him, his family, for Midlothian and for the pro-gram. That’s not something that happens everyday, a top five program,” Wiginton said. “He’s worked really hard, been here everyday this sum-mer. I can’t speak to what he did before I got here but since I’ve been here he’s been working as hard as anybody on the team. He seems like an awesome kid with a great op-portunity.”

College scouts lined the practice field this spring watching Agbaroji among other players on the Midlothian roster. Schools with interest ranged from Big 12 powers Oklahoma, Okla-

homa State and Texas Tech to TCU, UCLA and Arizona State.

The decision to by-pass some of those traditional powers and head to Boise came after Agbaroji examined the success rate of Bronco cornerbacks at the next level. Currently five former Boise State secondary players are in the NFL including New York Jets first-round selection Kyle Wilson who capped his career with three interceptions last fall. The Broncos also have a handful of players expected to hear their names called in next year’s NFL Draft.

Agbaroji hopes he’ll even-tually have the same opportu-nity.

“They’re about to put out a bunch DBs into the NFL. They already had one this last draft and you have Jeron Johnson and Brandyn Thompson. It’s the next D(efensive)B(ack)U(niversity),” Agbaroji said.


AgbarojiContinued from Page 1C

Photo by Mike Sackett/special to the Mirror

Midlothian defensive back Eric Agbaroji has the size, speed and phyiscal tools col-lege coaches want.

Midlothian eighth-graders competed in the Dallas Hoop It Up tournament over the August 13-14 week-end. The team placed third in the tournament. The team consisted of (from left) Daniel Dopson, Will Go-erig, Brandon Klor, Nick Hoover and Will Wiens.

Hoopsters take third

Can an athlete really come back better from an injury? Ask Tadam Mergener.

On second thought, don’t ask. Just watch her play.

A few weeks short of a year removed from a season-ending knee injury, the Midlothian ju-nior is back on the court, playing at 100 percent. Possibly 110 percent.

Mergener injured her knee during a showcase event overseas in Italy just a few weeks into the regular season for the Lady Panthers. After ex-tensive surgery, therapy and hard work, she’s back doing what she loves and doing it well.

“I went to a really good trainer, had a really good doctor. I worked really, really hard be-cause I knew I wanted to play volleyball after-wards so I had to work harder,” Mergener said. “I still have a ways to go. It feels good so far.”

How far recovered is the Midlothian stand-out? Her stats tell a portion of the story.

In a match last week against Grace Prep, Mer-gener was firing hard posting 21 kills, a season-high for the Lady Panthers. She then went on to lead the team in both kills and digs in the Byron Nelson Classic tournament over the weekend. Her game has been vital to the team’s success up to this point.

Coach Rhonda Currey never really worried that Mergener’s game would dip because of her work ethic and approach. Her concern was over the mentality she would have playing after the injury.

“It’s very nice because that is not only a physical but a mental battle that she has con-quered. And she started from day one when she got hurt,” Currey said. “She had the mindset of, ‘You know what, I’m going to come back strong from this.’ And she constantly said that all year, ‘Coach I’m going to be back stronger.’ Now she’s just proving it. She totally is prov-ing it.”

Still, the mental battle is far from over. In the Duncanville Tournament of Champions the pri-or weekend, Mergener was playing well when she came down on her knee hard. The awkward fall left her a bit worried and eventually she sat out the final games of the tournament.

Doctors told her she doesn’t need to wear a

brace and so far she hasn’t. In the end, the feel-ing was just a scare but it’s a reality Mergener now lives with.

“They said I didn’t need one. I mean I get worried like the other day at that tournament I got worried that I tore it again. It’s scary but I’m over it now,” Mergener said.

As for her play, the junior really doesn’t put much thought into it. When you’ve been play-

ing volleyball as long as she has, there is only one way to approach the game – at full speed.

Mergener doesn’t think of herself as a leader on the Lady Panther team. In fact, she generally shy’s away from being labeled as such. After all she’s been through, Mergener just wants to play. “I don’t really think about. I just kind of get my head in the game and start playing,” Mergener said.


SportsWednesday, August 28, 2010 Midlothian Mirror 5C


Sports Happenings

Back with authorityVolleyball standout Mergener returns to form after recovering from knee injuryBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer


Despite having major surgery on her knee last year, junior Tadam Mergener has returned to action stronger than before.


Already this season, Tadam Mergener leads the Lady Panthers in kills and is near the top in digs.

Panther football season tickets on sale

Season tickets for the 2010 Pan-ther football season are on sale at the athletic department office located in-side the arena lobby. Tickets are $35 a seat for five home games and can be paid for via cash or check.

All tickets must be purchased in person on a first come, first serve basis. The office will be closed be-tween noon-1 p.m. for lunch. Tick-ets will remain on sale this week and next from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

MISD golf tourneyThe sixth annual Midlothian ISD

Education Foundation golf tourna-ment will be held Sept. 17 at the Mansfild National Golf Club. Mon-ey raised at the tournament will go

to benefit the education foundation’s efforts in the district.

