JANUARY 15, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW BIRCHENOUGH
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — “Wait ’til next year,” has long been the rallying cry for teams seeking a sign of hope by looking ahead to the future. The Ridgewood High School girls basketball team has taken a reverse approach, drawing its hope by forgetting the past.
Ridgewood senior Jules Rosen (24) and the Maroons have put last year’s disappointing girls basketball season behind them during their 7-2 start.
“We said ‘Last year, put it out of our minds. New team, new year’,” RHS senior captain Katie Bourque said after practice Monday. “We didn’t want our record from last year influencing us.”
The Maroons have shaken off any of the negative feelings from a 5-15 campaign derailed by injuries and inexperience and, at 7-2, are enjoying their best start to a season in more than a decade.
“Starting off high definitely sets the bar and shows each and every one of us what we’re capable of,” said senior guard Jules Rosen, another captain, who missed much of 2014-15 with an ankle injury.
A 56-26 win over Hackensack on Tuesday extended Ridgewood’s winning streak to five heading into Thursday night’s matchup at Northern Valley/Old Tappan (after press deadline). The impressive run also helped the team climb to No. 10 in the most recent Top 25 by The Record.
DECEMBER 28, 2015, 6:23 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015, 6:44 PM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The vacant, cavernous Kmart store in Paramus has been carpeted with artificial turf and been given a new, if temporary, lease on life as an indoor practice facility for North Jersey sports teams.
On Monday morning, the 91,000-square-foot, hangar-like building, which used to be crowded with store shelves and shoppers, rang with the shouts of two dozen youngsters kicking soccer balls and running drills.
The unusual arrangement meets two separate goals: a Bergen County entrepreneur’s need for a location with enough floor and ceiling space to accommodate several practice fields; and the landlord’s need for a short-term tenant until development plans for the shopping center are finalized.
Scott Vandersnow of Upper Saddle River this month opened the building as The Arena, an indoor training facility, and has begun renting the space out to youth sports teams. This week, the building is being used for youth soccer and lacrosse camps that Vandersnow is offering for parents who want their kids to stay active during the winter break.
Vandersnow, 41, grew up in Washington Township, has a background in finance and currently works in commercial real estate lending. He is also a soccer dad who has logged many hours watching or running practices for his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. He said he saw the need for more practice space in Bergen County and was looking for locations when he spotted the Kmart building.
The Kmart, which was built in 1979, closed a year ago after its lease expired. The building is in a strip shopping center owned by the Stop & Shop supermarket chain, and that also houses a Stop & Shop store.
DECEMBER 18, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GREG TARTAGLIA
SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Bergen County Coaches Association (BCCA) and Bergen County Women Coaches Association (BCWCA) held their fall sports awards banquets at the Fiesta in Wood-Ridge earlier this week.
Numerous Ridgewood High School athletes and coaches were honored for being named to an All-County first team or with other special awards.
Here is a look at the Maroons who were recognized:
Tuesday: BCWCA dinner
Ridgewood was named as the Large Schools Team of the Year for girls cross-country after winning the Bergen County Group B and Bergen Meet of Champions (BMOC) titles, both at Darlington Park. The Maroons honored for being on the All-Bergen first team were junior Olympia Martin and senior Sam Halvorsen, who finished 2-3 at the BMOC and 1-2 at the North 1, Group 4 sectional.
In addition, the State Group 4 race winner Martin was tabbed as one of 10 finalists for The Record Fall Athlete of the Season award, which went to Northern Valley/Old Tappan volleyball player Natalie Alechko.
Three Ridgewood girls were recognized for being chosen to the All-County gymnastics first team: junior Mika Tamura and freshmen Katherine Muccio and Victoria Purritano, all of whom scored over 36 all-around this season.
DECEMBER 7, 2015, 12:01 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015, 12:46 AM
BY GREGORY SCHUTTA
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
EDISON – It was billed as a referendum on the state of public versus non-public schools in New Jersey high school sports.
And in little more than 90 minutes Monday, the membership of the state athletics governing body spoke, changing the athletic landscape as we know it – at least for the time being.
In a landmark vote, the members of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association approved historic proposals separating public and non-public schools in football and splitting non-public wrestlers into their own districts and region.
“I think a lot of people are realizing how huge the disparity has grown,” said Denis Nelson, athletic director at River Dell. “If there were an ability for level competition, we wouldn’t be having these problems.”
