Rec Sports

Parents: When you’re eating a ham sandwich on the soccer sidelines at 3 p.m., is it time to reevaluate your life?

Welcome to May-cember, my friends, the month in which parents relinquish all earthly responsibilities to spend more hours than a five-star Uber driver in their car or else idle in grim middle school gyms, holding iPhones in the air like lighters at a Phish concert, scouring for reliable Wi-Fi. Get Starting Point A guide through […]

Published

2 months ago

May 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

“I have a hard time understanding how sports trump sleep and health. Full stop,” says Arlington’s Dana Lynne Varga, a mom of two neurodivergent elementary schoolers. Both play spring sports. The games start late and run long, upending dinner and crucial downtime.

“I expressed my frustration with the late start times for games for kids so young and was met with lots of camaraderie and a lot of ‘get over it.’ … The late games are a huge lift,” she says.

Her kids’ routines are disrupted; everyone is grouchy. She understands that many coaches are volunteers who can’t arrive until evening — they double as working parents! — but this means that games seem to finish when bars close. She‘s reconsidering her kids’ participation in certain sports because it’s untenable.

What’s going on here? Do kids with extracurriculars belong to a leisure class of parents with ultra-flexible jobs — or no jobs at all — with infinite time to chauffeur, cheer, and coach? Don’t the Sports Gods know that people work?

“In my town, it feels like [sports are] social hour for parents who have too much free time: It’s a battle of judgment on both sides, which is so unfair and ultimately makes kids feel like they aren’t as supported as other kids. I think youth sports organizations need to better support families,” says one Freetown parent.

Organized sports are increasingly becoming the realm of the well-off, with parents who can afford to pay hefty club fees and maintain autonomous schedules.

A recent study of US sports participation over the last 60 years from Ohio State University found a significant increase in kids playing organized sports, particularly among more privileged, educated families.

The study found that about 70 percent of Americans born in the ’90s, reaching age 18 by 2015-16, said they took part in organized sports through recreational, school, or club teams, while slightly more than half of those born in the ’50s reported participating in organized youth sports.

However: For kids born in the ’50s, there were few class differences in who played organized sports. For kids born in the ’90s, the share of those who played organized sports were 24 percentage points higher when they had a college-educated parent. The average family paid $883 annually for one child‘s primary sport in 2022, according to Project Play by the Aspen Institute.

“For most of us who are single parents, poverty, a lack of time, an always messy home, a lack of support in emergencies, and loneliness is enough of a burden. We don’t need the responsibility of providing more play and activity as well to keep our kids at a baseline level of health. The ironic thing is that most schools have plenty of playground space and wouldn’t have to do much to provide the physical activity kids need to be healthy. I truly hope someone takes this seriously at some point,” says Cambridge’s Pam Cash.

One interesting factoid: This disparity is particularly noticeable for kids ages 6-12, where sports participation in homes earning $100,000 or more increased 6 percent from 2023 to 2024 — but actually declined 2 percent for the wealthiest youth ages 13-17.

Why? Too much pressure, maybe. Instead of choosing one sport, some kids are loading up on two or three. Or else they’re specializing in one sport so narrowly, competing on so many teams with so many conflicting schedules, that they’re run ragged before they’re old enough to drive to a 9 p.m. practice themselves.

“These kids are often being fed sports with a fire hose,” said Tom Farrey, Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program executive director. “There is lots of pressure on them to play one sport year-round, traveling all over the place. Some are burning out or are just too injured to continue playing.”

Their parents are burned out, too, and this is true even for activities that kids enjoy. Westwood‘s Patrick French found time to weigh in on the extracurricular conundrum mid-afternoon, while driving his son to an a cappella lesson. Both he and his wife have full-time jobs with on-site components; she serves on their town’s school committee, and he performs in community plays. Their teens participate in soccer (school and club), theater, and voice. Occasionally, the couple finds time to watch a TV show; they’re midway through four different series and will finish one, hopefully “The Wire,” when they find time.

