About The Sylvania times. (Sylvania, Ga.) 2022-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2022)
Page 10 - Wednesday, June 1, 2022 The Sylvania Times thesy lvaniatimes .com Around the horn Farewell to the Classroom but not the Athletic Department Burton Kemp I will start Around the Horn with something that has nothing to do with sports and is totally personal; this week was my last as a teacher at Screven County High School. My last day with any students was May 25 and my last day as a faculty member was yesterday. Sometime in late August or early September back in 1979 this saga began in a classroom in a wing of a building that no longer exists. It was the last room on the wing closest to the auditorium. Ironically it was the room where, four years before, we had laid out the SCHS newspaper The Gamecock. It was a really good high school newspaper but it did not exist by 1979. Bittersweet is the word I use for the last few weeks as this sinks in. After 43 years at SCHS I ab solutely and definitively do not want to grade another DBQ or LEQ or SAQ or FRQ (a pair of former stellar students in Adam Bazemore and Cody Waters get to do that now). That alone makes the decision totally right. But as Joyce Jamerson, who is leaving SCHS after 47 years, said to me “this has been a life time.” It has been. I don’t know why, but that statement had a very sombering effect on me. Anyway I will still be doing all of the athletic related things that I have also been doing for a very long time and that is enough about that. Some really big news for GSU baseball came out Sunday night; out of the ashes of a blown Sun Belt Conference Championship game no less. The NCAA an nounced the 16 sites to host the baseball regionals and States boro GA was among the 16. The 40-18 Eagles will be the number 16 seed and will no doubt face the toughest lineup of any regional host, but they are a host. GSU is one of just three non Power-5 Conference hosts, the others being East Carolina and Southern Mississippi. The other hosts are Auburn, Texas, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Maryland, Texas A&M, Miami (FL), Oregon State, Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, Stanford, and Oklahoma State. The three teams to be hosted by GSU were announced on ESPN Monday. There will be two games on Friday with times for all games announced afterwards. The winners of each regional will advance to the Super Regional next weekend. The Eagles have not been to a regional since 2014 and have not been to the College World Series since 1990 (also the last time they went to a Super Regional). So how did GSU get tabbed to host a baseball regional? Principally on the strength of their RPI, which is a measure of strength of schedule is the an swer. The Ratings Power Index is much like the old power rank ings the GHSA used in Class A when publics and privates played together. GSU finished 11th nationally, right between number 10 Oklahoma State and number 12 Florida. The rankings go all the way through 301 and Alcorn State. Okay here is something that I promised none other than Jimmy “Popeye” Ondriezek I would get in here this week- our 2022 football schedule. Okay, here we go. Everything begins with a “kickoff” in our home scrim mage against Effingham County on August 12. Then comes the nonregion schedule of GSIC (Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics ) at home on Au gust 19, Bacon County in Alma on August 26, Westside comes here on September 2, there is an Open date on September 9, Jen kins County is here for the Hall ofFame Game on September 16, Warren County will host us on September 23, and South Effing ham will be here on September 30. After another Open date on October 7 the Region 3A-D1 schedule will begin with Bryan County here for Homecoming on October 14, a trip to Savan nah High and their brand new stadium on October 21, Claxton here on October 28 for Senior Night, and a trip to Metter on November 4. Think of this, with but five region football teams and four region games, a single region win could easily put the Roosters in the state playoffs. Yes, there are six home games for the regular season plus the scrimmage so there are seven Friday nights you may visit Kelly Memorial Stadium for varsity football. With the un certain status of Gamecocktv, this could be significant. An interesting note is that two of our last three games will be on artificial turf. Of course Kelly Memorial Stadium does boast the best natural turf around. If you missed it our own Region 3A baseball champion Metter repeated as the Class A state baseball champions last week. Playing over at GSU they swept Charlton County by 8-7 and 3-0 scores. With only a single game on Tuesday and a possible double header on Wednesday Metter Head Coach Zach Rackett elected to save his ace for day two and made himself look the genius. Also at GSU last Wednesday afternoon Vidalia won the class AA state championship over Thomas- ville. The two schools are 34 miles apart and split games back in February. Recr©atk>m ID)@pair(tm@iiil N©ws District Tournaments at SCRD The Screven County Recreation Department will be hosting the Georgia Recreation and Park Association District 1 Tournaments for 10U Girls Softball, 8U Boys Baseball and 14U Boys Baseball June 6-8 at the SCRD Complex. Brackets for these tournaments will be available at screvenrec.com and quickscores.com/grpa. TTMIEYOILUJTIICQM ©IF EVTERSCHOLASTTC ATHLETICS AT SYLVANIA HIGH SCHOOL By Burton Kemp PART II The positive movement in athletics begun at Sylvania High by the ten graduates of the class of 1918 was continued in the fall of 1918 when the Sylvania Hi Report (an inclusion among the pages of the Sylvania Telephone from time to time) announced, “In spite of the hot weather the pupils are going on with athletics. We intend on putting on our Friday afternoon meets- soon. The boys began lying off a tennis court this week.” All of this work was done under the direction of the newly elected SHS Athletic Association. Its members were: President Louise Wells, Vice President Clifford Hart, Secretary Vemey Waters, and Treasurer Lila Bazemore. A new attitude began to emerge among athletes when the tennis courts were completed