In one of the most highly attended NJSIAA membership meetings in recent history, officials from 345 of the association’s 433 member schools cast votes and approved the separation proposals by nearly identical margins.
The football proposal, which passed 215-128 with two abstentions, would remove all non-public schools from their current conference for football only and force them to create a statewide conference of their own, with full schedules.
It’s the third time in the past decade that some type of football separation proposal has reached the membership of the NJSIAA – but the first time one was approved.
Battle over Northern Highlands Regional district’s field lights heading to court
NOVEMBER 15, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2015, 9:59 AM
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
ALLENDALE — The Northern Highlands Regional High School Board of Education is going to court to defend the new electric-powered light trailers on its athletic fields.
Three neighboring residents are suing the school district, claiming it’s unlawfully using the mobile trailers with lights up to 72 feet tall in defiance of state and local statutes and past court rulings.
On Thursday, the school board, the Northern Highlands Regional High School Sports Association and the Allendale Planning Board and Board of Adjustment filed a civil action in Superior Court in Hackensack asking a judge to dismiss the neighbors’ lawsuit and declare that the school’s use of the lights is legal.
The school has been using mobile, diesel-powered light trailers ever since the late 1990s, after the Planning Board denied the sports association’s application to build permanent 70-foot-tall light towers with a concrete foundation.
The board is arguing that mobile light trailers don’t require any kind of zoning variance or site-plan approval because they don’t fall under state and local definitions of “structure,” “fixture” or “development.”
The school says that it’s used the new electric-powered light trailers about 30 times since they were delivered in September, and that they’re less noisy and smelly than the previously rented diesel-powered trailers.
“As a result, hundreds of children have been able to safely use the turf field at Northern Highlands after dark,” reads the counterclaim filed Thursday.
The school “shall continue to utilize mobile light trailers in connection with its lawful lighting of the athletic fields on the property,” reads the counterclaim, which seeks compensatory, consequential and punitive damages.
In two counts of the neighbors’ eight-count lawsuit filed in October, they claim the new lights will be a public nuisance harming neighbors and that the Board of Education will be liable for damages.
“The development will give rise to a continual invasion of adjoining property by reason of light trespass and light and noise pollution,” reads the lawsuit, which also claims the taller lights will lead to lowered property values and a worse quality of life.
NOVEMBER 6, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GREG TARTAGLIA
SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
WAYNE — Zack Feagles and Wylie Sherman have learned that things can get better over time.
And they can get a lot better with a win in overtime.
Feagles and Sherman made the biggest offensive and defensive plays, respectively, in the extra session of Ridgewood High School’s 20-14 football victory at Passaic County Tech last Friday.
By winning that clash of the top two teams in the North 1, Group 5 sectional power points, RHS vaulted over the Bulldogs to claim the No. 1 seed in the playoff bracket. Both teams have reached the eight-game qualifying cutoff at 6-2 and have 130 and 121 power points, respectively.
With home-field advantage locked up for the first two rounds of the state tournament, Ridgewood enters tonight’s game at Passaic (1-6) looking to stay healthy and, of course, keep the good vibes going.
“This is just a dream come true for this group of kids,” Maroon head coach Chuck Johnson said. “These seniors, when they were in eighth grade, they won one game… and now, they’re the No. 1 seed.”
OCTOBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GREG TARTAGLIA
SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — Mika Tamura was waiting to be surprised, and was she ever.
The Ridgewood High School junior knew she had put together a strong performance at last Friday’s Bergen County gymnastics championships. Still, she wanted to hear the official announcement of all-around scores from meet director Trisha Piotrowski.
“In third place, with a score of 37.225, from Ridgewood…”
Tamura set a career high. By a lot. And she wasn’t the only one.
Ramapo’s Emma Johnson (meet-record 38.7) and Samantha Marion (38.025) did the same to finish 1-2. Their school set a meet record by scoring 113.175 to top Ridgewood for the title, despite the fact that the Maroons (111.375) posted their highest total in nine years.
The top four teams — which also included Pascack Regional and Holy Angels — combined to tally 437.375 points, obliterating the previous mark for top-four aggregate (426.45) set in 2006.
RHS Boys’ and Girls Soccer Teams are 2014-15 NSCAA High School Team Academic Award Recipients
October 28,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The RHS Boys’ and Girls’ varsity soccer teams were recognized by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) with the 2014-15 High School Team Academic Award.
