The University Interscholastic League could begin testing for steroid use as soon as the end of October, according to several published reports.   The UIL is close to accepting a bid from among the 14 companies in the running to conduct steroid testing, the Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman reported.

      MacArthur celebrated their 2007 Homecoming with a big win over the Spring Woods Tigers, 49-7 on Saturday night at Thorne Stadium.

      The Morton Ranch Mavericks celebrated their homecoming Friday night as they welcomed home their inaugural graduating class.

    Alief Taylor celebrated its 2007 Homecoming Friday night with a big win over Mayde Creek.

                Sandra Weatherly hopes to be 900 miles away at college this time next year.   Her classmates apparently aren’t willing to let her go without a big, smiling memory. Weatherly was crowned Strake Jesuit’s Homecoming queen Friday night at halftime of the Crusaders’ 27-24 win against Langham Creek. Weatherly emerged from a court that also included Courtney Atcheson, Kayn Banigo, Margaret Blue, Victoria Hinkle and Melissa Russo. Weatherly is a member of the varsity water polo and swimming teams, the Junior Statesmen of America, the Key Club and the Diversity Club.

INDIANAPOLIS - For the first time ever, more than 3 million girls are participating in high school sports, according to a survey released by the National Federation of High School Associations.   The results of the NFHS' annual survey listed a record 7,342,910 total high school athletes in the 2006-2007 school year among its member associations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.   “The girls participation figure of 3,021,807 is particularly exciting since this year is the 35th anniversary of Title IX,” NFHS executive director Robert F. Karnaby said.   Through the survey, it was also determined that 54.2 percent of students enrolled in high schools participate in athletics.

      The Cinco Ranch Cougars celebrated their 2007 Homecoming Friday night with a big win over Morton Ranch.

  With fall sports in full swing, you may be searching for some new team gear to wear to the games.  Prep Sportswear is an online apparel shop designed for high school sports fans, offering t-shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, pants, caps, and much more branded with your high school’s logo. 

Houston is full of talented athletes that hit the courts, fields, and pools everyday, but many of these athletes, along with their parents and cheering fans, are unaware of a health problem that can have dire consequences if not detected early.

      Morton Ranch had a significant first tonight.

  The Mayde Creek Rams celebrated their 2007 Homecoming Friday night at Rhodes Stadium.

Late in the evening after all the business people have left the office for the day and the parking garage is empty, out comes a group of young men whose fun begins traveling up and down the parking garage ramps on longboards. A longboard is a skateboard with a longer and sometimes wider shape.

With steroids plaguing professional sports for the past decade, many feel it’s no big deal because they are grown men and can do as they please. The fact is that the increase in steroid use in professional sports has made the “juicing” idea a growing and popular trend in the world of high school sports.

  The Maccabi Games are very competitive in nature, but the athletes who partake in them know they are an exhibition for the Jewish community.

The Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Houston will be hosting the Maccabi Games August 5-10, 2007.  These Olympic style sporting events are held each summer in North America, and have been uniting Jewish teens since 1982. The Maccabi Games have  earned the distinction of becoming the world's largest organized sporting program for Jewish teen athletes.  However, this program did not blossom overnight.

Don’t wait for the scouts to tell you how fast your throw is, see for yourself with the Sharper Image Laser Ball. No radar needed here, the Laser Ball has built in features that clock the speed from when it leaves your hand to when it touches the glove.

Under Armour padded receiver gloves are skillfully designed for receivers and running backs who wish to have the edge on their competitition.

Within a couple of months in 1972 women’s rights went from being almost obsolete to finally being seen as equals. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was passed by Congress and sent to states for ratification stating, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” following the ERA was Title IX which banned sex discrimination in schools.

With the NCAA’s recent punishment handed out to the University of Oklahoma, it gives sports fans a fresh reminder of what really goes on behind the scenes of these big Division-I athletic programs.

As the summer months are coming to an end, every athlete and family starts to prepare for the upcoming season.  Athletic apparel, footwear, equipment, and accessories must be found and purchased.

