The lone crossover story that dealt with Bellevue and Issaquah-Sammamish was our look at the U.S. Soccer ruling that has removed preps who play for a development academy team from the field this year. As expected, coaches had some strong thoughts on the subject. Two of the coaches I spoke with for the story hail from the UK, where a different educational system and differing avenues to preparing youngsters for the professional and international game make it difficult to compare to what we have in the United States.

“It’s comparing apples to oranges. In England we leave school at 16 and at that age you can sign as a “trainee” with a YTS program. You would train everyday with the team and not go to school at all. If you’re good enough at the end of that program, they will sign you on professional terms or release you.” - David Smith, Bellevue High School head coach and Crossfire Premier coach

“I know how the system works in England, it won’t work the same way here. High school is different here. People coming in trying to change the system, I don’t think they get what high school means to be these kids.”- Adam Gervis, Eastlake head coach

Eastlake head boys soccer coach Adam Gervis looks on during a practice

I ran a feature on the Issaquah pitching staff and its leaders Brandon Mahovlich, Ethan Kalin and Andrew Kemmerer. The Eagles have not been able to get things rolling the way they would have liked and currently sit in the bottom half of the Crest, but the pitching staff as a whole and Mahovlich especially have been pretty outstanding.

In the story I get some thoughts from Kalin, who had an older brother that won a state title in the program in 2007 but that squad, like this one, also had a Kemmerer and Gellatly. It remains to be seen if the class of 2012 can fulfill it’s goal of leaving a legacy on the program the same way that one did, but they certainly have the pedigree.

In a couple of news related items, the WIAA Representative Assembly voted against a proposed amendment that would have prohibited shoulders pads and helmets (at least school-owned ones) during the off-season, which comes as no big surprise to anyone who was following the developments.

I spoke with five or so coaches and not a single one was in favor of the amendment, including one coach in the district that initiated it, Everett. By and large, the response seems to be that concussion awareness, protocol and when possible prevention are all good things, but removing a vital piece of equipment that actually protects the head is not a well-reasoned solution to the problem of head injuries in youth sports, a topic we covered in-depth in a story last year.

It will be interesting to see if the spurned administrators from the ESD try and redraft the amendment to make it more appealing to other voters while still achieving their goals of increased safety in the off-season or abandon it completely. The former option would reinforce the idea that the end-game was indeed player safety and reducing practice time in the offseason while the latter would suggest perhaps the rumblings about trying to punish successful programs and cut financial corners could be valid.

I’ve had a couple other feature stories that have run as well, with one profiling Issaquah sophomore Robbie Johnson’s first bodybuilding show after three years of preparation and another that looked at the friendship and rivalry between Eastlake golfer Spencer Weiss and Skyline’s Brian Mogg, who met on the course during a WJGA event during middle school and have since become two of the top golfers in KingCo and remained great friends despite attending rival Sammamish schools.

Having only covered the Issaquah-Sammamish area for the past few months and having moved away from game coverage, I’m not as well-versed in the rivalry as my predecessor. But I do know things like Eastlake’s first-ever win over eventual 4A state champ Skyline in football stoke the fire. Whether or not it can ever get to the level of Eastlake-Redmond remains to be seen…

In Bellevue, I was able to work my story about Jubilee Reach’s partnership with the Bellevue School District for its sports programming in middle schools onto the front page for only the second time in the year I’ve been here. The issue stories are becoming more regular on our sites in the sports section and that is something I will try to continue.

Check back on the blog soon for more feature story background items, extra photo clips and quotes that didn’t make the final cut!

Let me preface my next thought by first saying I do not mean this to in any way to minimize the impact the stories of Jeff Hansen and Joseph Raineri had or the inspiration I got from them. But this story and the characters involved were the most inspirational I have met in a long time.

Maybe it’s the fact they have all dealt with things I can only imagine and done it with grace and character. Or the unimaginable idea of losing one of my parents at such a young age. Whatever it was, I definitely found myself moved when I was speaking with each of the four and humbled at the prospect of telling their story.

There were several moments during the interviews when the gravity of the situation being rehashed for me truly came into focus.

One of those was when Ingrid Crouch was detailing to me the reason for delaying her surgery after the diagnosis of cancer had been confirmed and a plan of action decided upon. The family tries whenever possible to travel as a group for out-of-state tournaments and when Ian’s younger brother was headed to Salt Lake City, Ingrid knew that without a clear view of the future, she needed to embrace each and every moment in the present.

“You never know, so I wanted to go and join in,” she said. “We all went and so I had the surgery when we came back.”

Another thing I realized in the course of working on the story was I had no first-hand account from Tyler White, even though the two of us did speak for the story and Tyler was incredibly gracious and forthcoming.

He said one of the positives that has emerged from his involvement with cancer awareness and fundraising is the chance to walk with Ian in the upcoming Relay 4 Life.

“I’m excited because I’ve always raised money and been part of Courage 4 Life and it’s been with adults,” Tyler White said. “Now I’m getting to do it with people my own age,  get some money for research and put an end to cancer.”

Something else I wanted to hit in this week’s blog was a story I had forwarded to me from David Albee, who is in media relations in the athletic department at Dominican University of California, which is located in San Rafael.

Albee wrote a story detailing the season of a pair of former Issaquah High School lacrosse players, Jake Fritz and Kevin Powers and the death of their friend and would-be teammate Tyler Lucas.