To qualify for this award, the team must have a minimum grade point average of 3.25 for the entire academic year. The team GPA is determined by adding every player’s GPA, then dividing by the number of players.
The Maroons soccer teams were among 398 teams nationwide to be recognized for exemplary performance in the classroom as a team during the 2014-15 academic year. RHS is among 51 schools receiving honors for both their boys’ and girls’ teams. The RHS girl’s soccer team has been recognized 16 times for this achievement.
OCTOBER 23, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY JIM MCCONVILLE
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — All week leading up to last Friday’s game with Paramus, the Ridgewood High School football team was reminded of a year ago, when it came into that same game unbeaten and promptly got trounced.
That was the beginning of a season-ending, five-game losing streak that left a bitter taste in the mouths of the returning players.
The message got through. Thanks to a strong effort from the defense and an advantageous offense, the Maroons defeated the Spartans, 17-7, to improve to 5-1 and pretty much secure a spot in the North 1, Group 5 state playoffs.
Entering tonight’s game with Hackensack, Ridgewood sits atop the sectional power point standings, making the game with the Comets a huge opportunity.
“This was a quality win, no doubt,” RHS head coach Chuck Johnson said of the Paramus victory, “but it is only one game. And we have to be prepared to play better if we’re going to win going forward.”
A victory over Hackensack (3-2) might be enough to secure home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It also would be another step in the Ridgewood redemption tour, given that the team squandered an excellent first-half performance in last season’s meeting, and a second-half letdown resulted in a 20-17 loss
Sportsmanship or being a good sport
October 22,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
“Yogi’s core beliefs – beliefs that grew out of a time when we weren’t reading about showboating, pampered athletes, abusive, unethical coaches, and overzealous, over-indulgent parents – so that the benefits of amateur sports can be maximized. We can’t change today’s culture, its pace too fast, its reach too global. However, we can and must change the culture of sports, at least on the amateur level. To do so will require cooperation among athletes, coaches, and parents. This book, divided into three sections, is filled with specific suggestions for each part of the sports triumvirate to get us back on track. It is not meant to be read selectively by section, but rather in total, so that everyone has the same information. For too long athletes, coaches, and parents have been spoken to, or targeted in writing, as separate entities. My goal is to get them on the same page, literally. By pointing out common threads running through their respective experiences, my hope is that everyone will have a better understanding of the necessary alliances that need to be formed. It strikes me that relationships among the three parties have become increasingly adversarial, so much so that many coaches, good ones, are walking away from the profession they once cherished because they don’t feel it’s worth the hassle. Playing time, once regarded as something to be earned, has come to be regarded as an entitlement, and the battle lines have been drawn. We’ve lost the sense that we’re all in this together. The outcome has become much more important than the process. External forces-the skyrocketing cost of a college education, the saturation of sports on TV, sports talk radio and internet blogs, and social media – have eroded the once highly respected relationship between an athlete, his/her coach, and his/her parents. That distresses Yogi, and it distresses me as well. That’s why I wrote this book.” John McCarthy
Ridgewood Nj, Last night Professor John McCarthy spoke to the Community Relations Advisory Board of Ridgewood and Glen Rock providing some specific strategies to get athletes, coaches and parents on the same page. Referring to the three entities of sports as co-dependent parties, McCarthy uses Yogi Berra’s career and his own life experiences to illustrate how sports done the right way can enhance everyone’s life.
John McCarthy is an adjunct Professor at Montclair State teaching, “Coaching Principles and Problems,” in addition to, “Sports Psychology,” and “Social Problems in Sports.” McCarthy is a former two-sport, first team, nonpublic All-State athlete. He is co-founder of the Institute for Coaching.
After many recent issues involving coaches and parents Ridgewood is in the process of rewriting the Athletic Fields and Recreational Facilities Use Policy . This includes an attempt to create a standardized grievance policy for all sports.
Current (non updated)Athletic Fields and Recreational Facilities Use Policy
This policy has been developed by the Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Board with input from the Ridgewood Sports Council and its members, the Parks and Recreation Department staff, Ridgewood High School (RHS) Athletic Director, RHS Coaches Association and its members, Board of Education staff, Ridgewood Community School (RCS) staff, additional regular field and facility users and the public.
