Thur»
The Srfntiy Post
Sept J. I W
(Sac. I) SANDY (O r*.) POST—»
Sports and Recreation
The family that swims together. . .
by S C O T T N E W T O N
Surely Dick and Peggie Hodge
must be the proverbial “ little
league parents, driving their kids
to succeed
After all Damon, now 9, was the
overall age group <8 and under*
Oregon state champion, in both
long and short course competition
Ian, now it. consistently finished
in the top six in different events in
his age group (10 and under this
past season*, again in state com
petition
“ Sometimes there are things I'd
rather do with my friends but I
have to go to swim practice,’’ ad
mits Ian
“There are probably parents
who think that we re pushing our
kids, although no one has ever said
that." Peggie said
"Most people are surprised, in
fact most people look at us in
disbelief, when we say Damon only
swims three days a week ”
Many parents with kids near the
ages of Damon and Ian take their
youngsters to practice five days a
week, according to Dick
"We believe there is more to life
than swimming." he said
"They want to swim, but they go
to workouts because their parents
tell them too," adds Peggie.
"To make ’em go, say, twice a
day, every day, I think that’s
wrong But three days a week? No,
I don’t think that’s wrong. I think
that’s good for them.”
Dick believes the discipline of a
regular schedule is important, and
adds, "As far as muscle develop
ment, I would rather see the boys
swimming on a regular basis than,
for example, lifting weights.”
When the Hodges do something,
it seems, they do it all the way.
Peggie and Dick used to ski com
petitively. As a fam ily, they’ve
competed in regattas, having
belonged to a sailing club. They
also have done some barrel racing
and other kinds of sim ilar competi
tions
Their rural home near Roslyn
Lake allows them to keep six A ra
bian and quarter horses, and two
ponies
But swimming, the latest family
fad, may turn out to be more than
that.
Dick and Peggie competed in the
1982 National Masters Ixing Course
Swimming Championships at Mt.
Hood Community College last
weekend
Over 900 competed, and to see
older people in that good of
physical condition has made an im
pression on the Hodges
“ When you see someone out
there in their mid 80 b . swimming a
1500—which is close to a mile—in
competition, you’d better believe it
encourages you
" I ’ve heard comments, some
people were saying, Gee, in
another 40 years I may look like
that.’ And I said, ‘You may hope
you look like that *”
He added. These people work at
it. They really do ”
Dick has been competing in
masters events for about three
years, and Peggie has been com
peting about a year
At the national championships
Peggie finished seventh in the 200
breast, setting a personal record of
4 00 91. She set another personal
record in the 100 breast, and finish
ed ninth
Damon had to correct his mom
on her time in the 100 breast. It was
1:51.41, he pointed out
On top of that Peggie was one of
the 12 swimmers in the state to
competed on an Oregon relay. The
“ C” relay team was seeded eighth
but finished sixth
Though Dick praised the ac
complishments, Peggie said, " I ’m
honest. I ’m not a great swimmer. I
placed in the meet because the hot
dog swimmers were not swimming
in the events I competed in.”
MHCC, of course, has the facility
for a good meet On top of that, the
meet was "extremely well run,”
according to Peggie.
Mike Popovich, meet director
and aquatic director at MHCC,
"was responsible,” said Peggie.
"H e did a very good job ”
Earl Walter, president of the
masters organization, was also
credited with contributing to the
success of the meet.
All 50 states were represented,
as well as Australia, Canada.
England, Japan, France, New
Z e a la n d ,
V e n e z u e la
and
Switzerland
" It was really exciting to meet
these people from all over the
country," Dick said.
Oregon, by the way, won the
meet
The o fficiating was "w orld
caliber." Dick said, pointing out
that dozens of records were set and
that times are recorded to the hun
dredths of a second
" I t ’s really a tremendous thing,”
Dick said of masters swimming
Dick, who competed for a year
on the Benson Polytechnic High
School swim team, has even con
vinced his parents to take up swim
ming.
