Rec Sports

Youth Sports Dec. 24, 2025

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1 week ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

• BOWLING

Sunset Bowling Center

Week 12

Bumpers

High Scratch Game Boys: Simon Mueller – 53

High Scratch Game Girls: Charlie McClellan – 54

Bantams

High Scratch Game Boys: Andrew Mueller – 58; Monte Strohl – 54; Karter Plowman – 48

High Scratch Game Girls: Lylah Baheza – 35

Preps

High Scratch Game Boys: Joe Ovendale – 134; Cato Cox – 124; Ben Mueller – 123

High Scratch Game Girls: Erin Dougherty – 131; Stasi Jepson – 130; Daylynn Quinn-McClellan – 84

Juniors

High Scratch Game Boys: Matthew Chavez – 268; Jonathan Frith – 254; Jackson Hopper – 245

High Scratch Game Girls: Rosy Gallegos – 244; Katie Dewey – 212; Abby Kuespert – 180

Other 200+ Games: Isaiah Pennock – 243 & 237; Carter Hilliard – 233 & 225; Rosy Gallegos – 230; Matthew Chavez – 229 & 221; Kenton Still – 226; Jackson Hopper – 205; Mason Pennock – 204; Christopher Smith – 202

600+ Series: Matthew Chavez – 741; Rosy Gallegos – 656; Isaiah Pennock – 648; Carter Hilliard – 610; Jackson Hopper – 608; Jonathan Frith – 606

• SPIRIT LAKE PARKS AND RECREATION

Basketball

K-2nd Grades

Dec 20

Super 1 Foods: Layla Heyden 2-points, Logan Neil 3-points, Mavrik Hester 1-point, Emmit Slack 1-point

Northern Lights Family Counseling: Gabe Merrill 2-points, Wyatt Pring 1-point, River Langlitz 1-point, Jace Elliott 2-points, Lillee Dippolito 1-point.

Zs Enterprises: Addilynn Gurnard 11-points, Alexander Spalding 1-points

Lash Savy: Luke Jones 5-points, Carson Cooper 3-points, Bailey Johnson 1-points, Ella Allen 3-points, Pierce Delamarian 2-points

3rd/4th Grade

Dec 17

John Brown Transport: Hawken Chidiac 2-points, Ridge Powers 6-points. Zackaree Hester 2-point, Noah Davis 4-points, William Hagg 6-points, Jameson Brown 4-points.

Bayview Marina: Henry Richter 2-points, Charlie Salie 10-points

Dec 20

Jitterz Espresso: Railey Howe 2-points, Avery Davis 2-points, Quinn Davis 4-points.

• RATHDRUM PARKS AND RECREATION

Basketball

3rd – 4th Grade Boys Basketball

Alpha Anglers vs. NextHome Cornerstone Realty (12/20/25)

Alpha Anglers: Connor Nelson (2)

NextHome Cornerstone Realty: Easton Moody (2), Gabriel Knehans (2), Thomas Keough (2), Cayben Bird (4), Abel Sapp (2), Sebastian Henningsgaard (2), Hunter Goebel (6)

CW Construction vs. Les Schwab (12/20/25)

CW Construction: Cole Mayfield (12), Malachi Wilhelm (12), Colton Prutsman (6), Chase Hallas (4)

Les Schwab: Jotham Raiche (4), Tayvin Sims (6), Wyatt Drake (4)

3rd – 4th Grade Girls Basketball

NextHome Cornerstone Realty vs. OutReach Eats (12/20/25)

NextHome Cornerstone Realty: Addison Prather (8), Daisy Ash (6)

OutReach Eats: Adeline Losee (2), Ella Hambleton (2), Grace Howell (8), Adalynn Briles (2)

• GYMNASTICS

GEMS Athletic Center gymnasts competed in the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden.