I was in between jobs when Lucas was killed in an automobile accident just over a year ago, but the story is a good one even despite the terrible circumstances surrounding it. Obviously, having Lucas with them at Dominican and for the rest of their lives is what Fritz, Powers and all of their families planned for and nothing can take away the sting of missing those years together. But having the duo carry their friend with them in the classroom, on the field and in their personal lives is the next best thing and can hopefully bring everyone involved at least a sliver of solace.

In Bellevue, there are two prep athletic programs that stand separate from the rest, each for its own reasons: Bellevue Football and Newport Baseball.

No one in the city (or state for that matter) has matched what coach Butch Goncharoff and the Wolverines have built in the past decade and with a 4A title from the 1980s as well, Bellevue is indeed the Lord of the Rings.

But across I-90 at Newport, on the hallowed diamond of Bob Albo Field, the city’s most enduring and deeply rooted prep athletic program lays its own claim and last weekend, the Bellevue School District recognized the greatness of the former coach.

I didn’t actually write the story on the new scoreboard bearing his name and the official dedication of the field, but I did have a chance to look over the testimonials from various former players, neighbors, friends and peers as far back as the mid-1970s and they provide more insight than any second-hand account ever could. We’ll start with a player:

“I feel fortunate and blessed to have known you Coach Albo.   Our paths crossed at a time in my life when I needed exactly who and what you are.  A  man with principles, a man with values,  a man who instilled discipline, a man with candor, a man who demanded effort, a man who required focus, a man who instilled confidence, a man who worked to get the best from each and every one of us, and a man with an unwavering commitment to doing the right thing; not some of the time but all of the time.   You are a man who provided clarity and lessons for a lifetime.  Almost 30 years after playing in your program, again, I’m proud to say I needed who and what you are.  You have truly inspired and shaped how I live.  I was a youngster curious and looking for answers.  Answers about life, right and wrong, good and bad and my own families dysfunction.  Your communication, your teachings and your words solidified a purpose, filled an emptiness,  and turned my personal reservations into a new and welcome freedom.  You have been the most influential man in my life Coach Albo.  I perceive you as a gift, a gift who used the sport and game of baseball as a vehicle for instilling characteristics of goodness in each and every one of us.  I will be forever grateful for this and the fun, success and memories I was able to attain under your tutelage.” - Troy Anderson, State Champion ‘82, Class of ‘83

Along with many more of the players he coached to KingCo and state titles, several of Albo’s coaching peers weighed in on the man and his legacy and the list includes some of the top baseball people in the area.

“Your influence, regarding baseball and life itself, is being reflected by hundreds,( if not thousands of people, coaches, players, families, and fans) each and every day. Even though you have retired from coaching baseball, your wisdom is still being conveyed from generation to generation. On behalf of all those that you have mentored, both directly and indirectly, thank you!” - Mike Kanzaki, BCC Head Coach 1989-1999

“It is a simple equation really. Take an intelligent man with a love for the game of baseball.  Add an overwhelming competitive drive and a strong passion to help kids become better than they ever thought they could be. The sum of all this is Bob Albo. Coach Albo had the ability to transform an average baseball player into a good one and a good one into a great one. He made every player better, every team better. As a player, I always felt confident our team would be victorious. I always believed in myself and my teammates because coach Albo conveyed confidence. Even if we were an underdog going in, we had a chance. We had the best coach out there day in and day out and ultimately this coach made our team the best team day in and day out. It doesn’t end there however. The baseball coach of the Newport Knights was more than just a coach to me. He was a role model, an educator and most importantly a friend. Beneath all the fiery exterior was and is a compassionate man with a huge heart. I will always be thankful for the opportunity to learn the game of baseball from Coach Albo and to grow and develop as an individual with Bob Albo.” - Scott Agnew 1976-1978

“The most memorable Newport moment for me was a practice before we were to play a just awful Issaquah team.  Bob lost his very short patience when practice was not going well and call all the kids for a chat.  He had a rake in his hand and after discussing his feelings he tossed the rake against the backstop.  It stuck and quivered for at least one minute.  The kids were in awe, like the baseball god was in front of them.  The kids were asked to go home early and think about how poorly they had practiced.  After they had left I looked at Bob and said, “Well that was impressive”.  He said “You can only send them home early once, they may try to do it again”. I said. “No, I mean the rake sticking to the backstop,” to which he replied, “ I know, isn’t that cool!” - Mike Barich, Former Newport coach, teacher and neighbor of Albo family

There were 25 or so passages just like these that recalled fond moments, life lessons and the essence of Bob Albo’s coaching career from those who knew the man best. Reading them was not only a chance to get some insight on a program I have admired from afar since moving here in 1995, but a reminder of the several influential adults who took their time to help build my interest in the game and all the rewards it gives those who play.

Lots coming this week with a look at the impact of U.S. Soccer disallowing development academy players from participating in the prep season and a Newport alum who is using the sport to do some special things in Africa. It’s also my week for a general Op-Ed piece, so check the paper on Friday for my take on how the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby represents hope for simplicity for those in the iPad generation.

We asked five questions to start, but everyone knows there are many more that could have made the cut but for time and space considerations. At the top of that list is where the prep soccer teams in Bellevue stand in the KingCo pecking order in 2012.

