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Forsyth All-County middle school basketball
From staff reports
| The next generation of Forsyth
County basketball talent, both on the
court and on the sidelines, has been
chosen.
Forsyth County’s middle schools
, recently selected the All-County
teams for basketball players and bas¬
ketball cheerleaders. In all, 128 stu¬
dents from the county’s eight middle
: schools were honored, with 40 boys
players, 40 girls players and 48 cheer-
4 leaders making the cut. All-county
honors were split evenly between sev
enth and eighth graders.
Boys basketball players
Liberty: Mohamed Camara, Jacob
Deal and Mikey Hackney (seventh
grade); Connor Schlegel and Andy
Lungwana (eighth grade).
* Little Mill: Carson Byrd (seventh
, grade); Michael Oldham, Nick Graff,
Sean Moseley and Ellery Johnson
■
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1 Photo submitted
The Stonehaven men’s team poses for a photo following a win at the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association championship.
For the Forsyth County News
SANDY SPRINGS — The
Stonehaven C7 Men’s doubles
team experienced an exciting end
to spring season recently, earning
a title win at the Atlanta Lawn
Tennis Association (ALTA) cham¬
pionship.
Early football signing period gaining favor in SEC
By Joseph Person
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
I
DESTIN, Fla. — In many foot
? ball hamlets and college towns
£ | across Day for the football South, is National treated Signing almost
$ like a holiday: a month of buildup
? followed by a day where little work
gets done, at least in the male, 18
| to-40 demographic.
M I Well, Christmas could come early
i if some coaches get their wish.
The prospect of an early signing
] period for football is gaining who
momentum among coaches
want to keep pace with a recruiting
process that seems to begin earlier
. s every year.
At the SEC’s spring meetings last
year, the coaches voted against an
early signing date 9-3. Kentucky’s
Rich Brooks, LSU’s Les Miles and
Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson were the
supporters.
The issue is on the agenda again,
and there appears to be more support
*
(eighth grade).
North Forsyth: Andrew Wilson
and Mason McEver (seventh grade);
Trevor Sams (eighth Bowline, grade).
Otwell: Ryder Miller
Cone and Josh Parrish (seventh
grade); John Ackland, Chris Bier,
Colby Barnes and Damien Butler
(eighth grade).
Piney Grove: Christian Covert
(seventh grade); Daniel Pike (eighth
grade).
Riverwatch: Matt Helms, Danny
Edgeworth, Brad Mapes and Clay
Crosby (seventh grade); Justin
Reichling, Reeves Terrell and Devon
Schmit (eighth grade).
South Forsyth: Josh Cardiello and
T J Russell (seventh grade); Hunter
Beeghley, Devin Gearhart and T J
Shipes (eighth grade).
Vickery Creek: Carter Depping.
AJ Erdely, Trevor O’Connor and
Mason Waters (seventh grade); Daniel
Yates and Luke McCracken (eighth
grade).
Sandy Springs Tennis facility
hosted this year’s C-Level city
championships on its 24 courts.
Members of Stonehaven said that
as a new subdivision in Forsyth
County, they felt like a well-oiled
machine in spite of their lack of
experience playing together.
“We finished the season at 31
for the addition of a December sign¬
ing date, which would precede not
replace -the traditional February sign¬
ing period.
Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer is
among at least three SEC coaches
who have warmed to the idea.
“Originally, I didn’t know if it
would help us. It takes some time
after the season to get out there and
round them up,” Fulmer said Tuesday.
“Now it’s moved up so much, includ¬
ing sophomores and juniors, way ear¬
lier, it might help us.”
Increasingly, recruits are commit¬
ting to schools as high school juniors.
However, because such oral commit¬
ments are nonbinding, coaches are
forced to baby-sit committed players
until the February signing day to fend
off the recruiting efforts of other
schools.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville
calls that practice is a waste of money
— a sentiment he believes must be
conveyed to university presidents if
they are to approve an early signing
Girls basketball players
Liberty: Chelsea Forrester (sev
enth grade); Jenna Thompson and
Savannah Gratz (eighth grade).
Little Mill: Kathryn Wallace (sev
enth grade); Kayla Vincent (eighth
grade).
North Forsyth: Carlin Light,
Savannah Chapman, Cailey
Abercrombie and Tiffany Harbin
(seventh grade); Kasey Meadows,
Hunter Pugh and Emily Adams
(eighth grade).
Otwell: Chederli Belongilot and
Tayler Mauldin (seventh grade);
Kayla Richards, Keeley Chester,
Brooke Heilman and Caitlin Dabbs
(eighth grade).
Piney Grove: Madison Chilton
and Brie Haynes (seventh grade);
Kristie Mason and Sam Croce (eighth
grade).
Riverwatch: Bess McClure, Taylor
Runge and Sloan Shanahan (seventh
grade); Natalee Laye, Sydney Stroup
points, which places us at 89 per
cent, which was fabulous since we
played against some very good
teams” said Tom Duke, a team
member.
“This is my first ALTA team I
have ever played [on] and I’ve
been told that taking the city finals
is a rare and tough thing to accom-
period.
Most schools have about 20 to
30 percent (of recruits) that know
they want to go that school. So you
can go ahead and sign them up,
then you don’t have to keep going
every week ” Tuberville said. “You
spend thousands of dollars revisit¬
ing the schools as they go. Just
because they’re committed doesn’t
mean they’re coming.”
Besides the wasted money,
Alabama’s Nick Saban cringes at the
amount of time devoted to players
who already have given a school their
word.