Bronze Team placed 1st overall

Olivia Reichenberg 1st AA with 38 and 1st on vault, bars, beam and floor with 9.8, 9.45, 9.3, 9.45

Harlee Wynand 1st AA with 37.65 and 1st on vault, bars and beam with 9.6, 9.5 and 9.375 and 3rd on beam with 9.175

Ava Puyleart 1st AA with 37.65 and 1st on vault, bars and floor with 9.525, 9.475, 9.55 and 2nd on beam with 9.1

Olivia Schelin 1st AA with 36.875 and 1st on vault, beam and floor with 9.325, 8.95, 9.45 and 2nd on bars with 9.15

Chloe Foreman 1st AA with 36.775 and 2nd on vault and beam with 9.525, 9.175 and 3rd on floor with 9.225

Heidi Gillard 2nd AA with 36.625 and 2nd on vault and beam with 9.3 and 9.1

Astrid McCullagh 3rd AA with 1st on vault and floor with 9.575 and 9.25 and 3rd on beam with 8.85

Charlotte Wallace 4th AA with 36.025 and 3rd on bars, beam and floor with 9.05, 9.15, 9.1

Abigail Denisyuk 2nd AA with 35.925 and 2nd on beam and floor with 8.85 and 9.175

Paisley King 4th AA with 35.75

Kaylene Bilesky 5th AA with 35.7 and 2nd on bars and floor with 9.2 and 9.35

Keeley Moody 1st AA with 35.55 and 1st on vault with 9.25 and 2nd on beam with 8.85 and 3rd on bars and floor with 8.7 and 8.75

Payslee Haulet 5th AA with 35.55 and 2nd on floor with 9.175 and 3rd on vault with 9.2

Amelia Ferguson 6th AA with 35.3 and 2nd on vault with 9.275

Brynlee Smith 8th AA with 34.75 and 3rd on vault with 9.15

Jocelyn Kirk 6th AA with 34.675 and 3rd on bars with 9.05

Hannah Ohlenkamp 5th AA with 34.15 and 2nd on vault with 9.225 and 3rd on floor with 8.75

Silver Team placed 1st overall

Alexis Boren 1st AA with 36.65 and 1st on beam with 9.025 and 2nd on floor with 9.25 and 3rd on vault and bars with 9.125 and 9.25

Olivia Butcher 1st AA with 36.65 and 1st on bars and beam with 9.45 and 9.1 and 2nd on floor with 9.2 and 3rd on vault with 8.9

Maren Rauscher 2nd AA with 36.425 and 1st on bars with 9.375 and 2nd on vault and beam with 9.15 and 8.8

Tenlee Harsch 3rd AA with 36.225 and 2nd on beam with 8.8 and 3rd on floor with 9.15

Violet Tessendorf 2nd AA with 36.15 and 1st on vault and bars with 9.275 and 9.475 and 2nd on floor with 9.15

Maci Schirado 4th AA with 35.85 and 1st on floor with 9.3

Cassidy Brown 4th AA with 35.575 and 1st on bars with 9.375

Gwyneth Ragan 6th AA with 35.425

Lindy Gilmore 2nd AA with 35.325 and 1st on bars with 9.35 and floor with 8.9

Ohrya Rivera 3rd AA with 35.275 and 1st on floor with 9.1 and 2nd on vault with 9.175 and 3rd on beam with 8.2

Kinsley Spurway 5th AA with 35.1

Ariana Dockins 4th AA with 35.05 and 2nd on beam with 8.875 and 3rd on floor with 9.125

Cora Ragan 5th AA with 34.975 and 3rd on vault and bars with 9.025 and 9.25

Isabelle Boren 6th AA with 34.85

Mikayla Richardson 8th AA with 34.7 and 1st on floor with 9.15 and 3rd on vault with 9.15

Elliana Matthews 6th AA with 34.7

Layla Randolph 7th AA with 33.975 and 3rd on beam with 8.8

Absydee Adams 8th AA with 33.925

Samantha Dirks 8th AA with 33.725

Gold Team placed 3rd overall

Faith Robertson 1st AA with 36.325 and 1st on bars with 9.15 and 2nd on beam with 8.875 and 3rd on vault and floor with 9.2 and 9.1

