Sports
A7
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Oregon
supports
NCAA
transfer
windows
By JAMES CREPEA
The Oregonian
EUGENE — Oregon
athletics supports players
having the freedom of move-
ment afforded to them by the
transfer portal and one-time
transfer rule, but would also
like to see the implementa-
tion of transfer windows to
confine player movement to
certain periods of the year.
Transfer windows could
be coming to college sports
as soon as the upcoming
season, with the NCAA
Division I Transformation
Committee recommending
to the Division I Board of
Directors on Thursday for
“additional accountability
for schools that receive
transfer student-athletes
and provide student-ath-
letes with a window of time
to enter the transfer portal
each year in order to be eli-
gible to compete in the fol-
lowing year.”
Oregon athletic director
Rob Mullens doesn’t have
an exact number of transfer
windows or duration he’d
like to see them last, but
does think there needs to be
more structure than there is
currently, with college ath-
letes able to enter and exit
the portal at any time with
only a May 1 entry deadline
for eligibility to compete in
fall and winter sports.
“I do think being able to
do it 24/7/365 has its chal-
lenges; so I do like the idea
of basically at the conclu-
sion of a season of having
a several week window to
be able to explore that and
have the opportunity to go
there,” Mullens said. “How
many of those, I don’t really
know. I haven’t given it that
much thought, but I think
you should have it multiple
times in an academic year
and it should start at the
conclusion of a season. It
should be multiple weeks.
How many that is, I think
that’s worthy of continued
debate.”
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
The La Grande Legacy Ford Legends practice at Pioneer Park on Thursday, June 16, 2022. The Legends are a part of the American Legion baseball league that
competes during the summer.
Legends ready
to take the field
La Grande American
Legion teams to have
familiar faces on roster
By RONALD BOND
For The Observer
A GRANDE — Fans watching the
La Grande Legacy Ford Legends
this summer might have a sense of
deja vu.
That’s because the roster for the Amer-
ican Legion team is loaded with players
who were a part of the La Grande Tigers’
squad that just wrapped up a state champi-
onship run.
The Legends will have two teams going
this summer — an 18U squad and a 16U
group — and with the exception of the
graduating seniors, head coach Parker
McKinley has largely the same team he
coached during the high school season.
“The majority of our seniors are moving
on,” he said. “They’ll play in a few of the
tournaments we have scheduled, our high-
level Triple-A tournaments. Some will
continue to play with us. Otherwise, it’s
mostly the returning high school guys.”
The summer season will provide players
with the opportunity to get added games
under their belts — the 18U team has
between 18 and 26 games currently sched-
uled, depending on how far they advance
in tournaments, while the 16U team will
L
play as many as 27 games. The extra field
time will help lay a foundation for the 2023
season.
“Just trying to get ready to compete for
a high run next spring,” McKinley said.
“Every summer, I would say, is kind of
an opportunity for a new group of guys
to start playing together. I say that with a
little reserve — it’s not necessarily a new
group, but not all the guys have been on
the field at the same time.”
Building camaraderie among those
returning players becomes a vital piece of
the summer, he added.
“Getting the meshing together as a team
(is important),” he said. “The summer is a
great opportunity to do that, travel (and)
play some high-level competition. Keep
trying to get better and stronger.”
There has been virtually no downtime
from the end of the high school season, but
McKinley said that has some benefits.
“I think one of the biggest positives is
everybody’s arms are still in shape,” he
said. “In baseball something we need to be
careful of is arm health. Really, to be able
to continue through for the next six weeks
or so, we can keep rolling with where we
are at with arm health and arm care.”
Pitching figures to be a strength for the
Legends, with the likes of Jace Schow,
Sam Tsiatsos and Logan Williams — who
went a combined 18-0 in the spring for
LHS — leading the way.
But McKinley thinks that like the high
school team, even with the loss of the
seniors, this squad will be well-rounded.
“My opinion might be a little bit biased,
but I think we’ll be pretty competitive,”
he said. “I feel like we always have kids
ready to go, to jump in when it’s their
time to go. I don’t necessarily see this next
group being any different. There’s kids
that have been working hard since the time
they were freshmen. They will continue
to work hard all the way through to when
they are seniors. That is what allows us to
not necessarily rebuild but reload. Time
will tell as far as the competitiveness (this
summer).”
The approach from the coaching staff
from spring to summer will be about the
same as well.
“I think one of the things that is a
strength for our program is the kids play
together in the spring and the summer,”
McKinley said. “When it comes down to
it, the number of games that our kids have
the opportunity to play together is a tre-
mendous advantage over our opponents.”
One difference, though, is that “we
can let our shoulders relax a bit in the
summer,” he said. “It’s a great time for
learning and being able to figure out
things that are going well and aren’t
going well.”
The 16U team has already opened play
with contests against Pendleton and Baker.
Along the way, the team is slated to play at
tournaments in Walla Walla, Spokane and
Pendleton, and will host a wood bat tour-
nament July 9-10. The 18U team begins
this weekend with three games at home,
and has tournaments in Bend and Spokane
on the slate before hosting the district tour-
nament — a state qualifier — July 15-16.
SPORTS SHORT
Cheer championships adds ‘Game Day’ division
Polk County Itemizer-Observer
WILSONVILLE —
Change can be a good
thing.
In the case of cheer-
leading, the Oregon
School Activities Associ-
ation’s recent addition of a
Game Day division to its
state championship offer-
ings and winter sports
activities is being regarded
as a very good move.
The OSAA cheer-
leading season typically
begins in December and
January, and its state
championships are in
February and will be
returning to Oregon City
High School.
Now, after approval
by the OSAA Executive
Board, schools may choose
to compete in either the
traditional cheering com-
petition or the new Game
Day division.
Traditional cheer
involves tumbling and
stunts.
Game Day is basi-
cally sideline cheering
as football or basketball
fans would see and hear
during game situations,
such as when one team is
driving for a touchdown
or attempting to stop the
other team.
A Game Day routine
typically takes three min-
utes, incorporates the
school fight song and can
include the mascot, signs,
banners, flags, poms and
megaphones.
“Game Day is a phe-
nomenon happening across
the nation,” said Kyle
Stanfield, an OSAA assis-
tant executive director. “It
brings in schools focused
on supporting teams from
the sidelines. It’s a way to
increase participation and
have other teams come for
state championships.”
Kelly Foster, the OSAA
assistant executive director
in charge of cheerleading,
first saw Game Day com-
petition at the Texas high
school championships
about five years ago.
“I thought it was so
cool and would be a great
fit for Oregon, especially
for our schools in areas
that are more remote or
don’t have the tumbling or
strong tradition,” she said.
“A lot of people will love
it. It really is what a team
does on a sideline on a
Friday night.”
The 2023 OSAA cheer
championships are set
for Feb. 11, and Foster
said they probably again
will have large and small
school divisions and take
place at Oregon City High.
The Observer, File
Cheerleaders for the Powder Valley team cheer from the sidelines
as the Badgers score against Adrian at Baker High School on
Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021.
Find up-to-date scores and additional game coverage
for your local high school, available 24/7 at
www.lagrandeobserver.com.