Today’s Segments:

Setting Boundaries in Youth Sports
NDSU Extension family life specialist Dr. Sean Brotherson discusses the importance of clear boundaries between parents, athletes, and coaches. Drawing from his recent talk at the North Dakota high school coaches conference, Brotherson explains how healthy role definitions support positive youth development and prevent common conflicts in competitive sports.

Mr. Power’s Letterpress
Dr. Tom Isern uncovers the forgotten world of letterpress copybooks through the legacy of J.B. Power, a key figure in the rise of corporate agriculture on the Northern Plains. These delicate paper records, preserved thanks to early work at NDSU’s Institute for Regional Studies, reveal a meticulous bureaucratic mind at work during the bonanza farm era.

Bur Oaks Under Siege
Once hailed as the “King of the Great Plains,” Nebraska’s iconic bur oak trees are now dying rapidly due to prolonged drought and invasive diseases. As climate change accelerates these threats, foresters and scientists are exploring alternative tree species and restoration strategies to preserve the region’s forest heritage.

Wave Power in Alaska
Two Alaska Native villages—Port Graham and Nanwalek—are taking bold steps toward energy independence by exploring ocean wave power. With the help of Chugachmiut and an Australian energy company, the communities hope to harness their coastal environment to generate sustainable electricity amid growing climate threats.

Seeds, Spuds, and Smart Sprinklers
In this edition of This Week in Water, we explore surprising intersections of nature and technology: from government climate denial and carbon-storing wildlife to doorbell cameras conserving water. Also featured are new insights into the ancestral ties between tomatoes and potatoes, offering hope for future crop resilience.

As the entire world knows, the OKC Thunder are NBA champions, but there’s no time to rest on that; it’s time to start training the next generation of superstars.

It’s one of many Thunder youth basketball camps. Today was held at the Santa Fe Family Life Center.

“We’ll put them through a series of different drills, as well as competitions to earn prizes, and they’ll have the opportunity to scrimmage against each other towards the end,” said Thunder Youth basketball camp coach Xavier Hunter.

For parents, it’s the on-court encouragement from the Thunder organization coaches that means everything to them as well as the kids.

“It brings joy to me just to see him doing what he loves, and we already train on our own, so it’s like the extra credit fun part of it. He gets prizes and I like it a lot,” said parent Cortez Wright.

As a parent, having your kid participate in a Thunder camp naturally makes you consider the possibilities of the future.

“He’s a wonderful kid, great talent, but he keeps God first and he does his thing so I think he can do whatever he puts his mind to,” said Wright.

Tuesday, the team hosted two Camps for kids between the ages of six and fourteen, no matter what the skill level or experience. But aside from basketball, the kids learn the importance of paying attention and following directions.

“An opportunity for us to develop newcomers of the game, as well as trying to develop new fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder,” said Hunter.

A day of work and fun for the kids, and very gratifying for the coaches.

“Allow us as coaches to involve ourselves into these kids’ lives within the game of basketball,” said Hunter.

There is one more camp scheduled, and there are spots still available. To register, visit www.nba.com/thunder/youthbasketball

ATLANTA and LANGHORNE, Pa., Aug. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — NFL FLAG and Pop Warner Little Scholars, two of the most recognized names in youth football, today announced a nationwide partnership to expand access and opportunity across the sport. The collaboration will introduce NFL FLAG’s fast-growing, non-contact format to Pop Warner leagues and associations nationwide. RCX Sports, the leader in youth sports experiences and official operator of NFL FLAG, will support local implementation and elevate the athlete experience.

The partnership will officially launch this December with a flagship tournament at the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Charlotte, NC. The Crown Classic Flag Football Tournament, a joint event hosted by Pop Warner and NFL FLAG, is a first-of-its-kind national event open to Pop Warner and non-Pop Warner teams from across the country. Pop Warner associations will begin launching NFL FLAG leagues in Spring 2026, with additional tournaments and showcases planned for the years ahead, all part of a shared commitment to development, safety, and inclusion across all levels of the game.

The partnership model will allow Pop Warner to integrate NFL FLAG into its existing programming beginning in Spring 2026, inviting local leagues and associations to offer both tackle and non-tackle football under one umbrella, alongside existing cheerleading programs, with the goal of expanding options for every young athlete. The structure of the program is designed to be flexible and inclusive, giving leagues the ability to adapt to the needs of their communities and creating new pathways for girls to play flag football alongside boys.

