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Sports & recreation Cottage Grove Sentinel Wednesday, November 14, 2018 South Lane County Sports and Recreation No time like the present for a hole- in-one Section B Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Playing pickleball in the park Cottage Grove’s Mel Gowing finds a recent run of success on the golf course By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com F or the last 66 years, Mel Gowing has been golfing. The 87-year-old golf- er claims he was at the peak of his game some 50 years ago when he was then, as he is now, golfing in Cottage Grove. But while his game has changed over the years, “mainly in distance and concentration” he notes – elements that are generally fundamental to the game of golf – Gowing has found new success on the golf course. After never having recorded a hole-in-one, Gowing has now hit two aces in the past five years. “Just two,” he says as he rattles off how many hole-in- one’s various members of the Middlefield Golf Club have hit over the years, including four from his wife. But for Gowing, his came, not at his peak but at a time when he is just playing to have fun and get some exercise. hile Gowing isn’t the oldest member of the Middlefield Men’s Club, he notes that he is certainly up there. No matter where he falls in the age order, he is still out electing to walk the course he plays at up to four times a week instead of tak- ing a ride in a golf cart. “On the days I walk the course and push the cart, I don’t make it through the 6 o’clock news,” he says. On this day, a surprisingly sunny Thursday last week, Gowing is walking the major- ity of the course as he plays in a scramble with members of the men’s club. With his bag on the back of one of the group’s golf carts, he walks his way, with a slight hitch in his step that has come with aging, through the course. Gowing has spent his life playing various golf cours- es throughout the state. He was a member at a few clubs in Eugene for a time and he once cut out an article from the newspaper when a writer described Tokatee as being made on the eighth day of creation. He has seen the best Oregon has to offer and now stays at Middlefield. “Middlefield is a good re- tirement course,” he says. Adding, “Just get out here and get the exercise. And I’ve seen that through the years that as people get up in re- tirement age, they just go out and have fun. They get tired, you sit on the bench, get out of people’s way. Enjoy.” On this particular day, it isn’t his best play. “It didn’t go as far as it is supposed to go,” he says with a laugh af- ter a short drive. His best play happened sometime around the time of the Kennedy ad- ministration, but he makes it through despite “his clubs getting tired” towards the end of the 18. Some of those tired moments led to brief stretch- es of searching for a ball that landed to the left of the fair- way and resulted in the joy of searching for a lost ball. But between those mo- ments, he walks me through the times when he hit his first hole in one. Five years ago, on W GOWING see B2 PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL As the weather worked out of the high 30s and into the low 40s, a group of about 10 pickleball players flocked to Coiner Park on Saturday for a rare November game played outside. Setting up portable nets on one half of the tennis courts, the participants played the paddle sport that has elements of tennis, badminton and ping- pong. With the cold weather – and inevitable rain – the group has moved indoors for the season. They now regularly meet at Riverside Church at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. New coaches on the block First-year CGHS basketball coaches Steve Eastburn and Seth Hutchison got their starts earlier this week By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com With the winter sports season begin- ning last Monday, the Cottage Grove bas- ketball teams welcomed in a pair of fresh faces at the head coaching positions. Steve Eastburn will be leading the girls side while Seth Hutchison takes over the boys team. Eastburn has been coaching as an as- sistant or head coach since 1996 with stops at South Eugene, Marist and Crow along the way. He will be taking over a team that went 9-1 in league last season and is returning the bulk of their pro- duction. The Lions will have their work cut out for them this season in league that features last year’s 4A state champi- on (Marshfield) and 5A state champion (Marist). A former basketball manager at Or- egon State, assistant at Marist and JV coach at Pleasant Hill, Hutchison will be calling the shots as the head coach for the first time this season. The CGHS class of 2007 graduate is excited to see where this team can go. Last year the Lions finished Hutchison's return to Cottage Grove CG Sentinel: What are the emotions entering the new season? Seth Hutchison: I’m excited. I’m su- per excited for this opportunity. I’m ready to be a mentor for these kids and try to teach positive characteristics like I’ve talked to you about before you know, on and off the court. Teach them how to be young men. And I’m really excited to just to dive into it. Start to create the cul- ture that I want to create and instill in these kids so I’m excited. CGS: What head coaches have espe- cially influenced you and how you see the game? SH: There’s a lot. There’s a lot that I’ve worked one-on-one with. Going back to my days here at Cottage Grove, learned a lot of the x’s and o’s from Bart Pollard at Marist. This last stint at Pleasant Hill I learned how to just create a positive culture with the kids. Create that rela- tionship with the kids. And I’ve kind of drawn from both of them. And then all the guys at the higher level, the college coaches. (Duke’s) Mike Krzyzewski and all of them. They real- ly know how to teach the game and it’s funny when you listen and read about them, they’re saying the same stuff that Seth Hutchi- son I’m going to say but you know, they just do it simple. Just drawing from all different kind of different people. Dif- ferent philosophies and trying to create my own philosophy and what I like. See what works, what doesn’t work, what you like from this person, what you don’t like from this person. Kind of cre- ating your own. It’s kind of like teaching, you know? It’s the same kind of way. When I was doing my student teaching you pull from them, you leave what you don’t like. You pull from them and leave what you don’t like. Kind of create your own way, your own path. CGS: What will it be like coaching against your former coach in Pollard? SH: Oh it's going to be really crazy. Athletes of the Week HUTCHISON see B3 16-8, lost in a play-in game and graduat- ed eight seniors – of the 12 players on the roster – including four starters. Hutchison and Eastburn sat down (well, Eastburn stood) with The Sentinel last week about their feelings on the up- coming season. Below are interviews that have been edited for clarity and length. The season begins for both teams at home against North Bend on November 29. Eastburn continues coaching career Cottage Grove Sentinel: What is the mood heading into the season? Steve Eastburn: I think excitement. Whenever there’s change there is a new outlook so they’re excited. So we’ll see how long that lasts, you know, being teenagers. But hopefully it just builds and builds and builds. They got a lot of talent here. A lot of talent. A lot of re- turning talent and they have experience now so I’m really lucky to step into this position now because it’s already been formed. CGS: Is there pressure to perform well with the talent of this team? SE: No. So the expectations are the same: to be the same as last year or even exceed that. But as far as pressure, there’s never any pressure because it’s always about the experience. You don’t really control a lot of that so you just make it a great experience for the kids and what happens, happens. CGS: How do you prepare for a new team? SE: We had summer basketball so I was lucky enough to step in at the end of the school year so we were able to do summer basketball and evaluate the kids. Kind of got them initiated in some This week’s athletes of the week are the members of the Royal Blue Unicorns volleyball team. The group of 5th and 6th graders, coached by Jennifer Burns and Tonya Ferguson, won the South Valley Athletics volleyball championship last weekend. Steve East- burn of the stuff I do and how I do it so we’re not starting from square one, we’re actu- ally, we’ve got a little bit of a head-start. Not a lot but they’ve now been around me and I’ve been around them so we know personalities and you know like to evaluate their skill level and so now put it all together in the next three weeks be- fore we play our first game and nothing out of the ordinary really. Nothing out of the ordinary, come in, work on de- fense, skills. Skills are going to be huge. Defense and tons of fundamental skills. CGS: Is that the foundation of the teams you coach? SE: Absolutely. If you don’t have fun- damental skills, you can’t do anything else. So defense you don’t need the bas- EASTBURN see B2 The Royal Blue Uni- corns cele- brate their first place finish. PHOTO C/O SMILEY GLENN