in October. While the Athletic Club encouraged others, “the SHS Club will be glad for others than the school boys and girls to join and use the playground,” they insisted on a ten cents per month charge or “do not use any part of our playground at any time.” Seemingly the group was beginning to view itself as a little better than the average playground group, much the way a varsity team would view itself above a physical education team. In the spring of 1919 the county faculties jumped on the bandwagon, organizing the Screven County Athletic Association, whose purpose was to “foster all lines of athletics in the schools of Screven County.” It was a countywide movement and included all of the white schools of the county. The Association hoped to “encourage more attention to the playground movement among schools” by having the first contest between all county schools. This first county athletic meet was held on Friday, May 9, 1919 at the Sylvania High play ground. Events for boys included the 100-yard dash, pole vault, 220 yard dash, mnning broad jump, sack race, three-legged race, and Vi mile mnning relay race. Events specifically listed for girls were the walking relay race and the potato race. The results of the event made front page news in the May 16 Sylvania Telephone, which stated “a large crowd was present at the Athletic Meet in Sylvania last Friday, a number of the schools in the county being represented.” It is unfortunate that only the school of all winners was mentioned instead of individual names. It is quite certain that Sylvania dominated all events, recording first place in six of the seven boys’ field events for those above 12 years of age. Sylvania also won the only basketball game of the day, defeating Oliver 14-2, making its extramural cage debut a success. Incidentally, Harmony picked up the other first place, in the 220 yard dash, while Beulah and Cooperville had the most second-place finishes with two each. Beulah led the under 12 events with three firsts to Sylvania’s two and one each by Jackson and Douglas Branch. Sylvania’s over-12 girls picked up a first and a second while their under- 12s did not place. Other schools participating, based on first and second place finishes, were Rocky Ford, Jackson, Newington, Green Hill, Elmwood, Goloid, and Cooperville. For this athletic movement to continue its growth during the 1919-1920 school term, there was but one way to go, begin interscholastic athletic competition. Sylvania High did not take that step during 1919-1920, though one county high school, Hilltonia, did. Hilltonia was rec ognized as playing interscholastic baseball in the May 12, 1920 Telephone. A significant and not necessarily unrelated change took place at SHS in the fall of 1920. It was announced that, beginning in the fall of 1920, an eleventh grade would be added to the school, thus increasing the number of students in high school and helping enable SHS to take that final athletic step. With three successful years of athletic contests with other county schools and plenty of intramurals now under their belt, the students and faculty of Sylvania High School made the final step in the fall of 1920, entering the realm of interscholastic athletics for the first time. Of course the addition of an eleventh grade, which now allowed Sylvania to be an accredited school (a fact that was published on October 8, 1920), did not hurt the cause either. The September 24, 1920 edition of the Telephone announced that both the boys and girls were forming basketball teams, “Much interest is manifested in athletics this year, basketball teams are being formed by both the boys and the girls.” Robert Gunnels was elected captain of the boys and Katie Mobley was elected girls’ captain. “Supervisors” of the teams were to be Mr. M.C. McCall and Mrs. Bailey. The significance of academics were not lost on the faculty as it was stipulated that members of the basketball teams were to be put on a “scholarship basis,” no one could play on the teams who did not have an average of at least 75 in his or her studies. Team members were responsible for buying their own uniforms and, as far as anyone can remember, there was no team mascot. In fact, team colors seemed to change every time uniforms changed. Colors went from navy and white to black and white, to orange and black to no particular colors at all in a year when the players had no uniforms at all. Next week: How did these first varsity teams perform? TENNIS CLINIC Dates: June 6-9 (Mon-Thurs Time: 8:30am-10:00am Cost: $25 Ages: 5-8 yr old beginners (rising K - 3rd graders) Location: SCRD Tennis Courts Instructor: Diane Freeman BASKETBALL CAMP Dates: June 13-16 (Mon-Thurs) Time: 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. Cost $30 Ages 7-14 boys & girls Location: SCRD gym Instructors: Madelyn Brown, Bubba Brown Instructor for Softball Camp: Kamryn Ellis ~> MARTIAL ARTS CAMP Dates: June6-8 (Mon-Wed) Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12 p.m. Cost: $75 (discount for sibling) Ages: 5 & UP Location: SCRD Gym Instructor: Andi Johnson Bring your own water & snacks SWIMMING LESSONS Session Dates: June 6-17 10:00 a.m. Pre-K/Beginner & Intermediate 11:00 a.m. Beginner & Advanced Beginner Cost: $30/person / 2 week session Youth 6&UP can take Beginner (level 1&2), Advanced Beginner (level 3&4), or Intermediate (level 5) Classes. A Pre-K Class (ages 4-5) will be offered at 10:00AM. *An adult must be with the child for the Pre-K Class. SOFTBALL CAMP Dates: July 18-21 (Mon-Thurs) Time: 5:30-7:30 Cost: $30 (camp/t-shirt included) Ages: 10 & up Location: SCRD Youth Complex GYMNASTICS CAMP Dates: June 20-23 (Mon-Thurs) Time: 9:00am-12:00pm Cost: $50 (includes snack each day & a camp t-shirt) Ages: 5&UP Location: SCRD Gym Instructors: Ashley Edenfield & Katelyn Bazemore Signup by June 10! LIFE U Q JUNE 7-8 X SCREVEN HIGH SCHOOL weryone how? Clit Suhiria ©its > v * |i|i]tii( {Writ i| mum SSL Sudoku Solution Stop by today and see our NEWLY REMODELED LOCATIONlflH EMBROIDERY - CUSTOM ARTWORK Family Reunion T-Shirts 0 3 e A 5 & a J 1 0 1 i 0 a 1 3 5 0 1 3 e J 3 0 i e fi a 5 8 3 1 A j 3 8 s G S \ 3 9 a 1 i 3 e G a 0 1 3 0 1 A 3 0 i 5 8 a 3 8 5 3 i e & i J a 2 1 8 5 0 A 3
