Thursday, Apr. 27, 2006

Hall of Famers speak out against specialization

It is the end of a very long Wednesday, but it was well worth it.

First, there was the WIAA Hall of Fame banquet in Yakima. No offense to the other nine honorees, but Mark Rypien stole the show with this acceptance speech.

You could tell the former Super Bowl MVP had made the rubber chicken circuit a time or two in his life -- he was a hoot, poking fun at Mercer Island coach Ed Pepple about the controversial finish to their 1981 state basketball championship game (Shadle won on a last-second shot that to this day, Mercer fans swear came after the buzzer. Pepple was inducted into the Hall last year), laughing off his All-Star status in a master's hockey league in Spokane ("master's league means beer league") and joking about how his daughter was going to the prom this year with John Stockton's son.

But there also was a serious side to Rypien's speech. Turning to his fellow athletes on the dais -- Pasco's Ron Howard, Kamiakin's Tondi (Redden) von Oelhoffen and Prosser's Kelly Blair-Labounty -- he pointed out how all four of them were three-sport athletes in high school. He lamented the demise of the three-sport athlete in today's society and how coaches are pushing players today to concentrate on one sport, with the promise of potential college scholarships as the carrot.

If she could have, I think Tondi von Oelhoeffen would have given him a standing ovation afterward.

"It is so important to play a number of sports," said the first 12-letter winner in Kamiakin history. "I think by specializing in one sport, you lose some of the passion. You burn yourself out."

It is discouraging, for instance, to see football powers such as Pasco and Prosser struggling in track because the athletes spend all their time in the weight room, preparing for football season. As one Big Nine coach said to me at the Pasco Invite, "With all the athletes they have, Pasco should win the league title in track every year."

It's not just football vs. track, either. Southridge girls basketball lost several players this year because they wanted to focus on club soccer. Other hoops teams lost players to club volleyball.

If you stop and look at the elite athletes in the area, though, you'll see that most are bucking this trend to focus on just one sport. Southridge's big three of Travis Mattair, Jason Munns and Shawn O'Malley, for instance, all play at least two sports. Pasco's Shayne Kelly is a three-sport stud, while Eric Hunter turned out for track this spring. Prosser's Kellen Moore helped the basketball team qualify for regionals.

On the girls side, there's Richland's Kayla McKeirnan and Lyndsee Landon (soccer, hoops, track), Kennewick's Alysha Cook (volleyball and track), Hanford's De'Chauna Skinner (volleyball, hoops, softball), Othello's Courtney Kirkwood and Connell's Coriann Wood (soccer, hoops, track) ...

The list goes on, and these kids are having the time of their lives.

Then, with a couple of hours to burn, I decided to stop in Sunnyside to play a quick 18 at Black Rock Creek. I hadn't been there in a number of years (when I last played here, it was still called Lower Valley Elks), and I must compliment the staff for the improvements it has made to the course. It's in much better shape now.

My golf game is, in a word, inconsistent. I hit a good drive, then flub the approach. Or I'll duff my drive, leaving me scrambling to make a good score. I'm just happy if I have a par putt, which I did on about half the holes (I made three pars, which equals my total from my last four rounds combined), but I also messed up enough holes to finish the day with an even 100. Back to the driving range, I guess.

Finally, I get back to the Tri-Cities to discover that news of Leilani Mitchell leaving the University of Idaho had broken. We had heard rumors before Wednesday but couldn't get a hold of her or anyone in her family to confirm them.

Leilani didn't bad-mouth anyone on her way out the door, which doesn't surprise me at all. That's not her style. But what she didn't say when contacted at her Moscow apartment, and how she didn't say it, spoke volumes.

I think with Emily Faurholt graduating this year, Heather Thoelke having graduated the year before, Autumn Fielding having left the program before that and now Debbie Roueche quitting last month, Leilani's comfort zone with the Vandals was gone. And soon after, so was Leilani.

I don't think Leilani will have any problem finding another program to take her in for her senior year. 17.6 points, 5.4 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 4.0 steals per game? What do you think?

Til next time ...