Local Sports

Springside fieldhouse on the rise
by TOM UTESCHER
The athletic fieldhouse that has long been on the drawing board at Springside School is rapidly taking shape, and when students return to class next month, they’ll see that a great deal of progress has been made over the summer.

Almost all of the exterior walls are up and much of the roof has been installed on the new 52,000-square-foot facility, which lies directly behind the existing school buildings and will be connected to them by an enclosed second-story pedestrian bridge. By mid-September, the building should be closed up for the start of finishing work on the interior, and it will be ready for use by early February of 2006.

Occupying the largest portion of the building will be a capacious sports hall accommodating three full-sized basketball courts, with divider curtains that can be used to configure the space in many ways. Roll-out bleachers add to the versatility of the arena.

Summer hoopsters excel in AAU ball
by TOM UTESCHER
For several players at area schools, a successful summer basketball season was capped off with a trip to Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national tournaments at different points around the country.

Caroline Doty, who’ll start her sophomore year at Germantown Academy next month, participated in the Under-15 tournament in Clarksville, Tenn., while her schoolmate Jesse Carey, a freshman, traveled to Roanoke, Va. for the Under-14 championships. Springside School was represented at the Under-13 tournament in Dayton, Ohio by Kristen Fuery, an eighth grader.

Doty’s team, from the Fort Washington-based Fencor AAU organization, continued a remarkable run, winning its third national championship in four years. In their “down” year, 2003, the squad merely finished second in the country after falling to the Fairfax (Va.) Stars, the team they defeated in this year’s final.

Arthur Ashe youth tennis program honors participants
‘Parade of Playgrounds’ will mark closing ceremony
The closing ceremony for nearly 1,000 boys and girls from Philadelphia, Camden and Norristown who participated in Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education’s 36th annual National Junior Tennis League Summer Program at 63 area recreation sites will be held on Thursday, Aug. 11 at 10 a.m. at the Awbury Recreation Center’s Tennis Stadium, 6101 Ardleigh St. in East Germantown.

Scott Tharp, AAYTE Executive Director, said numerous local and state governmental officials are expected to participate, including Mayor Street, State Rep. Dwight Evans. City Councilman Michael Nutter, City Recreation Commissioner Victor Richard and representatives of the School District of Philadelphia.

In addition to the Parade of Playgrounds, with each of the 63 facilities displaying banners they designed and made during the summer session, there will be the presentation of awards for tennis accomplishments (the Mayor’s Trophy for NJTL City Team Champions and the Stern Cup for individual championships), awards for winners of the Arthur Ashe National Essay Contest, and the awarding of over $12,000 in academic scholarships to six of the program’s participants.