Kalea Pham 2nd AA with 35.225 and 2nd on bars and beam with 8.925 and 8.475

Myla South 3rd AA with 34.95 and 1st on floor with 9.175 and 2nd on beam with 8.375 and 3rd on bars with 8.625

Lauren Inglehart 5th AA with 34.9 and 2nd on bars with 9.075 and 3rd on beam with 8.55

Kristyn Frank 3rd AA with 34.75 and 3rd on bars and beam 8.725 and 8.5

Grace Squires 3rd AA with 34.725 and 2nd on beam with 8.725 and 3rd on bars with 8.825

Felicity Hammer 2nd AA with 34.65 and 2nd on beam with 8.675 and 3rd on vault and bars 8.75 and 8.825

Jocelynn Howard 4th AA with 34.425 and 3rd on beam with 8.325

Finley Rauscher 6th AA with 34.225 and 3rd on beam with 8.525

Skylar Bingham 3rd AA with 34.175 and 1st on floor with 9.225 and 3rd on vault and bars with 8.75 and 8.7

Kinley Simpson 4th AA with 33.975 and 2nd on beam with 8.15 and 3rd on floor 8.875

Lily Fulton 4th AA with 33.75 and 2nd on floor with 9.15

Aspen Barker 5th AA with 33.625 and 1st on vault with 9.2 and 3rd on bars with 8.825

Samantha Willis 7th AA with 33.575

Stella Cahoon 5th AA with 33.375

Emma Ward 7th AA with 33.275

Olive Buttars 4th AA with 33.25 and 1st on floor with 8.875 and 3rd on vault with 8.875

Grace Ohlenkamp 7th AA with 33.2

Isabel Lunneborg 6th AA with 33.125

Evie Bowman 7th AA with 33.1 and 2nd on floor with 9.05

Ellie Hill 6th AA with 33.025

Jenna Tanner 7th AA with 30.75

Platinum Team placed 1st overall

Katelynn Clark 1st AA with 36.425 and 1st on bars and floor with 9.325 and 9.2 and 2nd on beam with 9.15

Keeley Howard 1st AA with 36.3 and 1st on bars and floor with 9.55 and 9.225 and 2nd on beam with 8.9

Hunter Bangs 2nd AA with 35.725 and 1st on beam with 9.175 and 3rd on floor with 9.125

Ensley Vucinich 1st AA with 35.625 and 1st on vault, bars and floor with 9.0, 9.175 and 9.4

Ani Hall 3rd AA with 34.475 and 2nd on floor with 9.1 and 3rd on vault and beam with 8.85 and 8.65

Arie Ferguson 2nd AA with 33.625 and 1st on vault with 8.9 and 2nd on beam with 8.6

Raya Batchelder 6th AA with 33.4 and 3rd on floor with 9.125

Elliot Tuntland 4th AA with 32.9 and 2nd on bars with 8.55

Nora Maddox 5th AA with 32.7

Stella Brooks 7th AA with 32.4

Fynlie Reynolds 6th AA with 32.275 and 2nd on floor with 8.9 and 3rd on vault and bars with 8.825 and 8.5

Mackenzie Richardson 6th AA with 32.225

Sydney Thompson 7th AA with 32.2 and 3rd on bars with 8.225

Diamond Team placed 1st overall

Olivia Kiser 1st AA with a 36.2 and 1st on bars and beam with 9.35 and 9.025 and 3rd on vault and floor with 8.8 and 9.025

Macee Caudle 1st AA with 35.625 and 1st on beam with 8.85 and 2nd on vault and floor with 8.875 and 9.3

Evelyn Oswell 2nd AA with 35.2 and 1st on vault and floor with 9.025 and 9.475

Evyn Lyon 1st AA with 34.7 and 1st on bars with 9.375 and 3rd on vault with 8.9

Saydee Mathews 4th AA with 34.325 and 2nd on bars with 8.95 and 3rd on vault and floor with 8.825 and 8.95

Submit items for youth and non-varsity high school sports by noon Tuesday for publication Wednesday. Email stories and photos (in .jpg format) to [email protected].