  In 1972, the federal government instituted the nation’s first law prohibiting sex-based discrimination against students and employees at institutions of higher learning.  The law’s intent was to make a college education, and everything encompassing it, equitable for both males and females.  The interpretation of Title IX today makes it look and feel much different than what its original proponents probably envisioned.   The law is most acutely felt in men’s and women’s college athletic programs.  While originally designed to provide women the same athletic opportunities given to men, Title IX is now causing women’s athletic programs to bite the hands that feed them, namely the men’s programs whose revenues pay for the women’s programs.   Title IX requires schools to provide athletic scholarships on a proportional basis according to its student population.  This means that if a school is 40% male and 60% female, then only 40% of the school’s athletic scholarships may be given to male athletes.  When you consider that there are almost twice as many male collegiate athletes as female athletes, this proportionality rule defies common sense.   If you further consider that many schools have had to cut funding for some men’s programs, or cut the programs altogether, in order to be in full compliance with Title IX, it makes even less sense.  Why should baseball teams only get 11.7 scholarships for 35 players when women’s rowing gets 20 scholarships and has to advertise in the school newspaper to get women with no rowing experience to try out for the team?  Most college baseball players have been playing the sport for their entire lives, and many have the option to turn it into a career.  How many high schools have girls’ rowing teams?  How many professional female rowers do you know?  But yes, it makes perfect sense to give rowing twice the number of scholarships that baseball gets.   While we’re comparing sports, why should women’s basketball teams get more scholarships than men’s basketball teams?  Does that not defeat the very purpose of Title IX … to eliminate sex-based discrimination in colleges and universities?  And that’s beside the fact that it’s revenue from men’s football and basketball programs that provides the money for all those rowing and women’s basketball scholarships.   For football, the NCAA allows 85 scholarships per team.  Due to Title IX, those scholarships are available to both male and female athletes (I’m sure we all remember the female place-kicker at Colorado a few years back).  Yet, in terms of the proportionality rule, those scholarships only count in the total for men.  Even if a football team had a female player on scholarship, that scholarship would count as a men’s scholarship.   How much further is this going to go?  Are we going to completely eliminate men’s Olympic sports from our colleges and universities to make room for women who never thought about joining a sports program until they got to campus and saw an ad in a newspaper?  Worse yet, at what point do young men decide to stop playing certain high school sports because there is no chance they can play in college?   But at least that will make room for the abundance of high school rowers out there.  The government will be ecstatic.

    Amid concern over the validity of steroid test results, Texas governor Rick Perry and state Senator Kyle Janek, R-Houston, author of the steroid testing bill, have suggested that perhaps the UIL should postpone implementing random steroid testing for high school athletes in Texas.

  The receiver runs a perfect pattern, explodes out of the break, and stretches out his gloved hand in time to cradle the ball with one hand as his cleats drag across the border of the end zone.   That's when everything goes wrong.   Instinct takes over.

  The NCAA’s recent ban on text messaging between college coaches and potential recruits, which is scheduled to go into effect August 1, may be short-lived.

  Do you need a workout top that was made for working out? Champion’s Vapor line has men’s and women’s tops that give you the freedom to move and the ventilation to stay dry and cool.

Anyone can recognize a lineman. More often than not they are the biggest players on the field, using their bulk against each other in order to win the line of scrimmage.

  Athletes: regardless of what sport you participate in (football, basketball, soccer, track, volleyball, baseball, rugby etc…) training with Strength® Shoes can help you become more prepared for this year’s competition.

As Americans celebrated the birth of our country this week, it only seems appropriate to give credit to this 231-year-old nation that has given us a land of opportunity and freedom.

  High school athletes usually have to stay in shape year around to keep their bodies in shape for competitions. This may be because many of America’s high school athletes participate in multiple sports.

    AUSTIN-The Univeristy Interscholastic League (UIL) has agreed to very tough penalties in regards to the new statewide high school steroid testing.

