Youth organizations tackle another year

Football for players 15-and-younger is underway in Tarpon Springs to St. Petersburg. The organizations, which include cheerleading, are comprised of three conferences.

The Pinellas Youth Football Conference (PYFC) has nine programs, as does the Suncoast Youth Football Conference (SYFC). The Pasco Police Athletic League (PPAL) consists of two sub-conferences, with the East Lake Eagles as the lone Pinellas County participant.

Organizations in the seven-year-old SYFC include the Azalea Bulldogs, Clearwater Jr. Tornadoes, Countryside Jr. Cougars, Dixie Jr. Rebels, Dunedin Jr. Falcons, Northeast Bandits, Pinellas Park Thunderbirds, Seminole Chiefs and Tarpon Springs Spongers.

Each program has a varsity team in the Flyweight, Mighty Mite, Pee Wee and Midget divisions and as many JV squads as it can accommodate.

The defending SYFC champions are Clearwater (Flyweight and Midget), Countryside (Mighty Mite) and Northeast (Pee Wee) on the varsity side and Countryside (Flyweight and Mighty Mite) and Azalea (Pee Wee) in JV.

"There's not a blade of grass at the complex that's not in use," Countryside president Roger Baker said. "This area is booming. We have 20 teams, including eight flag teams. We even had to turn kids away.

"Our strength on the field is similar to last year, probably even a little stronger. Our real strength, however, is in our volunteers -- they keep coming back to help.

"We're fortunate we have well above-average coaching and a lot of consistency," Baker said. "That always will help an organization be more competitive."

Among the nine SYFC programs is a combined Tarpon Springs organization with four varsity and five junior varsity squads.

"We needed to bring unity to our community in Tarpon Springs after the youth football program had been split for a number of years," Spongers president Robin Wikle said.

"I grew up here and wanted, along with others, to see our youth football and cheerleading programs reunite. As a result, we have about 470 youth participating and all wearing the same jerseys and being in the same league. That's good for the kids and good for the community."

Last season, and for the past several years, Tarpon Springs participated in the SYFC and PPAL. Now, with players coordinated in one program, strength and numbers of volunteers have increased, Wikle said.

"Before this year, we even had a wall in our concession area that divided the programs. Recently, we had a wall-breaking ceremony, and it was great.

"What we want to focus on is promoting positive athletic experiences for the kids," Wikle said. "We have raised the bar on discipline and standards and are getting the parents more involved. We're going to have a good season."

SYFC varsity games today include Tarpon Springs at Northeast, Azalea at Countryside, Clearwater at Pinellas Park and Dixie at Dunedin. Seminole has a bye.

The 36-year-old PYFC includes the Childs Park Jr. Rattlers, Gibbs Jr. Gladiators, Greenwood Panthers, Lakewood Jr. Spartans, Largo Jr. Spartans, St. Pete Lil Devils, Silver Raiders, Manatee Mustangs and Palmetto Trojans.

Today's action includes the Silver Raiders at Lakewood, Largo at Gibbs, St. Pete at Palmetto and Manatee at Child's Park. Greenwood is idle. East Lake is in Lutz in its second PPAL match-up.

Games in the 10-week season are on Saturdays. The playoffs are scheduled for November.

SWIMMING: The Clearwater Aquatics Team earned a medal and placed swimmers in finals 14 times in the Speedo Champions Series Sectional in Ft. Lauderdale. Patrick Davis and Jay Carpenter qualified for the finals. Notre Dame-bound Davis won the bronze in the 800-meter freestyle with an 8:34.10 performance. He was fifth in the 1,500 free, 16:41.27. Carpenter placed sixth in the 100-meter backstroke and fourth in the 200. Other CAT members advancing to finals were Erin Hill and Joy Taylor.

In the Junior Olympic Championships in Orlando, Clay Bullock of Clearwater Aquatic tied for the high-point award in the 13-14 division after winning the 200 backstroke, 200 butterfly and 800 freestyle. A time of 8:38.83 in the free event was a record. The club's other first-place finishers were Jose Crescimbeni (11-12, 200 fly), Jie Deng (13-14, 100 and 200 breaststroke), Jonathan Taddeo (10-and-under, 100 breast) and Caitlin Warner (13-14, 800 freestyle). Placing among the top 10 were Daniel Barry, Sarah Barry, Colleen Bauza, Madison Hansen, Kimberly Iaquinto, Whitney Roper, Candace Thornburg, Paige Schmidt, Kariann Stevens, James Taddeo and Kelsie Schmidt.

GYMNASTICS: LaFleur's Gymnastics in Largo was represented in the Level 9 National Championships by Elizabeth Hermann and Whitney Eberhardt. To qualify, Hermann placed second on the vault in a regional meet and fourth all-around. Eberhardt was fifth all-around. At the national, Hermann took fifth on the bars and sixth on vault. LaFleur's Level 8 member Briana Melander qualified for the Florida Team and competed in the eight-state southeast region. Melander was second on the bars to help the squad capture gold.

Wes Aderhold, 16, a Class II competitor from Oldsmar's Gemini School of Gymnastics, was named to the Junior National Team after advancing from a qualifier in Colorado to the U.S. Championships in Cleveland. A top-six finish in the qualifier was followed by a top-seven performance in the U.S. meet. Aderhold, consequently, will receive the opportunity to train in Denver at the Olympic center and the chance to compete internationally.

The Sunburst Power Kids collected five gold medals, two silver and a bronze in the AAU Junior Olympic Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. Capturing gold were Drake Fagan (four medals) and Joseph Rosario. Silver was earned by Krystal Lewis and Rosario, who also got a bronze award. Ten athletes advanced to 22 final rounds. The others who competed were Alia and Raven Goodall, Adrian Rosario, Nick Brunk, Ann Gunter, Sheree Fagan and Kelly Cannon.

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