Overtime

(This is the latest in a series of entries by guest bloggers throughout the high school spring sports season. Mike Nemchek and his daughter Sammi, who is entering her fourth year as a starter on Trinity Catholic’s softball team, explore the topical nature of the parent-athlete dynamic.  Mike coached many of the city’s top players in youth leagues, including Sammi.)

By Mike Nemchek

The Trinity Catholic softball team had two road games last week. Monday’s was played at Fairfield Warde and Wednesday’s was held at Trumbull High School.

Both games had a 4 p.m. start. You would think leaving Stamford by 3:10 would be sufficient time to make it to the respective towns, stop for a beverage at their local Dunkin’ Donuts and make it to the fields before game time.

Well, think again. Unfortunately, traffic congested the Merritt Parkway, resulting in a slow go. So slow, in fact, I had to abandon my desire for caffeine in order to have a chance of making it on time for the start of the games.

It didn’t work as I arrived after the games had already begun. I tip my hat to those who commute to and from work via the Merritt Parkway and/or I-95 and have to endure that traffic on a daily basis.

The backstop at Warde has an overhang designed to keep foul balls within the confines of the school property. From what I witnessed, Warde is entitled to a refund if there was a guarantee associated with the purchase. At least seven foul balls made it up and over the backstop and into the yards of neighbors. An additional five would also have been lost it if not for the numerous tall trees just in front of the yards.

I tip my hat to the Fairfield Warde administration which, no doubt, has to budget for more softballs than most schools in the FCIAC.

The Westhill softball team took advantage of some Trinity mistakes and prevailed in last Friday’s city contest held at Trinity. I paid particular attention to the significant roles played by the Vikings’ Hannah Goldstone, Jen Joseph, Julie Osipow and Kylee Ruther.

You see, all four were delightful to coach and were valuable contributors to our team that made it to the 2004 Babe Ruth Softball World Series. It doesn’t surprise me to see them come through for coach Tom Pia as he has a knack for getting his players to reach their full potential. I tip my hat to Tom and his 2009 Vikings.

A lot has been made of the Duke basketball team’s incoming freshmen class, which is supposed to provide the type of inside players that should bolster what was considered the Blue Devils’ biggest shortcoming last year.

But the feeling here is that the school’s top recruit is someone who will not be seen on the basketball court the next four years, though I could see her jumping up and down with the Cameron Crazies. Her last appearance in the sport came when she was in 6th grade and her team, Camp Playland, coached by Amanda Pape, won a youth championship.

In fact, Jena Neuscheler would be the first to admit that her athletic accomplishments are modest. She played on the Westhill tennis team as a freshman and sophomore, and made the team a year ago, though the Vikings’ new coach at the time, Patrik Vician, was still dealing with some cultural differences.

Though the words were not meant the way they came out, Vician said, “Jena, you’re not too good, but I’m going to let you on anyhow.” Her season consisted of one practice.

But Jena’s intelligence helped extend her career. “During tryouts I went to the courts where the coaches couldn’t see me,” she said with a smile. I’m convinced that’s how I made the team.”

Jena played youth soccer for three years and was a successful dancer. She is going to finish this year ranked somewhere in the top 10 academically out of the school’s senior class of 491 students. She is the associate editor of the Westword, the school’s outstanding and highly regarded newspaper, which last week was named one of the top 10 in a national contest.

So what is Jena doing on a sports blog? For the last two years she has been an intern in the Advocate sports department. That is not doing her justice: I started an internship program for high school students about 10 years ago, and Jena is as good as anyone we have ever had. We have had college students who both could not handle the workload or produce the level of quality that Jena has.

Jena was accepted at Virginia, North Carolina, Northwestern and received a full academic scholarship to USC, but fell in love with Duke during a recent visit.

Jena admits that while she might not have been the greatest athlete, “I have a high appreciation for people with talent. I just understand I’m not one of them.”

