Sports

Inevitable: Maple Mountain rolls to second straight 5A boys volleyball title | News, Sports, Jobs

1 / 6 Maple Mountain head coach Napoleon Galang (center) celebrates with his team after winning the 5A boys volleyball state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald 2 / 6 The Maple Mountain boys volleyball team celebrates winning the 5A state title at the UCCU […]

Published

2 weeks ago

May 11, 2025

Your Sports Nation

1 / 6

Maple Mountain head coach Napoleon Galang (center) celebrates with his team after winning the 5A boys volleyball state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

2 / 6

The Maple Mountain boys volleyball team celebrates winning the 5A state title at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

3 / 6

The Maple Mountain boys volleyball team celebrates winning the 5A state title at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

4 / 6

Maple Mountain fans celebrate a 5A boys volleyball state championship at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

5 / 6

Members of the Wasatch boys volleyball team console each other after losing to Maple Mountain in the 5A state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

6 / 6

Brady Hulme of Wasatch (23) holds up the runner-up trophy after the 5A boys volleyball state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

❮
❯

: Maple Mountain head coach Napoleon Galang (center) celebrates with his team after winning the 5A boys volleyball state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

: The Maple Mountain boys volleyball team celebrates winning the 5A state title at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

: The Maple Mountain boys volleyball team celebrates winning the 5A state title at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

: Maple Mountain fans celebrate a 5A boys volleyball state championship at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

: Members of the Wasatch boys volleyball team console each other after losing to Maple Mountain in the 5A state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

: Brady Hulme of Wasatch (23) holds up the runner-up trophy after the 5A boys volleyball state finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, May 10, 2025.

Nothing or no one was going to stop Maple Mountain from marching to its second straight 5A boys volleyball state title.

The Golden Eagles were dominant from start to finish on Saturday at the UCCU Center against Wasatch in a 25-16, 25-15, 25-15 sweep, the program’s 42nd straight win against Utah competition dating back to March of 2024.

“It looks easy, but we’ve had our struggles,” Maple Mountain head coach Napoleon Galang said. “It’s just so satisfying to see it pay off in the end.”

The Golden Eagles boast perhaps the best players at their positions in the state — 6-foot-7 senior outside hitter and BYU signee Trey Thornton, 6-7 junior setter Taft Hillman and 6-6 senior middle blocker Manase Storey — so it’s no wonder they were the No. 1 seed and expected to be in the state final.

Many teams fold under that kind of pressure.

Not this one.

“It’s a blessing that we have this kind of confidence,” said Thornton, who had 22 kills in his final match. “Everybody is a little bit scared to play us. Honestly, I’ve heard lost of people in the hallways talking, ‘Ooh, there’s Maple Mountain. We gotta get Maple Mountain.’ But staying humble has really helped us get here. Nothing’s been given to us.”

No. 4 Wasatch, which upset No. 2 Bountiful in the semifinals, has a good club led by pin hitters Chase Billeter and JJ Serre. But the Wasps had no answers for the Maple Mountain offense directed by Hillman (40 assists) with such deft ability.

“Credit to Taft, he runs a great offense,” Thornton said. “Our passing is the best in the state. Every single game, we outperform in the passing category. Having that pass really sets up our offense to just go and hammer balls.”

Wasatch led just four times the entire match under the relentless pressure from Maple Mountain. A pair of aces from Hillman got the Golden Eagles off to a great start in Set 1 and Hillman’s exquisite feed to Thornton from the back row for a kill produced a 15-6 lead. Hillman and Storey teamed up for a block and Hillman killed an overpass to get to set point. A net violation by Wasatch resulted in a 25-16 win for Maple Mountain.

Thorton was unstoppable to start Set 2, ripping off seven kills as the Golden Eagles took an 11-7 lead.

“Having a target on my back makes me play smarter,” Thornton said. “It really helps having a team that uplifts me and backs me up every single point. Without them, I don’t think I could do it. We’re hungry for every single point and we’re going aggressively every point.”

An ace from Storey made the score 18-10 and Thornton added two more kills in a 25-15 victory.

Maple Mountain went on a 9-0 run early in Set 3, with Thornton and Abe Hawkins logging two blocks and two kills apiece, for a 13-3 lead and the Golden Eagles would not be denied on their way to the sweep.

