Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

31 Oct 2007 Issue #42

Last week’s entire athletic schedule was cancelled due to the San Diego Country wildfires and will not be made up, according to a directive from CIF San Diego Section Commissioner Dennis Ackerman. Schools will be allowed, air quality permitting, to resume workouts and competition Tuesday, Oct. 30.

In a prepared statement released last week, Ackerman said, “Your cooperation during this trying time and taking the opportunity to teach our student-athletes the value of respect for the condition of 514,000 individuals in our section displaced from their homes, is appreciated.”

Contributing to the decision to start practices on Tuesday is the fact that several schools in the San Diego Unified School District served as emergency shelters late into last week, will not re-open until Tuesday. This action levels the competitive playing field for all schools in the county, regardless of their location.

CHS Sports Updates

Here are thumbnail updates on the CHS fall sports schedules for the coming week.

Boys’ Water Polo – Unable to compete in the Cal State Memorial Invitational last week, the state of California’s unofficial state water polo championship, the Islanders return to action this week for their final two regular season games. Heading into their final Western League game Wednesday against University City at 5 pm at the Coronado Municipal Pool, the Islanders hold a one game lead in conference. If they defeat U.C., the Islanders will win the Western League title outright.

The regular season concludes with a 7 pm home game Friday night against Foothill. The CIF Division II Playoffs will begin Thursday, Nov. 8, with Coronado likely to be the No. 1 seed. They will host a home game, with the time and opponent yet to be determined.

Football – Coming off of a tough loss to Madison two weeks ago, the Islanders would likely have turned things around last Saturday at Crawford. Instead they embark on a two-game home stand to conclude their regular season.

Friday night Coronado hosts Clairemont at 7:30 pm. The Chieftains are 2-5 with wins over San Diego and Sweetwater this season. Their last game was a 42-9 loss to University City. The Islanders are 4-3 entering the game.

Friday, Nov. 9, the annual Homecoming game will be played against Kearny. The JV game is scheduled for Thursday evening, so the Varsity game will kick-off at 7 pm. To stay in the Central League title chase, Coronado needs some help from University City in their game with Madison Nov. 9.

Cross Country – The Central League title will be on the line Tuesday at 3 pm at Morley Field, when the Islanders Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams run against Christian. Hopefully both Coronado teams will be able to regain their form after more than a week off from training due to air quality issues. The Islanders and Patriots girls' teams will arrive with records of 4-0. The Islander boys also have a 4-0 record and go against a strong Christian team that lost only to Clairemont in a close meet.

Girls Volleyball – The Islanders lost winnable games against Serra and San Diego High School due to the cancellations. This Tuesday they play their final Eastern League match of the season against Patrick Henry. The varsity game will begin at approximately 4:30 pm, following the completion of the JV and Frosh/Soph games.

The game will also mark the first time this season that Coronado will play at home on the championship side of the gymnasium, due to the fire in the Blumenthal Sports Complex over the summer. The court surface repair and re-coating is completed, but the scoreboards still are in need of repair.

It is likely the Islanders will receive a favorable seeding position in the CIF Division IV playoffs.

Girls Golf – The Islanders lost matches against Scripps Ranch and La Jolla last week, and now go directly into City Conference play Tuesday at Cottonwood Golf Course. That event has been shortened from a two-day affair to one day of competition. Competitors will play 18 holes.

Coronado had five players finish in the Top 40 in the City Conference, making them eligible to compete in the event. Representing Coronado will be Jackie Davis, Mackenzie Coutts, Andrea Davis, Bridgett Nielsen and Allie Icenhower. Good individual scores could earn the players slots in the CIF Individual Play Tournament in two weeks.

Girls Tennis – Western League team competition was completed a week early for the Islanders, with CIF Team play scheduled for this week from Tuesday through Friday. Western League individual play will begin next week and will be followed by CIF Individual play starting the week of Nov. 12.

Cheerleaders Working Hard This Season

Under the direction of Advisor and Coach Nicole Belong and Coach Tomik Plummer, the CHS Cheerleaders continue to provide upbeat and entertaining performances at the Islander Football games this year.

Seniors on this year’s squad include Jackie Cumming, Brittany Penn, Neisha Scales, Nora Kaminski, Rosetta Wilson, Margaret Pack, Lexi Scott, Christen Grant, Nicole Tesh, Kelly McCray, and Andrea Arendsee.

Also contributing to the success of the team are Bridget Garbers, Allison Dowell, Jessica Lewis, Kaitlyn Mehrwerth, Allie Wright, Kelli Vertiz, Kristen Bonner, Monica Chapa, Harley Reid, Ashley Lazareno, Ashleigh Lloyd, and Mercedes Hinton. The team competes in regional and national cheer competitions throughout the winter and spring months. Congratulations to the girls for all of their hard work this year.

