This is the first of The Athlete's Connection 30 football previews in 30 days leading up to the season-opening games beginning Thursday, Aug. 28. Today, Athlete's Connection sportswriter Chad Washington takes a look at Fort Bend...
Random thoughts and a few news items as we enter the latter third of July and maybe, just maybe, brace for rain and temporarily lower water bills:
Taking on the world
From the Associated Press wire on Friday came news that a team of standouts from across the country will participate in an eight-team tournament known as the Junior World Championship from June 27-July 5, 2009 in Canton, Ohio.
Up to 10 players, all of which will be 2009 high school graduates, may be nomin...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
— Memorial’s Cory Whitsett will have to work from behind if he wants to defend U.S. Junior Amateur championship.
Fifteen-year-old Jorge Fernandez Valdes of Cordoba, Argentina, made 10 birdies and finished with a 7-under par 65 Monday to hold the early first-day lead at the tournament, holding on a three-stroke lead over Seth Reeves, 17, of Duluth, Ga.
Whitsett, 16, and Pat Rodgers, 16, of Avon, Ind., each ...
With only a month left in the summertime, high school golfers are getting their final strokes in the Houston Golf Association’s Junior Golf summer season.
In the event Monday at the Houston National Golf Course, over 100 high school players from across the area played in the seventh week of Junior Golf play, trying to increase cumulative scores from all summer long to win the season-long tournament.
Nine Katy ISD seniors recently were awarded 2008 Soccer Depot I-10 Shootout scholarships.
The recipients were as follows by school: Cinco Ranch – defenseman Stephanie Brown, Kayla Blincow and Valerie Whitt; Katy Taylor – goalkeeper Natalie Strabala (also the District 18-5A Defensive Player of the Year) and Juliana Bortka; Katy – Amanda Mikeska and Erica De La Fuente; Seven Lakes – Marissa Anselmo; Morton Ranch – defender Damaris Alvarez.
Eisenhower receiver Greg Timmons was named to the Nike 7ON National Passing Championship All-Tournament team as his team participated in the national tournament this weekend at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.
Timmons and his team, called Strike Force in the tournament, participated with several top teams from across the country, including from Florida, Georgia, California and Pennsylvania.
In the championship game, Team Super Speed (consisting of players from Pla...
With the recent rumors that a Houston television station will begin broadcasting high-school football games this fall, Athlete's Connection sportswriters Dave Purpura and Chad Washington discuss the benefits of television coverage of the game - and agree there's nothing like being at a game yourself.
For now, it looks like Houston-area teams will be featured at least twice on national television - Katy vs. Weston (Fla.) Cypress Bay O... Read More >>
Perhaps the comparison Houston Golf Association Junior Golf Coordinator Bill Walker made of the HGA’s Match Play Championships to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was more appropriate than even he realized.
The event’s No. 1 seed, Seven Lakes’ Albert Miner, defended his territory like the power forward position he feasibly could fill on a basketball court.
Miner was a force in the long and short games, cruising throu...
NEW WAVERLY, Texas – USA Gymnastics on Saturday announced the six women and three replacement athletes it will nominate to the U.S. Olympic Committee to comprise the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team for women’s gymnastics.
Shawn Johnson of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Nastia Liukin of Parker, Texas, were named to the team at the conclusion of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Gymnastics, June 19-22 in Philadelphia, and the balance of the team was named Satu...
There are no trophies or photos of Charlie Ward’s stellar career in his office. In fact, most of the kids he now coaches didn’t see him play or don’t remember him playing.
After a highly successful college football career and a longer career in the NBA, Charlie Ward starts his second year as an assistant coach at Westbury Christian.
“We have a good group of core kids that have bought into the work ethic and what it takes to be successf...
Being a soccer goalkeeper is not easy. One mistake or one miscalculation could turn a goalie from a hero to a goat.
On Friday, a small group of kids ages 8-13 got a lesson in how to avoid costly mistakes and be a better goalkeeper.
The Texas Soccer Club hosted a weeklong camp at the Northwest Indoor Soccer Center in the Champions area to give young soccer players a chance to hone their skills in a position that is one of the most scrutinized and pressurized in s...
Ranked high in nearly every preseason football poll or publication, the Eisenhower football team this weekend gets a chance to prove its mettle on a national stage.
The Eagles are one of eight teams participating in the Nike 7ON National Passing Championship Thursday to Saturday in Beaverton, Ore.
Boasting highly-recruited quarterback Kenneth Guiton, versatile defensive back Craig Loston (Clemson commit) and receivers Greg Timmons (Texas commit) and Jazz Reynolds among ot...
A police escort whisked Houston’s citizen of the day 25 miles through city traffic at midday Wednesday, hoping he’d be in time to placate a throng of waiting admirers.
LSU football coach Les Miles arrived at the JW Marriott for the Touchdown Club of Houston’s LSU Day luncheon 55 minutes late, but the more than 600 fans on hand would have waited all day for the coach of the defending BCS national champions.
The second day of the Houston Water Polo’s Jalapeno League Division II tournament at Strake Jesuit saw a tight boys 18-and-under championship game, while the girls game was delayed because of rain.
In the boys title match, Bayou (a combined team of Stratford and Jersey Village players) had to hold off a final charge by a gritty Tomball team. After leading by as much as five goals going into the fourth period, Tomball rallied late to pull within ...
To say the ink used to write Kirby Kramer’s name wasn’t dried when she won the Houston Junior Golf-Performance Series event Tuesday at Memorial Park is a bit of a stretch.
But because she was one of the last entrants in the event, the Langham Creek sophomore’s name was the only one written by hand.
Using this two-day event as a warmup of sorts for a match play tournament the next three days at Memorial Park, Kramer shot 38 on the back nine to finish at...
To twist a time-honored saying, Kevin Vanden Heuvel had to go a long way to do what for some reason he couldn’t achieve a short distance from home.
After the second time the then-junior at Katy Taylor failed to qualify for the U.S. Junior Amateur golf championships at Memorial Park, Vanden Heuvel and his father decided the dream was close enough to take a drastic step. So three weeks ago, Vanden Heuvel traveled nearly 1,100 miles to play in a qualifier at Three Crowns Gol...
You shouldn't have to wait long or go searching for video highlights of the state 7-on-7 tournament.
Click on the links below to see how all the teams from The Athlete's Connection's coverage area performed Friday and Saturday in College Station. And don't forget to check out all our football coverage, 7-on-7 and otherwise, by clicking here.
The Greater Houston Water Polo Jalapeno Championship Tournament at Strake Jesuit has turned into a duel between two top area squads the past two days.
Monday, the Lone Star team from Clear Lake and Dirty Bay from Baytown split the two championships, with Dirty Bay winning the boys 18-and-under championship and Lone Star winning the girls title.
Tuesday, the 16-and-under teams went at it, with both boys and girls teams in the 16-and-under divisi...
Nneka Ogwumike, who guided the Cy-Fair girls basketball team to the 5A state championship in 2007-08, is one of six finalists for the Gatorade Athlete of the Year awarded to be presented at the ESPY Awards show Thursday night.
Ogwumike is in California this week for the festivities.
The other finalists are Track and Field Athlete of the Year Chanelle Price (Easton Area High, Easton Area, Pa.), Soccer Player of the Year Teresa Noyola (Palo Alto High, Palo Alt...
Exactly how much strong performances in the state 7-on-7 tournament translate into the high school football regular-season is debatable on end.
Just what they're worth is discussed in this week's podcast with sportswriters Dave Purpura and Heather Burr, both of whom were part of The Athlete's Connection's six-person coverage team last weekend in College Station. Listen and enjoy.
COLLEGE STATION — High scoring is common in 7-on-7 football, perhaps to the point where it's a landmark of the summer passing-oriented game.
Usually, though, the point totals are near gawdy on both sides. Sixty-one times during the state tournament Friday and Saturday at Texas A&M, teams scored 40 or more points.
There were five shutouts, including one 7-0 game.
Even faced with those or similar numbers, some are adamant that summer work is just as important &...
(Langham Creek VS. Abilene - Consolation Championship)
(Langham Creek - Consolation Bracket Games)
(Langham Creek VS. Spring)
COLLEGE STATION – Six hours before Langham Creek’s state 7-on–7 tournament journey culminated in a rather unlikely fourth-place finish, one of the opponents they manhandled unwittingly described the Lobos’ entire day.
COLLEGE STATION – Stratford’s appearance in the state 7-on-7 tournament ended Saturday morning with a 34-14 loss to Mesquite in the championship bracket.
The Mesquite players came out early to score first laying the groundwork for Stratford to try and answer their call. Kelton Crawford and Michael Garrett caught touchdown passes to take a 14-7 lead. The Stratford defensive team of Eric Odom, Jon Rodie...
COLLEGE STATION – As Memorial and Tomball took the field Saturday morning, they knew that they were going to have to play hard to stay in the state 7-on-7 tournament’s consolation bracket.
And as competitive as they were in their first state appearance, Memorial bowed out Saturday with a 26-12 loss.
Memorial quarterback Davis Miller came out strong to get the Mustangs on the board first with a touchdown pas...
I watched the baseball All-Star Game a couple days ago. It used to be just a cool exhibition game, until the commissioner made home-field advantage in the World Series the prize for the winner.
Now it’s just an exhibition game with an undeserved prize.
So the state 7-on-7 championship has been settled. Congratulations to Richland, the winners of the 64-team tournament last weekend. Congratulations for running around and sweating out in the College St...
