Monthly Archive for July, 2007

Published on July 23, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

July 23 already. Coach Van Den Bosch opened one of his volleyball camps today. Couple volleyball players were at the front desk helping with check in…..Cassie Huizenga and Rebecca Schelhaas. Always good to see students around, reminds me why I’m working here. Lots of young volleyballers that’s for sure. There is no shortage of opportunities for kids to improve themselves during the summers.

Coach Van Soelen and a few others on campus are avid Cubs fans. If you see coach you may want to ask him about his trip to Wrigley this year. Saw Barry Bonds hit two homeruns last week and saw the Cubs earn a win. Not a bad day for the Cubbies.

Going to go see the Explorer’s in Sioux City tonight. Get ready to sweat….temps in the 80′s and humidity levels right there as well.

Working on getting fall schedules entered into DakStats, the stat program of choice for the NAIA. We as a conference use a company called Statcrew. Results in some extra work, but the GPAC feels Statcrew is a superior product.

State baseball tournament started last week. Cherokee is in the 2A semifinals and will play on Thursday. West Sioux was eliminated on Saturday–got beat pretty soundly by Mid-Prairie. First time for the Falcons since a trip to the then four-team tournament hosted in Marshalltown. Happened back in 1992. I know because I was cutting my teeth as a board operator at then KVDB-KSOU listening to Tom Juhl do the play by play. Man, that seems like a long time ago. Having grown up in that area I remember some of the players like the Schweisow brothers. They had some great teams later, just couldn’t get through the tournament trail.

Softball gets there field set tonight and tomorrow. Teams from the four county area didn’t fare so well. Start thinking about football, volleyball and cross country now.

Preparations continue for our fall sports. Two weeks from today is media day in South Sioux City for the football coaches in the conference. Our athletes begin reporting for housing and then practices on August 13.

Still trying to line someone up for women’s soccer webcasts this fall…think we have some men’s games covered. Looks like the football games along with most of the volleyball matches will be on KDCR and will be webcast.

Stay cool…the dog days are here.

Published on July 17, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Good news for six teams this past season at Dordt College. The women’s basketbal, women’s soccer, women’s tennis, volleyball, women’s track and men’s golf team were all earned NAIA scholar team awards. To qualify, a team must hold at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average. Congratulations to them and their coaches.

The Dordt College shootout was a success this past weekend. Pella Christian went 4-0 including an overtime win over Western Christian to end the day.

The Gold Club, Dordt’s athletic booster club, hosted their golf tournament on Friday. A team of Mark Christians, Jason Kroese, Steve Mouw and Curtis Taylor combined for a -15 for the day to win the tournament. Good time was had by all. Thanks to Kevin and Deb Hulstein for their work in organizing the day. Also, Steve Mouw, the on campus contact for the Gold Club, put in a lot of time getting ready for the day.

Got done reading a book by John Wooden over the weekend. Uplifting and positive. If you need motivation, I’d recommend it. A much more pleasing outlook than Paul Shirley’s. I’ve got a book from Joe Paterno on my shelf….don’t know if I’ll get to it anytime soon.

Halfway through July. Where’s the summer going…………………………

Basketball in July

Published on July 13, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Today is Friday, July 13. Coach Van Soelen and Dordt College host their annual high school shootout for boys high school basketball teams. Defending state champion Western Christian highlights the entrants. Interesting to see how things turn out. Shawn De Stigter, a former Dordt College all-conference basketball player, sends a Central Lyon team over. Other entries hail out of South Dakota and Minnesota–Southwest Christian. Pella Christian spent most of last year in the top-five in Class 2A and Unity Christian will have a team as well.

Defender Gold Club is hosting their annual golf tournament this afternoon at Landsmeer in Orange City. Weather looks great.

Have added “recruit news” links to the individual sports team pages on our website. It lists the headlines associated with recruit releases. Hats off to Brady Fopma, our webmaster, I approached him with the idea and he came up with a fairly simple (remember, I’m the one who has to get the info up on the page!) process. I’d have to say, every time I’ve had an idea the computer service department has made it happen.

Just got done with Paul Shirley’s book “Can I Keep My Jersey”. You may remember Shirley as a forward at Iowa State in the late 1990′s. Has bounced around a variety of leagues both stateside and abroad and this is his chronicle of a four year period, culminating with a four month stay with the Phoenix Suns. Interesting read. Laugh out loud funny at times. Depressingly cynical at others–kind of wore on me as the book went along. Gives you an “everyman” view of trying to make the NBA. Takes some shots at religion. Working my way through a book by John Wooden right now along with a mystery.

Now, off to the Gold Club tournament, hopefully a couple dozen balls will be enough………..

It’s good to be back

Published on July 9, 2007 in Uncategorized. Closed

Well, I’m back at it. Had a nice time away. Spent time near Yellowstone National Park and spent time with family. Lots of driving, lots of laughter, lots of activities and managed to arrive safely home last week. Spent a couple days in the office last week after July 4 and have been working the early shift at KDCR. I thought I was done with milker’s hours.

Coach Van Soelen and Dordt College will be hosting a team basketball camp or shootout this weekend. At last check he had 15 teams entered for the affair that runs on Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14 at the Rec Center and the De Witt Gym. Should be some good basketball. Defending state champion Western Christian headlines the group. I’ll try to get the entire team list up on our website later today.

The Defender Gold Club golf tournament takes place this Friday. If you haven’t sent in your registration do so or contact Kevin Hulstein at 712-722-4363. Should be good time and the weather looks like it will cooperate.

High school baseball tournaments begin tonight. Class 2A district 1 looks wide open. Don’t know that there is a clear cut favorite, not that there ever is in baseball. West Sioux shared the War Eagle Conference crown with Spalding so the Falcons have to be considered. Western, Sioux Center, Boyden Hull Rock Valley all have been up and down. Remember, the Nighthawks qualified for the state tournament last year with substate win over Unity. Don’t know much about Hinton or Akron Westfield. Central Lyon might be the darkhorse–pretty good hitting team. Have to get by in-county foe West Lyon in the first round. The district 1 champion will face the district 2 champion for a trip to state. That’s where Unity, Sheldon Estherville Lincoln Central and Emmetsburg reside this year.IfSheldon keeps winning they would play all there games at ORAB Field. Hmmmm.

Class1A starts tomorrow. I’d pick one of the usual suspects….Gehlen, Spalding, Remsen St. Mary’s. You know the drill if you’ve followed baseball in Northwest Iowa over recent seasons. Class 3A starts late this week. Wow, Sergeant Bluff Luton has grown to Class 3A.Had their bid to join the Lakes Conference squashed by a narrow margin a couple weeks ago. Wonder where they’lllook next. Developing……..

Well, I’ve taken enough of your time. 35 days till athletes begin reporting for fall. 46 days till the first men’s soccer game and volleyball match. 53 days till the first women’s soccer game and cross country meet and 56 days tillthe first football game.

Been told I should post pictures of my whitewater rafting experience from vacation……um, no.