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THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
SATURDAY EDITION | FEBRUARY 27, 2021 | $1.00
Time
Out
By Lloyd Little
Siuslaw News
Retired teacher, coach and
game offi cial
Community
&
Lifestyle
With more than 55 years as an
athlete, coach, parent and specta-
tor, Lloyd Little has gained some
insights and perspectives regarding
athletics. Each week, he shares
what he's learned about sports
from his multiple points of view.
Sports, while meaningful,
isn't the meaningful thing
ODFW REGIONAL
FISHING REPORT
www.dfw.state.or.us/RR
LAKE, PONDS, RESERVOIRS:
Mid-coast lakes scheduled to
receive stockings the week of
Feb. 8 include Cleawox, Munsel,
Lost, Carter, Dune, Alder and
Thissel. Tis’ the season for mid-
coast trout. This week (Feb. 15),
the Big Creek Reservoirs near
Newport will be stocked.
SIUSLAW RIVER: Winter steel-
head
Winter steelhead fishing con-
tinues to be slow on the Siuslaw
like all the other coastal rivers
this season. The river has
dropped into shape and will
have good conditions through
the upcoming weekend. Expect
the fishing to improve as
February is typically the peak
month on the Siuslaw. The
Whitaker Creek area is the best
place to target returning hatch-
ery fish.
ALSEA RIVER: Winter steelhead
Winter steelhead fishing con-
tinues to be slow on the Alsea.
Even with the ideal conditions
over the weekend, the fishing
was slow. Anglers are still catch-
ing some fish everyday through-
out the system from the NF
Alsea bank fishery all the way
down to the plunking shacks on
the lowest portions of the river,
but it’s been tough. The later
returning wild broodstock fish
are providing the majority of the
catch now and typically peak in
February and early March
Reminder: The popular winter
steelhead bank fishery around
the Alsea Hatchery remains
open but the hatchery grounds
are closed to the public. Anglers
See
FISHING 3B
Tide Tables
Entrance Siuslaw River
High Tide
5:56am / 1.9
6:29pm / -0.8
Feb. 28
12:49am 7.3
12:34pm / 8.0
6:40am / 1.4
7:06pm / -0.5
March 1
1:23am / 7.6
1:22pm / 7.7
7:26am / 1.0
7:43pm / 0.0
March 2
1:58am / 7.9
2:14pm / 7.1
8:15am / 0.6
8:21pm / 0.8
March 3
2:36am / 8.0
3:11pm / 6.5
9:08am / 0.4
9:02pm / 1.5
10:07am / 0.4
9:49pm / 2.4
March 5
4:06am / 7.8
5:38pm / 5.4
Now serving
Siuslaw and Mapleton volleyball teams return to the court this week
B Y Z EAHNA Y OUNG
Siuslaw News
U
ntil this past Tuesday (Feb. 23), the fate
of many local schools’ volleyball sea-
sons hung in the balance as the
Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA)
and state agencies decided on the latest county
risk assessments. As of this past week, Lane
County was designated as “high” risk, moving
it out of the “extreme” category. Under the new
designation and current state guidance, indoor
volleyball is only allowed in counties that are
assigned a high-risk level or lower.
With Tuesday’s announcement that Lane
County has officially moved into high-risk,
both Siuslaw High School and Mapleton High
School finally know they will be allowed to
play their season as planned.
The Lady Vikings have had limited opportu-
nity to practice up to this point. As coach
Ashlee Cole explained, “Practice started on
Monday (Feb. 22), and right now we're doing
some group work because we can only have six
people [indoors], for 45 minutes. It's a little
rough to work with, and it's different than nor-
FILE PHOTO 2019/ SIUSLAW NEWS
Briena Jensen, back in 2019 serving up for
the Sailors, is one of three seniors on
Mapleton's team this season.
mal years, but we're just trying to work
through it and teach the most that we can with
See
VOLLEYBALL 2B
Siuslaw Youth Soccer Assoc. registration closes March 1
Siuslaw Youth Soccer As-
sociation will be holding a
spring season in 2021 for
youth Kindergarten through
8th grade.