Despite their dominating play, Galang said Maple Mountain always approaches every match the same way.

“We teach them that we are beatable, and we play with a chip on our shoulder,” he said. “We know that we’ve had a target on our back since the first day of the season. So we teach them that on any given day, anyone’s coming after us. So we tell them, ‘You’ve got to play hard, no matter what, no matter who’s on the other side of the court.’ No matter what the score is, they play hard.”

Besides Thornton, Hillman and Storey, Maple Mountain relied on Hawkins, junior outside hitter Matheus Borges and a pair of freshmen — outside hitter Kimball Olsen and libero McKay Beattie — in posting a 29-1 mark in 2025, with the only loss to Windward (Calif.) at an out-of-state tournament in March.

“We had a lot of returning players and we had some new freshmen coming to the open gyms,” Galang said. “We had this pre-season tournament where we knew there was something special about this team. From Day 1 they knew what they wanted, and they worked so hard every day in practice for that. All our players have matured so it’s not just the ‘Trey Show.’

“We said when we finished last year we wanted to do this back to back. So it’s just a testament to how hard the boys worked and how hard my coaching staff worked to get to this point.”

Storey added: “We kind of knew from the start, but it was very questionable, because we had new players. Two seniors were gone, and out of nowhere, these two freshmen came in, and they just kind of saved our butts for what we needed. This feeling, I’ll never get over it. It’s unforgettable.”

Link

Sports

York-Adams League coaches select 2025 boys’ volleyball all-stars

York Suburban wrestler lives out childhood dream of wrestling York Suburban wrestler Angela Imorhoa wrestles to claim her spot at the state level tournament in March at the Giant Center, Hershey. The York-Adams League has announced its boys’ volleyball all-stars for the 2025 season. League coaches selected a Player of the Year, a seven-player first […]

Published

17 minutes ago

May 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The York-Adams League has announced its boys’ volleyball all-stars for the 2025 season.

League coaches selected a Player of the Year, a seven-player first team and an eight-player second team. Including honorable mentions, a grand total of 35 players from nine different programs were recognized for their stellar campaigns, some of which are still ongoing.

Red Lion senior outside hitter Tyler Good was named the league’s Player of the Year after starring in all facets of the game for the Lions. He frequently reached double digits in both kills and digs, headlined by a 23-kill, 16-dig performance in Red Lion’s five-set win over rival Dallastown on May 6. The Lions beat the Wildcats again in the league tournament before falling to Central York in the semifinals. They finished 10-7 overall, missing the 16-team District 3 Class 3A tournament after finishing 17th in the power rankings. Good previously helped steer the program to its first-ever state playoff berth in 2024.

Northeastern’s George Miller received Coach of the Year honors in his second season at the helm for the Bobcats. Miller’s team battled injuries early in the season and finished third in the YAIAA standings, but ran the table in the league tournament and swept Central York on May 14 to capture its first county title since 2019. Northeastern is now 16-4 after dropping its District 3-3A semifinal bout at Cumberland Valley on Tuesday; the Bobcats will visit Governor Mifflin in the third-place match Friday, then prepare for their first PIAA tournament appearance since 2021.

Central York and York Suburban will both compete for district titles this week before joining Northeastern at states. All three programs had two selections to the league’s all-star first team, with Central’s John He — the 2024 Player of the Year — and Lance Shaffer earning repeat selections. Northeastern’s Hugh Rogers is a first-teamer for the second time after making the list in 2023, while teammate Jared Shirk was also selected. York Suburban is represented by Trent Weinstein and Truett Miller. Dallastown’s Gordon Campbell rounds out the first team.

York Suburban will visit Manheim Central for the District 3-2A title at 7 p.m. Thursday, while Central York will travel to Cumberland Valley for the 3A final at 1 p.m. Saturday. Both teams will then turn their focus to the state tournament, which begins Tuesday, June 3.