  The fifth annual Bayou Bowl took place Saturday night in Baytown, Texas at Stallworth Stadium.

  AIR - (Adolescence in Recovery), spent time at Cinco Ranch High School the last of school visiting with the student/athletes regarding the concerns with teenagers and the use of steroids.  The group gave an outstanding presentation and it was well received by numerous students. Providing this educational service to the CRHS athletes were guest speaker Daniel Bejrowski, center director Robert Hilliker, and parent leader Julie Robbins.  CRHS was grateful for this opportunity and the students were very appreciative. In the picture from AIR are:  Daniel Bejrowski, Robert Hilliker, and Julie Robbins.

    Boys   Girls

  Second Baptist celebrated a bittersweet event Tuesday afternoon as they honored the 37-year career of Ann Smith.

Stratford High School held their 2007 Track Banquet last Friday.

    The Greater Houston Football Coaches Association gathered last Wednesday to honor the children of several Greater Houston area coaches.

  Cinco Ranch State Champion wrestler Jamison Sheets signs with Colorado School of Mines.  Joining Jamie on his big day are: Seated:  Becky (mom), Jamison, and Jeff (dad) Standing:  Bonnie Brasic (CRHS Principal), Bill Dushane (Head Wrestling coach), and Don Clayton (CRHS Athletic Coordinator) Good luck to Jamie as he steps up to the next level.

As Memorial moves into the postseason, the Mustangs will be looking to Gentry for her leadership on the mound and her consistency as a team player.

  Cinco Ranch Volleyball ace signs with Texas A&M-Commerce.  Rachel Lance, a First Team All District selection on both the court and in the classroom, will take her skills to the next level and will play for the Lady Lions.   Best wishes to Rachel as she takes her game to the college level.   Don Clayton Cinco Ranch H.S.

Saturday at the Butler Sports Complex the Annual Tae Kwon-do AAU Gulf District National Qualifier took place.

Attention football fans! There will be football much earlier than most expected.

  The Seven Lakes varsity girls soccer team has plenty of reasons to celebrate.  They just completed the first season of varsity soccer in the school’s two-year history, which is, in itself, an accomplishment.  But this vibrant, enthusiastic group of young women, led by head coach Amy Davis, had more in mind than merely blazing a trail as the first varsity team.  They will also forever be known as the first Spartan team to roll undefeated through District 24-4A and the first to advance to the regional finals.  Though the Spartans came up one win short of the state tournament, Seven Lakes soccer will be a force for years to come.  The varsity team returns the entire roster for the 2008 season, and the junior varsity team, which also went undefeated in district, is poised to continue providing a strong foundation for the program.

Athlete’s Connection’s former All-Star Athlete, Arielle Daron signed her letter of intent to Stephen F.

  Sunday night at Memorial High School the 2007 MHS Round Ball Banquet was held for volleyball, girls basketball, and the boys basketball teams.

  5A High School Baseball Rankings 1. Langham Creek 2. Katy 3. Klein Collins 4. Clear Lake 5. The Woodlands 6. Westside 7. Bellaire 8. Memorial 9. Deer Park 10. Klein 11. Tomball 12. Baytown Sterling 13. Elkins 14. Kingwood 15. Stratford 5A Softball Rankings 1. Alvin 2. Pearland 3. Brazoswood 4. Cinco Ranch 5. Spring 6. Cy-Fair 7. Katy 8. The Woodlands 9. Klein 10. Tomball 11. Katy Taylor 12. Clements 13. Deer Park 14. Memorial 15. Elkins

    Attention football fans! There will be football much earlier than most expected.

  With Spring Break coming to an end, high school students and their parents know that the end of the school year is right around the corner.  That means it’s time to begin making summer plans, and for high school athletes wanting to play sports in college, those plans usually include summer camps.

  The Second Baptist Eagles have fared very well as a team and as individuals in their winter sports programs.

  Second Baptist’s Ross Seaton has earned the Athlete’s Connection spotlights of the week nomination.