Information: 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205

Courtesy photo The GEMS Athletic Center Bronze team placed first overall at the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden. From left are Keeley Moody, Astrid McCullagh, Millie Ferguson, Abigail Denisyuk, Harlee Wynand, Payslee Haulet, Olivia Reichenberg, Jocelyn Kirk and Chloe Foreman.

Courtesy photo The GEMS Athletic Center Bronze team placed first overall at the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden. From top to bottom are Charlotte Wallace, Kaylene Bilesky, coach Sarah Robertson, Heidi Gillard, Ava Puyleart, Olivia Schelin, Paisley King, Brynlee Smith and Hannah Ohlenkamp.

Courtesy photo The GEMS Athletic Center Silver team placed first overall at the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden. From left are Tenlee Harsch, Gwyneth Ragan, Cassidy Brown, Olivia Butcher, Arianna Dockins, Maren Rauscher, Maci Schirado, Cora Ragan and Alexis Boren.

Courtesy photo The GEMS Athletic Center Silver team placed first overall at the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden. In the front row from left are Mikayla Richardson, Samantha Dirks, Ohrya Rivera and Violet Tessendorf; and back row from left, Isabelle Boren, Kinsley Spurway, Absydee Adams, Elliana Matthews and Lindy Gilmore. Not pictured is Layla Randolph.

Courtesy photo The GEMS Athletic Center Gold team placed third overall at the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden. From left are Raelyn Hazen, Olive Buttars, Aspen Barker, Kristyn Frank, Grace Squires, Jenna Tanner, Finley Rauscher, Ellie Hill, Jocelyn Howard, Kalea Pham and Lily Fulton.

Courtesy photo The GEMS Athletic Center Gold team placed third overall at the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden. In the front row from left are Evelyn Bowman, Myla South, Stella Cahoon and Faith Robertson; and back row from left, Isabel Lunneborg, Emma Ward, Lauren Inglehart, Felicity Hammer, Skylar Bingham, Grace Ohlenkamp and Samantha Willis.

Courtesy photo The GEMS Athletic Center Platinum team placed first overall at the Winter Flurry gymnastics competition Dec. 19-21 at Technique Gymnastics in Hayden. In the front row from left are Sydney Thompson, Ani Hall, Katelynn Clark and Keeley Howard; and back row from left, Mackenzie Richardson, Nora Maddox, Elliot Tuntland, Stella Brooks, Fynlie Reynolds, Hunter Bangs, Ensley Vucinich, Arie Ferguson, Rata Batchelder and Ashley Gwin.

Courtesy photo The third grade Coeur d’Alene SuperSonics won the championship in the 2025 Santa Slammer basketball tournament at the HoopTown Warehouse in Spokane, beating Sandpoint Future 34-31 in overtime in the championship game. From left are coach Todd Nelson, Ellio Estes, Connor Gregg, Camas Bennett, Cameron Nelson, Henry Mandel, Harry Noel and coach Scott Estes. Not pictured are Kohen Marjes and Archer Toronto.

Courtesy photo The 2031 Hooptown Blazers went 4-0 this past weekend en route to winning the championship in the Santa Slammer in Spokane. The Blazers defeated Frenchtown (Mont.) in the championship. From left are Quinn Martin, Kyal Carlson, Regan Posthumus, Addi Salas, Brylee Brown, Paxtyn Oestreich and Jemma DePell.

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Wheeling Elks Announce 2025-26 Scholarship Winners | News, Sports, Jobs

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2 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

WHEELING — Grace Tamburin and Owen Dobrzynski Hines, both seniors at Wheeling Park High School, have won the Wheeling Elks Scholarships for 2025-26.

Each will receive $1,000 from Wheeling Lodge No. 28, according to Elks Youth Activities Chairman Joe Marchlenski. Both are eligible for further state and national Elks’ scholarships.

“We believe it is important to recognize outstanding leadership and scholarship qualities in the youth of our area,” said Elks Exalted Ruler Ruby Haynes. “We are proud that more than $4 million in scholarships is awarded nationally by the Elks each year.”