Sammamish made the deepest run of any local prep team last year, reaching the quarterfinal round of the 3A state tournament after dominating the conference from start to finish. Gone is the 2011 senior class that anchored that run, including goalkeeper Stuart Ellsworth and forward Taylor Berg as well as conference player of the year Nick Rooney and Chris Lider and coach Daryl Gonyea will need to find a new cast of characters to shoulder the load in 2012.

Beau Blanchard, who played a large role for the team last season, is off to a strong start in 2012 and could be the lynch-pin for Gonyea.

Interlake also reached the playoffs last season before falling on the final penalty kick against Lynden in the first round of the 2A state tournament and will take on Lindbergh and Hazen before opening conference play with a 6-2 win over Bellevue on Tuesday.

Newport now has an Interlake connection in the soccer program, as Saints’ girls coach Kirk Tavener has taken his act across town for the spring season with the Knights’ boys program. Tavener took the Interlake girls to a 2A state title in his first season at the helm and will look to help Newport back to the state soccer tournament for the first time since 2007, when it made the trip as a 3A school.

Aside from the preps, we had a column on the relationship that has been forged between the Seattle University baseball program and Bellevue’s Bannerwood Park, which the Redhawks have called home since reinstating the program.

Coach Donny Harrel took a minute to chat about how Bannerwood has provided an ideal home park situation for his club and also mused on the topic of baseball talent coming out of our area, which he attributes partly to a strong youth system.

“There’s a lot of great talent up here in Seattle, Bellevue and the surrounding areas. We do a lot of stuff with Thunderbird and the other Bellevue little leagues and to see the number of kids out is great. That’s really grown over the past five years since I as about Washington and our youth groups do a great job of getting kids excited about baseball. The kids we get coming into a four-year environment really know how to play and it’s been tremendous.”

Obviously for Harrel, the next task is getting those players to choose his program over the likes of the Pac-12 schools in the neighborhood.

“Oregon State gets great guys out of here, obviously Washington does and WSU is along those same lines. As we get stronger, we will start to do more of that as well. Our program and the kids within it have developed and now that we’re more established and people know were out there we’ve had some more success in recruiting.” 

On the Issaquah-Sammamish side of things here at the sports desk, I took a look at the growth of girls lacrosse in Issaquah and Sammamish during the past five years.

One of the groups I was not able to get in touch with before the story ran was the Eastside Eagles, who were sort of the originators of the game before it became popular around Washington and the Eastside. That program began in a similar fashion to those in the story, with only one team with a relatively small roster, before becoming one of the household names in girls youth lacrosse in the area. According to co-founder Jessanne Allen, who also laid the foundation for the Lake Sammamish Lacrosse Club, the program even sent a player to Syracuse that played for the Orange during its 2010 Final Four run. I wrote in the headline that with more and growing youth programs and sustained success on the prep level, girls lacrosse was “exploding” in Issaquah and Sammamish. After exchanging emails with Allen, I still believe that is an accurate portrayal, but there is no doubt the Eagles were the ones who lit the fuse.

Eastside Catholic’s Alex Foreman has also taken her talents to a major college program after prepping on the Eastside and is now at USC. There’s no doubt that with more youth and high school programs being added every season, a number of players continuing their careers in college and the sport on the verge of finding a deal to become sanctioned by the WIAA, girls lacrosse has a strong foothold in Washington and on the Eastside and isn’t going anywhere.

The main story in Bellevue was the profile of Adrian Hegyvary, a professional cyclist with local routes in Bellevue.

Among other topics, Hegyvary and I touched on the importance of nutrition for cyclists and the challenges they sometimes face when traveling abroad for races.

“The food is difficult sometimes because when we train we have a very specific routine and all of a sudden you’re siting on a plane being served mystery meat. In the international races, there’s a lot more fighting on the bikes because if someone does something no one knows what the pecking order is. We don’t know the roads, half the guys have food poisoning, those races are kind of like survival.”

Another item we ran online that will be in print this coming week is a Q and A with Ebrima “EJ” Jatta. 

EJ is originally from The Gambia and came to the US originally to play for the Kitsap Pumas. But after arriving to Seattle behind schedule and finding the Pumas’ selection process no longer in play, he ended up at Bellevue College.

Jatta has since been drafted by the LA Blues of the USL and is involved in projects to help grow the game he loves in his home country. While he’s currently focused on growing his skills and helping the Blues, he leaves no doubt about how he feels about potentially making his way to MLS and Sounders FC.

The most valid point I heard made was the idea that in 7-on-7 drills and passing tournaments, which are non-contact in nature and never involve tackling, helmets are a way to avoid unintended head-to-head contact. Full speed activities, whether it’s a scored prep passing league or a game of tag between a bunch of third graders, will involve unintentional physical contact. The best way to protect against those type of blows is to wear helmets.

Here’s what a few coaches had to say about the issue of limiting the contact period during summer rather than what can be worn within it.