Unlike jogging, "Swimming is
something that’s kind of easy,”
Dick said, "because if you can
swim one lap. that’s something.”
Dick, Peggie and Ian will be par
ticipants in the annual Mid-
Columbia Cross Channel Swim on
Labor Day, which is sponsored by
the Hood River County Chamber of
Commerce
Dick and Peggie made the swim
last year, and are doing it again to
give Ian the opportunity. Although
Damon could also complete the
swim, reportedly the sponsors
don’t want the participants to be
too young
I t ’s not unusual to hear the
Hodges talk about English Channel
swims, with Ian passing along the
latest
" I want to go to the Olympics
and break records,” Damon said
at one point. When Peggie asked if
it ’d be worth practicing twice a
day, every day, Damon said,
‘ Maybe for a week ”
Asked what he thinks about as he
prepares to fire off the starting
blocks in a meet, Damon said,
"Sometimes you have to pace
yourself.”
Ian laughed, and told about a
time when Damon started out a lit
tle too fast in the 200 free. Dick
points out it was the first time
Damon competed at that distance.
Asked the question a g ain ,
Damon said he thinks about "get
ting to the other end as quick as I
can, breaking records.”
Dick is the owner of Pioneer In
sulation, and though times are
slow he has been finding work.
Peggie has a hard time staying
out of the water for that long She
works part time at MHCC teaching
preschool children to swim.
I t ’s something she believes in. " I
didn’t learn to swim until I was a
teen-ager. Therefore I know the
trauma of learning to swim when
you’re a semi-adult," she said.
Damon, Dick, Peggie and Ian Hodge
Damon learned to swim before
he could walk, and Ian started at
the same time he was learning to
walk.
“ I really believe that little bitty
kids should learn to sw im ,” Peggie
said.
One problem Dick and Peggie
face when working out is the lack
of available time at the Sandy
Swim Center. They often work out
at MHCC.
They claim they’ve checked the
hours of adult lap swim at every
pool in East County, and reported
ly Sandy is the only one with only a
half an hour offered.
" I t ’s absurd,” Peggie said.
It seems "to me like they’re try
ing to discourage adult lap swim in
Sandy,” Dick said.
By the time one warms up. a half
an hour isn’t long enough to get in a
good workout, according to Dick.
Currently the Hodges have taken
a six-month break from their
Y oung volleyball team has ‘p o te n tia l’
by S C O T T N E W T O N
"We have a young team with a
great deal of potential," Ron Grantz,
volleyball coach, told The Post
earlier this week
The Pioneers open their season
Tuesday against Barlow High School,
with the home game beginning about
7:30 p.m.
Reportedly, it’s been three seasons
since Barlow has lost a league game
" I t ’d be nice to change that,” Grantz
said
Sandy lost two all-league players to
graduation, although two returning
starters "could be the best setters in
the league ”
Seniors Paige Daugherty and Lin
da Mosbrucker both have two years
of varsity experience behind them,
and they’ll be depended upon to take
leadership roles.
The Pioneers will have a different
look this year Last year one player
( Mosbrucker and ’82 graduate Patsy
Wesselink) was the setter at all
times. This year Daugherty and
Mosbrucker will be in opposite posi
tions in the lineup, with the one in
back playing setter and the other
playing as a hitter.
Though they could be the best two
setters in the new Mt. Hood Con
ference, Grantz said Daugherty may
be a slightly better hitter, while
Mosbrucker holds the edge in setting.
A number of factors are expected
to come into play Tuesday night.
Mosbrucker is out for a few days
after having been bitten by a dog
Junior Tamee Lindsey, who has
NATIONAL VIDEO
COMES TO GRESHAM
been "very impressive,” will not
play because of a fam ily obligation,
and junior Cindy Rasmussen is suf
fering what is believed to be shin
splints.
Nerves are also expected to be a
factor, and "weird things happen in a
situation like that.”