Registration at the course will start at 10:30 a.m. with a lunch at 11:30 a.m. and a shotgun start slated for 12:30 p.m.

Contests will include a hole-in-one shootout, longest drive and clos-est to the pin as well as prizes for the winning team.

Early registration and sponsor-ship is due by Sept. 3. For questions about the tournament or to down-load a flyer for registering, visit www.midlothian-isd.net/mef.

Baseball instructionYouth baseball players ages 4-11

of any skill level can learn from some of the area’s best in one-on-one lessons. For more information or to set up a lesson, contact Oscar Davila at 469-245-5539.

Powerhouse baseballThe 13U Powerhouse baseball

team is looking for players for the fall and spring. Practices are held at 6 p.m. Sundays. For more informa-tion, call Oscar Davila at 469-245-5539.

10U AA teamThere will be a new 10U AA team

forming for the upcoming 2010 fall through 2011 spring season. Play-ers cannot turn 11 prior to April 30, 2011. For more information or to schedule a tryout, contact Mike Roque at 214-289-3224 or e-mail [email protected]

Got a sports happening? Send it to sports writer Alex at [email protected].

Box scoresAug. 17vs. Grace PrepW, 25-19, 26-24, 25-18

Byron Nelson Classicvs. MagnoliaL, 25-19, 25-14

vs. WaxahachieL, 25-23, 25-18

vs. AledoL, 26-24, 25-11

vs. Canyon RandallW, 25-22, 25-23

vs. Cedar ParkL, 25-20, 25-21

vs. Mesquite PoteetW, 17-25, 25-19, 25-23

Upcoming scheduleAug. 26-28@ Pearland TournamentTBA

Aug. 31vs. Crowley7 p.m.

Taekwon-do promotions


Midlothian freshman Regan Hydes goes up for a ball during a match last week. The freshman A team is 4-2 on the year.


Midlothian junior varsity player Victoria Rees blocks a Grace Prep shot during last week’s game. The JV squad is still undefeated on the year at 3-0.

Sub-varsity volleyball starts season strong

The ninth-grade volleyball teams have opened well this sea-son with plenty of close matches and timely wins.

The freshman A team picked up a 25-19, 17-25, 25-22 win over Frisco Cenntenial back on Aug. 10 while the B team lost 27-25, 24-26, 24-26.

The Lady Panther A team then headed to the Crandall Tourna-ment where it played well in pool play beating West Mesquite (25-2, 25-3), Caddo Mills (25-7, 25-16) and split with Lindale (25-10, 24-26).

That qualified the team for the championship bracket where it lost to Rockwall Heath 15-25, 25-19, 14-25 before rebounding to defeat Naaman Forest 25-14,

23-25, 25-16 and Caddo Mills 25-20, 25-8 to claim the tour-nament’s consolation bracket championship.

The good run kept going against Grace Prep as the team won 25-7, 19-25, 25-20. The A squad is now 4-2 while the B team is 0-2.

Junior varsity remains perfect

Midlothian’s junior varsity team kept its record spotless last week with a 25-17, 25-21 win over Grace Prep. The Lady Pan-thers are now 3-0.



Coming next week...The 2010 Ellis County Football Preview tab feature 40 pages of coverage on every high school team in the county. Don’t miss it!

Cros Martial Arts center takes great pleasure in announcing the promotions of the following students during a recent Taekwo-Do black belt testing held at the center: Jason Allen, Tevor Smitherman, Jackson Allen, Luke Vitullo, Jamie Raybourn, Bradley Stapleton and Jeffery Wright were all pro-moted to first degree black belt. Additionally, both Annette Poteet and Aaron Poteet were promoted to second degree black belt.



Ask either Haley Richards or Lexi Hendrix about their association and each will say the same thing – they’re best friends. The Midlothian tennis duo are one of the top doubles teams in the Metroplex and for good reason. They’ve been around each other so much they can practically anticipate what the other is going to do.

Of course it wasn’t always like that.

“The funny thing is she abso-lutely despised me and she couldn’t stand me. Then at one of the varsity sleepovers we became friends and turned out to be best friends,” Hen-drix said.

Richards, who is a senior this year, was established on the team while Hendrix was an incoming freshman. The initial feeling between the two was one of animosity.

All that changed during that sleepover which was designed to build team unity through getting to know one another. Apparently, it worked.

The friendship led to a pairing that has stuck.

“Coach (Marcus Canonico) just randomly put us together. We were best friends so we asked to play to-gether and we just started playing.

In our first tournament we won first place,” Richards said.

Since that point, the duo have been nearly inseparable and unstoppable. They rolled through district play last season as a 4A team and finished third at district, making them alter-nates for the regional tournament.

Already this season they’ve gotten off to a strong start with a 5-3 record through the first eight matches of the

year. Falling short of the regional tournament last season has served as motivation for this year.

“The goal is we want to make it to regionals and then to state,” Hendrix said. “We could have made it to re-gionals last year because in our play back we lost to Corsicana and then (on Aug. 14) we beat them 6-1, 6-1. So it shows that we can make it to regionals this year.”