Tamburin currently carries a GPA of 4.32. She is the captain and four-year member of both the girls’ volleyball and softball teams, and was recently named to the OVAC All-Star Volleyball team for West Virginia.

She is a member of both the National Honor Society and the National Spanish Honor Society. In her spare time, she volunteers with A Night to Shine, assisting adults with special needs. She plans to attend Shepherd University in Shepherdstown.

Dobrzynski Hines currently carries a GPA of 4.1. He is a captain and four-year member of both the football and track and field teams.

He volunteers dozens of hours each year with multiple Ohio Valley agencies, and describes his most influential community service project as volunteering with the flood relief efforts following the devastating flooding that occurred in this area in June.

He is a member of the Drug Free Club of America, the Freshmen Mentor Program, and the National Honor Society. He plans to attend Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and major in social work and social services.

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Third annual Dignity Drive | News, Sports, Jobs

Published

2 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

News file photo Representatives from area schools and the Foster Closet are seen picking up hygiene items for youth that were collected during the 2nd Annual Dignity Drive in 2025.

Laurel Nowak invites the community to participate in the third annual Dignity Drive from Monday to March 6.

Donations can be dropped off at Star Staffing located in Alpena from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Dignity Drive asks community members to donate personal hygiene products for the youth in Northeast Michigan. Nowak said last year, the drive collected $10,000 worth of hygiene products which were provided to the School Success Program at Thunder Bay Jr. High School and Alpena High School. Products were also donated to the Foster Care Closet of Northern Michigan.

Nowak said that all partners were “grateful for the commitment of our community to children in need.”

“We were also able to provide a box to all of the area elementary schools,” she added.

“Personal hygiene is a basic human need,” Nowak said. “Many homeless and low-income children do not have the hygiene products they need for self-care. This causes many problems such as social rejection, illnesses and missed days of school.”

Items for both boys and girls are accepted, though Nowak asks community members to avoid donations of razors.

Below are a list of accepted donations:

— Feminine hygiene products

— Deodorant

— Body spray

— String bags or ditty bags

— Body or hand lotion

— Lip balm

— Soap

— Shampoo and conditioner

— Toothpaste

— Toothbrushes

If you are looking for additional information you can contact Nowak at 989-464-5968.

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As youth sports professionalize, kids are burning out fast

Published

2 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

A player looks on from the dugout during a baseball game at Kentlake High School in Kent, Wash., on May 4, 2025. According to a survey by the Aspen Institute, 11.4% of parents believe their children can play professionally. (Grant Hindsley/The New York Times)

Like many mothers in Southern California, Paula Gartin put her twin son and daughter, Mikey and Maddy, into youth sports leagues as soon as they were old enough. For years, they loved playing soccer, baseball and other sports, getting exercise and making friends.

But by their early teens, the competition got stiffer, the coaches became more demanding, injuries intervened and their travel teams demanded that they focus on only one sport. Shuttling to weekend tournaments in Escondido and elsewhere turned into a chore. Sports became less enjoyable.

Maddy dropped soccer because she didn’t like the coach and took up volleyball. Mikey played club soccer and baseball as a youngster, then chose baseball before he suffered a knee injury in his first football practice during the baseball offseason. By 15, he had stopped playing team sports. Both are now in college and more focused on academics.

“I feel like there is so much judgment around youth sports. If you’re not participating in sports, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing as a kid,” Gartin said. “There’s this expectation you should be involved, that it’s something you should be doing. You feel you have to push your kids. There’s pressure on them.”

Youth sports can have a positive effect on children’s self-esteem and confidence and teach them discipline and social skills. But a growing body of recent research has shown how coaches and parents can heap pressure on children, how heavy workloads can lead to burnout and fractured relationships with family members and friends, and how overuse injuries can stem from playing single sports.

