Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Best kept
secret no
more
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
One week away
Pickleball: an
unexpected and
perfect game
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
I am confused by pickle-
ball.
I mean, not the rules,
those I understand. Hear-
ing an opponent yell 0-0-2
to start off a game makes
sense. I get the “kitchen” and
letting the ball bounce after
you serve it – that’s all well
and good. But what I don’t
get is how this endlessly fun
game is only popular with
those over the age of 55.
According to the United
States of America Pickleball
Association – which is ap-
parently a real organization
that exists – individuals over
55 make up over 70 per-
cent of the “core” (defined
as playing more than eight
times a year) pickleball play-
ers. I am both stunned by
that number and amazed
that it isn’t somehow even
higher.
Based almost entirely off
of proximity, I started play-
ing pickleball earlier this
year. My sister’s fiancé had
a court at his apartment
complex and also happened
to have a paddle and balls
but had never played. After
walking up a set of stairs,
this court had the feeling of
being up on a perch as we
overlooked a slice of Port-
land.
Aside from my sister hit-
ting the ball into the street a
couple floors below on her
very first hit, this first time
playing this was a delight.
Pickleball is essentially ten-
nis on a smaller court with
a whiffle ball and the caveat
that you serve underhand.
Suffice to say, its tagline
should be pickleball: easier
than tennis. The simplicity
of the game should not be
a knock against it but rath-
er its greatest feature. If you
can hit a ball with any level
of success, you have the abil-
ity to be a passable player.
After that first time play-
ing, all I wanted to do was
keep playing and that’s ex-
actly what I have done. I
dragged my best friend and
we played on pickleball-spe-
cific courts in Springfield
which had been empty every
time I passed them. It was
there that, unbeknownst
to me, I walked into a new
world of pickleball.
Showing up to those
courts on a weekday morn-
ing is like going through
Platform 9 ¾ — it’s excit-
ing, thrilling but you are
ultimately confused about
where exactly you’ve been
transported to. Instead of
going to a school of witch-
craft and wizardry, I entered
eight courts that were jam
packed. On any given week-
day morning (before they
moved inside for the winter)
there are over 30 eager pick-
leball players all of whom
are older than my parents.
And some even near my
grandma’s age.
PICKLEBALL
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Yoncalla’s Cassidy Bragg goes through her free throw routine at the end of practice last Friday. The winter sports season officially kicks off around the state next
week and the Eagles begin their season on the road at Rogue River next Wednesday. Look for a complete winter sports preview of all area high school teams in the
December 5 issue of The Sentinel.
Terry returns to Yoncalla
as head basketball coach
Darwin Terry speaks to his team last Friday at practice.
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Darwin Terry is back at Yoncalla.
The class of 1987 graduate, who
lives in Creswell, has returned to
his alma mater to be the boys head
basketball coach. Terry has coached
around the county and was the for-
mer head coach at McKenzie High
School while adding a stop as an as-
sistant in Creswell and helped with
Cottage Grove last summer.
The third coach at Yoncalla in as
many years, Terry is looking to pro-
vide stability and is excited about
the future of the program.
Below is an interview with Terry
that has been condensed for clarity
and length.
Cottage Grove Sentinel: Well,
you’re back at Yoncalla.
Darwin Terry: I always dreamed
of coming back to coach here. Didn’t
know it would be this soon, maybe.
I wanted to coach big school ball but
it’s pretty tough getting in the coach-
ing ranks there.
CGS: What is your basketball
Athletes of
the Week
background?
DT: I was playing since I was a
kid, it’s my favorite sport. And from
there I always wanted to coach but I
was in a military life (Coast Guard
for 10 ½ years) and law enforcement
(Eugene Police Department (almost
20 years) life makes it difficult be-
cause shift work and stressful and a
lot of hours. Throughout that peri-
od, I was able to give back. I coached
special Olympics for one year. It was
high school special Olympics kid,
south coast special Olympics. Back
then, this was a long time ago in the
90s, I coached a team involved with
that.
I still have a desire to be a head
coach or be a coach of a JV team at
that (higher) level. A lot of opportu-
nities exist. I was asked last year to
coach Yoncalla and when the coach
left here I turned it down because I
was asked to be at Creswell. Stayed
at Creswell, part of it was the trav-
elling, too. Being in Creswell was
kind of nice and I had just left McK-
enzie and that was a long drive. So
I was like, eh, I’m ready for a short
drive, let’s stay here. But I, you know,
I didn’t know if I passed up a gold-
en opportunity because I’m like, it’s
hard to get a head coaching job. So I
TERRY see B3
Lions receive
Sky-Em league
honors
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
While the fall sports season has come to a close,
Cottage Grove athletics were all over the all-league
awards. Between football, volleyball and both soc-
cer teams, 10 different Cottage Grove athletes were
given first-team nods while volleyball coach Kend-
ra Anderson and girls soccer coach Reed Levings
were both named coach of the year in the Sky-Em.
For the volleyball team that won league as they
went 9-1 in Sky-Em play, Cassidy Herbert and Reil-
ly Kelty were both named to the first team while
Lauren Witty, Matty Ladd and Sam May were sec-
ond team selections. Herbert was named player of
the year.
In girls soccer, the second-place Lions had Saw-
yer Weybright, Kaity Magill and Chanel Leach on
the first team. Cameron Anderson, Payton Cam-
eron, Leticia Hernandez and Irene Ferguson were
named to the second team.
For the boys soccer team, Fernando Soto-Cruz
and Rodas Rodas Martin were both on the first
team while George Cervantes, Paesen Timm and
Jasper Nichols-Ferguson were on the second team.
On the football field, Dylan Graves was named
first team quarterback and Sky-Em offensive MVP
while Erick Giffen was first team slot receiver, punt-
er and defensive back. Jacob Dunn joined the pair
as a unanimous first team wide receiver. Jayden
Doolittle was named second team defensive back
and receiver as Dunn (outside linebacker), Creed
Lufkin (guard) David Cox (defensive line) and
Adrian Gideon also were named to the second
team.
This week’s athletes of the
week are the members of Blue
Mangoes soccer team. This
coed team of 5th-8th graders
won a tournament in Cottage
Grove earlier this month. The
team was coached by Curtis
and Sirpa Merz.
The Blue
Mangoes
pose with
their
trophies.
PHOTO C/O SMILEY
GLENN
see B2
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