Prep spotlight: Kinnard, Schmelzer make every minute count

Haley Kinnard and Mikki Schmelzer play their best basketball in transition.

But neither of the senior guards sees this season as being a transitional year for the Luxemburg-Casco girls basketball team.

Instead, the veteran duo is viewing it as an opportunity to leave an impression.

After finishing as the WIAA Division 2 state runner-ups last year, the Spartans entered the season with heavy graduation losses and a new head coach in Jeff Jodar.

Given all the changes, Kinnard and Schmelzer knew their varsity experience would be invaluable to the team.

“It’s definitely different than last year,” Schmelzer said. “It’s fun being that leader that people look up to. Our record isn’t where Haley and me want it to be yet, but we’re improving every day and would like to get back at some of the teams we lost to early in the season.”

Despite having to replace 77 percent of the team’s scoring from a year ago, L-C still finds itself on the top half of the standings in the Bay Conference.

The younger Spartans are also battle-tested, having already played the likes of New London, Brillion and Algoma, who are all ranked No. 1 or 2 in their respective divisions.

“We’re just trying to stay positive and keep everybody’s head up,” Kinnard said. “I think starting off the season with a lot of difficult teams really showed us that we had a lot of work to do. We are getting better at those things and it should help us for the tournament.”

Jodar said Kinnard and Schmelzer have been crucial to shortening the learning curve for the younger players on his team.

“I can talk about things as a coach to the younger kids, but they can actually do it by example and share their experiences,” Jodar said. “They’re kind of carrying on that tradition of L-C basketball.

“Our goal is to continue some of the things that have been done in the past. L-C has always been known as a pressure kind of a team, getting up and down the floor and doing a lot out of transition.”

That philosophy showcases the strengths of both Kinnard and Schmelzer, who have been running the court together since 3-on-3 basketball in third grade.

“We don’t have to tell each other what to do on the court, we just know,” Schmelzer said. “It’s fun playing with somebody like that.”

It’s something the tandem isn’t taking for granted in what could be their final season together, as Kinnard plans to continue playing at St. Norbert College, while Schmelzer may do the same if she decides to attend there to become a physician assistant.

“We don’t want to see it end, so we’re going to make every minute out there count,” Kinnard said.

The Flash: Three-On-Three Basketball Fights For the Championship

Runaway week is here. To kick off the week, Tuesday was the first day of the 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the gym during plus and lunch.

The 3 on 3 tourney has become a tradition during this spirit week, as the RHS teachers and students battle each other on the courts.

Many of the teachers look forward to this event, and become quite competitive with each other, such as Mr. O’Donnell and Mr. Adams.

“Mr.Adams plays a football game where he tries to manhandle and manipulate the students with the use of fear, something of a philosophical belief that I can’t be a part of. My game is built on compassion and trustworthiness,” said O’Donnell.

Throughout the week each team played and persevered, hoping to make it to the Finals to earn the champion title.

The two teams that made it to the top were “The Redeem Team “ with Juniors Drew Ardisone, Spencer Gregg, and Anthony Vandre.

Their competition was “Team O’D“ which included Mr.O’Donnell along with freshmen, Max O’Rourke and Jake Toto.

Throughout the game each team gave it their all, hoping to be the next 3 on 3 champions. The game was intense, as the score was close the entire game.

“It was very fun and exciting,” said Vandre.

However, only one was victorious. Mr. O’Donnell’s team came out on top by one point. The score was 37 to 36.

O’Donnell and his team were unstoppable throughout the entire game and tournament.

“We played well, and we worked very well as a team,” said Toto.

“The result was the protagonists came out on top. Today is a brighter day and a better hope for the Rocklin Community,” said O’Donnell.

After coming short last year O’Donnell wanted nothing more than to win the title again. He’s not sure how many tittles he has won.

“I’ve won more than I can count. 2011 was a tough year though,” said O’Donnell.

