Links
Archives
My thoughts, my life, my desires...
1.06.2005
KSD Kentucky Classic this weekend
KSD is playing against West PA and ...Ridor's home state, Virginia. Here's the story...
Thursday January 6, 2005
Kentucky Classic this weekend
By MIKE MARSEE Staff Writer
Few basketball games mean more at Kentucky School for the Deaf than those in the Kentucky Classic. That's why the Colonels are willing to work a little harder to make sure it's a success.
The KSD boys will play four games and the girls will play three games in two days this weekend in a schedule that was revised to account for a last-minute cancellation and accommodate the two schools that are still coming.
The Kentucky Classic, in its 15th year, is important to the KSD coaches and players both as a basketball tournament and a social event. Athletic director Paul Smiley said it is annually the biggest event on the home schedule and ranks second in significance only to the championships the Colonels play for in the Mason-Dixon Tournaments.
"It is our highlight, our most important event," Smiley said. "Other than the Mason-Dixon, it's the most important weekend for our kids and we try to show our visitors a first-class tournament."
One of the three visiting schools booked for the event, Georgia School for the Deaf, called Smiley on Monday to cancel after state education administrators wouldn't allow them to travel.
Smiley said he tried to find another team to take GSD's place, but none could come on such short notice.
"I called 14 schools for the deaf," he said. "You name the state, I called them."
Failing that, he rewrote the schedule to make sure the other two teams, Virginia and Western Pennsylvania schools for the deaf, got the three games they were promised.
Four games for KSD boys
KSD's boys will play four games, two each against both visiting teams. Coach Kevin Hamilton said it won't be easy, but he said it will help prepare the Colonels for the Mason-Dixon later this month.
"Sometimes we play five games in two days (at the Mason-Dixon), and this tournament will really help prepare us for that," Hamilton said. "It will help us with our stamina and endurance."
Girls coach Scott Johnson wasn't ready to put his team through that.
His team will play WPSD twice, but Danville's junior varsity team has stepped in to play one of the games against VSD.
KSD is just coming off a three-week holiday layoff, but both teams will tune up with JV games tonight against Berea.
"We've been working a lot on fundamentals, re-learning after the Christmas break, and we ran them a little more this week than we normally do because they were probably sitting around a lot at home," Johnson said.
There will be 10 games at Thomas Hall, and all-tournament teams will be named for the boys and girls basketball players and cheerleaders. But Smiley said what happens off the court often means just as much to the teen-agers.
Lot of interaction among the schools
There is plenty of time built into the schedule for interaction between the teams, and Hamilton said that means just as much to the players and cheerleaders as the games.
"It's really important," Hamilton said. "Usually when we go places they can't talk to anybody in their environment, but here everybody talks to everybody.
"They're excited to meet some people and make some new friends."
The KSD boys will be trying to improve on their 2-2 record and put themselves in position to make a run in the Mason-Dixon.
"As we get close to the Mason-Dixon Tournament, that's their goal, but my goal is to have them redirect and think about this week and what they need to do to get better," Hamilton said.
Smiley said he's very happy with the work of Hamilton, Johnson and cheerleading coach Lorinda Cagle - all of whom are in their first year with their squads.
"They're all doing a wonderful job with the kids," Smiley said.Copyright The Advocate-Messenger 2004
Thursday January 6, 2005
Kentucky Classic this weekend
By MIKE MARSEE Staff Writer
Few basketball games mean more at Kentucky School for the Deaf than those in the Kentucky Classic. That's why the Colonels are willing to work a little harder to make sure it's a success.
The KSD boys will play four games and the girls will play three games in two days this weekend in a schedule that was revised to account for a last-minute cancellation and accommodate the two schools that are still coming.
The Kentucky Classic, in its 15th year, is important to the KSD coaches and players both as a basketball tournament and a social event. Athletic director Paul Smiley said it is annually the biggest event on the home schedule and ranks second in significance only to the championships the Colonels play for in the Mason-Dixon Tournaments.
"It is our highlight, our most important event," Smiley said. "Other than the Mason-Dixon, it's the most important weekend for our kids and we try to show our visitors a first-class tournament."
One of the three visiting schools booked for the event, Georgia School for the Deaf, called Smiley on Monday to cancel after state education administrators wouldn't allow them to travel.
Smiley said he tried to find another team to take GSD's place, but none could come on such short notice.
"I called 14 schools for the deaf," he said. "You name the state, I called them."
Failing that, he rewrote the schedule to make sure the other two teams, Virginia and Western Pennsylvania schools for the deaf, got the three games they were promised.
Four games for KSD boys
KSD's boys will play four games, two each against both visiting teams. Coach Kevin Hamilton said it won't be easy, but he said it will help prepare the Colonels for the Mason-Dixon later this month.
"Sometimes we play five games in two days (at the Mason-Dixon), and this tournament will really help prepare us for that," Hamilton said. "It will help us with our stamina and endurance."
Girls coach Scott Johnson wasn't ready to put his team through that.
His team will play WPSD twice, but Danville's junior varsity team has stepped in to play one of the games against VSD.
KSD is just coming off a three-week holiday layoff, but both teams will tune up with JV games tonight against Berea.
"We've been working a lot on fundamentals, re-learning after the Christmas break, and we ran them a little more this week than we normally do because they were probably sitting around a lot at home," Johnson said.
There will be 10 games at Thomas Hall, and all-tournament teams will be named for the boys and girls basketball players and cheerleaders. But Smiley said what happens off the court often means just as much to the teen-agers.
Lot of interaction among the schools
There is plenty of time built into the schedule for interaction between the teams, and Hamilton said that means just as much to the players and cheerleaders as the games.
"It's really important," Hamilton said. "Usually when we go places they can't talk to anybody in their environment, but here everybody talks to everybody.
"They're excited to meet some people and make some new friends."
The KSD boys will be trying to improve on their 2-2 record and put themselves in position to make a run in the Mason-Dixon.
"As we get close to the Mason-Dixon Tournament, that's their goal, but my goal is to have them redirect and think about this week and what they need to do to get better," Hamilton said.
Smiley said he's very happy with the work of Hamilton, Johnson and cheerleading coach Lorinda Cagle - all of whom are in their first year with their squads.
"They're all doing a wonderful job with the kids," Smiley said.Copyright The Advocate-Messenger 2004