“It would just kill the development of a lot of programs. We all rely so much on doing team camps and football is a unique sport where kids can’t just throw on some pads and go practice.”- Skyline head coach Mat Taylor 

Skyline's Mat Taylor was all smiles after his team captured the 2011 4A state title over Skyview

“I don’t know any programs would go to team camps without that contact portion. The team camps have trainers and you cant get much more of a safe place to have contact. It’s not always live to the ground and there are pretty quick whistles. I think it’s healthy to have the discussions. Concussions are a very real concern and we want to find avenues to play the sport but make it as safe as possible. I would say if we were only allowed to have out of season contact at approved university camps, that would eliminate some of the extra scrimmages during the summer and I wouldn’t be opposed to banning some of that.”- Lakewood head coach and anti-amendment drafter Dan Teeter 

Interlake's Jason Rimkus took the Saints back to the 2A state quarterfinals in 2011

“If they’re going to do anything, it would be limiting the amount of time you can have with your kids. Right now, it’s pretty much you can do whatever you want, which we don’t. I think it’s more important to give them some time away but at the same time get them prepared for what is a tough fall season.”- Interlake head coach Jason Rimkus 

Aside from the Amendment Six issue, I’ve been spending some time trying to examine the column and ways to keep it interesting for a broad readership and still focused on the core vision of the space as a way to explore ways in which people exhibit their love of sport and competition.

I had what I thought was a decent idea, to take the Wonderlic, a test given to NFL players at the combine to measure their ability to process complex and sometimes conflicting situations and options to arrive at the best possible outcome. The most difficult part of the test is balancing the desire to choose correctly on each question while leaving time to finish the test.

The version of the test I took online was in four parts and I finished with a composite score of 28.

Here’s how various position groups test out on average:

Offensive Tackles: 26; Centers: 25; Quarterbacks: 24; Guards: 23; Tight Ends: 22; Safeties: 19; Middle Linebackers: 19; Cornerbacks: 18; Wide Receivers: 17; Fullbacks: 17; Halfbacks: 16.

Most of the questions dealt with reading comprehension, grammer and syntax with some math mixed in.

As a writer, the literary stuff was basically self-explanatory. As an Asian, the math was more difficult than it probably should have been.

Either way, it wasn’t stressful enough or interesting as a column, but that’s why we blog.

The last thing, and I’ve been meaning to do this for a couple of weeks, deals with a Bellevue Christian student-athlete who is also doing some blogging.

Two of the teams that made some noise in the postseason before coming up just short of the state quarterfinals were the Bellevue Christian boys and girls basketball teams, which were both dropped in the regional round.

When I went with the Vikings to La Conner during the football season, I was approached by a sophomore named Nathan Parsons who informed me he was trying to find his footing as a sports blogger with SeaTown Sports.

As the postseason approached for the winter prep season, Parsons and I spoke again about possibly having him contribute a story from Bellevue Christian’s postseason run to our website. That unfortunately did not work out because of the logistics behind some of our changes in sports coverage, but you can check out Parsons’ writing on SeaTownSports.net and I’m still hoping to find something for him to do to help us out as well when he is finished with the soccer season.

The end of state playoffs and first weeks of the next season’s sports are always the slowest times of the year (save for the monotony that is summer) and with all but one team from our Bellevue/Issaquah-Sammamish coverage area eliminated, there hasn’t been much to report from the prep scene.

We have some questions for teams and individuals in both Bellevue and Issaquah coming this week and I’ll rehash that in next week’s edition of the blog.

If you have an interest in becoming a student sports clerk for the Bellevue or Issaquah-Sammamish Reporter newspapers, contact Josh Suman at jsuman@bellevuereporter.com

Thursday is my target day for an in-depth, weekly blog post that goes behind the scenes of the previous week’s work and this week, I try and provide an inside look at the Butch Goncharoff to Orange Lutheran madness and Joseph Raineri, a blind athlete living in Robinswood.

Even closer to home, one major change on the prep coaching scene threatened to shake up not only the KingCo gridiron but the balance of power in the entire state. Reports have since surfaced that Goncharoff will remain with the Wolverines, but the very idea of him taking off for Southern California or anywhere else for that matter was no doubt an intriguing one. I spoke with one local coach and also a reporter from the Orange County Register to get some thoughts on the post-Goncharoff scene in KingCo and the sort of environment he would be stepping into in the famed Trinity League.

The coach was Juanita’s Shaun Tarantola, who finished his fourth season at the helm for the Rebels in 2011. His first point was one that coaches routinely make when asked about the success of the Wolverines:

“Playing against a top team within the conference makes your own program better. Every league has a team that is seen as the gold standard, it just so happens in 3A KingCo that team is also one of a handful that sets the bar state-wide.

“They have raised the bar about what it takes to be a successful high school football program,” Tarantola added. “Just by competing with them year in and year out it really pushes teams to raise their level to be able to compete with a team like Bellevue.”

The most obvious thing folks were left wondering when news broke that Goncharoff was talking with Orange Lutheran was what would be left of the Wolverines after he was gone? James Hasty will not be back after his son Tyler’s graduation and incumbent defensive coordinator Danny Razore took a position with the University of Washington program. Longtime local prep coach Pat Jones, who was with Sammamish during their state title game run and also has a son in the program, would have seemed the logical choice to me, but obviously there are more complexities that go into a hiring process even at the high school level.

Tarantola, for one, believes building a strong system of coaches to support the head man is the key to any program’s success.

“The next key for me is hiring great people around me,” he said. “If every kid that comes around our pogrom is around great people, I think good things happen.”

Steve Fryer, who has been covering preps in Orange County full-time for 22 years for the Register, was the other person I spoke with in an attempt to get a feel for the dynamics of the Lancers’ program, school enthusiasm for football and general culture around the famed Trinity League.

