Hail to Teams Eagle-Eye, Trojan and Panther
Published: February 27, 2012
As always, one person cannot be at four Far East sports tournaments ongoing at the same time, not even somebody as … well … nutso … as I am, who has all the ability of a gold-medal spectator but is not acquainted with Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott, Lt. j.g. Geordi La Forge or anybody else involved with molecular transfer in Starfleet Command.
So, every Far East tournament week, Stars and Stripes’ Pacific does the next-best thing: Recruit teams of able, willing and dedicated students involved in their schools’ journalism and yearbook schools or clubs to be those eyes and ears on the ground at tournaments for Stripes.
They spent much of the last week e-mailing photographs and telephoning in game reports, a vital process made even more so by my sudden, brief pit stop at U.S. Naval Hospital last Tuesday. And the flow of game results didn’t stop even then (though my use of my cell phone in the ER wasn’t too popular with the folks there).
But I digress. This is a win-win situation for everybody involved. It gives Stripes people on the ground at all the tournaments. It gives students a resume builder – “I covered the state championship tournament for the Pacific’s newspaper of record.” Colleges eat that up. Not to mention, students get a bit of time out of class to gain experience they otherwise wouldn’t get in class. And the tournaments get the publicity they otherwise might not get when tournament directors overloaded with tasks must prioritise.
"The students want to do it. We adults need to get out of the way and let them," said Richard Rodgers, one of the student-reporter group overseers.
Here’s a salute to the following:
“Team Eagle-Eye,” Robert D. Edgren High School, Girls Division II Tournament: Natalie Gammel, Kendall Petersen, Taylor Quinn, Rachel Rodriguez, Addie Vannes, D’Yanna Sledge, Daishamarie Frieson and Ally Krussick, under the direction of Robin Eddington and Martina Campbell.
“Team Panther,” Yokota High School, Girls Division I Tournament: Lilly Crown, Austin Halvorsen, Rachel Bloom, Gabi Baker, Caitlin Older, Aryssa Livica and Sumika Morgan, under the direction of Greg Holladay.
“Team Trojan,” Zama American High and Middle Schools, Boys Division II Tournament: Chiharu Gomez, John Limas, Stephen Ferrer, Trisha Dring, Sylvia Dykstra, Maiko Ann Beale, Brenden Sullivan, Kenichi Mishler, Katrina Fuentes, Sheina Marie Staley and Hannah May Greer Hicks, under the direction of Steven and Lee Rabine, Todd Carver and Richard Rodgers.
Thank you to one and all. I’m ever grateful.
