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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Nick Campbell
‘ln the Nick of time’
nickscainpbell@earthlink.net
Hawk's future
One of my favorite jour
nalistic hobbies is bash
ing the Atlanta Hawks. It
usually isn’t that hard to
do, because of their steady
track record of futility for
the past decade.
However, today I’m glad
to be able to say that, bar
ring some horrible mis
fortune or a mental lapse
in the front office, the
Hawks may actually have
a bright future.
After watching the NBA
Draft, I was more than
ecstatic to see the Hawks
get arguably the most tal
ented player since Leßron
James with their selec
tion of North Carolina’s
Marvin Williams. The
Hawks got him with the
second pick in the draft.
While he wasn’t a
starter on UNC’s NCAA
Championship team this
year, the former Tar
Heel showed the athleti
cism, play-making abil
ity, and potential that
led teams and scouts to
believe he will be one of
the next impact players
in the league. His 6’9, 230
pound frame also makes
the small forward attrac
tive.
When combined with
Josh Smith, who was a
rookie last year, and A 1
Harrington, Williams
could very well help the
Hawks win games and
sell tickets from the get
go.
In the second round,
the Hawks picked up
southpaw shooter Salim
Stoudemire from Arizona
with the 31st pick.
Regarded as many as the
best pure shooter in the
draft, Stoudemire should
be able to fit a role player
position early on.
One of the main worries
about the guard is that he
is undersized at 6’l and
may not be able to make
his own shots. Hopefully
the latter will not be a
problem if Williams lives
up to his pre-draft hype.
Rounding out the
Hawks picks at number
59 was Cenk Akyol from
Turkey. While his name
may resemble something
found more often in the
Word Jumble rather than
the Sports section, this
18-year old foreign point
guard may turn out to be
a good long term invest
ment for the Hawks.
Although they are
struggling at the point
right now, it is speculat
ed that they will make a
trade soon, possibly for a
veteran point guard. This
would allow young Akyol
to learn and adapt slowly.
While picks this late in
the draft usually do not
pan out, there’s always
the chance that one will.
I guess I can’t write
about the draft without
mentioning the some
what bittersweet justice
that goes along with high
school superstar and UGA
prospect Louis Williams
dropping to 45th pick in
the draft.
I don’t know if he was
the victim of bad advice
or a bad ego, but his pre
draft thoughts of going
high enough that he
should skip college turned
out to be completely off
track.
Now, instead of being
a superstar on a college
team in desperate need of
a leader, he’s more than
likely condemned to years
in the NBDL (National
Basketball Development
League) before having a
chance to make it. The
Philadelphia 76ers sim
ply do not need a flashy,
unproven shooting
guard.
At least one Williams
came out lucky on draft
night.
Soccer camp a big success at Central Fellowship
By JOE SERSEY
HHJ Sports Writer
Central Fellowship’s
head boys’ soccer coach
added a girls’ varsity sum
mer camp to his program.
Thirteen girls from soc
cer team spent Monday
through Wednesday at
Central Fellowship. They
played soccer all day
and spent Monday and
Tuesday night at the
school.
“I was very pleased with
the number who came
out,” Robertson said.
“I didn’t know what to
expect. They’re a great
bunch of girls to work
with.”
The Lady Lancers grad
uated eight seniors from
their squad. That means
that several players from
the school’s 12-4-1 JV
squad will have to fill the
gaps.
The focus of the three
day event is to give the
4*
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HHJ/Joe Sersey
Kyndal Foster tries a shot on goal as Tia Rogers
rushes to defend as Amanda Phillips runs over to
help Rogers.
CFCA boys head back from camp
By JOE SERSEY
HHJ Sports Writer
The Central Fellowship
boys’ basketball squad
returned this weekend from a
weeklong camp at Tennessee
Temple University in
Chattanooga.
Head coach Ed Torres took
13 players to the camp.
