About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2017)
JULY 12, 2017 The Banks County News Phone: 706-621-7204 Fax: 706-367-8056 charles@mainstreetnews.com Section B Parks and Recreation BCPRD enrollment for summer camps The following are the Banks County Parks and Recreation Department’s youth summer camps. Registration is already open. Registration will be open until the first day of camp. Cheerleading Camp When: July 17-20 Where: Banks County Parks and Recreation Department recreation center Time: 9-11:30 a.m. Age: 5 and up Cost: $50 (checks made payable to Jason Williams) Baseball with Joe Anderson and Wayne Fowler When: July 17-21 (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) Where: Banks County Parks and Recreation Department field No. 3 Time: 6-8 p.m. Age: 6-14 Cost: $50 Volleyball with BCPRD staff When: July 24-28 (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) Where: Banks County Parks and Recreation Department recreation center Time: 6-8 p.m. Age: 8 and up (open to parents) Cost: $30 (checks made payable to Banks County Parks and Recreation Department) More rec. news Senior Strides is a free, informal walking club for seniors ages 50 and over. Participants walk at their own pace and schedule at the Banks County Recreation Center. Walkers will keep a personal log of their progress. Awards can be earned for certain attained mileage levels. Participants may walk Mondays-Fridays, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Kelly Lindeman leads the Zumba instruction for the Banks County Parks and Recreation Department. Zumba classes are Monday from 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Tuesdays from 5:30-6:15 p.m. and 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Thursdays 5:30-6:15 p.m. and 6:30-7:30 p.m. Cost is $35 for a Punch Card for 10 classes or $4 a class after your first class. Parks Windmill Park now has 10 baseball and softball fields, two playgrounds, 1.5 miles of walking trails, four tennis courts and a paved track. Hudson Valley Park has 1.8 miles of walking trails and a .75- mile walking loop, along with a horse arena operated by the Banks County Horse Association and Banks County Saddle Club and the boy scout lodge is located in the park. Loca tion is 211 Hudson Ridge Road, Homer. Column Expanding and realigning MLB Judging by comments made by Commissioner Rob Manfred over the past year or so, ex-pansion in Major League Baseball seems pretty inevitable. While it would actually make more sense from an improved competition standpoint to contract by two teams from 30 to 28 — cut ting out a lot of “AAAA” filler-type players — the market dictates different ly, and within the next decade we will see MLB go from 30 to 32 teams, giving both the American and National leagues an even number of teams and requiring a realign ment of divisions. There are plenty of questions to be answered before and after expan sion occurs. Which cities? Manfred has said in interviews that before expansion can occur, MLB must figure out sta dium situations for the Tampa Bay Rays and Oak land Athletics. The Rays have contin uously struggled to draw attendance at Tropicana Field and no strong sta dium prospects closer to or in actual Tampa — the stadium is in St. Peters burg — have materialized. The A’s are also in need of a new stadium away from Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which they currently share with the Oakland Raiders who are set to relocate to Las Vegas within the next cou ple of years. The A’s have said they are committed to remaining in Oakland and building a new sta dium and team officials have said a new location will be announced by the end of this year. it’s likely that Manfred would prefer to keep the Rays and A’s in Tampa and Oakland and have two new expansion cit ies so we’ll operate under that assumption. The most likely of those may very well be Mon treal, which was home to the Expos from 1969- 2004 before they packed up and moved to Wash ington, D.C. to become the Nationals. There is still a strong baseball fan base in Montreal, which has been speculated as a landing spot for the Rays if they do leave Tampa, and the commissioner has expressed a desire to bring baseball back there. Further, the Canadian Press reported in late March that a group of investors had met a set of conditions laid out by MLB to bring base ball back. Domestically, Las Vegas would probably be the most likely option. It’s a booming area that is preparing to wel come the aforementioned Raiders in 2019 as well as a new NHL franchise, the Golden Knights, later this year. Portland and Charlotte are also strong possibilities. Portland is already home to the NBA’s Trail Blazers and has a history of support ing minor league baseball. Charlotte is a growing area and is already supporting franchises in the other three major U.S. sports (the NFL’s Panthers, the NBA’s Hornets and the NHL’s Hurricanes.) But Portland and Charlotte would be encroaching on the territorial footprint of Seattle and Atlanta. Some other, probably less like ly options within the U.S. include San Antonio, Austin and Nashville. It’s also very possible, though, that MLB could stick to the international markets with its expansions. The strongest possibility here outside of Montreal would be Mexico City which has a regional population of over 20 million people. Manfred has made no secret about his desire to expand the sport’s footprint in Mexi co, but in a country whose economy is struggling mightily and where base ball is way behind soccer and even boxing in popular ity, would there be a strong enough fan base there? Expansion to 32 teams would mean both leagues would have 16 teams each, which would require realignment of the divisions from the current format, which has five teams each across six divisions. The most likely option would be eight four-team divisions in the mold of the 32-team NFL’s current align ment. See “Thompson” on 2B scott thompson Boys' Basketball Summertime hoops FINDING THE BASKET Darius Bonds, a rising senior and returning starter, drives past three North Hall defenders and goes up for a layup during a scrimmage game this summer. Photos by Charles Phelps Cleveland 'pleased' with team's work BY CHARLES PHELPS During the summer months, high-school bas ketball games don’t count towards the regular-sea son record. But, the effort and work players put in will. For the Banks County High School boys’ basketball team, the summer is always a time to get better, according to head coach Mike Cleveland. “I really worry more about chemistry and style of play and rotations than I do winning or losing,” Cleveland said. But, Cleveland still likes to see his team win, even if it is a summer scrim mage. “I think winning’s a habit,” he said. The Leopards’ varsity squad played just under 30 games during the sum mer, a regular season ramped up into a summer. Cleveland said they lost only two games. “I was really proud (of) the way guys came together,” Cleveland said. “We’re a lot further ahead than I thought we would be at this point. “Had one of the best summers I’ve ever had as a coach. I was really, really pleased with how things went this summer.” One area that stuck out for Cleveland where the team shined, was unself ish play. “This team will prob ably be one of the best shooting teams I’ve ever had,” Cleveland said. “We’ve still got some big guys. “Dylan Orr’s incredible and we can play through Carl (Cleveland) in the post, but this group shoots the ball extremely well.” The Leopards also part- cipated in team camps throughout the camps. Cleveland said the camps allowed the four returning starters to get better accli mated with a new starter, who for most of the sum mer was Gatlin Lunsford, who did a “great job,” Cleveland added. The camps also gave five young kids experi ence with “tough” situa tions and helped them to grow and get ready for the fall. “We’ve got four or five guys that haven’t had var sity playing time before that I think is going to be really good,” Cleveland said. The team compet ed with what Cleveland called “really good” com petition throughout the summer. He believes that will help the team moving forward. “I always want to play the toughest competition we can play, because I feel like you get better when you’re pushed,” Cleveland said. “It puts the guys in some tough spots, phys ically. “This is not one of the most athletic groups I’ve had, and so, it was good for us to see some of the bigger schools.” The Leopards partic ipated in one camp at Presbyterian College in South Carolina. Some of the schools they played against have enrollments of 2,500 to 3,000 students in them. “It was good to see that level of competition,” Cleveland added.
