Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
The best and
worst of the
4th of July
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Preparing festivities for the Fourth
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Well, it’s July, and as you,
fine reader, have noticed there
aren’t many (local) sports
going on. But fear not! This
is now the sports and recre-
ation section so let’s discuss
the good and bad (but mainly
good) of the 4th of July.
With this especially festive
holiday coming on the worst
day of the week for a holiday
to fall, let’s take a minute to
appreciate the good and bad
that occurs on the only holi-
day that we refer to as the date
opposed to the actual holiday.
(If someone says, 'oh yeah,
what are you doing on the
Fourth' you wouldn’t bat an
eye. But what if, for a different
holiday, they said, 'oh yeah
what are you doing on the
25th?' Or what about the 31st?
Plans on the 14th? I just don’t
get it and googling Fourth of
July history weirdly enough
does not bring up the history
of the words but rather, you
know, some other history.)
Anyway, let’s dive in.
Fake Parades
There was a time when my
Fourth of July always began
with a road race. It was fun
and exciting until you then
realize that a Fourth of July
10K/5K/etc. is really just a
fake Fourth of July parade.
And not even a good one!
Nothing even happens and no
candy is given out. Save run-
ning for another day; this is
a day of celebration. Go join
a real parade or better yet,
watch a parade from the com-
fort of a sidewalk.
“Independence Day”
The world loves to laud
Christmas movies. The en-
tire month of December
leading up to the 25th is set
aside for these movies as they
burn them into our collective
cultural consciousness. The
Fourth of July certainly does
not get the same treatment.
But what we do get is Will
Smith and Jeff Goldblum sav-
ing the day, the country and
the world. And that might just
be a little bit better.
The NBA
A normal reaction to this
would be to point out that
there are no NBA games on
the Fourth. But what that is
missing is the beauty of free
agency and players deciding
on the Fourth where they are
going. LaMarcus Aldridge to
the Spurs in 2015, Kevin Du-
rant to the Warriors in 2016
and Gordon Hayward to the
Celtics in 2017 all happened
on the 4th. Your move LeB-
ron.
Fruits! Vegetables!
Lemonade!
The star of the food por-
tion of the day belongs to the
barbeque. Hot dogs, burgers,
ribs, the whole deal. But the
rest of the plate – and often
they don’t even make it to
the plate – is equally as good
as the main dish on this day.
For starters, blueberries (the
greatest food in the whole
wide world) and strawberries
are ready to go as is some corn
on the cob. Throw some lem-
onade in a cup and you have a
perfect meal on a nice Fourth
afternoon.
Fireworks
Fireworks are…fine. They
are certainly a necessity for the
Fourth but I’m not clamoring
to make sure we incorporate
fireworks into all festivities.
But I think for everyone you
just have to find the proximity
that best suits you. Whether
lighting them off or better yet,
sitting on a blanket and
FOURTH see B2
PHOTOS BY BECKY GERRARD
A group of kids waves to a North Douglas fire truck as it goes by in last year's Fourth of July parade in Yoncalla.
A year of preperation
culminates with Yoncalla's
Fourth of July celebration
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
In Yoncalla, there are holidays and
then, there is the Fourth of July. The an-
nual all-day celebration brings the small
town of just over 1,000 people a little bit
closer together for an event that is depen-
dent on community support.
“It’s 100 percent from the community,
for the community and by the commu-
nity,” said North Douglas Betterment’s
(NDB) development officer Jennifer
Bragg.
Bragg, a Yoncalla native who started at
NDB in January, has had the Fourth on
her mind since taking the job. And with
this event, there is a lot to think about.
To kick off this patriotic party is the
parade. The parade, run by the Cham-
ber of Commerce, features around 70
different entries ranging from the usual
suspects of rodeo queens and local busi-
nesses but also features State Senator
Floyd Prozanski.
“He’s our horse pooper scooper,” said
parade coordinator Vicky Shook who has
helped with the parade for the last four
years. She added, “I enjoy the fact that
(the parade) is celebrating our country,
number one, and then we always have a
theme and this year we’re honoring our
EMTs you know the unsung heroes. Ev-
eryday heroes is kind of our theme this
year.”