Registration is current-
ly open and closes March
1. Visitthe SYSA website at
www.siuslawsoccer.com to
register. The league will fol-
low all applicable Covid-19
protocols and orders per the
State of Oregon.
Details are contained in
the SYSA Covid-19 Return
to Play plan. Pertinent details
are as follows:
1) Masks will be worn at
all times by everyone in at-
tendance including players,
coaches, and spectators.
2) High fives, handshakes,
fist bumps, hugs, and all oth-
er contact between players,
coaches, etc. is not allowed.
3) The number of people
in attendance will not exceed
the governor’s orders. These
numbers are: Extreme Risk
— 50 people; High Risk — 75
people; Moderate Risk — 150
people.
This includes coaches,
players, officials, and club
administrators.
Spectators will not be al-
lowed if they will cause the
total number of people pres-
ent to exceed the allowable
attendance. If spectators are
allowed the number of spec-
tators per player will be lim-
ited.
4) Balls will be sanitized
every 10-15 minutes at prac-
tices and at the end of each
half of games.
5) Players, coaches and of-
ficials will use hand sanitizer
before and after each game
and practice.
6) Temperatures will be
checked and a health screen-
ing will be conducted upon
arrival for all persons in at-
tendance.
LCC offering tuition-free courses to local high school juniors, seniors
March 4
3:18am / 8.0
4:18pm / 5.9
The Lady Vikings were back in the gym in groups of six this week in preparation for the
first games of the six-week season, which begin Tuesday at home against Marist.
Low Tide
Feb. 27
12:17am / 6.9
11:47pm / 8.2
ZEAHNA YOUNG/SIUSLAW NEWS
11:14am / 0.4
10:47pm / 3.2
High school students grad-
uating in 2021 or 2022 can
take one tuition-free course
this spring or summer from
Lane Community College to
jump-start their college edu-
cation. That’s a $480 savings
for one four-credit course.
Courses will be held re-
motely from March 29 to June
12 for spring term, and June
21 to Sept. 11 for summer
term.
Students will receive free
access to Moodle, Zoom and
other important college re-
sources to take their course.
Registration and a Tui-
tion-Waiver Request form
must be completed by the
first day of each term; March
29 and June 21 respectively.
This includes courses that
start in July or August.
This initiative started in
See
LCC 3B
In the movie “Coach Car-
ter,” the school board has just
voted to end the lock out of the
gymnasium. When leaving the
meeting, Carter is confronted
by angry parents. “How could
you lock our boys out of the
gym? Basketball is the most
important thing these boys
have!” Th ey shouted.
He replies, “You need to
consider the message you are
sending these boys by ending
the lock out. It says this school
will prioritize sports over ed-
ucation and I am not going to
do that.”
Th is movie, similar to “Re-
member the Titans” in that it
represents a real-life situation,
is played out all over our coun-
try. Th e parents of talented
athletes seek out schools em-
phasizing the sport their sons
and daughters play. Th e ever
increasing salaries of sports
stars are blinding athletes and
parents alike. Parents are mov-
ing their families to diff erent
towns so that their athlete may
get better coaching and atten-
tion by big name schools.
Th ere are athletes devoting
their entire lives on the chance
of making it to the profession-
al level. Th e phrase “putting all
your eggs in one basket” comes
to mind with the singularity of
their lives. Carter understands
the importance of an educa-
tion to fall back on when the
athletes fail to “make it big.”
Th e percentage of high
school athletes becoming pro-
fessionals is less than 1 percent.
Without a fi rm educational
foundation these athletes will
be unprepared for their future
in the workplace.
Kenny Rogers wrote a song
titled “If I Knew Th en What I
Know Now.” Th e song can be
applied to multiple choices in a
young person’s life. Young ath-
letes need advice from the
See
LITTLE 3B
Sports Calendar
March 2
• SHS V-ball
hosts Marist
6:45 p.m.
• SHS Soccer
Hosts Marist
6:30 p.m.
March 4
• SHS Cross
Country
Hosts Tillamook
3 p.m.
• SHS Soccer
At Marshfield
6:30 p.m.
March 5
• SHS Football
At La Pine
7 p.m.