Lifeguard Training Course on the Horizon

It’s a fact of life that you can’t have an aquatics complex without lifeguards, and to address that issue, there will be a senior lifeguard training course offered starting Thursday, Nov. 1 at 6 pm. The 31- hour American Red Cross course will be conducted in eight sessions, and is under the direction of Bent Memorial Aquatics Center Manager Nick Naiman. Candidates who successfully complete the course may be interviewed for jobs at the complex.

The public is encouraged to enroll and CHS students are invited to participate.

The course which costs $150, an amount that includes all class materials, will be taught in classrooms at CHS and at the Coronado Municipal Pool. To download a registration form, please go to www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. Questions may be directed to Naiman via E-mail at nnaiman@coronado.k12.ca.us.

ISF – Coronado Middle School Sports Registration Date Set

Wednesday, Nov. 7, will be the registration date for the Coronado Middle School winter sports season. The meeting will be held at CMS Granzier Hall from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Attendance by interested parents and student-athletes is strongly encouraged. Information regarding teams, schedules and coaches will be disseminated at the meeting.

The winter sports offered include Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Boys Basketball, Girls Softball and Co-ed Golf. The fee is $110 per sport, per child.

There will be a similar spring sports registration meeting held Feb. 6, 2008 for the sports of Boys Lacrosse, Co-ed Track and Field, Girls Basketball, Co-ed Water Polo and Co-ed Tennis.

If you are new to the ISF-CMS Sports program, you may download all of the applicable forms at www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com. Your child must have a current athletic physical and have all of the forms completed and filed before they can practice or participate in an ISF-CMS sponsored sport. Under no circumstances will any applications or payments be accepted after the close of business Wednesday, Nov. 21. For questions, please contact either Suzette Valle at avalle@san.rr.com or Cassandra Stroud at cmstroud@pacbell.net.

World Series Natterings

Over the weekend, I watched most of Games 3 and 4 of the 2007 World Series with different sets of friends and relatives. Saturday, a friend of the Natter Wife’s and mine from college (Miami University, Go Redhawks!) was in town and after dinner we watched the Rockies comeback and then their ultimate demise.

Coincidentally, our friend and her husband currently reside in Denver and had tickets to World Series Game 5 Monday night. The results of Game 4 probably saved them a couple of hundred dollars each.

Game 4 was viewed with a group of relatives, including a well-intentioned recent adult addition to the clan who is a Giants fan. He is pro-Barry Bonds and anti-Bruce Boche, thus not able to be trusted. We counted the silverware after he left (No, not really).

The universal thought among all of the World Series viewers describe above, regardless of their team affiliation, was that the Rockies were done a disservice by Major Leagues Baseball in requiring them take nine days off between the end of the National League Championship series and Game 1 of the World Series. Never in the 100+ years of baseball history had a team won 21 of their last 22 games at the conclusion of the season. Coincidentally, never before in baseball history had there been that many days off between the conclusion of one phase of the playoffs and the next. The result was a 4-0 Red Sox sweep of the Rockies.

I thought going into the World Series that the Red Sox were the slightly better team. Their batting order of David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, World Series MVP Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek and a fine supporting cast were tough in the clutch. The Sox outscored the Rockies 29-10 in the series and had a team batting average of .333.

Although Lowell is a worthy MVP, the real Red Sox hero may have been pitcher Jonathan Papelbon, who scattered two hits and didn’t allow any runs in 4.1 innings of relief over Games 2-4. Papelbon, who throws in the mid to high 90’s earned three saves and the undying gratitude of Red Sox Nation. Papelbon may never have to buy a restaurant meal for the rest of his life in the Boston area.

The Rockies deserved a better fate, which is not to say they were pre-ordained to win the World Series. The bad news for all Padre, Cub and Giant fans is that the Rockies are very talented and very young. National League general managers are going to have to work hard to level the playing field for 2008.

Chargers Blast the Texans

San Diego fans were finally able to see their team perform in all of their glory Sunday as the Chargers took a 35-3 lead into the locker room at halftime and coasted in for a 35-10 win over the Houston Texans. Head Coach Norv Turner has finally learned how to get the ball consistently to tailback LaDainian Tomlinson and tight end Antonio Gates. On the other side of the line, the Charger defense stymied the Texas at every turn.

That’s the good news. The bad news is the Texans are just that – bad and the one-sided result Sunday should be discounted.

With a little luck, the Chargers could close out the season with a 7-2 mark over their last nine games. They figure to lose to Indianapolis at home and to either Kansas City or Tennessee in back-to-back road games in early December. An overall 11-5 mark will easily gain them entry into the playoffs.

However, the Colts and the Patriots, currently the two best teams in pro football, both stand between the Bolts and the Super Bowl. San Diego is near the top of the ‘Best of the Rest’ in the AFC. All of this may equate to another in a series of shortened playoff runs for the Chargers this season.