Facing 5A competition won’t make that goal any easier. The duo face a good district schedule that will make it difficult to reach that mark. The secret to overcoming that tough slate of teams is good communica-tion, both players point out, citing trust and ability to encourage each other as a reason they’ve been so good so far.

The prospect of making a run at a district, regional and possible state title is an exciting thought. And it’s one they’re ready to make together.

“We’re excited about the new competition. I have a feeling it’s go-ing to be a little easier this year in some place. In some places harder,” Richards said.

Hendrix agrees. “I know we can do it this year,”

Hendrix said.


Double troubleTeam of Richards, Hendrix dominate the court for Midlothian tennisBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer


Midlothian doubles team Lexi Hendrix, left, and Haley Richards, right, have regional and state championship aspi-rations.

Photos courtesy of Momentum Youth Track Club

Momentum Youth Track Club runners, from left, Blake Gardner, Kyron Smith, Ryan Shipman and Keion Sutton each finished the top 50 percent for all their events after strong performances at the Junior Olympics.

An experience of a lifetimeRunners represent Midlothian, Texas well at Junior Olympic event in Virginia

Before he took on the role, Stacy Gard-ner really didn’t know what to expect this season. The Momentum Youth Track Club was in its first year of existence with a lot of athletes who were competing for their first time in track and field events.

So when the season ended with four of those athletes competing the Junior Olym-pic games in Norfolk, Va. a a few week-ends ago, it was an ending that far exceed-ed expectations.

“It was their first year being together as a team, we had a few athletes that had run with other groups or teams in years past but this was really our first year of them be-ing together in Midlothian and having the talent around here to go showcase,” Gard-ner said. “We had no idea we’d have that many qualify, especially in their first year together, for the Junior Olympics. We’re pretty impressed. Didn’t expect it at all.”

Eight total athletes qualified for the event with four being able to participate. Kyron Smith, Ryan Shipman, Keion Sutton and Blake Gardner spanned three different age groups and competed in four races.

Smith ran the 200m, Shipman took part in the 1500m, Sutton also ran the 200m while Blake Gardner ran in the 400m, 800m and 1500m. Each athlete set his per-

sonal best time during the Junior Olympics and each finished the year with something to be extremely proud of – their national rankings.

The National Elite Youth Ranking Sys-tem, which combines the totals from AAU and USA Track and Field, gave each ath-lete a rank in the top 50 percent of their age group. Smith finished 210 of 4,098 in the 200m for 8-9 year olds, Shipman was 659 of 1,168 for 10-11 year olds in the 1500m and Sutton was 892 of 3,264 for 12-13 year olds in the 200m. Blake Gardner got progressively higher rankings in the 12-13 category as the races got longer finishing 1,380 of 2,941 in the 400m, 786 of 2,079 in the 800m and 540 of 1,358 in the 1500m.

While there weren’t any national medal-ists in the group, Stacy Gardner was proud of each athlete’s improvement over the course the season.

“The kids really put in a lot of effort and it was good to see throughout the year we coached and talked about it’s not going out there and necessarily getting first place. It’s all about improving and working on your foundation,” Gardner said. “It’s good to see it paid off for them. It kind of gives us something to build off of next year.”

Already Gardner and his athletes are getting ready for next season. The coach says some of his young competitors have

kept running while the program goes about with fundraising activities to get as many people to next year’s Junior Olympic games in New Orleans.

Winter training for strength and condi-tioning, a possible camp to welcome new athletes to the program and even a few field events are all in the works for next season as the program continues to build.

After being in Norfolk for the event, Gardner saw the excitement on the run-ners’ faces and knows how important that experience is. Getting back there won’t be easy but the club appears up for the chal-lenge.

“As a coach and as a parent, just being invited or qualifying to go is breathtaking, especially for the athletes that have not been before. You don’t know what to ex-pect and kind of competing in front of that many people was something they weren’t use to,” Gardner said. “You’re talking about the elite of the elite showing up and you’re out running against everybody. At other track meets, you’re only running against those that qualified. It was just great to see them enjoy the moment and being able to take the time and experience that.”


By ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer Running down a dream

The National Elite Youth Ranking System combines AAU and USATF statistics to rank runners at the end of the year. Here are how the four Junior Olympic competitiors from Momentum finished.

Kyron Smith (8-9 years old) 200m 210 of 4,098

Ryan Shipman (10-11 years old)1500m 659 of 1,168

Keion Sutton (12-13 years old)200m 892 of 3,264

Blake Gardner (12-13 years old)400m 1380 of 2,941800m 786 of 2,0791500m 540 of 1,358

Box scoresAug. 17vs. Arlington LamarW, 14-5

Aug. 19vs. Arlington MartinL, 13-6

Aug. 20vs. AlvaradoW, 18-1

Upcoming scheduleAug. 26vs. McKinney North4 p.m.

Aug. 31@ Mansfield Summit3:30 p.m.

Mirror Sport 8-25

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