I ask French how we got here. I tell him that I remember my own childhood — when the highlight of my week was riding a pink Huffy to New London Style Pizza with my best friend, Vicky, and when extracurricular activities were held right after school, at the school. Seems quaint now.

“We’re often signing our kids up for all these structured activities in the hopes that, by doing all these things, they’re going to continue to really develop as human beings,” he says. “I think it’s probably peer pressure. If you’re not participating in as many things, then maybe, in some ways, you’re worried about your kid being left out.”

FOMO is real. Parents who weighed in for this piece underscored that the meteoric rise of club sports — with weekends-long travel tournaments in towns you’ve never heard of, often populated by college recruiters — are a presumed necessity for kids who long to compete at a higher level. Which, fine: But for every budding Jayson Tatum, there are thousands of anonymous athletes riding the bench and devouring 12 straight nights of Chipotle while their parents do off-camera Zoom calls from a hot spot in the parking lot.

Then there’s the mental load: the logistics, the carpool strategizing, the remembering which bag goes with whose cleats and which car goes to which field. New research from the University of Bath and the University of Melbourne, published in the Journal of Marriage & Family, reminds us that mothers overwhelmingly carry this mental load.

The study found that American moms take on seven in 10 of all household mental load tasks, ranging from planning meals and arranging activities to managing household finances. This comes as no surprise to any mother who has six different league-scheduling apps on her phone, a carpool text thread with 12 unknown numbers, and a rickety foldable chair with a cup holder rattling in her trunk, ready for action.

Emily Sheff, an assistant professor of nursing at Rivier University, has a PhD in burnout among nursing faculty. Expertise aside, the Bedford, N.H., mom is a work in progress as she navigates extracurriculars for her teenagers; in fact, she transitioned to a work-from-home teaching position to keep up with their schedules.

To maintain some shred of balance, Sheff wakes up at 5:10 a.m. for a morning boot camp to meet friends.

“That’s where we stress about our days ahead. I need to have fellow moms and friends in the trenches with me, and it helps to debrief and de-stress,” she says.

Meanwhile, pulling her kids from activities — even inconveniently timed ones — doesn’t feel like an option, either. Success favors the flexible.

“Then they miss out on an opportunity, which leads into the tryouts in two months, and that means they don’t make the team,” she says. “What I’ve been doing for the past 17 years is just taking on the burden, and then once every six to eight months, I have a huge cry session. I break, and then I pick up the pieces, and I start all over.”

Once a month, she joins friends for margarita lunches to vent about the inequity of it all, even though she has a helpful partner who pitches in. The household systems are so entrenched that it doesn’t much matter.

“My husband always says: ‘What can I do? How can I help? Let me know what to do.’ But again, it goes back to the mental load: If I have to know what to do in my head and then communicate to you what to do and then check after it’s done, that doesn’t even help,” she says.

Hingham’s Cam Smith, who has a fairly autonomous work schedule — and three kids in a total of 20 activities, many of which meet multiple times per week — sees the double-standard firsthand. Although he‘s the point person for most activities, many messages are still reflexively channeled to his wife, whose job is less flexible.

“I do think there’s a deeply unfair mental load which still gets put on mothers every time in this. The sports tend to be a little better, but all these activities take [my wife’s] contact info because they just assume she needs to be the primary contact. Our daughters have been competing in Irish step dance for more than six years, and we have tried numerous times to get their Irish dance school to add my contact to all their correspondence. They just don’t do it,” he says.

Brookline’s Julie Starr, a single mom who works full time as a nutritionist, relies on carpools and ride-sharing for her high-school athlete, who runs track and plays soccer. She outsources where she can because she has to: At a certain level, deprioritizing practices or games just isn’t an option.

Her work vacations don’t match up with her daughter’s vacations, but sports schedules don’t match working realities, either. So she improvises.

“If you go on vacation, you’re not going to play. During her school vacation, practices are during the day, so she takes an Uber sometimes,” Starr says. “The vacation weeks are horrible.”