Fryer had quite a lot to say about a league that has produced Heisman Trophy winners, multiple First Round NFL selections and too many Division I prospects to even begin to count just in recent years but one of the most interesting points he made was regarding salary. People around Wash. will no doubt wear-out the “I wonder how much Bellevue ponied up to keep him…” line, which is in some ways ironic because that is something he never would have had to deal with in the Trinity, where Fryer said six-figure, privately funded salaries are the norm for prep football coaches.

“Pretty much everyone gets six figures,” Fryer said. “Football sets the tone for school sprit for the whole year. These private schools have big alumni associations that write big checks and the more you win the more likely you are to get those checks.”

I wondered if people in Orange County were even aware of Bellevue or Goncharoff, but Fryer assured me they were indeed.

“We know the pedigree,” he said. “About ending De La Salle’s streak, the nine titles…”

But he was quick to point out that few in the region believe the Wing-T could succeed on the pass-heavy SoCal scene.

“He runs the Wing-T offense and nobody believes the Wing-T could succeed here. Even the guy here, Myron Miller at Tuston (not a member of the Trinity), they had five guys in the NFL this year. He runs the Double-Wing. He goes, ‘yeah, but he runs the Wing-T.”

All of that is a moot point now that we know Goncharoff is staying in Bellevue, but the idea of one of Washington’s finest having success in one of the biggest prep football markets in the country is enticing and in some ways could have been great for Washington’s national and regional reputation.

For what it’s worth (not much last I checked), I do think Goncharoff would have been successful with the Lancers and it should be obvious to everyone that any coach with a winning percentage like he has might be able to make a couple adjustments based on personnel and opposition…

State playoffs are finished for all winter sports except boys and girls basketball and the Mat Classic and swim and dive championships took place last weekend.

Swim and dive netted far more individual and team success than wrestling, but much of that was predicted early on in the season. For that reason and other logistical concerns, I spent a day in the Tacoma Dome rather than King County Aquatic Center.

While only a handful of wrestlers advanced to the second day and earned a place on the podium, the scale of the event, the nature of the double-elimination bracket and the intensity of the sport left me with even more respect for wrestlers, their coaches and the rest of the people associated with them.

Case-in-point is Eastside Catholic senior Joe Stoutt.

Making his second appearance at state, Stoutt was pinned in the first round of Mat Classic XXIV after placing second in the previous week’s regional tournament.  The loss immediately sent him to the loser’s bracket and erased any hope of a title match appearance, all less than two minutes after his tournament began.

Countless basketball teams have gone by the wayside in the consolation bracket after an unexpected first round loss and it will surely happen to at least a few teams next week as well. But the very nature of wrestling doesn’t really leave that as an option.

Newport's David Yingling found himself in some compromising positions in his opening round match

No one is trying to shoot a three over you to prove a point in wrestling. They’re trying to pin your arms behind your back and push your face into the mat.

Watching as guys like Stoutt, Iwicki and others fought back through the consolation bracket of the tournament with the same intensity as if they were wrestling for a state title was just another reminder of the many unique aspects to the sport and the type of mindset that is required to step onto the mat knowing the only thing stopping the other person from owning you is, well, you.

Eastside Catholic freshman Matt Iwicki would eventually escape and win by pin in his first match at Mat Classic XXIV

Perhaps the gutsiest performance of all was turned in by Eastlake’s Eric Harper, wrestling at 170 pounds in the 4A bracket.

After winning his way to the semi-finals, the junior hurt a shoulder and was forced to take an injury defeat.

Rather than leaving for a more thorough examination, Harper elected to continue wrestling even though he was in the consolation bracket even though his arm as he put it, “just went limp” when he was injured.

“I had nothing to lose, it was the last tournament of the year,” Harper said. “I wanted a chance to wrestle for third.”

Nothing to lose, of course, except the complete function of his arm.

If that doesn’t spell out the mindset these guys take when they go to the mat, then nothing can. It’s always important as a sports writer to leave the war-related metaphors on the cutting room floor when young men and women are actually fighting wars in the name of our livelihood.

But with that being said, there is no denying the Spartan qualities of the sport and those involved.

Aside from the Goncharoff situation and state playoff items, I ran a feature on a Robinswood man who has dealt with Retinitis Pigmentosa for his entire life and is now blind. Each of his three brothers also suffers from the genetic eye disease.

His name is Joseph Raineri and his connection to sports is a fitness class he has taught on Mercer Island for the past several years, initially through the Parks and Recreation Department and now independently at Emanuel Church.

Joseph Raineri spends an hour per day on the treadmill in his Robinswood home

Despite his increasing blindness, Raineri has ran marathons, been a world class skier, competed in triathlons and still works out for a couple hours each day, not including the three-times weekly 6 a.m. fitness class.

“I made the connection between physical fitness and mental fitness,” he said. “I just really like to run.”

The emotional and psychological aspects of physical activity have been enough to trump the difficulties Raineri faces as a blind athlete and hearing him talk about the importance of working out was humbling and inspiring.

“One thing for certain about physical fitness, no matter how you start out your workout, I don’t care how you’re feeling, you’re always going to feel better when you’re done,” he said. “You dont have to run a marathon or do the Iron Man. 20 or 30 minutes walking or jogging you’re always going to feel better when that’s done.”

The blindness is to the point where Raineri takes help for working out more often than he used to and is far more cautious, but speaking with him made me realize some of the basic daily tasks I take for granted. Even as a person with complete sight I am clumsy and find myself on the lookout for pointed objects and breakables. For Raineri that takes on an entirely different face and hearing how he was able to see the good in such a tough situation spoke volumes about his character.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve leaned over into the edge or corner of a desk, I’ve got to be careful,” he said. “When I go out in the bright sunlight I have to wear sunglasses because of the glare. One of the benefits if there is such a thing is I get free information calls. I can call 411 and not get charged.”