Serving is expected to be critical.
Barlow players typically serve hard,
and if they get them in they’re tough.
If they're off, it could be a factor in
Sandy's favor
The Pioneers were 9-5 last year,
finished second in the Tim ber Valley
league and made the state playoffs.
Making the playoffs is the goal this
year " If we learn *rom our mistakes
we’ll be pretty tough second half "
Grantz said, adding that doing well at
the end of the season is always more
important than starting well.
Grantz said he'll be experimenting
with the lineup, trying to find players
who work well together.
Lori Shelton is the team ’s third
senior, with one year of varsity ex
perience Other juniors include Jill
Ingram, Carrie Watt, Carrie Byrd
and Denise Proctor
Grantz said he has the best
sophomore class in the six seasons
(this will be his seventh) he’s been
coaching volleyball.
Judi Duff and Micnele Fleischman
made the varsity after a successful
freshman season Tracy Thompson,
Chris Muff and Wendy Heckard could
have made the varsity other years,
but Grantz said it’s important that
they gain playing experience this
season
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" I think of that when I start feel
ing guilty about making my kids go
to practice,” she said.
When Damon and Ian receive
their ribbons and awards, "They
don’t relate that to the fact they
worked real hard," said Peggie.
"They don’t say, ‘Oh mom, I ’m
so glad you made me go to prac
tice.” ’
Nonetheless, the Hodges are bet
ting that some day their kids will
be glad they were started on a
fitness program that can be con
tinued for life.
Area ski resorts did well
The past ski season was far bet
ter than the previous season at the
25 ski areas in Oregon and
Washington located on National
F o re s t lan d s , a c c o rd in g to
Regional Forester Jeff M Sirmon,
of the USDA-Forest Service.
Recently-compiled use figures
show all ski areas bounced back
from the snowless, economy-
plagued season of the winter of
1980-81.
Ski areas in Oregon were also up
slightly from the 1979-80 season,
but those in Washington did not
quite reach the level of two years
ago
Ski area operators pay a fee to
the government for use of the N a
tional Forest lands. Of those
receipts, 25 percent is returned to
the counties in which the ski areas
are located, Sirmon said.
In Oregon there were a total of
1,260,286 skier visits this season. In
1980-81 there were 868,282 skier
visits. In 1979-80 there were
1,194,614 skier visits.
In W ashington th ere w ere
1,505,898 skier visits this past
season. In 1980-81 there were
604,128 skier visits and in 1979-80
there were 1,531,437 skier visits.
In the Mt. Hood National Forest,
for 1981-82, the following skier
visits were reported Cooper Spur,
14,183; M t. Hood M eadow s,
305,210; M ultorpor Ski Bowl,
81,109; Summit, 7,828, Timberline,
152,841
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"Now that I ’m an adult I ’m a
half-baked piano p layer. My
friends are good piano players
because their moms made them
practice,” said Peggie.
West Coast and
Currin Green
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Ian said he likes both baseball
and soccer, and the Hodges feel
that no matter what sports Ian and
Damon choose later on, swimming
is the right choice for now.
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swimming routine Damon and Ian
just entered new age divisions, and
anyway, everybody needs a break
But the chances are good they’ll
be back at it after Christmas.
On how they got started in the
first place, Peggie said, "Ia n has
little fingers on his left hand (and
has had since birth) and because of
that the muscles weren’t develop
ing right in his arm.
"So we felt like, and the doctor
did too, that a regular swim pro
gram would be really good for
h im .”
Competitively, she adds, "he did
a lot better than we thought he’d
ever do.”
Ian, despite his handicap, played
baseball on Curt Kennedy's Sandy
"C ” team. He’d wear his glove on
his righthand, make the catches,
take the glove off and throw with
his right hand
His father said he consistently
hits singles and c ouhles, as well.
*m«ihri«ton
I t t M f l M «m» campvtari
1111 Northwest Kastman • BB1-T111
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