Sometimes Starr takes client calls from the parking lots of games; other times, she skips games entirely (and hopes other parents let themselves off the hook, too). But she insists on serving a nutritious dinner no matter what — “we’re humans, not raccoons,” she says — but that requires conscientious meal prep on Sundays: sweet potatoes, pre-chopped salads, and roast chicken play starring roles. Even when she’s not working, she’s working.

Starr has advice for parents just now wading into the madness, wondering if their kids are benefiting from this whirlwind.

“Notice: ‘Are they happy? Do they really enjoy doing this?’ And don’t get too crazy before they’re in seventh grade, especially with the club and the travel teams — and find somebody to carpool with,” Starr says.

Needn’t be a friend, just a sentient being with access to a driver’s license.

Another key tip: Keep perspective.

“Having so many sports all at once is too much on their bodies as well. It’s about keeping in mind that, when they’re 25 years old, the bulk majority of these kids aren’t going to be professional sports players,” says Lakeville’s Krista Allan, a single mom who was widowed several years ago.

Time is precious. And so, when deciding how to occupy her kids, she thinks: “This is really about learning teamwork, learning how to take guidance from other people, and thinking through the real purpose of sports and activities for kids. I think it’s important to level-set.”

Wise words, but hard to remember when you’re driving from Raynham to Rowley in the hopes of seeing your child compete for 10 seconds in the high-visibility lacrosse tournament while eating a Chipotle burrito with your one free hand.

“I personally always feel like I’m running from one thing to the next and hardly ever taking time to just stop and — I don’t know — look at a flower blooming for a second,” says French, the Westwood dad.

That is, unless he‘s stopped in traffic on the way to a game at rush hour.

Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin.

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Youth Sports: Swim Clubs Rejoice for Start of Season After Eaton Fire’s Destruction | Sports

Little was spared from the Eaton Fire’s rampage in January, but what remained in its aftermath was a pool of hope for young swimmers from local clubs that lost everything, suffered extensive damage or both. The fire had consumed the Altadena Town and Country Club clubhouse, leaving members searching for a replacement facility. And while […]

Published

5 minutes ago

July 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The fire had consumed the Altadena Town and Country Club clubhouse, leaving members searching for a replacement facility. And while the Gerrish Swim & Tennis Club mostly survived the fire’s destructive march, much of its infrastructure, furniture and other supplies had to be rebuilt or replaced, forcing the club’s closure for months.

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Apple aims to build on F1 movie success by possibly acquiring circuit’s U.S. media rights

Start your morning with Buzzcast with Abe Madkour: F1 media talks heating up? More AD churn; 3ICE set to return and FIFA to open NYC office at Trump Tower Apple is “in talks to acquire” the U.S. rights to F1 as the tech giant “chases the success of its hit movie based on the race […]

Published

27 minutes ago

July 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Start your morning with Buzzcast with Abe Madkour: F1 media talks heating up? More AD churn; 3ICE set to return and FIFA to open NYC office at Trump Tower

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 03: (EDITORS NOTE: Image is a digital composite.) A general view of the Sprint during the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 03, 2025 in Miami, Florida. This one image shows the multiple moments that happen during the F1 Grand Prix of Miami from a fixed camera. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — Apple is “in talks to acquire” the U.S. rights to F1 as the tech giant “chases the success of its hit movie based on the race car series and delves further into showing live sport.” Formula 1 via Getty Images

Apple is “in talks to acquire” the U.S. rights to F1 as the tech giant “chases the success of its hit movie based on the race car series and delves further into showing live sport.” The racing circuit makes “in the region of” $85M a year from its existing broadcast partner ESPN. Analysts at Citi have previously estimated that F1’s next U.S. broadcast deal “could be worth” $121M a year, “although that was before the release of the F1 film.” F1 has “yet to make a decision on its future broadcasting arrangements,” and ESPN “may yet retain the rights,” according to a source. Other bidders “are also expected to seek the rights” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/9).