The biggest thing I’ve had going lately is the package on Anthony Sanelli and Dustin Cramer, a pair of 2005 Issaquah High grads who hiked thru the Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mexican boarder to British Columbia.

Sanelli looked the part of a mountain man during the five-month hike

If you still haven’t read the story, then you may think it sounds like some sort of epic journey/coming of age story.

It basically is.

Five months with only brief contact in sparsely populated mountain towns along the trail and three-fifths of the journey spent hiking two separate routes, the hike was a once-in-a-lifetime experience from both accounts.

Here are some thoughts from each that didn’t make it into the feature story or sidebar, first from Cramer:

On the most trying aspects of the trip:

“It was excruciating pain in your feet the first week. By the end of the day, it was like a full day of work times 1,000,000. the first few weeks, it just helped to put your feet up and take your shoes off.”

On what he learned about himself and the pull of the wilderness: 

“We get in the habit of always trying to please other people when really, the one thing I realized, the most courteous thing you can do is be true to who you are. It was really cool. There’s a huge amount of forces on the world that you can notice if you take the time to realize who, where, when and what time you are at. From a condo 30 stories up, it’s hard to realize that. The communication that is indirect, there is a lot of indirect communicate throughout peoples lives and when you spend times alone, you are able to me more direct with yourself and others.”

And from Sanelli:

On the planning for the trip: 

“Some people spend a lot of time planning every detail, but over that many miles, things change, things happen. I got poison oak about a month in and that threw us totally off course. I was literally stuck in the town of Mojave, Calif. for a week trying to scrub this stuff off. We just had to take it as it came and there was a lot of that, just adjusting to whatever happens. We kind of just did it as we went, kind of winged-it if you will and that made it even more exciting because we weren’t tied to any guidelines or timeframes. We were just free to do it however we wanted to do it.”

On the psychological challenges of the trail: 

“You have all this time to think and come up with great stuff, but you’re still out there and you can execute the way you want to because you still have to wake up and hike all these miles and you can’t just quit and go home.”

Fewer people have hiked thru the PCT than have climbed Mount Everest (according to my hack internet research on a boarder line unverifiable though popular statistic) and it was purely dumb luck that I stumbled upon these two.

Which brings me to my next point…

Once upon a time, Yours Truly played on a summer baseball team with Sanelli and with the magic of social media, we connected again on facebook. After reading a note he posted in the midst of the hike, I knew there was a story there to be told when all was said and done. It isn’t the first time a lead on a story has come from a new media source and it surely won’t be the last.

The story on Sanelli and Cramer was the most in-depth piece I’ve filed in Issaquah-Sammamish since the two-part series on concussions last fall, which also ran in Bellevue. The tale of the pair’s excursion felt like a piece that would resonate with the sporting community in the area and hopefully it reached a readership we are trying especially hard to include more.

Issaquah and Sammamish are an exciting area to cover sports and recreation in and I think our changes our starting to come together in a nice way. The roundups and smaller notes on preps will turn into longer recaps come playoff time and we will be keeping tabs on teams and individuals throughout the year to have features that offer a deeper look behind the team you may otherwise only know by box scores.

Feel free to contact me by email at jsuman@bellevuereporter.com with any thoughts, questions or concerns.

DeCastro took in a Bellevue practice during the Spring

ESPN.com Pac-12 blogger Ted Miller notes that draft analysis originator Mel Kiper Jr. has DeCastro ranked 13th on his Big Board and his counterpart Todd McShay has him 15th. Miller also throws in some superlatives at the end, including saying DeCastro may be the best guard the Pac-12 has produced in a decade. 

I’ve avoided posting updates everytime someone says David DeCastro is good at football, mostly because that happens 10,000 or so times every time he takes the field. But as a regular reader of the Pac-12 Blog, Miller’s regional ties as the former Husky beat guy for the Seattle PI and the input from the two go-to names in NFL Draft analysis, I thought it was worth mentioning.

Kevin is joining the news side of things and also picking up some higher level editorial responsibilities and I will be splitting my time between Bellevue and Issaquah-Sammamish in sports. I don’t anticipate it will be easy and I can only promise I will do the best job I can to keep the coverage at the level Kevin has worked at.

But there will be some changes.

The Powers That Be have decided to place less of an emphasis on live prep sports coverage and focus on profiles, features and issue stories that can be related to our local community and readership. So what does that mean in terms of what you see on your computer screen or in the print paper on Fridays?

No more live game coverage: As a weekly paper that goes to deadline 24 hours before hitting news stands, it is difficult to get pertinent game coverage that is still news by the time it prints in the paper. For football, we are left either printing a game story that will come out a week after the game was played or not printing anything more than a quick score recap. Since the main aspect of our publication (financially if not philosophically) is print coverage, spending time covering a game and writing a story that will only live online is obviously not the best option, especially considering our limited resources in terms of man-hours.

The situation will be different come playoff time and I will do everything I can to get as much live state coverage as possible, but understand that some of that will be out of my control. For the regular season, we will get all the scores and highlights we can for all the prep sports in any given season and put them in daily roundups online (just as we do now) to keep the information flowing, even if it is without some of the deeper context we currently try to offer in game stories.