Although “The Redeem Team” came up short this year they plan on returning next year in hopes of winning the title.

“We won our first game easily, but we lost due to the fact that we couldn’t handle O’D”, said Ardissone.

What’s happening – Alameda Times

Sports bulletin board

Eastern York Dollars for Scholars

Eastern York Dollars for Scholars will hold its 14th annual 3 on 3 basketball tournament on Saturday, March 20. The tournament, which will take place at Eastern York High School and Eastern York Middle School, raises funds for seniors pursuing post-secondary education. The event is open to adults and children. There are college, high school, varsity, junior varsity, junior high varsity and elementary school brackets. Each participant receives a tournament T-shirt, and each team is guaranteed a minimum of three games. Prizes will be awarded to the winning team in each bracket, and the cost to enter is $80 per team. Registration forms can be downloaded online at the Dollars for Scholars website, www.EYDFS.org.

YMCA Programs

The York Branch of the YMCA is now accepting registration for a Girls’ Intramural Volleyball Program, ages 11-15, which will be held eight straight Monday evenings beginning Jan. 23. The Dover, York and Eastern (Hellam) branches of the YMCA are now accepting registrations for a Youth Indoor Soccer League, ages 4-11, which will be held on nine straight Saturday mornings beginning Feb. 11. Contact Doug Markel at 843-7884, extension 248, for details, or stop by your local YMCA to register.

York Catholic AA Bingo

York Catholic High School’s Athletic Association is hosting Bingo on Sunday, Feb. 5, and Sunday, Feb. 26, at the high school. The doors open at noon and games begin at 2 p.m. The cost is $30 at the door. No advance tickets are on sale. The package includes 15 paper cards. Additional strips of three are available for $3 each. There are two jackpots of $500 and one $1,000 jackpot. Refreshments will be available for purchase. For information, call York Catholic High School weekdays from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. at 846-8871, ext. 15.

York County 4-H Horse Club Show

The York County 4-H Horse Clubs will host an Open Benefit Show on Saturday, April 28, at the York County 4-H Center in York, starting at 9 a.m. The show will include classes in the divisions of Hunter, English, Western and Gaming. Therapeutic classes will also be offered. Entries are accepted the day of the show and will be $6 per class. This show is open to anyone age 8 and above. Division championships will be awarded in both open and youth divisions for each discipline. A negative coggins within one year is required for all horses. No dogs are permitted on the show grounds. For a list of classes or more information, please contact Lisa Jones at 717-840-7473 or lhj5007@psu.edu.

EYARC Girls Softball

The Eastern York Area Recreation Commission will hold girls’ softball registration at the Lower Windsor Township Building. The dates and times are Tuesdays, Jan. 24 and Feb. 21, 6–7 p.m.; and Saturdays, Jan. 28 and Feb. 25, 1–3 p.m. The program is open to girls ages 7–14. For information, visit www.eyarc.org/girlssoftball or call 246-8155 and ask for Tim.

Grimes Youth Basketball League

The Graham Group Grimes Gym Youth Basketball League is accepting teams in the middle school division, grades 6, 7 and 8, and the high school division, grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. No youth that play for a high school team (grades 9 through 12) may play in this league. Games will be played Wednesday and Saturday evenings at Voni Grimes Gym, beginning Saturday, Feb. 4. The deadline to enter a team is Wednesday, Jan. 25. Only six teams in each division will be accepted. For information, contact York City Recreation and Parks at 854-1587.

The Green PolkaDot Box Raises Awareness for Youth Athletes and Sports …

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The Green PolkaDot Box supports youth athletics and sports nutrition at a fund raising basketball tournament!

The Green PolkaDot Box gives families access to clean, organic foods at up to 60 percent savings, making it more affordable than ever for families to invest in sports-nutrition based practices for their competitive kids,” said Rod A. Smith.

Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) January 18, 2012

Rod A. Smith, founder of The Green PolkaDot Box™ (GPDB) was pleased to provide a sports and nutrition message along with healthy snacks and one adult and one youth basketball team to help support the AMP Athletics “3 on 3 Basketball” fund-raising tournament. The Green PolkaDot Box, a new online “buying collective” membership club, provides families with affordable access to healthy, natural and clean foods and products from their organic products warehouse in Spanish Fork, Utah. AMP Athletics is a non-profit corporation founded to provide opportunities for children who have the desire to participate in athletics but are limited because of finances. GPDB shared healthy and delicious snack options at the AMP Athletics 60-team basketball fund-raising tournament at the Salem Hills High School, located near The Green PolkaDot Box organic food warehouse in Spanish Fork, Utah.

The Green PolkaDot Box, newly launched in December, is a national company based in Utah, was honored to provide healthy snack options for 600 athletes and their families. Organic Snacks options being offered at the fund raising basketball tournament included dried fruit, coconut water and gluten-free, organic snacks. The Green PolkaDot Box also sponsored two basketball teams, a company team and the only all girls youth team entered in the tournament.

GPDB founder, Rod A. Smith, says that with 41 million American kids playing competitive sports it makes sense that 78 percent of U.S. families – more than ever before –are starting to include some organic foods in their diets, according to CNN and a study recently published by the Organic Trade Association.

“American families who want to eat well and live well are often limited by lack of affordable resources,” says Rod A. Smith. “The Green PolkaDot Box gives members access to clean, organic foods at up to a 60 percent savings, making it more affordable than ever for families to invest in sports-nutrition based eating habits. AMP Athletics helps fund children who want to participate in sports. Together, we hope to educate children and their parents who love sports, about healthy food options that afford them the opportunity to play healthier!”

According to Ryan Bowler, many parents in the United States cannot afford to pay for school lunch let alone to pay for their kids to play sports. He says 38 percent of students, over 215,000 children in Utah alone, are receiving free and reduced school meals. Ryan and his wife Amanda founded AMP Athletics to help families with the additional costs associated with sports so more families would have the opportunity to sign their kids up for the sports and activities they love. The AMP Athletics “3 on 3 Basketball Tournament” fund raiser model is their way of helping children while involving people and sponsors in the sports they love.

“AMP Athletics wants to make sports programs affordable to all children who have an interest,” says Ryan Bowler, AMP Athletics founder. “We are pleased that The Green PolkaDot Box would join us to share an affordable sports and health message which will help all families support our youth in living healthy and active lifestyles.”

AMP Athletics believes kids can learn discipline, hard work, communication, positive conflict resolution, and other life skills through sports that they may not learn by sitting around at home. AMP Athletics believes when children are denied the opportunities to get involved in sports due to lack of finances they miss out on life skills they learn that help prepare them to lead productive lives. Their goal is to AMPlify the lives of underprivileged children by enabling them to participate in sports facilitating their physical, emotional, and social development. http://www.ampathletics.org.

Rod A. Smith and his family created The Green PolkaDot Box online buying club as a result of their efforts to eat better, after being faced with a diet-related health issue. Their goal to find affordable, organic, and non-Genetically Modified Organism products led to the formation of The Green PolkaDot Box (GPDB) which now provides affordable organic and clean foods and products directly to the homes of their rapidly growing membership of over 12,000 families nationwide. http://www.greenpolkadotbox.com/rod.

The Green PolkaDot Box™ is an online “buying collective” membership club that provides the lowest pricing on organic, natural and other healthy food products through partnerships that obtain the best pricing from manufacturers and growers and deliver directly to consumers in any Zip Code. A family business, founded by Rod A. Smith, the Green PolkaDot Box does not carry any products that contain harmful ingredients, including foods that are known to be genetically modified. The GPDB annual membership program includes both “club” and “reward” memberships; the latter offering a referral rewards program to help consumers earn their healthy food purchases. Both membership types feature a FREE delivery option on purchases over $150. Learn how the GPDB referral rewards program helps consumers earn their healthy food purchases. http://www.greenpolkadotbox.com/rod.