This policy has been adopted by the Village Council and by the Board of Education as a uniform policy governing use and users of municipal and school recreational facilities. This policy is subject to ordinances of the Village of Ridgewood, Policies and Procedures of the Board of Education (in particular 3515.2 and 3515.3) and the laws of the State of New Jersey.
The policy is a comprehensive re-evaluation and re-statement of a policy originally adopted in the early 1980’s and modified in part over the years. Current demand for use and availability of programs has more than doubled.
Athletic Fields and Recreational Facilities Use Policy
OCTOBER 21, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015, 3:03 PM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood’s Open Space Committee will be undertaking a survey to help prepare an update for its Open Space Plan.
The idea behind the survey is to reach a sample of Ridgewood residents and find out how they use the village’s fields and recreational areas as well as what they would like to see in the future.
Ralph Currey, the chair of the committee, said members are in the planning stages of updating its Open Space and Recreation Plan, which was last updated in 2010. Jim Bostler, a member of the Open Space Committee, said the report would hopefully be updated by the spring of 2016.
One of the necessary elements of the plan as required by New Jersey’s Green Acres program is to perform what is known as a “needs analysis,” which is defined as an examination of the adequacy of the current open space and recreational systems to satisfy present and future needs.
Currey said past open space reports had relied on national and state guidelines for determining the amount of open and recreational space the village should have, based on a few factors such as population and size.
State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) will introduce a bill this fall that aims to penalize athletes who repeat a grade in middle school to gain athletic advantage in high school, NJ Advance Media has learned. Matthew Stanmyre, NJ.com Read more
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police report on Sunday September 27, 2015, two incidents of criminal mischief were reported in the area Meadowbrook Avenue and the Public Service & Electric & gas right of way.
Both victims had parked their cars in the area while attending soccer games. While the vehicles were parked someone had scratched their exterior surfaces causing damage to the paint as well as spraying an unidentified liquid inside of them.
On Wednesday September 30, 2015, an employee of the Ridgewood Board of Education reported vandalism at the Steven’s Athletic Field. Unidentified actor/actors had intentionally burned the synthetic turf playing surface in several areas.
Both matters are under investigation by the detective bureau, any witness to the incidents are asked to contact the bureau at (201)251-4537.
Ridgewood NJ , Ridgewood PD Patrol Officer Steven Shortway and Ridgewood High School Athletic Director Keith Cook examine damage to an athletic field at Ridgewood High School caused by vandals who burned two (2) separate large images of male genitalia into the artificial turf. No exact dollar estimate of the damage was immediately available, but reports are that it could cost several thousand dollars to repair.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Print
Removing trees from Schedler site would be wrong
To the Editor:
A matching grant application from the Village of Ridgewood for the development of the Schedler property was sent to the Bergen County Division of Open Space on Sept. 1. Once again, two council members were not informed of it (seemingly a pattern on many issues) and no resolution had been presented for council approval prior to the submission of the application.
This became evident at the Sept. 9 council meeting.
In addition, I understood that the $100,000 that was referenced in the grant under funding sources was from the Ridgewood Baseball Association. After reviewing the application online, I see it actually comes from municipal capital funds. Other questionable statements appear in the document as well.
Regardless of one’s opinion on the 90-foot baseball diamond proposed at the Schedler property, the process has been greatly flawed. Not a single comment both written and stated in public expressing concerns about the project have been included or addressed in the municipal plans for development of said property.
Particularly troubling is the pending removal of 4 acres of trees and woods that protect the property from its dangerously close proximity to Route 17. It appears that village employees will do the work. We have a reduced staff (from a high of nine employees down to three). The village is backlogged on shade tree maintenance and/or removal where it is clearly needed for safety reasons. Many of the Schedler trees are mature healthy trees.
There is also concern that when fully vetted, the 90-foot diamond may not be viable at that location. The trees may be removed in vain.
If you take Route 17 North and turn right onto West Saddle River Road and visit the Schedler property, which is immediately on the left, you will understand how devastating the loss of those trees will be to the neighborhood and to us all. The proposed field will be open to all Bergen County teams as the property was purchased with Bergen County grants. The children playing there will be eighth grade and older.
Schedler advocates wanted a smaller field incorporated into the park development plan along with the preservation of the Zabriskie house.
The removal of the trees is bad for the neighborhood, for Ridgewood and for our environment. I am appalled that the process has been so arbitrary and selective and, in my opinion, morally wrong.
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