This collaboration brings together NFL FLAG’s innovative approach to flag football with Pop Warner’s deep roots in tackle football and cheer & dance, giving families and athletes more ways to play, develop, and stay involved in the sport they love. More than 2.4 million young people participated in organized flag football programs in 2024, making it the fastest-growing youth sport in America.

“Football has the power to teach life lessons, build confidence, and create lifelong friendships — and this partnership ensures more kids have that opportunity,” said RCX Sports founder and CEO Izell Reese. “We’re proud to partner with Pop Warner to expand access for more young athletes in the sport we all love. Together, we’re creating more onramps into football by meeting kids where they are — whether they’re pulling flags or making tackles, we want every young athlete to feel like there’s a place for them on the field.”

“This partnership with NFL FLAG and RCX Sports is a game-changer for youth football,” said Steve Strawbridge, CEO of Pop Warner Little Scholars. “It allows us to bring a dynamic, non-contact version of the sport to more boys and girls across the country, while enhancing their overall experience. While Pop Warner has proudly offered flag football for years, this collaboration takes our commitment to the next level by expanding access, improving development, and fostering a safe and inclusive environment for all athletes.”

“Development of football athletes, both girls and boys, has taken a leap forward with the RCX-Pop Warner partnership that affords our nation’s youth the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of every form of the game,” said Troy Vincent, Sr., Executive Vice President of NFL Football Operations. “Options to play flag or tackle, transition to tackle from flag, or remain in flag truly reflect the inclusion, affordability and accessibility of football for all.”

RCX Sports and Pop Warner invite teams from across the country to register at NFLFLAG.com or PopWarner.com.

About RCX Sports

RCX Sports is the leader in youth sports experiences, operating and partnering with leagues, events, and brands to engage and empower the next generation of athletes. As the official youth sports operator for the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLS, MLB, and USTA, RCX is the only multi-sport organization trusted by pro leagues and governing bodies to represent them. RCX Sports delivers officially licensed uniforms, comprehensive resources, and full support, empowering league operators to create the best youth sports experiences in their communities. Committed to making youth sports accessible and inclusive, RCX Sports creates opportunities for all athletes to play and benefit from the transformative power of sports. For more information, visit rcxsports.com.

About NFL Flag

NFL FLAG is an NFL-licensed property of more than 2,000 locally operated leagues and over 765,000 youth athletes across all 50 states. NFL FLAG is a fun and accessible non-contact program available for girls and boys ages 5-17. Players benefit by being physically active through non-contact, continuous action while learning the fundamentals of football as well as lessons in teamwork and sportsmanship. RCX Sports is the official operator of NFL FLAG. Learn more  at nflflag.com.

About Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc.

Founded in 1929 and headquartered in Langhorne, PA, Pop Warner Little Scholars is the nation’s oldest youth football, cheerleading and dance organization and the only youth sports organization that emphasizes academics as a prerequisite for participation. Pop Warner participants enjoy the opportunity to learn and compete in their sports in an atmosphere that emphasizes fun, safety, academics and character. For more information on Pop Warner and its programs visit www.popwarner.com or follow Pop Warner on YouTube, Instagram or Facebook.

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SOURCE RCX Sports

The plans for the Zebulon Regional Sports Complex are huge.

On the drawing board are four baseball fields, three ice rinks and a pair of soccer fields. Eight to 10 basketball courts — which can be converted into 20 volleyball courts or 30 pickleball courts — are also in the mix. Add in a 400,000-square-foot, domed indoor sports facility that will house more fields for year-round play, and you get a sense of Zebulon’s scale once it’s built in northern Douglas County.

And that’s just the first phase, which could break ground as soon as this fall on a 50-acre parcel just southeast of the master-planned Sterling Ranch community. Later phases could bring as many as eight additional sports fields, along with restaurants, shops and a hotel — in what Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon calls a potential “economic development corridor.”

“We want something that is iconic,” Laydon told The Denver Post.

But the sheer size of the project — and the paucity of financial details surrounding it — have some residents in this politically conservative county asking questions. Among the concerns about the project, which is planned to the southeast of Chatfield Reservoir, is how much the county might end up shelling out and how much private partners will benefit.

“We don’t know how much this is going to cost and who’s going to pay for it,” said Sudee Floyd, who lives in the house her father built more than 50 years ago in the nearby Plum Valley Heights neighborhood.

Floyd, 64, has worries about contamination from an old dynamite-making plant that operated for decades at the proposed Zebulon site. She also wonders whether Douglas County taxpayers might be left holding the bag should things go south.