“We played about 20
games,” he said. “Monday
and Tuesday, we had a mixed
varsity and JV team. Starting
Wednesday, we divided the
teams to six varsity (players)
and five JV players. We also
had two middle school play
ers with us.”
Senior Jacob Bates won
the three-point contest and
the varsity won the cardiac
tournament.
“It was a double-elimina
tion tournament done in one
night,” Torres said. “They
CFCA girls basketball continues training
By JOE SERSEY
HHJ Sports Writer
The Central Fellowship
girls basketball team contin-
its summer training the
past two weeks by first playing
in the Georgia Independent
School Association summer
basketball camp at First
Presbyterian Day in Macon
and then attending a camp
at Mercer University.
“We did pretty well,” said
head coach Todd Whetsel.
“One of our biggest ques
tions was answered.”
Central Fellowship
entered the summer looking
for a new point guard and
according to Whetsel, fresh
man Danielle Marrone is the
answer.
With that settled, the
team used the Mercer camp
players a chance to work
on individual fundamen
tals, Robertson said.
“We’re working on
touch during camp,” he
said. “We want to rein
force what was learned
during the season. The
camp helps improve other
skills.”
The girls practice until
eight at night. That
includes time on the soc
cer practice field and in
the gym.
“Afterward, they hang
out, watch a movie
and enjoy fellowship,”
Robertson said. “This
really builds teamwork.”
After the camp,
Robertson wants the
players to meet once a
week to work on touch
es.
“We want to build our
program,” he said. “We
have to get the (players)
involved over the sum
mer.”
played two minute games to
simulate an end of the game.
The last minute teams could
shoot one-and-one.”
Torres’ team at the camp
included two seniors and
three juniors. He said that
four varsity players had
previous commitments and
couldn’t attend.
“Andre Loyd showed good
leadership at point guard,”
Torres said. “A couple of guys
on JV showed promise.”
His goal at camp was to
give his team more experi
ence playing a man-to-man
offense.
“We played it a couple
of years ago,” Torres said.
“Since we’re a smaller team,
more guard oriented, we
came back to it.”
Torres is planning a four
guard, one post player
attack.
to focus on defensive prob
lems.
“We had issues with help
defense and rotating with
the press,” Whetsel said.
“We got six games. That
helped.”
With the graduation of key
seniors Kristin Ward and
Rachel Childress, the Lady
Lancers are a lot shorter.
Freshman Mandy Spencer
saw a lot of action in the
post last season as an eighth
grader. Although she is 5-
foot-7, she is one of the tall
est players on the team.
“We don’t have a lot of
size,” Whetsel said. “Our
post players are physical
and good athletes, but we’re
going to need pressure from
our guards or (opponents)
SPORTS
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HHJ/Joe Sersey
Jennifer Amos (left) tries to dribble around Kyndal Foster.
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HHJ/Joe Sersey
Coach Dan Robertson leaps high
going for a header in the middle
of a crowd.
“Nick Harville will be
our main post player,” he
said. “We’re working some
younger guys at the posi
tion. Dameeyon Miles will
step in at post and Jacobs
Bates worked there.”
The Lancers don’t plan
to attend more camps this
summer. Torres says that
the school will continue with
the open gym on Monday
nights.
The girls’ soccer team is
having an overnight camp
running Monday through
Wednesday with the boys’
camp going Thursday
through Saturday.
The players will camp
out at the school during the
camp.
Kevin Barnard is the new
girls varsity soccer coach
and Dan Robertson returns
as the boy’s coach.
will shoot right over us.
We’re working on changing
our defense.”
The influx of new players
needed the games at FPD
and Mercer.
“We needed to make better
decisions with our passing,”
Whetsel said. “Last week
saw definite improvement.”
Senior Rachel Cantrell will
be back from injuries. She
played in both camps and in
a game last week at Mercer
wore a heart monitor at her
doctor’s request and came
out fine.
“Last year she was out
with an ankle injury and
heart operation,” Whetsel
said, “but she was at prac
tice nearly every day, help
ing out.”
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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005
3B