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Tom Degun: Ice hockey skills challenge lacks the magic of 3-on-3 basketball

Tom Degun: Ice hockey skills challenge lacks the magic of 3-on-3 basketball

At the Youth Olympic Games, there is unsurprisingly an attempt from the organisers of the competition to try to replicate the feel of the full Olympic Games for the elite 15-to-18-year-old athletes in attendance.

However, there is also a very obvious move to make the event have a “down with the kids” feel and therefore while the whole thing is far smaller than the Olympics, it is also more colourful, vibrant and interactive than its adult counterpart while there is non-stop hip-hop, pop or RB music at practically every turn.

She recorded the second highest score of 31 in the women’s ice hockey skills challenge event to qualify for the knockout finals.

But one cannot help but feel that any medal won in the competition would be a tad diluted and not quite worth the same value as the precious metals won in the ice hockey team tournament or the alpine skiing races.

The skills challenge also strikes me a bit contradictory.

In 3-on-3 basketball, you are still playing the sport that is played around the world whereas in the individual skills challenge, you are taking isolated elements of a sport which means that you could potentially be very good at the skills challenge and not necessarily any good at ice hockey, or vice-versa.

It is like Rory Delap beating Lionel Messi in a throw-in challenge.

He definitely would, but it doesn’t mean he is better than the Argentinian three-time Ballon d’Or winner at football.

But perhaps the biggest own goal came not from the action on the ice, but from the person who decided to start blasting through the speakers: “I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am)” by Gary Glitter.

Playing the music of a convicted paedophile at the Youth Olympics was one thing, but for the announcer shouting, “Come on kids, let’s get dancing to this song!” was a bit much.

To be fair, that wasn’t the fault of the IIHF, rather the fault of someone who must be a bit naive to the antics of Gary Glitter.

Although it is not the first occasion that Glitter has been promoted by the Olympics. At Beijing in 2008 the same song was played during the beach volleyball, leading to the BBC receiving several complaints.

But anyway, back to the skills challenge and to sum up.

Overall, it wasn’t that bad and fair play IIHF who did the right thing in trying to adapt their sport and take a bit of risk to make it appeal more to youngsters.

But I am left with the opinion that they are fortunate to have the team tournament here and that is the only ice hockey I really want to be watching at Innsbruck 2012.

So although some in attendance may have really enjoyed it, there is no way that even when the dust has settled, the ice hockey skills challenge will appear in the same success bracket as 3-on-3 basketball.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames covering the Youth Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck 

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Community calendar

neiclc@neiclc.org or Vickie Meyers at 422-4776 or vickier@uwacin.org.

•ALLEN COUNTY EXTENSION HOMEMAKERS PROGRAMS: Allen County Purdue Cooperative Extension office, 4001 Crescent Ave. Quick, Clever and Creative Centerpiece, 7 p.m. Feb. 16; $3. Table Runner, 1 p.m. March 15; bring sewing machine, scissors, matching thread, tape measure, 1/3 yard printed cotton/poly fabric, 1/2 yard coordinating fabric and 2 buttons 1/2 -inch or larger. Jelly Roll Race Quilt Top, 10 a.m. April 17; bring sewing machine, notions and lunch. Flower Pounding, 7 p.m. May 24; $3. Registration: 481-6826.

•ALLEN COUNTY PURDUE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION PROGRAMS: 4001 Crescent Ave. Nutrition and Cancer Myths — Buster, 1 p.m. Feb. 9. Choosing Garden Flowers, 7 p.m. March 5. Not Another Headache, 7 p.m. April 12. Gluten Intolerance, 7 p.m. May 9. Registration: 481-6826.

•FUELING YOUR FAMILY: FOOD, FUN AND FITNESS FAIR: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Glenbrook Square, Macy’s wing, 4201 Coldwater Road. Free.