County leaders plan to tap its Parks, Trails, Historic Resources and Open Space Fund to help cover some of the early costs of the Zebulon project. Launched in 1994 with a 0.17% sales and use tax, the fund was re-upped by voters in 2022. Over the next 15 years, it is projected to bring in around $330 million.

Douglas County has already pledged just over $800,000 to do engineering and infrastructure studies for Zebulon. A final development partner has not been chosen but Luke Taylor, a managing member of KT Development, was one of the speakers at a county-hosted town hall in April regarding the project.

KT developed the Blue Sport Stable, a 186,000-square-foot sports megacomplex in Superior. Taylor hopes his firm lands the contract to build Zebulon but bidding is still underway. He declined to comment further.

Floyd said the speed at which the county is moving on the project, which was announced just four months ago, reminds her of the commissioners’ recent effort to bring home rule to the county — an initiative that was heavily criticized for being opaque and rushed.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected the home rule effort at the ballot box in June.

“This is moving way too fast. No one is showing their cards,” Floyd said.

But Lynn Moffett, who has lived in Sterling Ranch for four years and sits on the board of a metro district there, said there are few amenities near the blossoming community, which is planned to include more than 12,000 homes at full buildout.

The South Suburban Recreation Center on County Line Road to the northeast is 20 minutes away “on a good day.” And dining and shopping opportunities in the neighborhood are few, she said.

“We have nothing — and this county is growing like crazy,” Moffett said. “It’s important to have a facility families can send their children to. We all pay taxes in our county — we just want a piece of the pie.”

Likely public-private partnership

Discussions about adding to Douglas County’s inventory of ballfields have been happening for at least a year.

“It was very clear to us that there was this outcry — especially among youth — who wanted more space to play,” Laydon said. “They simply do not have enough space.”

Earlier, there was talk of building a sports complex with playing fields in Highlands Ranch’s 202-acre Wildcat Regional Park, which is owned by the county. But that plan was met with vociferous opposition from residents last year.

Douglas County agreed to transfer the parcel to the Highlands Ranch Community Association in a deal that is expected to be finalized in coming weeks. In turn, the association has agreed to develop a trail network for recreational use at Wildcat.

Meanwhile, Brock Smethills, the president of the Sterling Ranch Development Company, contacted the county about building a sports complex a bit farther south. A 50-acre land donation from Sterling Ranch to Douglas County, the details of which are still being hammered out, started the process.

“We’re giving up some of our best land for the sports complex,” Smethills said. “What we’re asking for in return is an exercise facility our homeowners can use free of charge.”

Douglas County agreed to take the lead in shepherding the project’s first phase.

So far, it has signed a $325,000 consulting contract with Felsburg, Holt and Ullevig to look at potential road infrastructure at the site. It also hired an owner’s representative for just over $70,000. In late July, the commissioners ordered a $410,000 land development study from engineering firm Kimley-Horn.

From the beginning, the county has advertised the construction of the Zebulon Regional Sports Complex as a public-private partnership.

“You need something vertical, you need something there to get people to invest,” Smethills said.

The county, Laydon said, will spearhead the project and then seek out private partners to help build out Zebulon. Completion of all phases of the project, potentially including hotels and restaurants, could take as long as a decade.

A ‘fancy facility for club teams’?

Christine Pomme, a Parker mother whose 12-year-old son plays on the Slammers club baseball team as a first baseman and pitcher, said the need for a facility like Zebulon is clear.

“It’s hard to get a field for practice, let alone for tournaments,” Pomme said.

Her son’s team, the Slammers Yetis, typically have to travel to Centennial for indoor practice and to Highlands Ranch High School for outdoor drills. The indoor facility gets crowded, Pomme said, while the softball fields at the high school aren’t regulation size for baseball.

“The potential of having a full-size outdoor field for practice is really appealing,” she said.

Floyd, the dubious neighbor, wants to know how open and accessible Zebulon will be to county residents. Will it be an exclusive operation primarily catering to expensive organized sports teams, she asked, or more of a community recreation center for those who want to work out and slap a pickleball around with friends?

“Who gets to use them?” she said. “Why should my tax dollars go towards a fancy facility for club teams? This isn’t just some baseball field — this is extravagant.”

Laydon told The Post that Zebulon “would be available for everyone to use.”

Floyd also worries about the state of the land at the Zebulon site, which for more than 60 years was the home of the E.I. Du Pont de Nemours dynamite manufacturing plant. It closed down more than 50 years ago.

