Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 5, 2015 13A
Polk County Sports
KEEPER OF THE GOAL
Riggan chases dream on ice, plays with Winterhawks high school league in Portland
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE —
From the moment she
skates onto the ice, Central
senior Keighlee Riggan is
not her usual self.
As a goalie in the Port-
land Winterhawks’ varsity
high school hockey league,
Riggan isn’t worried about
school or friends. Her
mind is focused on one
thing — stopping the puck.
“When you’re out there,
it’s like nothing else mat-
ters,” Riggan said. “The
first thing I think is I better
not screw this up. Then, I
make sure I’m in the right
position and I just remind
myself to just do what you
do.”
That passion for hockey
is common in the Riggan
household, where the
sport isn’t just a hobby — it
defines them.
“When I was little, be-
fore we moved to Oregon
from Central Washington,
some of my earliest memo-
ries are skating on a frozen
lake and watching Hockey
Night in Canada on CBC
with my dad, John” Keigh-
lee said. “I really became a
big fan in my early teens
when the U.S. won gold in
Lake Placid, like most
Americans.”
That love of hockey has
been passed down, and
Keighlee is looking to take
her passion to a new level.
—
From almost the mo-
ment she could walk, Rig-
gan has been skating.
“I was on roller blades
since I was really young
because it was a fun thing
to do,” she said.
Her older brother began
playing hockey in Corvallis
when Riggan wanted her
chance.
“There was a roller
hockey league in Corvallis
that my older brother
played in,” Riggan said. “I
was jealous of all the atten-
tion he was getting so I
COURTESY OF KEIGHLEE RIGGAN
Keighlee Riggan battles to protect the goal.
COURTESY OF KEIGHLEE RIGGAN
Keighlee Riggan plays goalie in the Portland Winterhawks’ varsity high school
team. She says the playing the position is all about strategy and quick thinking.
started playing there when
I was about 6.”
Two years later, Riggan
tried being a goalie for the
first time.
“I was excited,” Riggan
said. “I think my parents
were like, ‘she can try it but
she won’t like it.’ The joke’s
on them.”
At age 10, Riggan was in-
vited to play goalie for a
girls hockey squad in Port-
land, but her season was
cut short because of an in-
jury.
“I think her passion real-
ly took hold after she broke
her arm at age 10 and
couldn’t play for half the
season,” John said.
The injury only served to
fuel Riggan’s love of hock-
ey.
“The following season
her competitiveness, focus
and ability took off to a
whole new level,” John
said. “She won multiple
tournament game MVPs
and her travel team won a
couple of tournaments and
finished second in a few
more that year.”
It turns out she was just
getting started.
—
Since joining the Winter-
hawks high school league,
Riggan has helped her
squad to an impressive
string of success.
Playing for Teem Neely,
Riggan posted two
shutouts over three games
for a .958 save percentage
as they won the state
championship.
It’s the second-straight
state title for Team Neely
and the third straight
championship game ap-
pearance. Riggan has been
starting goaltender for all
three state title games.
Her success in goal
stems from her ability to
see plays develop before
they happen and to adjust
her position quickly, with-
out overreacting.
“It’s strategical I guess,”
Riggan said. “There are a
lot of mind games. You
have to make sure you’re in
the right spot. But it’s fun
when you get a shutout. It’s
like you saved the day kind
of a feeling.”
The journey isn’t always
easy. During the high
school season, which runs
from September through
February, Riggan makes
the trek up to Portland
each practice day after
school gets out.
And while she enjoys the
company of her team-
mates, her friends back
home rarely get a chance
to see her play.
“It’s weird because no
one is there to watch me,”
Riggan said. “They all want
to know about it, but it’s so
far away that I don’t expect
them to (make it to my
games).”
She doesn’t let that get
her down and hopes to
continue playing hockey
after high school. She re-
cently attended a skills
camp in Colorado and has
been looking at colleges on
the East Coast.
Riggan tries to keep a
positive attitude in the
competitive world of hock-
ey.
“The pressure can get
overwhelming,” Riggan
said. “I have to take a step
back and remember that
I’m doing this for me. I’m
doing this to have fun.”
Not that she’s rushing it,
but Riggan already has
plans to stay with the game
as a coach after she’s done
blocking the goal.
Even though Polk Coun-
ty lacks an official hockey
program, Riggan encour-
ages any young player to
just get out and skate.
“That’s where it all
starts,” Riggan said. “That’s
where people get their
dreams. That’s where I had
my dreams begin.”
Coaches tackle safety through ‘Heads Up’ program
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — The OSAA is
joining attempts to make football
safer for youth athletes. Beginning
in 2016, high school coaches must
be certified in the USA Football’s
High School Heads Up program.
OSAA recommends coaches be
certified for the 2015 season,
something that many local schools
are acting on.
Dallas coach Tracy Jackson at-
tended a Player Safety Coach (PSC)
clinic Saturday in Eugene and said
he learned valuable information to
trickle down throughout youth
football leagues.
“Sometimes I think you want to
have a program from youth kids to
high school kids running the same
offense and things like that,” Dal-
las coach Tracy Jackson said. “One
of the things they emphasized is
this is way more important than
that.
“This is about fundamentals
staying the same, hearing the same
thing every year so they can mas-
ter skills every year. Heads Up
wants to make sure the game is as
safe as possible.”
The Heads Up program focuses
on tackling and blocking tech-
Itemizer-Observer file
Coaches are learning how to teach students to be safer when making tackles in football.
niques, as well as concussion
recognition and response, heat
preparedness and hydration, sud-
den cardiac arrest and proper
equipment fitting.
“There are some really great
progressions for teaching blocking
and tackling,” Jackson said. “It’s
very similar to what we do already.
We are going to share with the
youth coaches and get us all teach-
ing good fundamentals.”
Central coach Shane Hedrick
said the Panthers have taken steps
in the past to teach players safer
techniques.
“The Seattle Seahawks pro-
duced and supplied a tackling
video that was enforced by USA
Football,” Hedrick said. “We
showed this to our football players
prior to the 2014 season.”
Hedrick said Central’s coaches
will be certified in January of next
year.
The key to the program’s success
will be getting coaches on board at
every level, Jackson said.
“Let’s all teach this the same
way,” Jackson said. “The kids will
know how to do things the right
way from day one. Let’s make the
game more fun and less worrisome
for parents and coaches.”
Each high school will nominate
a PSC who will be responsible for
implementing the Heads Up pro-
gram within an organization.
Having the Heads Up football
program take root in Oregon is a
positive development, Jackson
said.
Although it may take a little get-
ting used to for some coaches, he
said he knows it is something that
will benefit everyone.
“I’ve been a coach for a long,
long time,” Jackson said. “Your per-
spective changes from when you
first get in. Like in life, you get
wiser over time. You start to see
things that are good and some that
aren’t so good. We want to whittle
this down and let’s discard the
things that aren’t good, even if it’s
what we were taught.”
Junior baseball
places fourth
Just the
facts!
Central Senior American
Junior Baseball Organiza-
tion took fourth place out
of 12 teams at the JBO
state tournament held in
Corvallis July 23-26.
Coaches were Timm Cable,
Mario Lopez and Matt Hol-
liday.
Newspaper media consumers
act on newspaper digital ads
— 66% took action
on an ad in
the past month.
MARIO LOPEZ/for the Itemizer-Observer