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Brake in the Action
by Keith Brake
Scoll down to read:
- Could you send the clowns a dollar?
- Kids' skills lacking? Maybe we adults are at fault . .
- The '89-'90 Braves were 26 and Oh!
- Are you ready for some slow-pitch softball?
Could you send the clowns a dollar?
March 4, 2010
Could you afford to send a dollar ($1) to help keep Montezuma sports and news going on our website?
If so, please do it today. The need was never greater.
Those of you who advertise or donate on a regular basis, THANK YOU! And, we're not asking you to give more.
But if everyone who regularly views our efforts here would send just one dollar, one time - we probably wouldn't have to ask again! Montezuma graduates have literally gone to the four corners of the earth. We hear from one of those corners from time to time!
So, here's the address: Kingdom Klowns, p.o. box 87, Montezuma, Iowa 50171.
And remember, we're a business, not a charity, so your gift is not tax deductable.
Kids' skills lacking? Maybe adults are at fault . .
Feb. 27, 2010
Over the last 30 or so years of covering high school sports, it has been my observation that in general, skills are eroding. It hasn't happened all at once and those skills haven't gone entirely, of course.
It's not just in Montezuma. It's everywhere.
There are exceptions, here and everywhere.
And the exceptions play starring roles, even though they might not resemble the all-around athletes that roamed our fields two generations ago.
In basketball, kids can't shoot the ball as well. In football, most of them don't throw or catch as well. In baseball and softball, fewer and fewer can get the ball over the plate consistently, or they'll hit off their back foot and beat the ball into the ground.
Ask a lot of kids to go out and practice a skill, and you'll get this "look."
The nose wrinkles and the words, "Not now," or "I don't want to" form on their lips.
Those of us 50-somethings start thinking, "work! They think it's work! I'd get better results asking them to do a defensive slide drill barefoot on rough concrete."
I've seen many good coaches who are in their 50s step aside because they "can't communicate" with today's kids.
I shared my observations with a friend who coaches and successfully, I might add.
I covered Larry Johnsen's high school football games when I lived in Geneseo, Ill. He's the head coach there now. He has extended the school's streak of consecutive winning football seasons to 47. The program was holding its ground before he came, but it's on a quick rise now. This year's team made it to the state championship game.
He had more skilled kids . .who were being challenged every day and were having fun solving the problems they were encountering.
He told me he agrees with my assessment that skills have eroded, "to a point," he said.
But he doesn't blame the kids.
"I think one of the big problems lies with coaches," he said. "We are all guilty of burning kids out."
He cited a dad, who was a great high school basketball player, who said to his son, "let's go out and shoot some baskets." The son replied, "dad, I just want a break from basketball. We have a summer game tonight and I'm really getting tired of it."
A summer basketball game. Organized. Scheduled. Johnsen wasn't picking on basketball, quickly adding football and baseball to his list.
Kids who were my age didn't have a lot of organized summer activities when they grew up. Maybe six weeks of scheduled baseball games, for the elite athletes. But that was about it.
It picked up during the school year. Still, we didn't have Twitter, or Facebook. There were no cell phones or texting. Personal computers hadn't come along yet. We just had two TV stations and there were no Wiis.
Not many of us in high school had a car.
A primitive existence? Hardly. Well, we didn't think so. It was pretty up-to-the-moment, at the time.
We just went outside, invented games and played until we heard our moms out on the back porch yelling to call us home.
My early years were served in Rock Island, where we played a lot of basketball. I wasn't much of an athlete and my high school career ended after my sophomore season. But I could shoot. If you shoot thousands of shots, you can become pretty proficient, even if you are a doughboy! I didn't go to a shooting camp. (A what)? I just watched guys who were good shooters and imitated them . .and imitated them . . .and imitated them.
Today, we're still imitating. We're hauling our kids from one practice to the next activity to an important individual lesson and on to a vital team camp.
Johnsen said, "There is no way today's adults could keep up with a teenager's schedule, at least from what I can see."
"What sports like baseball, football and basketball have become is jobs," he said. "Nobody likes a JOB, but we do like hobbies . . .which is what it was like 30 years ago."
"Adults organize too many things instead of letting kids organize them," Johnsen said.
The coach said he would like to see a little less adult involvement. Let the kids play and supervise themselves, he says.
Gee, that's what we used to do. We were ignorant, but not stupid. (There's a difference - I think).
"Things have to be fresh," Johnsen said. "They have to be fun."
"How many times have you heard coaches say, 'man, am I tired,'?" Johnsen asked. "How to you think the kids will be if the coaches are like this?"
If Larry Johnsen is correct, how did we get this way?
And why is it different for a perennial winner? That's another story, but it has much to do with keeping things simple and being able to laugh at yourself when people around you are crazy about being serious.
We've allowed sport to imitate life, specifically corporate life. Get bigger, get organized, and for heaven's sake - specialize.
And look out! In this economy, our sports programs could get downsized by budget cuts!
That might not be all bad, come to think of it.
Sometimes we can be too critical of our young people. We helped to create the world they live in.
I wouldn't want to be a kid today. Too many crocodiles at their fingertips.
We had it made.
Theirs is a primitive existence.
The '89-'90 Braves were 26 and Oh!
Feb. 9, 2010
Elsewhere on this website (click HERE), there's a story about the reunion coming up March 12 for the 1989-90 Class 1A state champion Braves basketball team and their cheerleaders.
Here's a little more:
Twenty yers ago, the Braves made their fifth trip to the boys state basketball tournament.
The first two trips came in 1949 and in 1950. Coached by the late I.A. Gabriel, the Braves played in the old Field House on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City.
In 1970 and again in 1971, coach Dennis Brand brought the Montezuma Braves to Veterans Memorial Auditorium. The 1971 team captured the Braves' first state title, beating Alta in the finals to end up with a perfect 26-0 record. The Montezuma cheerleaders, under the direction of Mary Holtz, won the first sportsmanship award ever presented.
Almost two decades later, in 1990, the Braves returned to Vets with a 23-0 record and a number two seed.
In the first round, the Braves, led by Jeff Spain's 15 rebounds, defeated a very aggressive Northeast of Goose Lake team by the score of 59-55. In their second game, senior post player Rich Grife scored 30 points as the Braves ralled from behind to win a thriller over the Postville Pirates, 73-66.
The championship game on Friday night featured #1 seed West Marshall versus the #2 seeded Braves. Led by all-state guard Jamie Arendt with 24 points, the Braves played their best game of the season in the title tilt, defeating an outstanding team from State Center, 73-55, to cap a perfect season at 26-0.
The 1990 Braves were led by six outstanding seniors, two of whom made the all-tournament team. Guard Jamie Arendt averaged over 20 points per game in the tournament and made both a three-pointer and a dunk in the championship game. Teammate Rich Grife scored 71 points and captured 35 rebounds in the three-game series. He was named captain of the all-tournament team.
The Montezuma cheerleaders, under the direction of Sally Arendt, once again took home the coveted sportsmanship award.
There is basketball history here - and it's rich and abundant.
Are you ready for some slow-pitch softball?
Jan. 26, 2010
Ron Hensel at Ron's Barber Shop is wondering if there might be some interest in forming a co-ed slow pitch softball league in Montezuma.
He brought up the topic at the Montezuma Lions Club meeting on Jan. 25 and was asked to do a little research on the topic.
Ron's idea is for a league - or maybe even a night, like the churches do - of co-ed slow pitch for persons 18 and over.
If you have any input, get hold of Ron.
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