In 2022, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued the company a decision letter stating that any contaminants at the site “do not pose a threat to human health and environment, and contamination will continue to decline.”

CDPHE stated in its letter that “no further remediation is required at the site.”

“Without that clean bill of health,” Laydon said, “we wouldn’t consider it.”

Other concerns with Zebulon revolve around the county’s use of the open space and parks fund to finance the early stages of the project. Former Commissioner Lora Thomas, who had a rocky relationship with her colleagues before leaving her elected post before her term expired last December, said she has “seen no plan for how this project is funded.”

“I’m not sure ‘parks’ is a multimillion-dollar sports complex with mixed-use amenities that benefit Sterling Ranch,” Thomas said.

The county, she said, “has no business” spending money on Zebulon “until partners are identified and at the table with their checkbooks.”

She pointed to the troubled Future Legends sports complex under construction in Windsor, parts of which were ordered by a judge last month to remain shuttered until project leaders addressed safety concerns at the facility. She sees that as a warning shot of what could happen at Sterling Ranch.

“A solid financial plan must be developed before a shovel of dirt is moved,” Thomas said.

She also pointed to a citizen survey conducted last year by Douglas County that revealed a “mega-sports complex” was identified by 33% of respondents as the “least appealing option” of a list of potential amenities. The survey also showed that just 22% of respondents were dissatisfied with the number of youth sports facilities in the county.

Projected $1.3 billion impact

In May, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce released an economic and fiscal impact analysis of the Zebulon project and the surrounding business activity it is expected to spur.

The analysis estimated that from 2026 to 2036, the sports complex would have an economic impact of $1.3 billion, including $528.4 million in labor income. Nearly 1,800 jobs would be generated “through construction and ongoing operations,” the report stated.

The 2025 Jewish Community Center Maccabi Games were held Aug. 3 to 8 in an “Olympic Village”-style setting on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus. According to Jeremy Schlafstein, the sports program manager at Bender JCC of Greater Washington, the delegation from the JCC of Greater Washington included 72 athletes, competing this year in basketball, baseball, ice hockey, soccer and more. The team is also comprised of teen athletes from across the D.C., Maryland and Virginia region, and they competed against teen athletes from all over the world.

This year marked a milestone for the Maccabi Games because it was the first time they were hosted in Pittsburgh to accommodate the growing interest in participation of the games, according to a press release from JCC Association of North America.

Held annually since 1982, the JCC Maccabi Games are North America’s largest Jewish youth sports event. Modeled after the Olympics, the Games not only focus on athletic competition but also aim to foster Jewish identity, community building and cultural exchange through sport.

“The JCC Maccabi mission complements our movement’s continental approach to teen engagement, offering Jewish youth a supportive environment that fosters mutual respect and healthy competition, and where they can interact in an atmosphere of sportsmanship, peoplehood and celebration. We couldn’t imagine better community partners than our friends at the University of Pittsburgh and a collection of regional civic, corporate and government leaders working together with our remarkable Jewish community to make this dream a reality,” JCC of Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Jason Kunzman stated in the press release.

According to Schlafstein, each night had a planned event in which the participants socialized outside of the sports environment.

“They’re billed as a sports event, which they are, but they’re really a teen social engagement opportunity that has a sports flavor,” said Phil Liebson, COO of Bender JCC.

“They may have been playing across the field or diamond or ice or whatever sport their entire lives, but now they’re actually getting together and finding commonality,” added Liebson. “It gives them a chance to be who they are and learn about other Jewish teens in the area and across the world.”

Just like the Olympic games, the Maccabi games also have a tradition of pin swapping. Liebson said they stepped up their pin game with an Alex Ovechkin-inspired pin that said “895 Team Greater Washington,” a nod to Ovechkin’s career goal tally, along with a “DMV” and “Greater Washington Bender JCC, JCC Maccabi Games” pin.

“All the kids, the coaches, the spectators, everyone has to wear credentials,” said Liebson. “What will end up happening by the end up of the games is all the kids’ lanyards will be filled with all their pins.”

More than 3,000 Jewish teens and coaches, along with thousands of spectators, volunteers and community members, are gathered for the Games this summer.

“The launch of our first-ever Campus Games marks a bold and timely evolution for the movement, showing Jewish teens what’s possible when they come together with pride, purpose and shared identity for a positive college campus-based experience. Today, when Jewish connection and unity are more important than ever, JCC Maccabi gives teens a joyful, formative experience that will stay with them for life.” said Samantha Cohen, senior vice president and continental director of JCC Maccabi, in the press release.