Features and profiles, sometimes prep, sometimes not: This is one of the smaller changes and is really something we already try to do in sports coverage: featuring and profiling characters in our sports and recreation community that have a great story. I’m going to continue to try and find youths, preps and adults in the community with great stories to tell and tell them in our paper.

The main change here is that we will no longer be running complete previews for every school during every prep sports season. Currently, the goal is to get to each sport at some point during the season, write a general story about the team’s prospects for the year and then revisit those who are still playing when the postseason rolls around.

Moving forward, features and profiles will have a broader reach and will more often include community sports figures and others in the community that may not participate with a prep team.

More issue stories: This is the part I’m most excited about, the chance to take a regional, national or even international issue and bring it down to a local level. The goal is to put together one piece ever month or two that is similar to the two-part series I did on the issue of concussion protocol and the impact to local student-athletes in our area. When something is grabbing headlines in the sports world, it will be part of my job to make that issue relevant in a local way.

That’s the gist of it, at least for now. The situation is always a fluid one and nothing is set in stone for all eternity, but this is the plan we are looking at moving forward after the first of the year. It will be different, but hopefully it offers an opportunity to reach a broader audience and give regular readers of sports a different look at a topic they already know and love.

Without a doubt, readers of sports are some of the most passionate and involved of all and hopefully this new approach offers a take on sports that continues to feed the desire for well-reported coverage of sports and recreation in the community. Please feel free to call or email me anytime with questions, concerns, suggestions or for any reason whatsoever. If you love the new ideas, a pat on the back is always welcome. If you hate them, everyone needs to remain humble and I’m no exception.

Thank you all for your continued support and I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for sports coverage in both the Bellevue Reporter and Issaquah-Sammamish Reporter.

Skyline vs. Woodinville
Kevin – Skyline 28-17
Josh – Skyline 24-13

Lake Stevens vs. Skyview
Kevin – Skyview 38-30
Josh – Lake Stevens 40-38

Kaimiakin vs. Bellevue
Kevin – Bellevue 35-14
Josh – Bellevue 42-0

O’Dea vs. Camas
Kevin – Camas 28-24
Josh – O’Dea 14-10

W.F. West vs. Lynden
Kevin – Lynden 35-21
Josh – Lynden 44-20

Prosser vs. Archbishop Murphy
Kevin – Prosser 24-20
Josh – Archbishop Murphy 35-30

Week 12 results
Kevin: 9-3
Josh: 9-3
Readers: 8-4

Year to date
Kevin: 114-30
Josh: 109-35
Readers: 116-28

BIG 5

Lakes vs. Bellevue
Kevin – This is a matchup people have talked about since the start of the season (unfortunately it’s in the state quarterfinals). The question is, will it live up to the hype? On one side is the disciplined machine that is nationally-ranked Bellevue. The other side, Lakes, presents some of the best athletes in the state with running back Levonte Littlejohn, receiver Cedric Dozier and lineman Zach Banner. Historically, the the well-oiled machine has won this battle. I don’t see it going any differently this time. Bellevue might bend, but never breaks. The same can’t be said for Lakes.
Pick: Bellevue 31-21
Josh – There has been a lot of talk about how the Lakes defense, after experiencing Bellevue’s offense first hand last year in the semi-finals and facing consecutive Wing-T offenses the past two weeks, will be more prepared and better positioned to get some stops this time around. I don’t think that will make a difference. Simply put, Nathan Hale and Mountain View are not Bellevue. No one is. If the Wing-T’s major flaw was ineffectiveness against opponents the second and third times around, Bellevue would not still be winning conference titles, let alone building the program to the level it sits at currently. KingCo foes like Sammamish and Newport have vacillated between the Wing-T and other three-back, option based offenses for years. But stopping the Totems has never helped anyone stop the Wolverines. The simple fact is that Lakes, while as talented as any team in the state, is going to face the same adjustment period everyone else faces when matching up with the Bellevue offense. The first couple drives of the game will end only one of two ways: a Bellevue touchdown, or a Bellevue turnover. The most important unit in this game is the Bellevue secondary, a group that has not allowed a scoring play of over 20 yards all season. That includes wins over top college quarterback prospects Max Browne, Jeff Lindquist and Luke Falk. The safeties, Michael Carlson and Budda Baker, do a great job of keeping plays in front of them and never allowing a quarterback to take the top off their defense with a big play through the air. Without a deep threat, it’s tough to make any headway against a solid front and well-drilled linebacking corps. Lakes is going to score some points, but they are going to work for whatever they get. In the end, despite what national pundits believe, Bellevue heads back to the Dome.
Pick: Bellevue 38-24

Skyline vs. Central Valley
Kevin – Skyline’s defense continues to get stronger week after week. The Spartans slowed a hot Mead rushing attack on the road last week. They’ll need to do the same this week against Central Valley. The Bears are a run-first team that mixes in the pass. Two running backs — Alex Jacot and Grayson Sykes — along with quarterback Gaven Deyarmin have combined for more than 1,500 yards on the ground. Like last week’s opponent, Mead, it’s doubtful Central Valley has seen a passing attack anywhere near the level of Skyline’s. If the Spartans continue to bear down on defense, 2011 should mark another trip to the Tacoma Dome.
Pick: Skyline 35-21
Josh – I’m definitely impressed with Skyline’s performance last week, knocking off a highly regarded team some five hours from home. I know rankings are fickle, but it’s safe to say us media types likely wrote off the Spartans far too soon after the losses to Bellevue, Lake Oswego (Ore) and finally Eastlake. It was almost as if we all said, “only Skyline OR Eastlake can remain ranked in the top-10″ when the reality all along was that both were top-10 if not top-five teams in the state. No disrespect to Central Valley, but I think Skyline moves on.
Pick: Skyline 40-28