Perhaps, but the number of people who possess Jena’s intelligence, talent, sense of humor, level of responsibility and infectious personality is as rare as those who can come in and start for the Duke basketball team right away. As any coach who has phoned in information to Jena knows, talking to her is like talking to someone on our staff.

While she is deserving of far greater acclaim than I am able to give her, I am happy at least I have this blog to give her a little recognition.

I know I speak for the entire Advocate sports department when I say we are going to miss having Jena around the office, more so for who she is than for what she does.

(This is the latest in a series of entries by guest bloggers throughout the high school spring sports season. Fred Kelley was an assistant for Stamford High’s baseball team the last 20 years. Now, with the retirement of Bobby Augustyn, Kelley is taking over one of the city’s most storied programs. Kelley will share the ups and downs of being a first-year coach.)

By Fred Kelley

As I conclude my second week as the new head coach of baseball at Stamford High School, I see so many new aspects and pressures that come with the prestige of the position. Even though I stay positive with the players, the buck stops with me.

I will always entertain the input of my assistants at the freshmen, junior varsity and varsity levels, but my decisions have to be final and resolute. Sometimes my decisions may be unpopular with players and parents. This may mean that I have to dictate the program’s best interests as the end-all and be-all for its success. And this may mean that I have to tell my coaches how I want practices run.

I have constant communication with my coaches, but I have a vision of the baseball program’s future and present. This may involve saying and demanding who plays and who doesn’t. I try to do this with tact and diplomacy.

In our 12-9 victory over New Canaan earlier this week, I took most of the starters out when we had a 12-0 lead. That decision could be second-guessed in a thousand different ways.

To New Canaan’s credit, it battled back to make the game interesting. It is fair to get every player involved, but you risk losing and the bottom line for most is winning.

The question always is: Does keeping players happy supersede winning? Even though I always had dialogue with the junior varsity and freshmen coaches when I was the assistant varsity coach, the final decisions now come from me. These are just some of the burdens of a head coach.

There are so many positives about being the head coach of the Stamford High baseball team, but with every positive there is a negative.

The Westhill High School softball team surprised some people last year by winning the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference title with a lineup that, at the start of the season, appeared solid but unspectacular.

The Vikings won’t be sneaking up on anybody this year.

After seeing them today for the first time during a 7-1 win over Trinity, Westhill is more formidable for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is pitcher Jen Joseph. The hope at the start of last season was that Joseph would limit the amount of runs she allowed and let the team’s potent offense take care of the rest.

Joseph turned out to be both much more talented and had a lot more heart than anyone gave her credit for.

The bad news for the rest of the league this spring is Joseph looks stronger, throws harder, has added a curveball and has improved her changeup. When not playing for the school’s girls basketball team, Joseph said she threw twice a week this winter, starting in January, and has never worked harder.

It has showed so far. Joseph, like the Vikings, is 4-1. Her best game, save for a one-hitter against Ridgefield on Wednesday, may have been her lone loss. She went head-to-head with Masuk’s Rachele Fico, who is bound for LSU, and finally lost a 1-0 decision in 11 innings. Joseph allowed just three hits, two of which came during the Panthers’ winning rally. But Fico was perfect, striking out 31 of the 33 batters she faced.

Besides Joseph, the Vikings have seven other starters back. They have tough outs throughout the order, including center fielder Julie Osipow, shortstop Julianne Vincent, catcher Lynette Martinez and second baseman Brittany Longo. There is great senior leadership and more depth than a year ago. About the only shortcoming is overall team speed. And Tom Pia is one of the FCIAC’s best coaches.

It is still early to get a definite read of the league, but right now Westhill, St. Joseph and Trumbull, the three teams mentioned most often in the preseason, do indeed look like the teams to beat.

As Ruther said, opponents are going to play harder against the Vikings this season because everyone likes to beat a defending champion.

Right now, Westhill looks more than ready for the task.

(This is the latest in a series of entries by guest bloggers throughout the high school spring sports season. Sammi Nemchek is entering her fourth-year as a starter on Trinity Catholic’s softball team. Her father, Mike, coached many of the city’s top players in youth leagues, including his daughter. Sammi and Mike will explore the topical nature of the parent-athlete dynamic.)