YORK-ADAMS LEAGUE 2025 BOYS’ VOLLEYBALL ALL-STARS

Player of the Year: Tyler Good, senior, outside hitter, Red Lion

Coach of the Year: George Miller, Northeastern

First Team

John He, senior, outside, Central York

Lance Shaffer, senior, setter, Central York

Truett Miller, sophomore, outside, York Suburban

Trent Weinstein, junior, outside, York Suburban

Hugh Rogers, senior, outside, Northeastern

Jared Shirk, senior, libero, Northeastern

Gordon Campbell, junior, outside, Dallastown

Second Team

Patrick Siewert, senior, opposite, Central York

Aden Thompson, senior, middle, Central York

Billy Doyle, junior, middle, York Suburban

Lincoln Wertz, senior, middle, Northeastern

Jacob Zambito, junior, setter, Northeastern

Jacob Shaffer, senior, outside, Red Lion

Rylan Hahn, senior, middle, New Oxford

Luke Bair, junior, setter, Spring Grove

Honorable Mentions

Shivesh Jethwa, sophomore, libero, Central York

Robert Berry, sophomore, middle, York Suburban

Turner Hare, senior, setter, York Suburban

Drew Wilt, senior, setter, York Suburban

Koltin Forry, senior, outside, Northeastern

Carson Hershey, sophomore, middle, Dallastown

Cameron Stambaugh, sophomore, setter, Dallastown

Scotty Zorn, senior, outside, Dallastown

Levi Crowe, freshman, setter, Red Lion

Noah Good, junior, middle, Red Lion

Lucas Jackson, senior, libero, Red Lion

Jacob Helt, junior, libero, New Oxford

Noah Laughman, senior, outside, New Oxford

Evan Strausbaugh, senior, setter, New Oxford

Caleb Dinges, junior, outside, Spring Grove

Luis Garcia, junior, middle, Spring Grove

Zane Lawrence, junior, outside, Spring Grove

Aaron Hildebrand, junior, outside, Eastern York

Riley Krantz, senior, outside, York High

Link

Sports

Charlie Polinger & Joel Edgerton Discuss ‘The Plague’

TITLE: The Plague Section: Un Certain Regard Director: Charlie Polinger Panelists: Charlie Polinger (director/screenwriter), Joel Edgerton (actor/producer) Logline: At an all-boys water polo camp, a socially awkward 12-year-old is pulled into a cruel tradition targeting an outcast with an illness they call “The Plague.” As he endures the ruthless hierarchy, his anxiety spirals into psychological turmoil […]

Published

21 minutes ago

May 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

TITLE: The Plague

Section: Un Certain Regard

Director: Charlie Polinger

Panelists: Charlie Polinger (director/screenwriter), Joel Edgerton (actor/producer)

Logline: At an all-boys water polo camp, a socially awkward 12-year-old is pulled into a cruel tradition targeting an outcast with an illness they call “The Plague.” As he endures the ruthless hierarchy, his anxiety spirals into psychological turmoil while the lines between game and reality blur, and he fears the joke might be hiding something real.

Cast: Joel Edgerton, Kayo Martin, Everett Blunck, Kenny Rasmussen

Key quotes: Polinger on the film’s themes: “What happens when being part of a group… is at odds with your belief system or your empathy or your values? I think that that applies on all scales, politically, culturally. You definitely see that happening right now in the world, not just with kids… The way that people can enable a certain voice that is maybe not a voice towards positive, but that there’s the person who has the most charisma or the most assuredness, there is a sense that people will follow that even if they don’t agree.” In the movie, “You see how behind the scenes some of the kids are kind of dissenting with Jake’s philosophy on ‘The Plague’. But when they’re with them together, everyone has to conform because they’re too scared to risk alienation.” Edgerton on blurred lines: “There’s a culture where the mythology of an idea or something that’s not real actually becomes real with enough belief if it becomes the culture… You know it’s not true, and yet it becomes mythology that enters a truth because it becomes important to where you stand in the pecking order. I just think this is a really potent idea.” On “the unruliness” and “savagery” of children in the film: “It felt to me like I was watching some like Full Metal Jacket for 12-year-olds. I have kids and I’m like I don’t know how I’m going to face that period of their lives… It’s the accidental cruelty, it’s the cruelty in pursuit of a laugh or it’s the cruelty in pursuit of belonging, but it’s not cruelty for the sake of cruelty which is unfortunate, but understandable.”

Sales agent: UTA/Cinetic (domestic) , AGC (international)

Watch the full conversation above.

The Deadline Studio at Cannes is sponsored by SCAD, Cast & Crew and Final Draft.

Link

Sports

University of New Hampshire

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire volleyball program, led by head coach Christopher Feliciano, announced Tuesday the addition of eight newcomers to the defending America East conference championship team for the 2025 season. The newcomers – all freshmen – hail from six states and two European countries. “My staff and I […]

Published

26 minutes ago

May 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire volleyball program, led by head coach Christopher Feliciano, announced Tuesday the addition of eight newcomers to the defending America East conference championship team for the 2025 season.

The newcomers – all freshmen – hail from six states and two European countries.

“My staff and I are beyond excited to welcome the 2029 class to Durham,” said Feliciano, who will enter his seventh year at UNH’s helm in 2025. “We feel this class will have an immediate impact on the success of our program both on and off the court. Our team culture is the driving force to our success, and these young women with the guidance our outstanding returners will thrive.”

Name	Class	Pos.	Ht.	Hometonw/high School
Lucy Certock	Fr.	OH	6-2	Danville, Calif. / San Ramon Valley
Evey Jurden	Fr.	RS/OH	6-2	Springfield, Va. / West Springfield
Raya Evlogieva	Fr.	OH/OPP	6-1	Sofia, Bulgaria / Sports School General Vladimir Stoychev
Dylan Hunt	Fr.	OH/DS	5-11	Pickerington, Ohio / Pickerington North
Jannelize Perez	Fr.	L/DS	5-3	Orlando, Fla. / Lake Highland Prep
Elena Chappel	Fr.	MB	6-0	Zionsville, Ind. / Zionsville Community
Milan Curl	Fr.	OH/RS	6-0	Chesapeake, Va. / Hickory
Varya Zvereva	Fr.	MB	6-2	Korolev, Russia / The Grammar School Limassol

Chertock is a 6-foot-2 outside hitter out of San Ramon Valley High School, where she was named MVP of the Wolves and East Bay Athletic League All-Tournament Team as a junior in 2023. She also received East Bay Athletic League Honorable Mention in 2022.

Chertock also plays for the NorCal Volleyball Club and was named an All-NorCal Player in 2023.

She has been named to the AVCA Phenom Watchlist and the Junior Volleyball Association Watchlist, as well as to the Volleyball mag Dream Team.

Jurden is a 6-2 right side hitter/outside hitter from West Springfield High School, where she recorded more than 1,200 career kills and 300 career assists. She led the Spartans to the semifinals in 2024, when she was the District Player of the Year and the Region Player of the Year.

She was also named both the district and region Player of the Year as a junior in 2023. Jurden garnered All-State First Team and Washington Post All-Metro Team recognition that season. As a sophomore, she received All-District Team honors.

Jurden was named to the Junior Volleyball Association Watchlist as well as the American Volleyball Coaches Association Phenom Watchlist and the PrepVolleyball.com Watchlist for the Class of 2025.

Jurden was selected to the USA Volleyball High Performance Program as a hitter (in 2019) and as a setter (2020) in separate years.

She has played for the Virginia Elite Volleyball Club for seven seasons. In 2023-24, Jurden led the team in both kills and hitting percentage as the team finished 13^th in the nation at the USAV National Championship.

Evlogieva is a 6-1 outside hitter/opposite who plays for the VC SCKA club team. She led the team to second place in both the Bulgarian league and the Bulgarian Cup in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, as well as third place this past season.

Evlogieva has competed on a Bulgarian national team each of the past four years: 16 and under (2022), 17 and under (2023), 18 and under (2024), and 21 and under (2025).

Evlogieva competed in both basketball and swimming at Sports School General Vladimir Stoychev.

Hunt is a 5-11 outside hitter/defensive specialist from Pickerington North High School, where she was an All-State Team honoree in both volleyball and basketball. She recorded 1,150 career kills to finish as the Panthers’ all-time leader.

Hunt garnered All-State First Team accolades as a senior. She is a two-time conference Player of the Year (2023, 2024) who was also named All-District First Team and All-Conference First Team both those years. Hunt was All-Conference Second Team in 2021 and 2022. Her team awards include MVP and two-time Offensive Player of the Year.

Hunt also plays for the Mintonette Sports club team.

Perez is a 5-3 libero/defensive specialist out of Lake Highland Prep, where she led the team to a state championship as a senior in 2024 and a state championship appearance in ’23. Perez also attended Lake Nona High School and was the only freshman on the varsity team in 2021.

Perez played for the Team Florida Girls Future Select Team in 2019 and won gold. She also plays club for OTVA and lettered in beach volleyball.

Chappell is a 6-0 middle blocker from Zionsville Community High School. She led the Eagles to a 26-7 record as a junior in 2023 and then was sidelined by injury in the ’24 season.

Chappell also plays for the Circle City Volleyball Club, where she placed fifth at the USAV Nationals in 15 American (2021-22 season) and 19^th place at the USAV Nationals in 16 USA (2022-23). She was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Presidents’ Day Classic in both the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons.

Curl is a 6-0 outside hitter/right side hitter at Hickory High School, where she was a four-year letterwinner and won the state championship as a freshman. Curl also plays for the East Coast Volleyball Club.

Zvereva is a 6-2 middle blocker out of The Grammar School Limassol. She led her team to a Pancyprian Championships qualification selection two of the last three years, and to an ISF sectional championship in 2023-24.

She also plays on the AEL volleyball club team.

Zvereva was awarded a Gold GTO badge stage 3 (Ready for Labor and Defense), which is a Russian sports award given for achieving specific physical fitness standards in the GTO program.

These eight student-athletes join a UNH volleyball program that won the 2024 America East tournament championship to advance to the NCAA tournament for the eighth time.

Link

Sports

Volleyball unveils its 2025 schedule

Story Links HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech volleyball team announced its 2025 schedule on Wednesday (May 28). Under first-year head coach Cindy Pindral, the Huskies will play 27 matches in the fall with 16 GLIAC contests and nine games at the SDC Gym. Six of their opponents went to the […]

Published

37 minutes ago

May 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech volleyball team announced its 2025 schedule on Wednesday (May 28). Under first-year head coach Cindy Pindral, the Huskies will play 27 matches in the fall with 16 GLIAC contests and nine games at the SDC Gym. Six of their opponents went to the NCAA Tournament last season and five were ranked in the final 2024 AVCA Top 25.

Tech begins the season with a tournament hosted by McKendree. The Huskies will face Missouri-St. Louis to open the schedule on September 5, with their second match of the day against Southwestern Oklahoma State. The trip wraps up against the host Bearcats on September 6.

The Huskies play in the Minnesota edition of the Up North Tournament the following weekend. Tech travels to St. Cloud to take on Barry on September 11 and Adelphi and SCSU on September 12. All three of those opponents played in the national tournament last season. The Up North weekend wraps up with a trip up to Minnesota Duluth on September 13.

The GLIAC portion of the schedule gets underway the following weekend with a pair of road matches at Ferris State (Sept. 19) and Davenport (Sept. 20). Tech then hosts Roosevelt (Sept. 26) and Parkside (Sept. 27) at the SDC Gym in the home-opener where it will also be Alumni Weekend and a 50th Team celebration.

The Black and Gold head back on the road to Lake Superior State (Oct. 3) and Saginaw Valley State (Oct. 4) to begin October. The Huskies host Northern Michigan in a non-conference match on October 9 and then travel to Purdue Northwest (Oct. 12) before the annual Midwest Region Crossover on October 17-18. Tech will play three non-conference opponents at the 17th annual tournament.

The Huskies host Wayne State (Oct. 24) and Grand Valley State (Oct. 25) and then play their final three road matches of the regular season at NMU (Oct. 28), Parkside (Oct. 31), and Roosevelt (Nov. 1).

The season wraps up with four straight home matches against Davenport (Nov. 7), FSU (Nov. 8), SVSU (Nov. 14), and LSSU (Nov. 15)

The Huskies advanced to the GLIAC semifinal for the eighth consecutive time last season, with a 10-7 GLIAC record and a fifth-place finish in the conference. Tech finished the 2024 season with a 17-12 overall record.

Link

Sports

Michigan’s top beaches ranked. Where to get your toes in the sand

Essential water safety tips Learn essential water safety tips to ensure a fun and safe summer for the whole family. Michigan features beaches statewide along over 3,200 miles of shoreline. From the Great Lakes to inland lakes, national lakeshores to state parks, the state offers vast shores to explore. The USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice […]

Published

42 minutes ago

May 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Michigan features beaches statewide along over 3,200 miles of shoreline.
From the Great Lakes to inland lakes, national lakeshores to state parks, the state offers vast shores to explore.
The USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards picked 10 west and northern Michigan beaches as the state’s best.

Summer is nearly here in Michigan and now’s the time to start planning a trip to the beach.

Michigan has more than 3,200 miles of shoreline, and features beaches along the Great Lakes and inland rivers and lakes, Pure Michigan says.

If you’re looking to head to the beach this season, the USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards ranked the 10 best in Michigan. The top 10 are along the shores of Lake Michigan on the west side of the state, including a national lakeshore, and along Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula’s Keweenaw Peninsula.

“With shoreline on four of the five Great Lakes, Michigan offers visitors hundreds of miles of family-friendly freshwater beaches, perfect for summer vacation. From spectacular sunsets to awe-inspiring dunes, there’s a beach for every taste,” USA TODAY’s 10BEST website says.

Here’s a look at Michigan’s 10BEST beaches.

The beach features sandy shores along Lake Michigan in a family-friendly setting. The surrounding Douglas Park offers baseball and softball diamonds, picnic areas and charcoal grills, basketball courts, tennis courts and a fenced dog park.

First Street Beach was ranked No. 1 in 2024 as well.

Set on 2.5 miles of sandy Lake Michigan shoreline, this park offers volleyball courts, a scenic walking path, adventure sports like kite boarding, picnic tables, The Deck with live music and two historic lighthouses.

Pere Marquette beach ranked 6th a year ago.

Located along the Lake Michigan shoreline in southwest Michigan, this park provides public swimming, a concession stand, kayak and paddleboard rentals, and beach volleyball, access to the South Pier, picnic tables, playgrounds and grills.

Silver Beach ranked third in 2024.

This tranquil Lake Michigan beach features swimming, a playground, concession stands, a sandy shoreline, picnic tables, grills, accessible walkways and facilities, popular for sunset views and celebrations like beach weddings and family reunions.

Stearns Park ranked second in 2024.

A trip to this ADA-accessible Lake Michigan beach offers swimming along the sandy shores, a playground, a lighthouse, picnic area, grills and concession stand.

South Beach was the fifth-ranked beach in 2024.

At the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, this 9.4-acre park features trails and a unique red pebble beach along the shores of Lake Superior, with opportunities for bird watching, hiking, photography and biking.

Hunter’s Point was the No. 4 beach a year ago.

On the Lake Michigan coast, this secluded beach includes about 2,000 acres of natural sand dunes, popular for swimming, boating, fishing, using dune buggies and off-road vehicles, with a lighthouse nearby.

On the shores of Lake Michigan in this popular tourist town, the beach features rolling sand dunes and sandy shores with a concession stand and restrooms, perfect for swimming, sunbathing, sailing and more, with scenic trails offering hiking.

Oval Beach ranked 7th in 2024.

The sandy beach lines the coast of Lake Michigan in this tourist town, with a boardwalk and iconic lighthouse with scenic sunset views, great for swimming, building sandcastles and sunbathing, surrounded by nearby restaurants and ice cream shops.

This national lakeshore runs along 35 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline in northwest Michigan, a popular tourist attraction drawing in over 1.5 million visitors annually. The lakeshore features expansive a lighthouse, sand dunes, forests, sandy beaches, campgrounds, trails for hiking and biking, a historic farm district and coastal village and the Manitou Islands.

Sleeping Bears Dunes ranked 10th in 2024.

Where are the nation’s best beach bars?

The 10BEST awards ranked the following top 10 beach bars in the nation:

Ocean Deck Restaurant and Beach Bar in Daytona Beach, Florida
Flora-Bama in Pensacola, Florida
Tiki Hut at Beach House in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Reunion Kitchen + Drink in Santa Barbara, California
Copper Bar at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Waimea, Hawaii
Mai Tai Bar at The Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu, Hawaii
Sloppy Joe’s on the Beach at Bilmar Beach Resort in Treasure Island, Florida
The Crow’s Nest in Santa Cruz, California
House Without a Key at Halekulani Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii
Edge of Waikiki at Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu, Hawaii

Where else were beaches ranked?