•CPR AND AED TRAINING: Tuesday and Feb. 18, Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana, 7602 Patriot Crossing. $50 a person. Registration: www.publicsafetyacademy.org.

•PET PARENTING CLASSES: For dog owners, 6-7:30 p.m. Feb. 6, March 5 and April 2 at Fort Wayne Animal Care Control, 3020 Hillegas Road, and 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, March 16 and April 19 at H.O.P.E. for Animals, 1333 Maycrest Drive. Registration: Allison Miller at 427-5511 or Allison.Miller@cityoffortwayne.org.

•4-H DOG OBEDIENCE PROGRAM: For youth in Grades 3-12, 6-7 p.m. Mondays, beginning in March, Allen County Fairgrounds, Home Loan Building, 2726 Carroll Road. 481-6826 by Feb. 24.

•SMALL ENGINES WORKSHOPS: For youth in Grades 3-12, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23 and March 1, Carroll High School, 3701 Carroll Road. Participants should bring an engine from home. $29. Registration: 481-6826 by Jan. 30.

•ALLEN COUNTY MASTER GARDENER YOUTH PROGRAM: For ages 8-13, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, beginning June 13, Allen County Purdue Cooperative Extension office, 4001 Crescent Ave. $30. 481-6826 (option 3).

•PURDUE MASTER GARDENER PROGRAM TRAINING: 6-9 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturdays, beginning Sept. 5, Allen County Purdue Cooperative Extension office, 4001 Crescent Ave. 481-6826.

•GARDENING SEMINARS

: 7 p.m. March 19 (Growing Great Vegetables); 7 p.m. April 9 (Solving the Mystery of Lawn Care); 7 p.m. April 23 (Trees and Shrubs); and 7 p.m. May 14 (Top 10 Pest and Disease Problems and How to Deal with Them), Aboite branch library, 5630 Coventry Lane.

•CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION TRAINING WORKSHOP: 8 a.m.-noon Jan. 27, Chamber of Commerce, 826 Ewing St. $50. 1-317-418-8077 or www.indianainstituteforfamilies.org.

Clubs, organizations

•FORT WAYNE ARTISTS GUILD: 6:30 p.m. today, Concordia Lutheran High School, 1601 St. Joe River Drive. Diana Fair will give a demonstration of her colored pencil techniques before the meeting.

•GENEALOGY COMPUTER USERS GROUP: 7 p.m. today, Allen County Public Library, Meeting Room B, 900 Library Plaza.

•DIVORCECARE: 6-7:30 p.m. Sundays, through April 8, Emmanuel Community Church, 12222 U.S. 24 W. Registration: 672-3377.

Fundraisers

•TRIVIA NIGHT: 7 p.m. Saturday, Bishop Dwenger High School, 1300 E. Washington Center Road. $10 a person. Must be 21 or older. Tickets: 496-4855 or events@bishopdwenger.com.

•3 ON 3 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT FUNDRAISER: 8 a.m. Feb. 4, Judy A. Morrill Recreation Center, 1200 E. Houston St., Garrett. $20 adult players, $10 middle and high school players. Shooting contests at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; $20 a person. Registration: 1-260-357-1917 by Jan. 30.

•HAM-AND-BEAN DINNER: 4:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 10, Anthony Wayne First Church of God, 6012 South Bend Drive.

•HEART BALL: 6 p.m. Feb. 24, Marriott, 305 E. Washington Center Road. Tickets: 485-0890 or visit www.heart.org/fortwayne.

•DESIGN ON LIFE EVENT: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 25, Ceruti’s, Diamond Room, 6601 Innovation Blvd. $50 before Feb. 5; $75 afterward. 484-9560 or arecker@cancer-services.org.

•CASINO NIGHT: 7-11:30 p.m. March 10, Turnstone Center, 3320 N. Clinton St. $30 advance, $100 for four tickets, $40 at the door. 483-2100 or erin@turnstone.org.