By Sammi Nemchek

As I stated last week, I have played with a majority of Stamford’s players in the past, making me respect their abilities that much more. And as my dad mentioned, he coached a number of them as well. Therefore, I know every player was also taught the same basic fundamentals as I was, making games a very challenging competition.

Last week, as you may know, we lost our first game to Stamford High in extra innings. It was a game fought long and hard by both teams. However, Stamford came out on top.

During an intense city game, it is hard to keep myself from backing up and repositioning myself. When the coaches move me to their liking, it is so hard to stay put when I have a feel for where the batter may or usually hits the ball.

It’s a completely different game playing against players when you know what they are capable of. It is actually kind of funny to think in the past I’ve rooted for opposing team members to have a clutch hit or a game-winning diving catch, and to now do the opposite.

City games are always a lot of fun and enjoyable to play in. There’s also always some nerves that come into play as well because we’re not used to the large crowds that show up.

Girls softball, I’ve come to accept, does not exactly draw the biggest crowds. Therefore a city game is our chance to play in front of a number of people.

Tomorrow we play another city game, against Westhill, a very good team. It will be tough going up against the defending FCIAC champion, yet you never know what can happen in a city game. They are filled with a lot of energy, enthusiasm and a lot of heart.

This is one of the last city games I’ll have the opportunity to play in, so I hope to make the most of it. As a captain, I plan to lead the team so it can feed off my motivation. The fact that there is no longer a “next time” or “next year” gives me a desire to leave it all on the field.

Yesterday we faced Trumbull, a very strong defensive and offensive team. It had a great pitcher as well. I feel it was a great time to play such a difficult and well-coached team, because even though we lost it prepared us more for our tough game tomorrow.

My column today on Victoria Neff brought back a lot of memories about one of my favorite high school athletes of all time. Though Victoria grew up in Fairfield, she is well known to many throughout the county because of her prowess on the soccer field and running track, and because she played on area-wide premier teams.

I first interviewed Victoria at the FCIAC Indoor Track Championships when she was a junior, after she had won two or three titles. I got to know her better because she also worked at an independent coffee shop I frequented. Besides being an outstanding competitor, Victoria was equally adept at making mochas. We would talk about a lot of things and got to know each other well.

One of my favorite Victoria stories has nothing to do with sports. I am on the board of the Mickey Lione Jr. Fund, and because I work closely with the high schools I am in charge of selecting the volunteers for our annual fundraiser. It is a responsibility I am very selective about.

One day when I was getting a coffee, I mentioned the event to Victoria and asked her if she would like to volunteer. She said she would, and asked if I needed any more kids. Usually I like to know everyone personally, but I trusted Victoria enough to come through, though I initially expressed my reservations.

“Don’t worry Dave,” I remember her saying. “I know a bunch of good people, they are outgoing and personable, and you will love them.”

And Victoria, as always, was right. She knew exactly the type of kids I was looking for and supplied them. She is one of the most responsible people I have ever met.

We kept in touch during her first year at Providence and then lost contact until this winter, when I ran into Victoria and her mother at the place I have breakfast each morning. We caught up and she told me about her intentions to join the Peace Corps, which was the impetus for today’s column.

I reminded her that our fundraiser was in two weeks, and though Victoria would be going back to college that week and she didn’t really know any of the other volunteers, she agreed to hostess and was one of the many people who contributed to the success of our event.

After having to sit out her freshman year for the Providence soccer team due to a knee injury, she was frustrated and many people thought she should transfer. But Victoria is not a quitter, and she became a key part of the team because of both her natural ability and penchant for working harder than anyone else on the field.

The best part of this job is the athletes (and coaches) you cover who end up becoming friends. I count Victoria among that list.

While I’m saddened that she is going to be away for two years in China, since she is going to be involved in international relations in some capacity, it makes me feel good about the future.