Local leaders of the delegation are echoing this sentiment.

“Hopefully they’ll just have a great experience where they want to come back and do it again next year,” added Schlafstein. “Maybe be a little closer to their Jewish identity and hopefully develop lifelong friendships.”

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Yeah, it’s great just to be able to come in this community, you know, obviously I grew up around here, um, grew up playing sack high, so it’s cool just to be able to come out here, you know, interact with the kids, make them help them learn *** few things, and, and yeah, I’m enjoying it. I feel like growing up in Sacramento I didn’t really have my name on the map like that, so to be able to come and and now people, you know, come to this camp, you know, just to be able to see me or just to learn things and and be able to do it in Sacramento, I feel like there’s not too many of these camps in Sacramento, so I’m *** lot of fun. I know Jalen says that he went to the NBA. And I watched him on the NBA draft. I seen who it was and oh he’s *** Sacramento legend and I was like, yeah, I know who he is now and now being in this camp, I just feel proud to see *** Sacramento legend come to uh Sacramento and play. It’s good. I mean, I’ve been seeing *** lot of guys. I’m seeing guys getting dunked on. I’m seeing guys pick up pick up playing defense, pressure, and that’s what I like to see. I like to see the energy. The stuff outside of just scoring um and I said I think there’s *** lot of kids out here you know being leaders on the floor talking, communicating, pressuring, um, playing good defense, so that’s what I really like to see. I mean he’s the perfect definition of what consistent hard work is. He just has the mentality that he wants to elevate every single day and he’s not *** cool person, right? He, he wants to be able to get people involved because he understands like. His route that he went through and he it it was different than everybody else, right? He wasn’t ***, you know, top 5, top 10 player, but he had to work for everything. I, I love going to Sonoma State and then going to uh Washington State out of there was probably the first time where I was like, OK, like this dream of going to the NBA is believable. With the 3-9inth pick in the 2024 NBA draft. The Memphis Grizzlies select Jalen Wells from Washington State University. It’s, it’s, it’s *** little surreal just I mean I didn’t really expect to play as much as I did my rookie season and just be able to have the opportunity to have such *** huge role, um, defensively and just I mean being *** starter, um, it was I think it was *** big acceleration in my career. Oh my oh my. That was probably the hardest thing to hear was just that I wasn’t going to be able to finish the season and my wrist was broke, but I like to take the positives out of the negatives, so I mean I was right back in the gym whenever I was able to get in there, you know, doing *** whole bunch of left hand stuff, trying to shoot with my left hand, just having fun and just, you know, trying to bring joy to the basketball game. You mentioned going from somebody who is practically unnoticed all sudden thrust into the spotlight. Like that, like what’s that feel like? uh, yeah, I mean it’s, it’s changed *** lot. um I think the important thing for me is just staying me um you know I’m not really *** big flashy person, um, you know, so I’m just trying to use my influence for for the right and good things, um, having camps like this, but now that I do have eyes on me, um, being able to push things out that I wasn’t able to do before. No mistake, my freshman year, we went 3 and 25, um, and then obviously I went to Washington stay out of there, but I mean that just shows you, um.

Sacramento’s Jaylen Wells returns home for youth basketball camp after rookie season in the NBA

A hundred basketball players — both boys and girls — from age 9 to high school, got the chance to work closely with the NBA star.

Updated: 12:23 PM PDT Aug 5, 2025

Editorial Standards ⓘ

Fresh off a brilliant rookie season with the Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento’s Jaylen Wells returned home over the weekend for his first basketball camp in the capital city. Wells, who played with the Folsom Bulldogs, brought his camp to Sacramento High School on Sunday. A hundred basketball players in attendance — both boys and girls — from age 9 to high school, got the chance to work closely with the NBA star. They participated in drills at different workout stations and learned about Wells’ unique path to the NBA. KCRA 3’s Sean Cunningham was there to talk about his season, the camp, and bouncing back from a season-ending injury. Watch in the video above. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Fresh off a brilliant rookie season with the Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento’s Jaylen Wells returned home over the weekend for his first basketball camp in the capital city.

Wells, who played with the Folsom Bulldogs, brought his camp to Sacramento High School on Sunday.

A hundred basketball players in attendance — both boys and girls — from age 9 to high school, got the chance to work closely with the NBA star.

They participated in drills at different workout stations and learned about Wells’ unique path to the NBA.

KCRA 3’s Sean Cunningham was there to talk about his season, the camp, and bouncing back from a season-ending injury. Watch in the video above.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel