Connect with us

High School Sports

Napoleon High School to add Boys Soccer Program

David Rice | JTV Sports Wednesday June 18th (6-18-2025, 12:00PM): Napoleon High School announced recently the addition of a boys soccer program at NHS beginning in the 2025-26 school year. NHS has hired Clark Haase to be its first head coach. “I bring several years of soccer coaching experience, ranging from youth leagues to junior varsity, […]

Published

on

Napoleon High School to add Boys Soccer Program

David Rice | JTV Sports

Wednesday June 18th

(6-18-2025, 12:00PM): Napoleon High School announced recently the addition of a boys soccer program at NHS beginning in the 2025-26 school year.

NHS has hired Clark Haase to be its first head coach. “I bring several years of soccer coaching experience, ranging from youth leagues to junior varsity, and I am passionate about developing student-athletes both on and off the field. My coaching philosophy centers on building a strong team culture, promoting discipline, hard work, and sportsmanship, while helping each player grow in skill and confidence. I am excited to lead and develop the Pirates boys soccer program and bring a positive, competitive environment where athletes can thrive, I look forward to working with players, families, and the entire Napoleon community” Haase said in a statement on posted on social media.

The team will compete as a club team to begin, meaning it will not play a regular MHSAA schedule and will play exhibition matches against select teams. This moves comes after NHS added a girls soccer program just three years ago, who also competed as a club team in year one.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

High School Sports

With eyes on 'best players,' White Sox intrigued by prep shortstops

CHICAGO — No specific names were given by White Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley when asked this past weekend about his team’s first-round plans for Day 1 of the 2025 MLB Draft presented by Nike on Sunday night. But Shirley provided details of the work put in by the organization to prepare for […]

Published

on

With eyes on 'best players,' White Sox intrigued by prep shortstops

CHICAGO — No specific names were given by White Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley when asked this past weekend about his team’s first-round plans for Day 1 of the 2025 MLB Draft presented by Nike on Sunday night.

But Shirley provided details of the work put in by the organization to prepare for possibilities at No. 10, representing the White Sox first-round selection.

Draft coverage:
Day 1 (Rounds 1-3): Sun., July 13, 6 p.m. ET (MLBN/MLB.com/ESPN)
Day 2 (Rounds 4-20): Mon., July 14, 11:30 a.m. ET (MLB.com)

“We are looking at two college hitters, there’s two strong college pitchers we like, there’s about five high school shortstops that we worked really hard on, and there’s one high school pitcher that is extremely talented,” Shirley told MLB.com. “His talent is something that makes you pay attention to him.

“It’s not a preference to go that way, but when you have that many weapons, all the boxes you are looking for a high school right-handed starter to check, he checks a lot of those things pretty easy. And he’s an unbelievable kid. That puts us at a pretty good number that we worked extremely hard to get where we are at today.

“As far as who we are picking?” Shirley added. “I can’t get there with you.”

COMPLETE WHITE SOX PROSPECT COVERAGE

MLB.com mock drafts have focused on that high school shortstop area for the White Sox, with JoJo Parker and Billy Carlson coming up as possibilities at pick 10. Colson Montgomery, the No. 5 White Sox prospect, per MLB Pipeline, made a triumphant debut at shortstop in Colorado over the weekend, and fellow rookie Chase Meidroth has played 56 games at the position.

Caleb Bonemer, the No. 9 White Sox prospect, and William Bergolla at No. 13 are other shortstops of the future within their system. Having talented players in place won’t stop the White Sox from going in that direction.

“Look, [general manager] Chris Getz has a serious plan for what he’s trying to build in this organization,” Shirley said. “Up-the-middle field players are the piece of the puzzle that really you can do a lot with. They have the athleticism, the skills, the mindset, the instincts to play multiple [positions] and help your team in multiple sectors.

“Today, when you look at high school shortstops, that’s like playing quarterback. It is the most important piece on the field. A lot of the great players are morphing toward that direction. That’s a piece of the puzzle that’s not going to change for a while. These guys are the best athletes or the best players.”

White Sox Draft meetings began Sunday and will run throughout the entire week. Shirley praised Getz and the organization for deploying so many people from the front office outside of their four national scouts, four regional crosscheckers and 16 area scouts, leaving them infinitely prepared for this now two-day event.

It’s more than just the No. 10 pick for a White Sox organization coming off 121 losses in 2024, as it holds the first selection in every other round. This Draft comes one year prior to what could be a top pick for the White Sox in 2026.

All these players are essential components to this ongoing rebuild, with the team making strides in ’25 despite the 30-60 record entering the final first-half homestand. Moves center around the $12,169,100 bonus pool and the $6,238,400 slotted for the No. 10 pick.

“Financially, we are looking at how to do a lot with our pool stuff,” Shirley said. “That’s a plan we have going into this. I think that’s important to do the best work.

“The high school group, the high school position players, have been unbelievable. That’s been the strong point of this Draft in my opinion. That’s the place we are looking the heaviest at this point.”

Continue Reading

High School Sports

Milwaukee girls soccer team highlights culture, love of the sport

The Brief At Riverside University High School, the girls soccer team is in a league of their own. The Karen are an ethnic group who come from the mountainous region of Southeast Asian, mainly Myanmar, which is formerly known as Burma, along with Thailand. Their love for soccer brought them all together, and now, the […]

Published

on

Milwaukee girls soccer team highlights culture, love of the sport

The Brief

  • At Riverside University High School, the girls soccer team is in a league of their own.

  • The Karen are an ethnic group who come from the mountainous region of Southeast Asian, mainly Myanmar, which is formerly known as Burma, along with Thailand.

  • Their love for soccer brought them all together, and now, the team boasts quite a few Karen.

MILWAUKEEAt Riverside University High School, the girls soccer team is in a league of their own.

What they’re saying

“It’s very fun, very energetic,” said Hser Mu Nar, Riverside senior defender.

Advertisement

“We’re all pretty close, like we all get along pretty well,” said Eh Moo Gay Paw, Riverside senior forward.

As you can tell, the Tigers are a close-knit group.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

Many of these girls have played together since freshman year, but they have much more than soccer in common.

“We’re another family,” said Eh Gay, Riverside senior goalkeeper. “Some of us are related. Some of us aren’t.”

Dig deeper

Riverside has a pretty significant Karen population.

The Karen are an ethnic group who come from the mountainous region of Southeast Asian, mainly Myanmar, which is formerly known as Burma, along with Thailand. However, hundreds of thousands of Karen have fled their homes due to religious and ethnic persecution.

“We come from all over,” said Eh Moo. “We come from like, either Burma or Thailand, and then we don’t really have a country of our own. I guess you could say like we come from like a refugee camp, so we’re like all over the place.”

Advertisement

For Eh Moo Gay Paw, Hser Mu Nar and Eh Gay, their families immigrated in the early to mid-2000s to Milwaukee with other Karen refugees to join an already growing Karen population in town.

“I know it was tough for them,” said Hser Mu. “I remember my dad telling me on the way here, my mom was crying since she was leaving her hometown where she grew up and everything.”

“My parents, my mom grew up in the mountains,” said Eh Moo. “My dad was born in Burma. It wasn’t easy, but we had help.”

Years later, their love for soccer brought them all together, and now, the team boasts quite a few Karen.

Advertisement

“It was easy since we spoke the same language, had the same background and culture,” said Hser Mu. “It was easy for me to get along with them and just be friends with them.”

On the pitch, speaking Karen is an added advantage.

“We all speak it,” said Eh Gay. “It does help us on the field as well because we can just yell out each other’s name.”

And it’s clear, this trio takes pride in who they are.

“At first, people would ask us like where we come from, who we are, what we speak,” said Eh Moo. “We’re not very known, so we don’t really take offense to it.”

Advertisement

What we know

In turn, they enjoy teaching others about the Karen.

“I don’t have the actual flag, but this is what our flag looks like,” said Eh Moo. “There’s red, white and blue and there’s like a tiger because we’re called the tigers and it represents our school.”

“It has sunrays,” said Hser Mu. “The nine sunrays represent the nine different regions we come from and in the middle of the sunray, there’s a frog drum which is our traditional instrument.”

The girls also celebrate Karen New Year and go to summer school to stay connected to their roots.

“If we stick more to our culture, there’s going to be more people that understand us and what we have gone through and our past,” said Eh Gay.

Consider their head coach Vincent Goldstein one of those people.

Advertisement

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

“I’ve learned a lot,” said Vincent Goldstein, Riverside girls soccer coach. “First of all, culturally, I know they’re people that are very vibrant. They’re a population of people that really enjoy soccer. Soccer’s really big among the Karen population. They’re a lot of my favorite students. They’re really good kids.”

That’s the beauty of being on a team because the assists come not only on the field, but also in life.

“I would have a lot less life experience if I wouldn’t have met them,” said Goldstein. “Here at Riverside, we really embrace the Karen population. We want more of them to come here, so we do what we can to try to promote them and try to make this place welcoming to everyone, but including the Karen.”

Advertisement

And for these girls, their pact will be an everlasting one.

The Source

The information in this post was collected and produced by the FOX6 sports team.

Continue Reading

High School Sports

A kindergarten in China added lead to food, and over 200 children are affected

BEIJING — More than 200 kindergarten students were found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood after the school added paint to their food, authorities in northwest China reported Tuesday. The case highlights long-running food safety concerns in China. State broadcaster CCTV, citing a police official, said the school in Gansu province […]

Published

on

A kindergarten in China added lead to food, and over 200 children are affected

BEIJING — More than 200 kindergarten students were found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood after the school added paint to their food, authorities in northwest China reported Tuesday. The case highlights long-running food safety concerns in China.

State broadcaster CCTV, citing a police official, said the school in Gansu province added the paint to try to attract more students and increase revenue. CCTV obtained and posted online the full text of an investigation by the province and city.

The Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui city bought the paint online and added it while preparing the food, according to CCTV. High levels of lead were found in a three-color breakfast cake and a sausage dish for dinner.

Of the 251 students at the kindergarten, 233 had abnormal lead levels, with 201 receiving hospital treatment, the report said. The World Health Organization says exposure is ”particularly harmful” to young children, including in the development of the central nervous system.

”There is no level of exposure to lead that is known to be without harmful effects,” WHO says.

Dozens of students had levels above the Chinese standard for lead poisoning in children, three other media outlets reported, based on test results shared by parents. The investigation did not provide details of blood tests.

Eight people, including the headmaster, have been detained.

Continue Reading

College Sports

Jon Stewart Thinks Congress Is Basically Pro Wrestling Without the Fun

The “Daily Show” host said the drama around President Trump’s big policy bill was about as authentic as a World Wrestling Entertainment match. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies […]

Published

on

Jon Stewart Thinks Congress Is Basically Pro Wrestling Without the Fun

The “Daily Show” host said the drama around President Trump’s big policy bill was about as authentic as a World Wrestling Entertainment match.

Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” became law last week while most late-night hosts were off for the holiday.

On Monday’s “Daily Show,” Jon Stewart dismissed the drama around the domestic policy bill as Washington theater. He accused lawmakers and the news media of “fake narrative shenanigans and hypocrisies and fecklessness,” comparing the Republicans who denounced the bill (before voting for it) to pro wrestlers: “The only difference between that vote and wrestling is that wrestling is fun and takes actual courage.”

“Ooh! It surprisingly got through! Like every other [expletive] thing Trump has wanted, from Qatari jet bribes to Epstein file secrecy to extorted media conglomerate protection money.” — JON STEWART

“Now, there’s a lot of ways that we can walk through this tax and spending bill and how this bill encapsulates a ton of general Washington [expletive]. For instance, political hypocrisy. This bill was 970 pages. They jammed it through with barely any time to read it.” — JON STEWART

“When it happens to them, it’s ‘shoving it down their throat. It’s an outrage!’ But when it’s for Republicans, it’s just, ‘Come on, America, relax the glottis, breathe through your nose.’” — JON STEWART

“Joe Biden was seen struggling to set up a beach chair on July 4 weekend. It’s not his fault — he’s not used to a seat without a hole in the center of it.” — GREG GUTFELD

“On the Fourth of July, Kamala Harris posted ‘Things are probably going to get worse before they get better.’ That’s also how she starts her speaking engagements.” — GREG GUTFELD

“Yes, U.F.C., which stands for ‘U [Expletive] Crazy’?” — ANTHONY ANDERSON, guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” on Trump wanting a July 4 U.F.C. fight at the White House next year

“I actually agree with the president. There should be a U.F.C. fight at the White House, between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Right? It’ll be Golf Clubber Lang versus the Ketamine Machine.” — ANTHONY ANDERSON

Black Americans were asked to share the whitest thing about themselves on Monday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Cedric the Entertainer will reunite with Anthony Anderson on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Ozzy Osbourne onstage in Birmingham, England, on Saturday.Ross Halfin

At 76, Ozzy Osbourne officially retired from Black Sabbath with a farewell performance in his hometown.

Continue Reading

High School Sports

25 Sports Monday

PEORIA (25News Now) – Day one of the ICC Summer Volleyball League featured some great highlights. Bloomington’s hall of fame football coach and athletic director Terry McCombs passes away at the age of 78. Pekin’s DA Points returns to his hometown for a big AJGA Tournament. You can watch 25News – any newscast, anywhere – […]

Published

on

25 Sports Monday

PEORIA (25News Now) – Day one of the ICC Summer Volleyball League featured some great highlights. Bloomington’s hall of fame football coach and athletic director Terry McCombs passes away at the age of 78. Pekin’s DA Points returns to his hometown for a big AJGA Tournament.

You can watch 25News – any newscast, anywhere – streaming LIVE on 25NewsNow.com, our 25News mobile app, and on our WEEK 25News SmartTV streaming app. Learn more about how you can get connected to 25News streaming live news here.

Continue Reading

High School Sports

Participation rates need to be studied

The Leetonia school district’s July 1 meeting to reassure the public that a football season would go forward is something that would be unheard of 20 years ago. It was taken for granted that at least 20-something kids would come out for the football team. Coaches might say we’re a little thin or inexperienced back […]

Published

on

Participation rates need to be studied

The Leetonia school district’s July 1 meeting to reassure the public that a football season would go forward is something that would be unheard of 20 years ago. It was taken for granted that at least 20-something kids would come out for the football team. Coaches might say we’re a little thin or inexperienced back then but there was rarely an instance where a school would not at least start the season fully intending to play a full slate of games.

But a new era is upon us. The shrinking of the footprint of high school football is getting more apparent by the year and more programs will struggle with finding enough numbers to fill teams in the future. It just won’t be Leetonia.

I think we’ve heard all the reasons before about why this is happening. Some say the kids aren’t tough enough anymore. Some say developmental programs aren’t like they used to be. Some say communities aren’t as attached to the romance of ‘Friday Night Lights’ anymore as the social aspect has been replaced by that phone you carry in your hand.

I think though it might be a death by a thousand cuts for small districts fielding football teams. There is no centralized reason why some football traditions are just hanging on by a thread.

On paper, it’s the numbers game. Smaller enrollments mean there are smaller pools of potential players. There’s only a certain percentage of the student body who can perform as athletes just like there’s only a certain portion that can be musicians. And when those margins shrink the challenge to round up everyone who can possibly play just to field a team — let alone field a winning team — is daunting.

If you look back on the era in which the current high school athletes were born, the country was in the midst of a significant economic downturn from 2007-2010. It was challenging to begin raising a family then when nationwide unemployment soared to 10 percent.

Then there’s what is motivating children to play football. We are now several years removed from cable television’s heyday. If you were from a previous generation the fantasy that you wanted to be your college or NFL hero started by watching them on TV. Children of today’s era might not have access to expensive streaming plans or know how to work an antenna. Netflix has some sports content, but you are looking at a generation raised on YouTube. Sports highlights are something that are seen on TikTok or Instagram. Live event observation is something older generations revel in.

And when you have access to literally any interest in the world, it’s easy to see how attentions become divided. Kids get attracted to playing different sports. Some get interested in cars, construction or cooking. Some get plugged into video games which are more complex and all consuming than they have ever been.

Educational patterns have also shifted. I remember covering Crestview’s run to the 2021 state championship game in boys soccer. There were a lot of kids on that team who were not on a traditional education path. They would take on educational programs attached to the trades and a lot of those had significant work requirements. Sports were not a top priority, rather an escape. And the program had to make room for those kids to miss practice or training every once in a while.

As football is more regimented and asks of more time, does that become a reason why students decide to skip and instead focus more on a career path that will set them up for future success?

The safety concerns over head trauma and concussions may have quieted but they have not gone away. Some parents don’t want to deal with the risk and some kids are happy to go play another sport that offers the same life lessons without the baggage of possible serious head injuries.

I think too that specialization in sports plays a role. Football needs athletes who play in multiple disciplines to be successful. Take West Branch’s program for example. A lot of the players on the 2024 state championship baseball team were also key members of the football team. That’s not always the case anymore in many communities. If a kid is specializing in a sport like baseball or basketball wherein the parents are paying thousands of dollars to attend travel events and get private instruction, the focus gets a lot more narrow of the athlete. They have specific investments behind them and the goals tend to be squarely placed on making it to the next level in that sport.

Make no mistake about it, if programs do begin to fold there are ripple effects. It might start with league membership. It would certainly wipe out marching band or cheerleading programs in some places. Community identity might begin to wither away. And what do you do with stadiums, some of which have been recently upgraded?

There are solutions that are being bantered about of course. Eight-man football is one that has popped up as a possibility. Sebring took that route. But area coaches who have worked their whole lives in 11-man environments would much rather transition to other 11-man programs than to have to deal with learning how that works. Plus the eight-man experiment in Ohio is far from being widely adopted. For it to become viable, it would need dozens of struggling schools to all meet and agree to go in that direction at once. And that is not happening.

The most obvious solution that is already is there is if a school does not offer football, any student is welcome to join a neighboring school district’s team. Heck, last year Columbiana’s leading rusher was a student at Heartland Christian. Of course, there are transportation and social challenges that come with being plopped into a new environment for any kid but at least it the dream of playing 11-man football alive for any student in Ohio.

Perhaps the Ohio High School Athletic Association can take some of its war chest in funds and study why kids are shying away from football. Maybe even allow struggling programs to break off and run a rehabilitation division where programs don’t have to worry about computer points and playoffs. Perhaps those games could be more run like scrimmages to allow for more teaching moments.

There is precedent for getting teams back on square footing even in this area. I remember when the Inter-Tri County League came into existence. A lot of the teams that went into the lower tier of that league had been through a lot of hard times. But teams like Western Reserve or Southern started to flourish when they were given a chance to breathe.

I don’t believe anyone quite has the answers that would fix this but it would be best to start looking beyond the stereotypical excuses given.

Continue Reading

Most Viewed Posts

Trending