RELATED: ‘F1’ hits $237.4M in global box office

Horner had been Red Bull team principal since it entered F1 as a full constructor in 2005. Getty Images

Red Bull says Christian Horner “was fired abruptly on Wednesday after a 20-year stint” as team principal of its F1 team, though the organization “did not give a reason for the decision.” Laurent Mekies of sister team Racing Bulls “will replace Horner in his role” as team principal and CEO of the racing team. Horner had been Red Bull team principal since it entered F1 as a full constructor in 2005. He “had performed his team and media duties as normal throughout the British Grand Prix last week.” The announcement comes more than a year after Horner was accused of misconduct toward a team employee. An investigation conducted on behalf of the Red Bull company “dismissed the allegation, as did a further investigation conducted after the employee appealed against the initial ruling” (AP, 7/9).

Sources within Red Bull said the “atmosphere within the team has grown increasingly tense,” a situation “magnified by the team’s struggles on track this year and the growing uncertainty with star driver Max Verstappen‘s future.” Sources also said “a series of meetings took place over the last two weekends — the team’s home race, the Austrian Grand Prix, and the British Grand Prix,” and “at least one of them involved Verstappen and Oliver Mintzlaff, a senior figure on the company’s corporate side who has long pushed for a change to the leadership of Red Bull’s racing outfit.” Sources said “no decision to remove Horner could be made without” Red Bull majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya‘s approval (ESPN.com, 7/9).

Levy is taking over F&B service at Michigan State athletic facilities, including the home of its basketball teams, the Breslin Center. breslin-center

Michigan State has selected Levy to provide food and beverage services at the university’s on-campus athletic venues, including Spartan Stadium and the Breslin Center, and collaborate on fan experience design for the multi-sport arena the university is developing in the Spartan Gateway District.

Levy takes over ahead of the 2025-26 academic and athletic year, though terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Michigan State ran its athletics concessions program in-house for decades. Its F&B RFP was issued in early January, with responses due in late February. Oak View Group, Sodexo Live and Aramark Sports + Entertainment competed against Levy for the business. Those three companies, plus Levy, have been the most active pursuers of college athletics F&B accounts during the past year-plus, as college sports seeks new revenue streams and more impact from existing ones, like concessions.

Ahead of this fall, Levy is refreshing all F&B experiences across all of MSU’s athletic venues. Highlights include:

New chef-crafted Spartan signature dishes in concessions only available on Michigan State game days.
Updated concessions concepts alongside fan favorite mainstays like Melting Moments.
On-the-go markets and mobile stands equipped with self-service technology to increase speed and convenience.
An upscale refresh in premium areas, with curated menus for each game and modern chef’s table presentations.
Pregame and special event food and beverage pop-ups, from football tailgates to Izzone basketball pregame celebrations.
Secure, cashless transactions for swift payments and faster lines.
Continued opportunities for local community organizations and nonprofit groups to participate on game days.

College has become big business for Levy. Counting Michigan State, it now has F&B service deals with six Big Ten schools, including Ohio State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, and it provides F&B at UCLA football games hosted at the Rose Bowl (a Levy client).

Speed Reads…

The NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee “is expected to decide whether to expand the tournament field from 68 to 72 or 76 (the women’s tournament would grow correspondingly)” either today or tomorrow (SI, 7/8).

NHL prospect and Penn State commit Gavin McKenna received an “extremely generous six figure” NIL offer from Penn State as part of his recruitment, “believed to be the biggest in college hockey history,” according to sources (ESPN.com, 7/8).

Former LAFC D Giorgio Chiellini has returned to the club as “the 25th member of the club’s ownership group.” He “remains affiliated” with Juventus and is “also an investor in the women’s side of Italian football” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 7/8).

