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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN Tuesday, augusT 27, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 Eastern Oregon Family Taekwondo earns two grand championship wins By BRETT KANE East Oregonian RICHLAND, Wash. — Stan- field’s Eastern Oregon Family Taekwondo sent 18 kids to com- pete at the 11th annual Battle on the Columbia, and brought home some gold. Hermiston’s own Chris Godby, 12, took first in spar- ring and won the grand champi- onship title, and Anais Garcia, 7, also won first in sparring and the grand championship title. “I was so impressed,” said Eastern Oregon Family Tae- kwondo co-instructor Erwin Watson. “You get to the point where you watch them and you get goosebumps. It’s a great thing to hear your kids’ names announced as winners. It was the only time I was able to hear how good they did at the competition. It was good to hear their names on the intercom.” Godby and Garcia weren’t the only ones to bring home top honors at the Richland-hosted tournament. Kiona Idris, 15, won first in the weapons and padded weap- ons competitions, as well as sec- ond-place finishes in forms and sparring. Jordan Velasco, 7, took first in weapons. Luciano Zavala and Jezly Higereda, 6, both took first in sparring. Kristian Cardenas, 8, claimed first in padded weapons, as well as second in both sparring and weapons. Abel Garcia, 11, also took home a first-place trophy for his performance in the pad- ded weapons category, along with second-place finishes in forms and sparring. Iria Lissman won first in forms and second in sparring, Ervin Higereda, 8, won a pair of first-place trophies in sparring Photo contributed by Erwin Watson See Championship, Page B2 Stanfield’s Eastern Oregon Family Taekwondo team poses with their medals after the Battle on the Columbia in Richland, Wash., on Saturday, Aug. 17. Doug Baldwin moving his focus from football to philanthropy By TIM BOOTH Associated Press ENTON, Wash. — In his previous occupa- tion, the final week of August was a time Doug Bald- win would be in the final stages of preparing for the grind of the upcoming NFL season. On Monday, Baldwin sat in an empty field, talking about the next stage of his life away from football and with a focus on philanthropy and helping others. “The goal has always been to effect change in the world on a very large scale,” Bald- win said. “I really do feel, and I know it’s an ambitious state- ment to make and sometimes could be a naïve statement but as I think through what I want to accomplish through the rest of my life and also for my chil- dren I want to change the world in a positive way.” The former Seattle Sea- hawks wide receiver is no longer a football player, and one of his first projects in the post-playing career is spear- heading construction of a com- munity center in the Seattle suburb of Renton. Baldwin is donating $1 million toward the project with the goal of raising another $5 million in collabo- ration with the city of Renton. “I think this center will be a portal where they can be seen, can be understood as human beings, can be recognized that there are things they need that can stabilize their lives or fur- ther their lives and this facility will present those resources,” Baldwin said. The youth center Bald- win is championing has been nearly five years in the mak- ing. Baldwin lived in the area near where the proposed center will be built during his rookie season. He found similarities in the area to his upbringing in Pensacola, Florida, but with- out a gathering point for youth. Baldwin began conversations with the city of Renton about R U.S. beats Canada in exhibition basketball game Associated Press AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Former NFL football Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin poses for a photo Monday at the location in Renton, Wash., where he hopes to spearhead the construction of a community center. Baldwin is donating $1 million toward the project with the goal of raising another $5 million in collaboration with the city of Renton. ways to make a youth center a reality. “This project is a personal passion,” Baldwin said. “This facility that we’re building it’s very similar to a facility and program where I grew up back in Pensacola, Florida. It’s a place I called my second home. There were resources and peo- ple that genuinely cared about me not only as a student and an athlete, but more so about me being a well-rounded human being. There was so much involved in that you can’t really put a measurement around. I owe a lot to them, to that orga- nization, to that facility, to that second home for me seeing the world the way I see it today.” It was the first time Bald- win has talked publicly about his decision to step away from football — although he has yet to file retirement papers with the NFL. Baldwin was released by the Seahawks in early May with a failed physical designa- tion after an offseason where he underwent surgeries on his groin, shoulder and knee. His release was a trans- actional move, but its sig- nificance was final. Baldwin doesn’t sound like someone who intends to return to the NFL. “I think the fundamental question at the core of it was, ‘What am I trying to accom- plish here?’ with the thought process of not playing football again,” Baldwin said. “Essen- tially what it comes down to is, ‘Can my body do this and me still have a resemblance of a quality of life afterward?’ “And at some point, I think at some point for everyone in life, whether you work at a desk job or you’re a professional ath- lete, at some point you have to make a decision. Is this what is best for me and my family long term? And in some cases play- ing football or staying at a job is not. And that’s everybody’s personal journey and personal decision. That’s the basis of it all.” Baldwin played his entire eight-year career with the Sea- hawks and finished with 493 receptions for 6,563 yards and 49 touchdowns in the regular season. He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent and left as one of the core pieces of Seattle’s championship run earlier this decade. Baldwin said he’s missed the camaraderie of being around his teammates. “The receivers still come over to my house. They’ve been over to the house a cou- ple of times so I still have that connection with them,” Baldwin said. “I’m still pres- ent when they need me to be. I think most guys who retired say that, what they miss most is the locker room.” SYDNEY — Order restored. After losing for the first time in nearly 13 years two days earlier, the United States rebounded to outclass Canada 84-68 in a pre-World Cup exhibition basketball game Monday. At the same arena where the Americans won Olympic gold at the Sydney 2000 Games the U.S. never trailed, leading 20-9 after the first quarter and 46-31 at halftime. On Saturday, Australia stunned the U.S. 98-94 before a crowd of more than 52,000 in Melbourne, a result that ended the Americans’ 78-game winning streak. The U.S. is missing top NBA players such as LeBron James, James Harden, Paul George and Stephen Curry. It was a dour scor- ing game after the exciting Satur- day result in Melbourne, with both teams committing numerous turn- overs Monday. Jaylen Brown had 19 points to lead the Americans, who out-re- bounded Canada 55-37. Donovan Mitchell added 12 points and four assists; Kemba Walker scored 12 points and Myles Turner finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds. “We have to speed up that learn- ing curve,” Brown said of the Amer- icans with less than a week to go before the World Cup starts. “We have a lot of room for growth. It’s going to be good when it comes together, the sky is the limit for this group.” Kyle Wiltjer had 21 points for Canada, while Orlando Magic for- ward Khem Birch — Canada’s lone NBA player in the game — had 13 points and six rebounds. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ve enjoyed our time here,” Wilt- jer said. “Let’s not forget these are practice games.” Overall, the Canadians shot just 35% from the field and 6-for-23 (26 from three-point range. Andrew Nembhard, who injured his knee last week, and Kaza See Basketball, Page B2 SPORTS SHORTS Serena Williams routs Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 at U.S. Open By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer NeW yORK — Playing her first match at the U.S. Open since last year’s loss in a chaotic, con- troversial final, Serena Williams played nearly perfect tennis and beat Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 in a contest devoid of drama Monday night. Williams stretched her winning streak to 19 matches against Shara- pova and now leads their head-to- head series 20-2. “Every time I come up against her,” Williams said, “I just bring out some of my best tennis.” Sure did this time; the whole thing lasted all of 59 minutes. Wil- liams won twice as many points, 56-28. She saved all five break points she faced and lashed serves at up to 115 mph. She broke five times. Few players would have stood a chance against Williams the way she performed — and certainly not a diminished Sharapova, who is ranked just 87th after missing much of this season with a bad right shoulder. “She would win the title, play- ing like this,” 18-time major cham- pion Chris Evert said about Wil- liams on ESPN’s telecast. Williams arrived at Flushing Meadows, where she’s won six titles, accompanied by questions about her back, because spasms that flared up earlier this month forced her to stop playing during the final of one hard-court tuneup tournament and pull out of another one entirely. Serena Williams returns to Maria Sharapova during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament Monday in New York. AP Photo/Charles Krupa