A report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2024 showed how overuse injuries and overtraining can lead to burnout in young athletes. The report cited pressure by parents and coaches as additional risk factors. Another study, in the Journal of Sport & Social Issues, highlighted how giving priority to a win-at-all-costs culture can stunt a young athlete’s personal development and well-being. Researchers at the University of Hawaii found that abusive and intrusive behavior by parents can add to stress on athletes.

Mental health is a vast topic, from clinical issues like depression and suicidal thoughts to anxiety and psychological abuse. There is now a broad movement to increase training for coaches so they can identify signs and symptoms of mental health conditions, said Vince Minjares, a program manager in the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program. Since 2020, seven states have begun requiring coaches to receive mental health training, he said.

Domineering coaches and parents have been around for generations. But their pressure has been amplified by the professionalization of youth sports. A growing number of sports leagues are being run as profit-driven businesses to meet demand from parents who urge their children to play at earlier ages to try to improve their chances of playing college or pro sports. According to a survey by the Aspen Institute, 11.4% of parents believe that their children can play professionally.

“There’s this push to specialize earlier and earlier,” said Meredith Whitley, a professor at Adelphi University who studies youth sports. “But at what cost? For those young people, you’re seeing burnout happen earlier because of injuries, overuse and mental fatigue.”

The additional stress is one reason more children are dropping out. The share of school-age children playing sports fell to 53.8% in 2022, from 58.4% in 2017, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. While more than 60 million adolescents play sports, up to 70% of them drop out by age 13.

While groups like the Aspen Institute focus on long-standing issues of access and cost in youth sports, combating mental health problems in young athletes is an emerging area. In recent years, professional athletes like Naomi Osaka and Michael Phelps have shined a light on the issue. But parents who want to teach their children the positive parts of playing sports are finding that some of the worst aspects of being a young athlete are hard to avoid.

That was apparent to the parents who took their sons to hear Travis Snider speak at Driveline Academy in Kent, Washington, one Sunday last spring. Snider was a baseball phenom growing up near Seattle and was taken by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of the 2006 MLB draft.

But he finished eight unremarkable seasons as an outfielder and played his last major league game at 27. While attempting a comeback in the minor leagues, he worked with a life coach to help him make sense of why his early promise fizzled. He unearthed childhood traumas and unrealistic expectations on the field.

In a playoff game as an 11-year-old, he had had a panic attack on the mound and was removed from the game.

Though he reached the highest level of his sport, Snider felt as if distorted priorities turned baseball into a burden, something he wanted to help others avoid.

Last year, he started a company, 3A Athletics, to help children, parents and coaches develop healthier approaches to sports that include separating professional aspirations from the reality that most young athletes just want to get some exercise and make friends.

“We as a culture really blended the two into the same experience, which is really toxic for kids as they’re going through the early stages of identity formation,” Snider said. “You have a lot of parents who are sports fans that want to watch youth sports the same way they watch pro sports without recognizing, ‘Hey, the thing I love the most is out there running around on the field.’”

He added, “We’ve got to take a step back and detach from what has become normalized and what kind of vortex we get sucked into.”

Driveline Academy, an elite training facility filled with batting cages, speed guns, sensors and framed jerseys of pro players, might be the kind of vortex Snider would want people to avoid. But Deven Morgan, director of youth baseball at Driveline, hired 3A Athletics to help parents and young athletes put their sport in context.

“It’s part of a stack of tools we can deploy to our families and kids to help them understand that there is a structural way that you can understand this stuff and relate to your kid,” he said.

“We are going to get more out of this entire endeavor if we approach this thing from a lens of positivity.”

During his one-hour seminar, Snider and his partner, Seth Taylor, told the six sets of parents and sons how to navigate the mental roadblocks that come from competitive sports. Snider showed the group a journal he kept during the 2014 season that helped him overcome some of his fears, and encouraged the ballplayers to do the same.

“It’s not just about writing the bad stuff,” he said. “The whole goal is to start to open up about this stuff.”

Taylor took the group through a series of mental exercises, including visualization and relaxation techniques, to help players confront their fears and parents to understand their role as a support system.

His message seemed to get through to Amy Worrell-Kneller, who had brought her 14-year-old son, Wyatt, to the session.