As I have learned over the last five years, it is good to have Victoria Neff on your side.

(This is the latest in a series of entries by guest bloggers throughout the high school spring sports season. Returning captains Bobby Horn and Steve Rivera, who played a key role during the Westhill High School baseball team’s magical run to the CIAC Class LL championship last year, will take you along for the ride as the Vikings deal with the pressures of attempting to repeat.)

By Bobby Horn and Steve Rivera

We just suffered our first loss of the season on Monday, to Staples. It was a very tough loss for us, especially since it was the rematch of last year’s FCIAC championship.

We hoped this time, things would be different. However, we lost 3-1, which was the same score that lives in our nightmares from the final last spring.

It was a very tough battle as the Connecticut state champions faced off against the FCIAC league champions. It was a game that both of us were excited to play since it was the ultimate rematch. Not only was this a rematch against Staples, but it was also a rematch against its No. 1 pitcher, David Speer, who we also had trouble with in the championship game.

We came out firing with two quick hits, by Scott Valenzano and Bobby Horn, to lead off the first. Then Steve Rivera drove in our lone run on a ground out. We were pumped up and were looking to score more.

Staples, however, tied the game in the bottom of the first with a leadoff double that was misplayed by our left fielder. He lost the ball in the sun. We had many opportunities to break the game open but we just could not find that clutch hitting that we needed.

Steve did exactly what we wanted him to do. He pitched a complete game and gave up only three runs, with just one pitching mistake, a two-run homer in the third inning.

Steve seemed untouchable. He recorded 13 strikeouts out of the 18 outs we were able to record. It is just frustrating to us that we could not back up our pitcher, who pitched a great game.

Speer, however, once again gave us trouble. We only had four hits in our disappointing loss. We were definitely our own worst enemy that game. We can only hope to see Staples again in the playoffs, where we will look to come out on top.

However, it is good to get this out of our system and it is time to play the Westhill baseball that we all know we are capable of playing. We came out to practice the next day and were looking forward to our next three games this week: today at Ridgefield, Friday vs. crosstown rival Trinity and Saturday vs. Weston.

It is important for us to keep our eyes on the prize and come out with the eye of the tiger. We are confident in our team that we will come back from this loss and continue to move along in the right direction and put ourselves in the win column.

(This is the latest in a series of entries by guest bloggers throughout the high school spring sports season. Stamford High senior Emily Powers, a starting defender for the school’s two-time state championship field hockey team, is playing lacrosse this spring though she had never picked up a stick before and the program is still competing on the JV level. She will tell you why and document the experience.)

By Emily Powers

The field hockey season ended for me four months before my first lacrosse practice. Coming off a season being the team’s leader and captain, and winning back-to-back state championships, the adjustment has been hard to handle.

During field hockey practices I had always been the leader, the one the coach picked to demonstrate the drills, be at the front of the line, etc. My first lacrosse practice was held last Thursday, and within the first 10 minutes I could already feel the changes.

I was just passing with Laura Dembofsky and she was trying to teach me the basics of the game (throwing and catching). Then out of nowhere, I heard a voice yelling, “You need to lift your elbow up if you want to get any type of speed!”

I turned my head sharply because I most certainly did not recognize this voice as one of the coaches. A small sophomore girl on our team named Haley was running towards me. Now during field hockey season, advice from a sophomore was highly unlikely. But with the new sport, I embraced what she had to say, gave it a shot and just like that my ball was soaring through the air at double the speed it had before.

While yes, I am a senior with a background in athletics, the truth of the matter is I am playing a new sport, and it’s okay to let the younger girls teach me.

Field hockey was my sport; I knew the rules, the game and how to perform under pressure. I was the one giving out the advice, the little hints on how to make their shot better, and the basic rules of the game.

But as I stood on the sideline watching my very first girls lacrosse game yesterday, I was asking the sophomores and juniors questions about the rules of the game and little hints on how to become better.

While it is a change of pace from what I am used to, change really is never a bad thing.