Athletes in high school are so often measured by results that it’s easy to forget they’re simply students struggling through the teen years.
On an early December Friday night in New Trier’s tradition-rich gym, such an athlete was going through one of the most difficult times of her young life.
Maine South junior Liz Bondi had decided to suit up for the Hawks just a few days after her father, Randi, had died of a heart attack at age 49.
“I wanted to play and I wanted to do it for my dad, because I know he wanted me here,” she said after the game. “He’s still watching.”
During the Central Suburban South matchup, Bondi played as if her father were cheering her on. She led the Hawks with 17 points and came up with four rebounds and three steals.
The only thing missing was a storybook ending. Maine South did not win the game against a team that eventually took third place in the Class AA tournament. New Trier survived Bondi’s inspired play to win 56-54.
“It was hard, because this is the first game [of mine] in any sport that he’s never been to,” said Bondi, also an outstanding tennis player. “He’s gone to everything that I’ve participated in. He never missed a game.”
New Trier coach Teri Rodgers downplayed the victory, saying, “It was nicer to see Liz play well.”
— Alan Sutton.
I visited Victoria Jackson last fall at the University of North Carolina, less than four months after she graduated from Lake Forest. We talked about her success in high school distance running, the pressures of being an elite athlete and her struggles with anorexia nervosa.
She spoke candidly of the illness, which she had battled years earlier as a child. It recurred during her senior year of high school, and Victoria had lost 25 pounds by the time she began her freshman year at North Carolina.
Victoria shared her story with hopes of helping others. Nationwide, nearly 1 million high school students battle eating disorders. I listened to her story with growing admiration of her courage and willingness to overcome the illness.
She sat out most of the cross country season last fall while she recovered with help from the university medical staff. That gave her time to immerse herself in college life, enjoying her classes, the Chapel Hill community and new friendships.
In the final weeks of the cross country season, she rejoined the team and helped the Tar Heels advance to the NCAA championships. But her accomplishments as an athlete are now secondary in importance behind her health and happiness.
“I’m so much more relaxed,” she said. “I’m a kid. I hadn’t been a kid for so long. It’s so great. This is the best place to be a kid again.”
— Marlen Garcia.
The moment you watch Samantha Findlay crush a softball over the fence or handle the glove like a big-leaguer, you wonder which college will be lucky enough to suit her up next season.
Then you see her hit a triple, jump for glee and dance up and down on the base and you remember: She’s only a 15-year-old freshman. She was in tears after leading Lockport to a 2-1 sectional title victory over West Aurora, still just a bundle of raw energy and emotion.
She became the first freshman to earn first-team status on the Tribune’s All-State softball team, and if she continues to develop, we might see her playing for the U.S. Olympic team in 2008. Such vast potential and the absolutely brightest of futures rekindled memories of another such budding superstar four years ago.
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When Eddy Curry burst onto the high school basketball scene, he was a 6-foot-9-inch, 240-pound center at Thornwood who had no idea how good he could become. He was like an overgrown puppy, all happy-go-lucky and dominating the game without really trying.
His growing celebrity and the pressure to justify a burgeoning reputation paralleled one another in the next three years. By the time he was a 6-11, 290-pound senior, he was touted as a high NBA draft lottery pick and was being filmed in school and in his family’s apartment six days a week for a national cable TV documentary.
Stung by critics after a disappointing performance at the St. Louis Shootout against 7-1 Tyson Chandler of Compton, Calif., Curry started extra workouts that paid off with a powerful postseason run. He silenced those critics in leading Thornwood to second place in the Class AA tournament and is now expected to be among the first four picks at the June 27 draft in New York.
Is there such a thing as media overkill for a high school athlete? Weary of covering selfish professional athletes, the media searches for fresh faces and the refreshing angle of high school sports in all its innocence.
I’ll never forget watching Eddy Curry grow up right before my eyes, and I wonder what will happen to Samantha Findlay in these next three years.
Eddy, get ready to bang with the big boys. Samantha, the fun has just begun.
— Bob Sakamoto.
I have been covering the boys state track meet since way back before the turn of the century. It’s one of my favorite events, if not the favorite. I know the route to Charleston as well as anyone and actually enjoy the trip. I know a few stops along the way, like the Old Pro Shop in Tuscola. I know the hours of the outlet mall and where the rest areas are. And Charleston has some interesting restaurants and friendly folks.
The track meet, for me, is the climax of a long high school sports season that starts in July with football preview telephone calls. It rarely disappoints for excitement and drama.
This year’s meet got off to a bad start. John Davis would not be there for insight and friendly conversation. The Glenbrook South coach had died of cancer in February. The meet wasn’t the same without him. Then came the stormy weather.
Still, the athletes battled the cold and rain to put on a great show. Defending Class AA champion York and Thornwood battled for the title, and either would have been a worthy champion.
The teams fought hard for two days before Thornwood won the title 56-51.
There had been some pre-meet woofing going on between the two squads and on Internet message boards. Had it been in another sport, there might have been some trash-talking during the competition. But this was high school track, and the discipline of the individuals showed. Sure, some Internet junkies have complained that York’s 3,200-meter relay team didn’t spend enough time on the awards stand, and others attacked what has become the standard practice of having someone else accept your medal when you still have another event to run. That didn’t bother me.
What most people didn’t see–because they headed for their cars to escape the rain–was the mingling of the York and Thornwood teams after the trophy presentation. There were handshakes and hugs. The only talk was of a mutual respect as the rain soaked O’Brien Stadium. It was a good image to remember as the sports year neared its end.
— Reid Hanley.
If your taste in baseball favors tense, extra-inning pitchers’ duels, it doesn’t get much better than it did May 19, when Kris Honel and Providence edged Chris Tierney and Lockport 1-0.
A large crowd, which included more than 50 major-league scouts, watched at Providence’s field in New Lenox as both 6-foot-5-inch stars fired 90 m.p.h.-plus fastballs while each crafted two-hit performances.
Honel convinced the scouts that he had recovered from an early-season wrist injury and was later drafted by the White Sox, the 16th player chosen in the first round. Tierney was selected by Kansas City in the seventh round.
Honel struck out nine, walked two and did not permit a hit after the fourth inning. Left-hander Tierney struck out 12, walked five (two intentionally) and pitched a no-hitter through the regulation seven innings. He lost in the eighth when Providence scored on two singles and Tierney’s wild pitch.
“I’ve been waiting all season for this game,” Honel said when it was over. “Lockport’s been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 all year. We knew we could play with them. This proves we can.”
As for Tierney, he was dejected with the game’s outcome. But a few weeks later, the dejection had long since departed. On draft day, he realized that there really had been no losing pitcher that May afternoon in New Lenox.
“From what I heard from scouts, that Providence game was a huge plus for me,” Tierney said. “Even though we lost, I turned out a winner in a way.”
A big way.
— Bill Jauss.