WWE and the Big 12 are expanding their multi-faceted partnership to bring Friday Night SmackDown broadcasts to Big 12 markets on the eve of four conference football games throughout the 2025 season. The first SmackDown will be held on Friday, August 22 at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, a day before the Week 0 matchup between Iowa State and Kansas State at Aviva Stadium (WWE).

The Mexico National Soccer Team will face Colombia at AT&T Stadium on Oct. 11 as “part of the 2025 Mextour,” the team’s annual U.S. tour (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/8).

Marketing agency Buffalo Groupe announced the addition of Colorado-based video production studio Oswego Creative. Oswego’s name will remain, and its nine employees will work alongside Buffalo around its client video offerings (Buffalo Groupe).

CBS Sports Network, Josh Lewin Productions and the USL’s Westchester SC have launched USL Excursions: Westchester County, a documentary series about the club’s first year in USL League One. The show airs on tonight at 6pm ET, tomorrow night at 10:30pm and Sunday at 4 pm on CBS Sports Network (CBS Sports Network).

Snap Inc. and RWS Global are partnering to bring a “Snapchat Cam” with unique lens effects to venue videoboards at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore (July 11 – Aug. 3) and British & Irish Lions Tour in Australia (July 19 – Aug. 2) (Rob Schaefer, SBJ).

Quick Hits…

“We don’t know the rules. The settlement passed, but who knows what Deloitte is going to clear. Until there is clarity, you’re living in limbo” — Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham, on how the rules of the current college football recruiting landscape are still unclear in the wake of the House settlement (YAHOO SPORTS, 7/8).

Morning Hot Reads: Taking Notice

The N.Y. TIMES went with the header, “Youth Sports Are a $40 Billion Business. Private Equity Is Taking Notice.” Youth sports “have caught the attention of Wall Street investors,” and private equity titans Josh Harris and David Blitzer “are among those who see a big opportunity.” Over the past three years, Harris and Blitzer started Unrivaled Sports, which “has been buying baseball camps, flag football fields and youth leagues to assemble one of the largest collections of youth sports properties in the country.” The youth sports industry, according to the Aspen Institute, generates about $40B in annual revenue, “dwarfing other forms of entertainment.” That’s a “far cry from the days when youth sports were dominated by locally run offshoots of nonprofit organizations” like the Catholic Youth Organization, Pop Warner and Little League Baseball.

Also:

Social Scoop…

Of more than 1,200 deals submitted to the clearinghouse, about one-third were approved, several remain under review and ~80 were denied & can be resubmitted.

No deals have advanced past the second denial and into the arbitration appeals process, Jeff Kessler tells @YahooSports. https://t.co/ku6nJpQE9l

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 9, 2025

Funny story: #Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown chose jersey No. 14 because he wanted to wear the number of WRs drafted before him. He told his girlfriend to count how many there were and she said 14.

One problem: she miscounted. It was actually 16. pic.twitter.com/dx8WEVU9Th

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 8, 2025

BREAKING: Rucker Park Streetball is now officially NBA and NCAA sanctioned, per Nathaniel Cooke, the park’s strategic partnership lead

Starting this summer, NBA and NCAA players can be rostered on Rucker Park Men’s Pro-Am teams during their offseason

Who wants to see Kevin… pic.twitter.com/M0yRURVTEQ

— SleeperRockets (@SleeperRockets) July 8, 2025

“At the start of this tale, the title character is reminded he went turtling off the Mosquito Coast.”

Off the presses…

The Morning Buzz offers today’s back pages and sports covers from some of North America’s major metropolitan newspapers:

Final Jeopardy…

“What is ‘The Old Man and the Sea’?”