Super Shot

FOURTH WEEK OF EVERY MONTH:

Monday

: 4-7 p.m., Denise Smith, D.O., St. Joseph Medical Group, 1211 W. State Blvd.

Tuesday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4-7 p.m., Parkview Hospital Super Shot Clinic, 1818 Carew St., Suite 300.

Wednesday: 4-7 p.m., Anthony Medical Center, 5717 S. Anthony Blvd.

Thursday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Anthony Medical Center, 5717 S. Anthony Blvd. 4-7 p.m., Emanuel Lutheran Church, 800 Green St., New Haven.

Saturday: 9 a.m.-noon, Parkview FirstCare, 3909 New Vision Drive.

Travel

•KALAMAZOO, MICH.: Jan. 28, Timber Ridge Resort. $64 ages 12 and older, $54 ages 8-11 and $34 ages 7 and under. Proceeds benefit Honor Flight. Ski rental fee is $18 for ages 12 and older and $15 for ages 11 and under. Bring two cans of food for Community Harvest Food Bank to departure point. Fort Wayne Ski and Snowboarding Club and Lima Road Dentistry: Hal Atkinson at 489-4090 or email halat55@hotmail.com.

•FLORIDA: Feb. 26-March 3, Amelia Islan, St. Augustine, Jacksonville. $545 double occupancy, with $75 deposit and final payment due Jan. 31. Volunteer Center: 424-3505.

•ITALY: May 7-17, Venice, Florence, Assisi and Rome. University of Saint Francis: Molly at 399-7700, Ext. 8001.

Tom Degun: Ice hockey skills challenge just don’t have the magic of 3-on-3 …

Tom Degun: Ice hockey skills challenge lacks the magic of 3-on-3 basketball

At the Youth Olympic Games, there is unsurprisingly an attempt from the organisers of the competition to try to replicate the feel of the full Olympic Games for the elite 15-to-18-year-old athletes in attendance.

However, there is also a very obvious move to make the event have a “down with the kids” feel and therefore while the whole thing is far smaller than the Olympics, it is also more colourful, vibrant and interactive than its adult counterpart while there is non-stop hip-hop, pop or RB music at practically every turn.

She recorded the second highest score of 31 in the women’s ice hockey skills challenge event to qualify for the knockout finals.

But one cannot help but feel that any medal won in the competition would be a tad diluted and not quite worth the same value as the precious metals won in the ice hockey team tournament or the alpine skiing races.

The skills challenge also strikes me a bit contradictory.

In 3-on-3 basketball, you are still playing the sport that is played around the world whereas in the individual skills challenge, you are taking isolated elements of a sport which means that you could potentially be very good at the skills challenge and not necessarily any good at ice hockey, or vice-versa.

It is like Rory Delap beating Lionel Messi in a throw-in challenge.

He definitely would, but it doesn’t mean he is better than the Argentinian three-time Ballon d’Or winner at football.

But perhaps the biggest own goal came not from the action on the ice, but from the person who decided to start blasting through the speakers: “I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am)” by Gary Glitter.

Playing the music of a convicted paedophile at the Youth Olympics was one thing, but for the announcer shouting, “Come on kids, let’s get dancing to this song!” was a bit much.

To be fair, that wasn’t the fault of the IIHF, rather the fault of someone who must be a bit naive to the antics of Gary Glitter.

Although it is not the first occasion that Glitter has been promoted by the Olympics. At Beijing in 2008 the same song was played during the beach volleyball, leading to the BBC receiving several complaints.

But anyway, back to the skills challenge and to sum up.

Overall, it wasn’t that bad and fair play IIHF who did the right thing in trying to adapt their sport and take a bit of risk to make it appeal more to youngsters.

But I am left with the opinion that they are fortunate to have the team tournament here and that is the only ice hockey I really want to be watching at Innsbruck 2012.

