Davies hires four head coaches for next fall
Fargo Davies on Friday announced the hiring of four head coaches for fall activities.
Current Fargo South girls cross country and girls track and field Lisa Svaleson will coach girls cross country, Jason Holland will coach boys cross country, Nick Christianson will coach boys soccer and Oliver Summers boys tennis.
Holland has been an assistant boys coach at South for the last three years. Christianson has been a boys and girls soccer assistant at South and Shanley. Summers is the Head Tennis Professional at Courts Plus Fitness in Fargo.
Head coaches for football, volleyball, girls golf and girls swimming will likely come before Christmas, according to Fargo Public School Activities director Ed Lockwood.
Svaleson is the most interesting of the new Davies hires. She has helped build South's program into a consistent winner, mentoring the likes of Laura Roesler and Tarin Lachowitzer in recent years.
Summers has helped train many of Fargo's young players throughout the years, and should be a good addition to the Davies staff. I don't know much about Holland and Christianson, but it appears they have good backgrounds and have been waiting for their opportunity to advance from assistant to head coach.
What does everyone think of the hires?
Posted by: Hotzler on 12/11/2009 at 3:56 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tags: sports fargo davies eagles coach
Class B volleyball celebration rankles reporter
Bismarck Tribune sports reporter and columnist Steve Thomas recently wrote a column about the post-match celebration of Kenmare fans following their state-championship win at last weekend's North Dakota Class B state volleyball championship in Minot. You can read it here.
In the column, Thomas calls the behavior of the spectators "barbaric."
He writes: "Since when does "celebrating" require fans to rush the court and become part of the action?
"Please, keep your seat or stand in the aisles while the post-game ceremonies drag unceasingly on. Then, at the appropriate time, hug your players to pieces. But don't, using victory as your excuse, commandeer a public facility and bring all activity to a halt while you - har de har - "express your joy." If you didn't play on the floor, you have no business celebrating on the floor."
The problem for Thomas was that he felt spectators -- NOT KENMARE PLAYERS -- rushed the court, refused to leave in a timely manner and held up the tournament. The Class A title game was scheduled to get underway at 8 p.m., but by the time the Class B game was finished and the court had been cleared it was well after 8 p.m.
I was also at the tournament, and covered the Class B title game between Kenmare and Hazen. I witnessed the full rolls of toilet paper dive bomb the floor, fans rushing the court and parents lingering to take photos and chat with players.
It appears from the story's comment section that Thomas is being taken to task for his stance on the celebration.
Some members of the Honkers team also seem to have a major issue with the column, and are taking it as a personal slight. Some comments said the column ruined their season.
I think the point of column may have been missed here.
Never did he write that Kenmare players, fans and family didn't have the right to celebrate.
His point was that he felt the celebration could have happened to the side of the court, where photos, hugs and chatting can occur without disrupting the rest of the tournament's schedule.
As reporters, we must adhere to deadlines. And the longer the on-court celebration and clean-up lasted, the more crucial time ticked off the clock for Thomas to get his Class A game story in for the next day's paper.
I think that is where he was coming from. Was the celebration barbarism? No. But we also must remember that columns, be they news or sports, are the opinions of the writer. And his thoughts are hardly grounds to do him physical harm or cause him to be fired, as some comments have suggested.
Read the column and tell me what you think. Was Thomas way off base? Was he too hard on the Kenmare spectators? Do these types of celebration have a place in prep sports? Was he right on?
Posted by: Hotzler on 11/25/2009 at 4:15 PM | Comments (6) | Permalink
Tags: sports nd state volleyball tournament volleyball
State volleyball (Day 2)
The North Dakota state volleyball tournaments get underway again today.
Class A bracket:
Semifinals
Bismarck Century vs. Fargo South, 6 p.m.
Grand Forks Red River vs. Fargo North, 8 p.m.
Century is the defending champ. North is the only lower seed to win in the first round.
Consolation round
Devils Lake vs. Williston, noon
Dickinson vs. Bismarck, 2 p.m.
Class B bracket:
Semifinals
Kenmare vs. Linton-HMB, 6 p.m.
Hazen vs. Stanley, 8 p.m.
Linton-HMB was dominant in the first round. Stanley took out previously unbeaten Harvey.
Consolation round
Wyndmere-Lidgerwood vs. Flasher, noon
Park River/Fordville-Lankin vs. Harvey, 2 p.m.
Posted by: Hotzler on 11/20/2009 at 9:35 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: sports nd state volleyball tournament
State volleyball time
The North Dakota state volleyball tournament begins Thursday afternoon. The Class A and Class B tournaments run at the same time.
The Class A bracket:
Defending champ Bismarck Century takes on Devils Lake at noon
Fargo South plays Williston at 2 p.m.
Grand Forks Red River plays Dickinson at 6 p.m.
Bismarck takes on Fargo North at 8 p.m.
The Class B bracket:
Wyndmere plays Kenmare at noon
Linton/HMB takes on Flasher at 2 p.m.
Park River/Fordville-Lankin plays Hazen at 6 p.m.
Harvey squares off against Stanley at 8 p.m.
Bismarck Century would have to be considered the favorite in Class A. However, many think the tournament is wide open this year.
Class B is should also be anyone's game as last year's champion Langdon did not advance to state.
Posted by: Hotzler on 11/18/2009 at 11:22 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: nd state volleyball
Dakota Bowl Live: Class 2A title game
Welcome to the North Dakota Class 2A title game live blog. Fargo Shanley (9-2) is looking for its first state title since 1983 against Devils Lake (10-1).
I'll do my best to provide commentary and highlights throughout the game. I'll answer any questions that come my way, so keep them coming.
We'll start the blog shortly before the game's 1 p.m. start time to give us time to set up the matchup.
Reminder: Forum writer Kevin Schnepf is covering the 3A title game between Fargo South and Bismarck, and he will provide updates on inforum.com.
Enjoy.
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