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4-H youth showcase raising rabbits at fair’s opening day | News, Sports, Jobs

Staff photo / R. Michael Semple … A playful Archer Howes, 9 months, of Canfield, right, reaches out for his grandfather, Joe Bouch of Canfield, while attending the opening day of the 179th annual Trumbull County Fair in Bazetta on Tuesday. Bouch is retired from Foxconn in Lordstown. Today’s major grandstand attraction at the fair […]

Published

44 minutes ago

July 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Staff photo / R. Michael Semple …
A playful Archer Howes, 9 months, of Canfield, right, reaches out for his grandfather, Joe Bouch of Canfield, while attending the opening day of the 179th annual Trumbull County Fair in Bazetta on Tuesday. Bouch is retired from Foxconn in Lordstown. Today’s major grandstand attraction at the fair will be a demolition derby at 7 p.m.

BAZETTA — While many 4-H youth spend time raising cows, goats, sheep and pigs, others, especially those who live in the city, dedicate their time to raising and showcasing smaller animals such as rabbits.

On Tuesday’s opening day of the 179th annual Trumbull County Fair, many youth had a chance to shine by showing off their knowledge of rabbits.

Chelsea Mealy, a 4-H adviser, said taking care of a rabbit does involve commitment because the owner has to make sure the rabbit has fresh water and food every day.

“Children raise rabbits for showmanship, which is a full health check of the rabbit just like a veterinarian would do. They have to learn all the diseases a rabbit can get and how to treat them. The judges ask the children general questions about the rabbits. Showmanship is 100% their knowledge and care of their rabbit,” Mealy said.

She said when she has been a judge, she looks for confidence from the 4-H members, noting rabbits will flip over and often get spooked so she wants the child to not become frustrated.

She said while many youth take their rabbits home after the fair, others go to the market after being auctioned on Saturday. A rabbit show is set for 10:30 a.m. today.

Mealy said for new 4-H members and those who live in a city, it is easier to raise a rabbit.

“The city kids get to keep their rabbits at their house or in their backyard. They would not be allowed to raise a cow, horse or pig in a city,” Mealy said.

She said the children breed the mother rabbit and then take care of and raise the baby rabbit from its birth.

4-H PARTICIPANTS

One of the city 4-H members is Arya Duncan, 16, of Niles, who originally was in 4-H shooting sports when she decided she wanted to switch to raising rabbits.

She has been raising Percy, who weighs 2.5 pounds. He will not get any bigger.

“It has been a lot of fun. When raising a rabbit you have to have a lot of patience. They can be rude at times. I have had my rabbit since he was six months old,” Arya said.

Sophia Duncan, 10, of Bristol, said she likes rabbits for their fluffiness and is marking her first year of raising a rabbit for the fair. She said she prepares for the judges by practicing what she knows about rabbits.

Sebastian Bauer, 12, of Leavittsburg, has raised his rabbit, Wheat, at the fair. The rabbit got its name from its color.

Bauer said he has shown other animals such as pigs at the fair, but rabbits are a little easier to take care of because they are small.

He said he prepares for posing his rabbit for the showmanship event and then checks the rabbit in front of the judge.

Abigail Totten, 12, of Warren, and a member of the 4-H Trumbull County Wild Clovers, said it is important to give rabbits lots of water because they will stop eating if they do not have enough water.

She said she is prepared to show the judges the different parts of the rabbit and discuss them.

Abigail said the 4-H group she is with also raises guinea pigs, cats and chickens.

“The funnest part of raising a rabbit is getting to show them and letting the judges know what you know about rabbits,” Totten said.

Rows of rabbits were inside small cages in the rabbit area.

Jolyn O’Dell of Howland brought her children, Bryn, 9 and Brayden, 12, to the fair and was walking with them as they looked at rabbits,

She said her father, Bob Cleland of Fowler, raised and bred hundreds of rabbits on his farm.

“I wanted them to see rabbits so they could see what their grandfather raised. I grew up around rabbits,’” Jolyn said.

David and Bonnie Moore of Niles said when they come to the fair they always visit the rabbits and other small animals.

“We love the smaller animals. We come here every year to see the animals. What is nice is children who live in a city can also raise animals such as rabbits,” Bonnie Moore said.

FAIR QUEEN

Walking through the fair was newly named 2025 Junior Fair Queen Katie Viets, 17, of Fowler, who said she was really excited to have been named queen.

