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Sports & recreation Cottage Grove Sentinel Wednesday, November 28, 2018 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Section B Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Just keep swimming Win the warmup: a guide to pregame pump- up music By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com There are many reasons to be excited for the upcoming high school basketball season that officially begins today. For starters, there are am- ple storylines to follow: new coaches at Cottage Grove, a strong returning group for the Elkton girls, the North Doug- las boys trying to take another step forward (read about all these and more in next week’s winter sports preview!). But the actual games are not what this is about; this is about something far more important. This is about the most exciting element of any high school basketball game: the pregame pump up music. The 20 minutes before any given game are a real joy. An excited announcer welcomes the home team and they run on the court and someone hits play on some random playlist for the game. And as some- one who spend a lot of time in high school gyms, I have grown fond of those random playlists. But I want more from them. From gym to gym and team to team, it is a real mixed bag on any given night and they certainly are not all good. A good pump up mix has the ability to set the tone for the upcoming game and tell the crowd about who this team is. But instead of a well-crafted playlist, some mixes are being forgotten entirely and reduced to a bland Spotify mix. I will accept this no more. I want teams to play the hits and be creative and have fun and make a great mix. Is that too much to ask? Maybe? I’m unsure. (This would be a good time to note that the Cottage Grove girls soccer team has the best pregame mix of all the area teams and I don’t think it’s close. I would de- scribe their mix as a blend of today’s hits with a splash of 2006. They bring the fire every single time.) To make matters easier, I have decided to give my unso- licited advice on how to make the ideal pregame pump-up mix. If you follow these easy steps, you, too, could be like the Cottage Grove girls soccer team. Keep it fun What really shouldn’t be lost in a good playlist is that this is a game and it is fun which means it is okay to keep things light. Every song does not need to be a reminder that this is the most important moment of your life and that everything depends on this game. The reality is that after some random non-conference midweek game, there will probably still be homework to do and things will be fine. So maybe ease off the overplayed clichés such as “’Till I Col- lapse”, “Remember the Name” and “The Final Countdown.” The 80s were a long time ago According to analysis by The New York Times, the mu- sic that has the biggest impact on an individual is what they were listening to at around the age of 13 or 14. What this means is that that the indi- viduals on the court, who were born this century, were most likely influenced by a combination of artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj and Ari- ana Grande. So if a parent is the one deciding the playlist, just reflect and think about if someone who was born in 2003 would want to hear MUSIC see B3 PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/ CG SENTINEL A cold November sun shines on the Cottage Grove swimmers as they practice at the North Douglas Memorial Pool last week. The teams are swimming in Drain while the Warren H. Daughtery Aquatic Center undergoes a year-long renovation. A temporary move to an outdoor pool in Drain hasn’t slowed Cottage Grove swimmers By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com When it came to picking her daughter up from swim practice, last year was easy for Abby Zoll. Practice for the Aqua Li- ons – the local swim club that feeds into the Cottage Grove High School team – was usually done by 4 p.m. Zoll would pick her daughter up from the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center and be home by about 4:15 p.m.; it was a simple rou- tine. But that’s not the case this year. “Everything has changed,” said Zoll who serves as the president of the Aqua Lions; has a 10-year-old and six-year-old on the team; and is unable to swim her- self. (When asked to take the role for the club, she asked with a laugh, “Don’t you want someone who can at least doggy paddle? Or float or something? Because it’s not me.”) Instead of finishing at 4 p.m. the teams arrive back in town via bus around 7 p.m. as the renovation of the aquatic center has pushed the Aqua Lions and CGHS teams south for practice at the North Douglas Memorial Pool – an outdoor pool – in Drain since October. Despite cold weath- er and an additional 50 minutes on a bus each day, the swimmers, coaches and parents, while not thrilled with the situ- ation, are understanding and excited for what the renovated aquatic center will be. “I think it’s kind of really rich for them because it is kind of like their pilgrim- age to the new. Because I told them, this newness is going to be cool when you get it…It’s going to be insane,” said Vanessa Dalton the guardian of a 6th grade swim- mer. “And coach says, ‘It’s like a death.’ He’s showing pictures to the kids the oth- er day, it’s like a death and then it’s going to have a nice fresh start. And so he’s tell- ing the kids that it’s okay to be sad but it’s okay because we’re going to get some gladness.” The renovation of the aquatic center – including new locker rooms, pool, warm water therapy pool and work done on the interior and exterior of the building – is an over $6 million project funded by bond dollars and community donations that is scheduled to be completed by Sep- tember at the latest. But until then, Tyson Pilling – the CGHS head swim coach, water polo coach and coach of the Aqua Lions – was in need of a place to practice and the options were limited. “I was like, we need to find a facility… so let’s look at what the other facilities of- fered and I went and I worked on it for about a year. Looked at all the pools and what their costs are going to be and they are either way too expensive or there are already existing programs,” said Pilling. Creswell was ruled out because the size of the pool closer mirrored a hotel pool then a competition pool and pools across Eugene were already in use which meant that if Pilling was to go that route the teams would not be able to practice until 9 p.m. “Start at nine o’clock at night,” said Pilling as he emphasized the time. “And I just thought, ‘Well that doesn’t really sound like student-athlete to me.’ And we’d have nobody out if we did that.” But after looking around, it was settled that the teams would migrate South to Drain and practice at the North Douglas Memorial Pool – a pool that first opened its doors in 1948 and is typically open from June to September “It turned some heads among towns- people, like what’s going on there? Be- cause normally the place is boarded up and you know, just looks like a cold skel- eton there,” said North Douglas Parks and Recreation (NDPR) district manager Brian Cool. “But the place is alive and SWIMMING see B2 PHOTO C/O GARRETT BRIDGENS The renovation process starts at the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center. Winter sports begin around state Athletes of the Week This week’s athletes of the week are the high school athletes that begin competition this week. The OSAA winter season officially kicks off today (November 28) with many area teams in action. For a schedule of the upcoming week in sports, see B2.