So although some in attendance may have really enjoyed it, there is no way that even when the dust has settled, the ice hockey skills challenge will appear in the same success bracket as 3-on-3 basketball.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames covering the Youth Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck 

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PHOTOS: Basketball Tournament Remembers Late Mahwah Player

The DZ Foundation held its first annual 3-on-3 Charity Basketball Tournament at Mahwah High School Sunday. The event, in memory of Mahwah graduate Dan Zolotorofe who died in November, raised money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Dan suffered from Type 1 Diabetes for half of his short life, and the foundation works to fight the disease, and keep Dan’s memory alive.

According to DZ co-founder Jordan Kaplan, the event raised $15,000 Sunday. All total, the foundation has raised about $25K in about six weeks of existence.

Find out more about the DZ Foundation here.

Speltz: Earning some ‘sightseeing’ stripes

Driving 2,200 miles to run your guts out in Georgia heat isn’t
for everyone.

It takes a hard-nosed, tough-minded type like Glen Maricelli to
willingly endure something so tortorous just for a summer
tryout.

Not a football tryout, which would have made sense since he was
an all-state fullback at Missoula Big Sky. We’re talking rugby. And
boy is Glen glad he drove the extra distance to garner a roster
spot for Life University, a respected Division 1A program.

Last month, Maricelli and his pals reached an impressive
pinnacle. The Running Eagles edged Central Washington, another 1A
program, to win the inaugural USA Rugby Men’s College Sevens
National Championship.

Roughly 1,000 onlookers watched the drama unfold in College
Station, Texas.

“It was a pretty amazing moment,” said Maricelli, a sophomore.
“Probably the biggest sports event I’ve ever played in my life, so
it was like a high-pressure situation.

“It’s something you really only get to feel once or twice in
your life if you’re lucky. To come out on top was really
special.”

It wasn’t just the winning but the role Maricelli played that
made the title game noteworthy. With his team trailing and no time
showing on the clock, Glen scored the try that forced overtime.

“Really it was a great team play where I just ended up being the
last one to touch the ball and score,” he said. “We were in injury
time. In a rugby game it’s like soccer – there’s extra time.

“The end was near so we needed to score right away. Really we
knew that if we messed up, like lost the ball, we were going to
lose.”

Twenty-four teams made up the field for the quasi-invitational
event, including those representing big-name universities like
Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Colorado and Florida. The event gave
USA National Team scouts a chance to identify players that may
represent our country in the 2016 Olympic Games.

Sevens isn’t what Maricelli terms “real rugby.” That would be
15s, the more traditional version also played by Maricelli and his
pals at Life University.

“Sevens is like a fun way to switch it up, really fast and a lot
of scoring,” said Glen, who plays the hooker position. “Kind of
like 3-on-3 basketball.

“Being able to tackle is the most important thing in sevens,
then it’s very important to be able to run a long time and have
quickness and vision.”

Maricelli’s team played six games in two days on championship
weekend. In between they tried to gain a recuperative edge by
slugging protein shakes.

“Actually Gummy Bears are my trick,” Maricelli offered. “It’s a
little quicker. A little sugar rush.”

A 5-foot-9, 215-pound fireplug, Maricelli continues to train
vigorously for the USA Sevens next month in Las Vegas. Teams from
all over the world will be present and some of the pro games are on
NBC.

Glen has two more years of college rugby, then he hopes to begin
his quest toward a doctorate in chiropractic medicine. Ultimately
he plans to come full circle by returning to where he learned this
sport of scrappy individuals often clad in striped shirts.

“Atlanta is a great city, but definitely a culture shock for
me,” said Maricelli, who attends school in a suburb called
Marietta. “For me it’s real good to be home. Montana is my home.
This is a sightseeing tour.”

And I thought my sightseeing trips were exhausting.

Bill Speltz will be on vacation next week. He can be reached at
bill.speltz@lee.net.