She said she looks forward to visiting people at the fair and also at other fairs while representing Trumbull County. Viets will be a senior at Mathews High School.

The 2025 Junior Fair King is XXX.. MARLY WILL GET THIS IN A FEW…

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Oklahoma City Thunder brings youth basketball camp to Lawton

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) – The Oklahoma City Thunder, in partnership with Simple Modern, hosted a Thunder Youth Basketball Hustle Camp in Lawton. The camp happened on July 8 and provided kids the opportunity to grow in the fundamentals of Basketball. It also allows them to engage in an active, team-centric environment. They focused on a […]

Published

1 hour ago

July 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) – The Oklahoma City Thunder, in partnership with Simple Modern, hosted a Thunder Youth Basketball Hustle Camp in Lawton.

The camp happened on July 8 and provided kids the opportunity to grow in the fundamentals of Basketball. It also allows them to engage in an active, team-centric environment.

They focused on a variety of important techniques and practiced drills to help improve things like defense, shooting, and more.

One of the coaches of the camp is from the Lawton area and shares just how important it is that he gives back to the community.

“It means everything, Basketball helped me accomplish my dreams,” Oklahoma City Thunder Youth Basketball Lead, Andre Houze Jr. said. “I went from coaching these youth camps to working for the Oklahoma City Thunder, being a part of the championship organization. And, if a kid dreams big, and they follow this basketball, it can happen for them too.”

He says he hopes the kids also come away from this experience with a better idea on how to be a confident and effective leader.

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Celebration of life for Tom Brown to be held at Salisbury University

U.S. Navy Blue Angels take Tom Saunders on roller coaster ride Tom Saunders was selected to fly with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels as part of their “Key Influencer” program that honors deserving local people. A celebration of life for Tom Brown, a Super Bowl champion and founder of the Salisbury Tom Brown Rookie League, […]

Published

1 hour ago

July 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

A celebration of life for Tom Brown, a Super Bowl champion and founder of the Salisbury Tom Brown Rookie League, will be held at Salisbury University in July.

Brown, who died in April, played professional baseball and football, pursuing a baseball career first before transitioning to football. Brown was part of three straight NFL championship-winning teams for the Green Bay Packers from 1965-67, and won two Super Bowls. During his baseball career, he played for the Washington Senators. Brown is one of only two athletes to hit a major league home run and play on a Super Bowl champion team, with Deion Sanders being the other.

Following the end of his professional career, Brown moved to Salisbury, Maryland, where he coached youth sports and ran the Tom Brown Rookie League from 1989 to 2015. Brown’s Rookie League became a staple of local youth sports in Salisbury.

The celebration of life honoring Brown will be held at Salisbury University’s Assembly Hall on Saturday, July 19, from 1 to 4 p.m.

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Youth Sports July 9, 2025

• SPIRIT LAKE PARKS AND RECREATION Flag football June 30 2nd/3rd Gd. Division Spirit Lake Family Dental vs. JBT Transportation Scoring for SL Family Dental were Jackson Ward 2-TD, Ridge Powers 1-TD, and Chet Small 1-TD. For JBT Transportation Weston Staples 1-TD 4th/6th Gd. Division Rabid Diesel Performance vs Green Mountain Land & Home; Scoring […]

Published

2 hours ago

July 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

• SPIRIT LAKE PARKS AND RECREATION

Flag football

June 30

2nd/3rd Gd. Division

Spirit Lake Family Dental vs. JBT Transportation Scoring for SL Family Dental were Jackson Ward 2-TD, Ridge Powers 1-TD, and Chet Small 1-TD.

For JBT Transportation Weston Staples 1-TD

4th/6th Gd. Division

Rabid Diesel Performance vs Green Mountain Land & Home; Scoring for Rabid Diesel Performance were Colton Ban 1-TD.