During a forum organized by the
National Football Foundation this
month in Dallas, American Football
Coaches Association director Grant
Teaff said a recent survey found 70
percent of coaches supported an early
signing date.
Teaff said coaches were split on
the issue until proponents settled on
the December date, which would fall
near the existing signing period for
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS —Thursday, May 29, 200B
(seventh grade); Kelly Wells, Brittany
Gores and Jordyn Holzer (eighth
grade).
Otwell: Courtney Hewatt, Abby
Williams and Katie Purcell (seventh
grade); Caitlin McHan, Alyssa Bagley
and Ashley Carr (eighth grade)
Piney Grove: Karen Beasley,
Racael Huie and Chandler Renouf
(seventh grade); Michaela Schival,
Sydney Renouf and Tailana Lorenzo
(eighth grade).
Riverwatch: Katie Dingle, Grace
Phelan and Taylor Schelley (seventh
grade); Sydney Kent, Erin Regal and
Brooke Mohler (eighth grade).
South Forsyth: Anna Burkhalter,
Alex Casey and Shannon Smith (sev¬
enth grade); Noelle Bryan, Devyn
Fogarty and Christin Hayes (eighth
grade).
Vickery Creek: Anna
O’Donoghue, Jennifer Stang and
Ashley Dean (seventh grade);
Christina Littleton, Kassie Gammage
and Hannah Cramer (eighth grade).
and Morganne Shobe (eighth grade).
South Forsyth: Lauren Calvert,
Heather Lacy and Rachel Myers (sev¬
enth grade); Kelli Travis (eighth
grade).
Vickery Creek: Mary Henner,
Lindsey Lindaman, Gwen Sadler and
CaraMia Tsirigos (seventh grade);
Taylor Hensley, Taylor McWhorter,
Samantha Smith and Teresa Zittrauer
(eighth grade).
Cheerleaders
Liberty: Madison Leonard, Katlyn
Martin, and Danielle Greene (seventh
grade); Destiny Polly, Megan Curtis,
and Samantha Prendergast (eighth
grade).
Little Mill: Ally Myers, Abby
Schaefer and Anna Mechler (seventh
grade); Cassidy Krebbs, Chelsea
Merris and Kerry Quinn (eighth
grade).
North Forsyth: Stephanie York,
Melinda Wall and Charlei Coffey
plish.
Team captain Byron Thiltgen
echoed those sentiments.
“Tennis is getting very compet¬
itive in Forsyth county with all the
new neighborhoods being devel¬
oped [and we must prepare even
harder for the challenge in the
Fall],” Thiltgen said.
junior college recruits.
Not everyone is crazy about the
idea.
First-year Arkansas coach Bobby
Petrino said schools from states with
smaller talent bases need the extra
time to find players beyond state
lines. Others worry that more intense
recruiting in the fall will devalue the
football season.
Mississippi State coach Sylvester
Croom said the SEC’s proposal likely
would prohibit recruits making offi¬
cial visits during the fall. Still, South
Carolina’s Steve Spurrier does not
like the plan.
“Coaches and fans (would) get
too interested in recruiting and the
team itself takes a little back seat to
all the news about ’This guy signed
or that guy signed,”’ Spurrier said.
“I’m just a big believer there’s foot¬
ball season, there’s recruiting sea¬
son, there’s spring practice season
and summer. And they’re moving
recruiting and signing in the middle
of football season.”
PAGE 5B
Local Sports
South Forsyth
football camp No. 1
South Forsyth varsity football
coach Wendell Early will be
offering a quarterbacks, receivers
and defensive backs camp for
ages 9-17. The camp will be held
Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June
7, and will feature Buster
Faulkner from NCAA Division II
National Champion Valdosta St.
Camp will be conducted from 6-9
p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. - 5
p.m. on Saturday at South
Forsyth High. Cost is $75.
Contact coach Early at (770) 356-
4569 or wearly@forsyth.kl2.ga.us.
SF strength camp
South Forsyth strength and
conditioning coach Bill Forman
is offering a SPARQ training
camp. SPARQ is a program
developed by Nike that focuses
on the five building blocks to
superior athleticism: speed,
power, agility, reaction and
quickness. The camp will be
hosted at South Forsyth High
June 3-6. Ages 8-11 participate
from 12-3 p.m. and ages 12-18
from 3-6 p.m.
Sign up through the Forsyth
County Park and Rec or call
Coach Forman at (770) 781-
2264, ext. 100520.
NFHS/Bobby Pless
basketball camp —
boys only
North Forsyth varsity boys
basketball coach Bobby Pless
will be holding a boys only bas¬
ketball camp for grades 3-9
beginning Monday, June 9
through Thursday, June 12. Camp
begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 1
p.m. Cost is $90 per child. Camp
will be held at the North Forsyth
gymnasium.
SFHS/David Sokol
basketball camp —
boys only
South Forsyth varsity boys
basketball coach David Sokol
will be hosting boys only basket¬
ball camps for ages 8-15 begin¬
ning Monday, June 23 through
Friday, June 27. A second camp
will be held Monday, July 7
through Friday, July 11. The
camps begin at 9 a.m. and end at
12:00 p.m. Cost is $125 per
child. If two children in the same
family sign up, the cost is $100
per child. Camps will be held in
the South Forsyth High School
gymnasium.
Shooting only will also be
offered on July 14 and 15 for
ages 8-15. Cost is $60. Start/end
times and location are the same.