The awards also included the 10 best beaches in the following states:

California
Florida
New Jersey
North Carolina
Puerto Rico
South Carolina
Texas

Contact Jenna Prestininzi: jprestininzi@freepress.com.

Link

Sports

The FFT and host broadcaster Whisper target a younger audience with data and graphics

New host broadcaster for the French Grand Slam, Whisper, is helping advance the Fédération Française de Tennis’ (FFT) goals of increasing the number of younger viewers watching Roland-Garros. One of the aims for the new team over the next five years is to bring a more youthful demographic to screens to watch the tournament, and […]

Published

46 minutes ago

May 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

New host broadcaster for the French Grand Slam, Whisper, is helping advance the Fédération Française de Tennis’ (FFT) goals of increasing the number of younger viewers watching Roland-Garros.

One of the aims for the new team over the next five years is to bring a more youthful demographic to screens to watch the tournament, and this involves broadening coverage out further into digital media.

Content creators

Since the tournament began on 19 May through to its epic conclusion on 8 June, Whisper has been working closely with the FFT’s squad of content creators from its digital team, who are roving around Roland-Garros to capture this new digital content.

Says Amandine Tyl, head of production and broadcast services at the FFT: “We have a team of content creators that are capturing content around the grounds everywhere in order to be able to deliver this content to our rights holders, because now we consider that digital is part of what the broadcasters are needing; it’s not only about linear channels, but also digital.

“We want to make sure that broadcasters can get access to wide range of content in terms of Roland-Garros production, and not only what we all expect, like live coverage of matches, but on top of that, digital coverage.”

Graphic focus

Another step towards that younger audience is a new focus on data and graphics. Says Tyl: “In order to get a new audience of not only tennis experts around the table, and this is new for this year, we have now an agreement with TennisViz.”

Read more Roland-Garros 2025: Bringing the passion and drama with new cameras for storytelling at the French Grand Slam

TennisViz’s automated artificial intelligence (AI) software processes ball and player tracking data in real time to calculate shot type, shot quality, situation, phase of play and tactic for every shot. This data is presented as a collection of performance metrics known as TennisViz Insights.

Tyl continues: “[TennisViz] are in charge of data. This is something new at FFT for this year because we are capturing players and ball tracking data around all courts. I think we were the only Slam not to cover this, because we don’t have the official line calling, so this year for the first time we are capturing all this data on all courts, and based on this data we will use TennisViz in order to deliver some insights which should help to reach a younger audience, and a different audience from the one we currently have for tennis.”

Deltatre is running the graphics for the FFT. Tyl says: “We will have some specific insight graphics, which are used also on the ATP tool. These kind of graphics give more easy to understand data for generic viewers – not tennis experts – because tennis is very complicated to understand for a mainstream audience.”

Roland-Garros’ Court Simonne Mathieu

Top Trumps

This is all about serving the rights holders to this prestigious Grand Slam. Tyl says: “At Roland-Garros we have many different kinds of broadcaster, from very mainstream broadcasters like France Télévisions, to very specific sports or tennis broadcasters,” continues Tyl. “We wanted, through TennisViz, to give easier access to the data for the viewers. So for example, they are providing on a scale from zero to 10 the quality of shot of the players, so player serve, player backhand, player forehand, etc.”

Read more Roland-Garros 2025: Whisper on getting into the psyche of the FFT as the new host broadcaster for the French Grand Slam

Sebastian Tiffert, account director at Whisper, likens the new comparison graphics ‘cards’ to the game, Top Trumps. Tyl continues: “Basically you can get some kind of player’s ‘cards’, where when you have a head to head between two players, instead of having the traditional head to head [graphic] we have all been used to seeing over the last decade with how many times they have been fighting against each other and that sort of thing, we get data comparisons between the strengths and weaknesses of the two players.

“This is typically the kind of data we think will make it easier for a wider audience to understand tennis better, and get a little more storytelling [into the production], because I think storytelling around tennis is really key and this is what we are trying to achieve through these kind of new services,” she says.

The French Open takes place in Paris from 19 May to 8 June 2025

Link