For Green Mountain Land & Home Bradyn Brandt 1-TD, Cash Fittings 1-TD

• RATHDRUM PARKS AND RECREATION

Flag football

July 7

K-1st Grade Flag Football

CDA Paving vs. Tamarack Family Services

CDA Paving: Ezekiel Larkin (1TD), Roman Bean (1TD), Kayson Anderson (2PAT-1)

Tamarack Family Services: Keegan Koehler (1TD)

Basler Construction vs. Spirit Lake Parks & Recreation

Basler Construction: Michael Boissoneau Jr. (1TD), Morgan Basler (2TD)

SLPR: Karson Beard (3TD)

2nd-3rd Grade Flag Football

Mihara Law vs. Champion Concrete

Mihara Law: George Brucick (2TD), Conlee Biondo (1PAT-2)

Champion Concrete: Gabriel Garibay (1TD), Wyatt DaVault (1TD)

Young Construction vs. JBT Transportation

Young Construction: Kamden Carter (1PAT-1), Cayben Bird (2TD), Beckett Waldo (2TD),

Greyson Metzgar (1TD)

JBT Transportation: (0)

4th-6th Grade Flag Football

Chambers Construction vs. Lake City Auto Care

Chambers Construction: Titus Reimers (1TD)

Lake City Auto Care: Porter Oswell (2TD, 1PAT-2), Ashton Courser (2TD)

ACE Hardware vs. Surf Shack

ACE Hardware: Stryker Ruiz (1PAT-2), Blake Carey (1TD, 1PAT-1), Cooper Keene (1TD), Lincoln

Swanson (1TD, 1PAT-1, 1PAT-2), Asher Lonestar (1TD)

Surf Shack: Jack Newton (1PAT-2), Damien Turner (1TD), Joshua Knick (1TD, 1PAT-1)

Submit items for youth and non-varsity high school sports by noon Tuesday for publication Wednesday. Email stories and photos (in .jpg format) to sports@cdapress.com.

Information: 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205

Courtesy photo The Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen “A” team won the Prairie Cardinals Summer Bash on June 29. The Lums went 4-0 for the weekend. In the front is coach Ryan Schneider; kneeling from left are Corban (bat boy), Rylan Anstine and Maddix Witten; and standing from left, Trevor Booze, Brody Bowlin, Tristen Martin, Kole Rodda, JD Davenport, Colten Nordman, Justin Fagan, Will D’Orazi, Brennan Jensen, Logan Strimback, James Togiailua, Crew Thompson, Noah Childress and coach Sean MacNiven. Not pictured is Malcom MacNiven.

Courtesy photo The Coeur d’Alene High Skeet and Trap team had 11 students travel to San Antonio, Texas to the National Shooting Complex to participate in the USAYESS National Competition. There were more than 2,500 students shooting various events during the four days — June 23-26 — ranging from sixth grade to 12th grade. Coeur d’Alene placed 15th overall. From left are Reid Thompson, Logan Bussanich, coach Matt Brown, Michael Hill, Abrie Sterbank, Kiley Durham, Eva Brown, Kensie W,, Jack Grant, Dillon Lanphere, Caden Rowley, Parker Martin and coach Bob Thornton.

Courtesy photo Kensie W. of the Coeur d’Alene High skeet and trap team took first place in Bunker Trap for Junior Varsity, and was fourth in Trap at the USAYESS national competition June 23-26 in San Antonio, Texas.

Courtesy photo The Lake City Thunder 14U Curry softball team won the Gold Bracket in their division last weekend at the Spokane 4th of July Shootout, against 15 teams from Idaho, Washington, Montana and Canada. In the front row from left are Shasta Ackerman, Tessa Lovell, Avah Gonzales, Ella Ferguson and Ollie Dudley; and back row from left, assistant coach Adam Gonzales, assistant coach Rich Dudley, Savannah Stevens, Katie Nave, Sophie Wasley, Paisley Lund, Raegan Masters, Addie Lisenbee, head coach Dwayne Curry and assistant coach Casey Whaley.

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