“Generally, there’s always a few parents who are the ones who seem to be hanging on too tight, and the kids take that on,” she said. “At this age, they’re social creatures, but it starts with the parents.”

Coaches play a role, too. The Catholic Youth Organization in the Diocese of Cleveland has been trying to ratchet down the pressure on young athletes. At a training session in August, about 120 football, soccer, volleyball and cross-country coaches met for three hours to learn how to create “safe spaces” for children.

“Kids start to drop out by 12, 13 because it’s not fun and parents can make it not fun,” said Drew Vilinsky, the trainer. “Kids are tired and distracted before they get to practice, and have a limited amount of time, so don’t let it get stale.”

Coaches were told, among other things, to let children lead stretches and other tasks to promote confidence. Track coaches should use whistles, not starting guns, and withhold times from young runners during races.

“We’re trying not to overwhelm a kid with anxiety,” said Lisa Ryder, a track and cross-country coach for runners through eighth grade. “CYO is not going to get your kid to be LeBron.”

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Hoop dreams | News, Sports, Jobs

Published

2 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Basketball players Thiago DeJesus (first photo), Riley Severson (second photo) and Talon Stockdale (third photo) compete recently in the Fuller Hall Youth Basketball 5th and 6th grade boys league at Jefferson Gym in Webster City.

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Emerald Acres Youth Wrestling | MyRadioLink.com

Published

6 hours ago

January 2, 2026

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Emerald Acres Youth Wrestling | MyRadioLink.com

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Short on starters, Nets lean on youth in 120-96 loss to Rockets | Nba

Published

6 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Your Sports Nation

NEW YORK — Two rookies made their first career starts for the Nets and Cam Thomas provided a scoring lift off the bench with an efficient 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the absence of key starters in a 120-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night at Barclays Center.

Brooklyn opened 2026 with a second straight loss and fell to 10-21, undone by a sluggish start, uneven offense and a Rockets team that continued to pour it on as the night wore on.

That tone was set early.

With three starters out, the Nets leaned further into their youth experiment, starting rookies Drake Powell and Danny Wolf and asking Wolf to set the table. Brooklyn’s start was anything but steady with Kevin Durant back in the building. The Rockets raced out to a 12-2 lead by the 9:14 mark as the Nets’ offense stalled and defensive breakdowns piled up, prompting an early timeout from head coach Jordi Fernández after Houston opened 6-for-6 from the field on a parade of layups.

Brooklyn steadied itself for a bit, ripping off a 16-8 run and flipping the momentum when Alperen Sengun went to the bench. But the response didn’t last long. Rockets head coach Ime Udoka quickly put Sengun back in, and he continued to be a problem. By the end of the first quarter, the Nets trailed 26-20, with Ziaire Williams scoring six points and grabbing two steals and Sengun leading all scorers with 10.

The second quarter is where it started to slip. Brooklyn hung around early, with Day’Ron Sharpe’s interior work briefly cutting the deficit to four, but the Rockets answered every push. Durant settled the game with shot-making, Reed Sheppard buried back-to-back 3s and the Nets’ offense stalled into turnovers and empty trips. Houston closed the half in control, taking a 53-42 lead into the break.

The third quarter is where Houston turned control into separation. It got ugly quickly. While Brooklyn committed just two turnovers in the period, the lack of offensive firepower showed as the Rockets shot 63.6% and saw Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason and Amen Thompson all reach double figures in the quarter. Thomas and Nic Claxton tried to keep the Nets within reach, but it wasn’t enough, as Brooklyn fell behind by as many as 26 and went into the fourth trailing 90-67.

It was never closer than 16 points down the stretch.

Rookies Powell, Wolf and Nolan Traore played 25, 29 and 26 minutes, respectively, shooting a combined 8-for-27 from the field. Thompson led six Rockets in double figures with 23 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.

Sharpe finished with a career-high seven assists with eight points, eight rebounds and two steals.

The Nets return to action Friday night on the second night of a back-to-back against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.