Athletes need to be held to the higher ultimate standard

Athletes on sports teams know everything about each other including who parties during the season using alcohol and/or recreational drugs. Captains are not cops or parents, so just exactly what is their job? I suggest each athlete sign a pledge to be an actual athlete during the season that is cosigned by the team captain(s), and when the promise is violated the athlete is suspended for a game. On the second offense he or she is kicked off the team using a peer review process with the head coach providing oversight. Personally, as a sportswriter, I don’t like covering kids with a half-hearted commitment to what they are doing, and I don’t care how well they perform on game night. “Crack the culture” of alcohol and drugs and hold athletes to the ultimate higher standard, that of being sober. Think this is not a problem? Think again!

ON THE CLOCK - Fall coaches of high school teams know already that they are in preseason. The first order of business is to scout your own team and analyze your own talent, including incoming freshman. Let’s face it, field hockey has a big problem at the junior varsity level of playing games after the varsity action, which in many cases end up as half games because of darkness or other reasons, so where is the opportunity for development?

There are not enough officials to play both games simultaneously, so make assistant junior varsity coaches officiate the first half, and if they don’t know how to do that how can they coach the sport in the first place?

A football staff should have a color-coded binder and a full, in-depth scouting report on every team that is on its fall schedule before even thinking about hawking lame T-shirts with some silly slogan on the back like “Family.” Ever notice that real families don’t wear T-shirts celebrating family pride?

Obviously, cross country athletes should be piling up the mileage over the summer; the problem is most identified middle school distant talent plays some other sport in the fall.

Volleyball seems a natural for schools buttressed by a beach, but the next time you see a six-on-six girls game on the beach will be the first time.

And summer soccer is all about select teams that kick about the countryside; the underlying problem is that soccer is a team sport but very few team members play together over the summer.

OUTSIDE OF ORDINARY - Back when I was an RBP lifeguard a tourist asked to take my picture on the stand, saying I was the first ocean lifeguard she ever saw who wore white socks while on duty. I am older than sun block and took a break from listening to Jate Walsh sing “Town Without Pity” to tell her the tops of my feet were sunburned and with 4E feet, I had the genetic flipper thing going on.

Tourists stare and criticize lifeguards a lot because they are up in the air and it’s like watching a flat screen hanging on the wall. I can tell you that lifeguards notice things out of the ordinary and they are as glaring as the sun reflecting off uncooked biscuits, otherwise known as urban white people.

But likening lifeguards to sports officials - the players seldom thank a lifeguard at the end of the day because nobody likes individuals with authority, whistles and hand commands, not to mention fit bodies and great tans. But they keep you safe, they’re educated and they tend to be congenial, so say hello and thanks. Make a friend.

SNIPPETS - Nick DelCampo will return as Cape’s head volleyball coach this fall. The team is always looking for talent, so phone Cape and sign up. “What? You want to sign up for volleyball? Go ahead, who is stopping you?”

If you are a Phillies fan would you trade rookie Antonio Bastardo straight up for the Padres’ Jake Peavy? I am saying no way and I’m also saying bring John Mayberry Jr. back up and play him every other day with Jason Werth just because Mayberry is too good to waste in Triple A ball and Werth can be used as part of a trade for a starting pitcher.

Coach Bill Cordrey retired from teaching, and he was lauded by three co-workers last Saturday at the Nassau Fire Station (get out of the truck, Bill), all women whose combined years working with him added up to 20 less than I’ve known the Silver Fox, and no one mentioned that in 1966 the beastly forward for the Milton Warriors basketball team scored 57 points in a single game before the three-point line appeared. Bill was fed the rock by his deft, ball-handling point guard Frank “Bud” Hitchens. And even now some unsuspecting softball old-timer playing third base will creep close with Cordrey at the plate and that will be the last day he’ll be able to find his car in the parking lot.

Race director Wayne Kursh is six weeks past hip replacement surgery and doing warm, moist yoga therapy – yeah, like who isn’t - and Dave Kergaard is scheduled in two weeks. I am hobbled but I can push a lawnmower; it’s like a two-stroke walker. My surgery is July 16 provided I am preapproved and stamped “certified to cut.”

The 2009 Special Olympics Summer Games will be held at the University of Delaware June 12 and 13. The competition will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. A grand opening ceremony will take place on Friday at 7:30 p.m., featuring former Philadelphia Eagle Kevin Reilly as emcee.

If you go to sporting events throughout the year, you must make an appearance at Special Olympics and I’d also recommend the Blue-Gold All-Star game at the end of June.

I learn to be thankful and gracious and open to inspiration from others and to witness the power of families and people helping others just because it is the right thing to do. I don’t know what you will learn - hopefully the same things.