After the parade, there is a full slate of
activities: the rodeo at noon; the ice cream
social in the afternoon; following that are
the “pioneer games” such as three-legged
race and potato sack races making their
return to the celebration and they will
be led by mayor Jerry Cross; live music
and dancing in the evening; and then the
firework show to put the cherry on top
of a full day.
Throughout the year residents in Yon-
calla are reminded of the event by dona-
tion jars that sit at businesses across the
city. The money collected goes into the
pot of part of the $15,000 ($12,000 for the
fireworks and $3,000 for an added safety
feature for the pyro crew) that funds the
climactic firework show put on by NDB.
“It’s a lot, it’s huge. I think it’s the best
firework show around. It’s amazing, the
pyro crew does a great job and they put
on a great show every year. And they do
this beautiful grand finale. There’s no
down time either because once it starts
it’s just go, go, go, go,” said Bragg.
There are five donors who contribut-
ed a “major gift” of over $1,000 to the
event while the rest of the funds have
come from various donations including a
handful from individuals who no longer
live in the city but send money to support
the celebration.
While the funding is crucial to being
able to light up the sky, what makes the
rest of the event go are the people. There
are around 100 volunteers throughout
the day at the different events and dif-
ferent businesses and organizations take
charge to make sure that it is a successful
day.
“It is something that everyone in our
town is so proud of. It’s like our moment
of the year is the Fourth of July and ev-
eryone comes out and people have their
families come from all over and we’re all
so prideful on the Fourth,” said Bragg.
Fireworks go off in Yoncalla last Fourth of July.
Adult soccer league in full swing
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
A soccer player races up field on Wednesday night.
Athletes of
the Week
While the eyes of the soccer
world are focused on World Cup
in Russia, Jeff Schloss’ interest is
elsewhere.
“You know, I love soccer but I
don’t watch it. I love to play it. I’m
more of a participant than a spec-
tator,” he said.
The main soccer on Schloss’
mind is SCORES, South Valley
Athletics’ four-team adult soccer
league. There is a team of high
school students (mixed with some
newly minted graduates), a team
from a local business, a team of
some family and friends and a
house team that brings individu-
als together who were looking for
a team. They all come together to
create SCORES that runs from
June to August and plays game at
Cottage Grove High School.
This week’s athletes
of the week are the
members of the
Cottage Grove Little
League AA softball
team that went
undefeated and
won the division
title last month.
Schloss first got involved with
SVA when he coached his son’s
third grade team in 2013 and
joined the SCORES league as a
player in 2016 before coming into
this positon last year. In his first
year as head of SVA’s soccer pro-
gram, he oversees the league that is
in its seventh season of action and
has continued to follow a simple
guiding principle since its incep-
tion.
“Let’s have some fun and score
some points and just have fun,”
said Schloss.
Part of the fun of the nine-on-
nine league is the aspect of making
sure that people stay healthy.
“That’s why we have the rules
the way that we do. You know, no
sliding no contact to keep it safe
and fun for old people like me who
come out here to play still against
these youngins’,” said Shelly Heintz
who started the league when she
oversaw soccer for SVA and is now
on the house team. “They’ll give us
a run but it’s a lot of fun.”
The league bounces between
four and six teams per year and last
year even ended on five and a half
teams.
“So the last game was somebody
vs. whoever wanted to play. Which
is great. That’s a great – you don’t
have so much of a ‘my team’ adver-
sary thing going on,” said Heintz.
Ultimately for Heintz it’s about
“running around and having fun.”
And sometimes that fun includes
the high school players racing by
on the way to score a goal.
“It was like ‘oh my God,’ these
kids were like five and I coached
them. And now I’m playing against
them. Come back here, I taught
you that,” said Heintz.
For more pictures from the
action turn to B2
South
Valley Little
League's
Cottage
Grove soft-
ball champi-
ons.
PHOTO C/O SOUTH
VALLEY LITTLE LEAGUE