Eastlake vs. Lake Stevens
Kevin – There’s a lot on the line for Eastlake Saturday night as the Wolves look for the program’s first ever trip to the state semifinals. In order to reach the goal, they will have to contain one of the state’s most productive quarterbacks, Jake Nelson. The Lake Stevens signal caller has completed 188 of 262 passes for 2,508 yards, 25 TDs and just five INTs. He’s also rushed for over 600 yards and 14 TDs. Fortunately for the Wolves, they play in one of the best passing conferences in the state and the defense should be prepared. On the flip side, Eastlake quarterback Keegan Kemp has completed 104 of 179 passes for 1,494 yards, 13 TDs, 9 INTs; and has rushed for 520 yards and 10 TDs. With running back Ryan Lewis (1,614 yards, 25 TDs) the Wolves pack a punch of their own. It could be a shootout on the Plateau this Saturday.
Pick: Eastlake 35-24
Josh – Watching Jake Nelson highlights all season, one thing has stuck out more than any other: the kid just makes plays. The scramble that he made to set up the even more improbable touchdown pass in the corner to Christian Gasca was one of the more impressive sequences I can remember from a prep quarterback with so much on the line. It wasn’t so much the plays themselves-the run was set up by some poor tackling and guys with their eyes in the wrong spot- it’s that he looked like he knew what he was going to do the whole time and when he did it, he was the only one who wasn’t surprised. That poise is going to loom large against an Eastlake team that is senior-dominated and hungry to erase the shortcomings of the school’s football past. Keegan Kemp is the X-Factor here. If he manages the game and makes a few plays, his team wins. If he falls apart and turns it over at critical times, the Wolves will not survive.
Pick: Eastlake 22-21

Interlake vs. Lynden
Kevin – The 2A Saints have proven again that the gauntlet they run might not equal the best regular-season record, but it certainly gets them ready for the state tournament. For the second year in a row they are hosting a state quarterfinal game against one of the state’s top 2A teams. Can Interlake take that next step to the semifinals? Lynden is one of those programs that is successful year in and year out, earning three state titles since 2006. Coach Curt Kramme will no doubt have his Lions keyed in on Saints’ star running back Jordan Todd. Interlake might have to have someone else step up Saturday.
Pick: Lynden 32-14
Josh – Kevin is absolutely right, the Saints need someone else to step up and make some game-changing plays on offense, defense and special teams to win this game. I (incorrectly) thought last week would be the point when a disciplined defense was able to slow Jordan Todd enough to give its offense a chance to win the game. Franklin Pierce had no answer whatsoever for Todd, allowing 432 yards and five scores despite entering the game knowing full-well coach Jason Rimkus’ intentions to get his superstar the ball early and often. This week, it’s Lynden’s turn to try and slow Todd and the Saints’ ground game and that means it’s Kamana Adriano’s time to shine. The wiry, athletic quarterback convert has been good enough in 2011 thus far and is one of the toughest kids I’ve covered. He took a shot against Juanita that I thought was going to leave him unconscious on the ground but before the pile was pulled apart, he was already back up woofing at the defense and getting his squad back in the huddle. If the Turman brothers, Ryuji Kawashima and some of the Saints’ other weapons can get loose on the outside to open up the passing game, that’s going to make life a lot easier on Todd. If not, this one is going to look a lot like the quarterfinal loss to Murphy in 2010.
Pick: Interlake 34-33

Woodinville vs. Union
Kevin – Woodinville’s defense is the real deal. In 11 games, the Falcons have allowed an average of under eight points per game. They held Bethel, a team scoring 48 points per game, to just seven points last week. Union is much improved since a 27-10 loss it suffered to Bothell in week one, but I don’t see this return trip to Pop Keeney Stadium going much better for the Titans.
Pick: Woodinville 31-10
Josh – Really tough to go against Woodinville in this one, especially at Pop Keeney and with the low numbers that defense has been holding teams to all season. Union’s schedule also just flat out doesn’t match up to the slate the Falcons weathered.
Pick: Woodinville 34-13

OTHER GAMES

Skyview vs. Bellarmine Prep
Kevin – Skyview 35-28
Josh – Skyview 42-32

Kamiakin vs. Kennewick
Kevin – Kennewick 17-14
Josh – Kamiakin 21-17

Camas vs. Meadowdale
Kevin – Camas 28-21
Josh – Camas 30-10

O’Dea vs. Capital
Kevin – O’Dea 32-21
Josh – O’Dea 24-22

Lakewood vs. W.F. West
Kevin – Lakewood 35-21
Josh – Lakewood 35-14

Archbishop Murphy vs. Othello
Kevin – Archbishop Murphy 28-14
Josh – Archbishop Murphy 44-10

Ellensburg vs. Prosser
Kevin – Prosser 38-34
Josh – Prosser 24-17

Week 11 results
Kevin – 18-6
Josh – 16-8
Readers – 20-4

Year to date
Kevin – 105-27
Josh – 100-32
Readers – 108-24