Pretty interesting sport — and those who participate in it do so for different reasons. Some enjoy going fast, others love attempting tricks. Some even commute on their board.

Here’s my report on longboarding, and a few images I took out at Pendergast Regional Park on Tuesday:

The coach told me to take a hike before I’d opened my first Gatorade.

In a strange sort of way, that day came to define my high school career. I spent four years on the sidelines, literally — never tried out for basketball again — and was envious,  jealous, of the kids who got to play the game I loved.

At the time, I considered basketball my “best” sport. Every day I played alone on the cracked court outside my childhood bedroom, providing play-by-play and commentary for the birds and whoever or whatever else was around and would listen. I’d play for hours, shouting in glee over game-winning jumpers, made possible by the imaginary game clock I could rewind because I was the referee, too.

All I ever wanted to be was a basketball player, and when that eighth grade coach told me otherwise, I threw in the proverbial towel.

Now, when I think back to my biggest hardship over those four years, that’s it. I didn’t play basketball.

I was incredibly lucky.

There are teenagers in our community who have been through far, far more. Yet they persevere and step up to the same podium, on the same stage, the night of high school graduation. They should be commended, congratulated, because their journeys went beyond jump shots and buzzer-beaters. They overcame  illness, homelessness, neglect, depression and others.

Read about two incredible soon-to-be-graduates, Kandyce Alvear and Cathy Dang, as part of a special feature in Friday’s Bremerton Patriot and Central Kitsap Reporter.

This is a decent move by the school, in part because Lindgren is already familiar with the program. She joined it last season when she accepted the JV job. From my experiences with Lindgren — she often helped Valencia during varsity practices last season — I’ve found her to be high-energy and easy going around the players.

That style is great for connecting with high school athletes because they, too, bubble with energy. It will be interesting to see how the 2010-11 season goes for the Lady Knights, who haven’t finished with a winning record in any of the three seasons I’ve covered them. Yet, the team has a solid nucleas beginning with post player Jalen Carpenter, a sophomore who averages nearly a double-double.

Happy Monday morning, Bremerton sports fans. This just in from basketball coach Casey Lindberg:

Bremerton High School senior basketball player Terrick McGhee signed a letter of intent Monday to play basketball next season at Highline Community College.
The 5-foot-9-inch guard averaged 10.6 points and 1.5 steals per game in 2009, helping the Knights to the Class 3A state tournament for the first time since 1999.
McGhee, who also plays football, is the second Bremerton player to sign with a college for next season. Fellow senior Jarell Flora is headed to Seattle University to play under coach Cameron Dollar.

A special thanks to coach Ty Michaelson for sending such a frightening, yet adorable, photo.

A total of seventeen NWWC wrestlers ages 4 to 14 competed at the tournament. Twelve athletes medaled, placing in the top eight, while five earned individual championships.
Here are the results from the competition:

Lars Michaelson, Bremerton, PeeWee, 39 lbs, Placed 4th
Roiel Sorensen, Seabeck, PeeWee, 43 lbs, Placed 4th
Thor Michaelson, Bremerton, PeeWee, 46 lbs, State Champion
Diego Clemen, Bremerton, PeeWee, 48 lbs, State Champion
Alex Sinclair, Bremerton, Bantam, 45 lbs, State Champion
Josiah Sorensen, Seabeck, Bantam, 50 lbs, Placed 4th
Colby Amick, Belfair, Bantam, 60 lbs, Placed 8th
Jacob Vickers, Bremerton, Bantam, 75+, State Champion
Luis Guerrero-Amaral, Bremerton, Intermediate, 65 lbs
Zach Abrahamson, Silverdale, Intermediate, 70 lbs, Placed 8th
Heaven Kemp-Sinclair, Bremerton, Novice, 60 lbs, Placed 3rd
Chance Erwin, Silverdale, Novice 80 lbs
Jeston Rusnak, Poulsbo, Novice 80 lbs
TJ Vickers, Bremerton, Novice, 85 lbs
Brandon Forster, Port Orchard, Schoolboy, 84 lbs
Brian Burchett, Seabeck, Schoolboy, 98 lbs, Placed 5th
Bobby Reece, Kingston, Schoolboy, 136 lbs, State Champion

This just in from the Kitsap BlueJackets, the county’s collegiate baseball team that each summer calls Gene Lobe Fields at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds home:

Single-game tickets go on sale May 10. The Jackets, who play in the West Coast League, open the season July 4 against the Corvallis Knights. To reserve seats call (360) 479-0123.

Season tickets also are available by calling (360) 479-0123. Tickets can be purchased at The UPS Store in Silverdale or at the TEAM STORE on Wheaton Way in East Bremerton as well.

For additional information contact Bill Anderson, wanderson@kitsapbluejackets.com or (360) 731-3239.

There ain’t no hangover like a shrimp hangover cause a shrimp hangover don’t …
OK, I’ll stop.
Not even raw palms or cat food-smelling fingers can stop this sports reporter from humming a sweet victory tune. Nope, not on this Monday, not with about fresh 40 shrimp in my belly and 100 more waiting at home, where they’ll be gobbled and slurped and chewed and savored until the cocktail sauce stops flowing.
The featured sports story in last week’s print versions of the Central Kitsap Reporter and Bremerton Patriot previewed the 2010 jumbo spot shrimp season, which began Saturday and will continue Wednesday and May 8 and 12.
Curious, and hungry, following a few days of research and writing, I trudged into a Wal-Mart store post-work Friday and purchased my shellfish license. It was put to use the next morning, me piling into a 21-foot Parker-model boat for day one of the shrimp season.
Here’s a report:
We were on the water with our traps baited — a few hundred yards offshore from Fay Bainbridge State Park on Bainbridge Island — just after 7 a.m., skies overcast, coffee steaming, stomachs (at least one) rumbling from the previous night’s escapades and the anticipated feast ahead.
Outfitted with two 36-can boxes of the finest cat food Friskies has to offer, as well as two shrimp traps, nearly 1,000 ft. of rope and five yellow buoys, optimism and equipment were aboard and aplenty.
In 24 years of predominately fruitless fishing, I’ve learned to appreciate pre-trip preparations — perusing sporting good stores for the hippest apparel, checking the weather forecast incessantly, trying to decide between ham or turkey for lunch but inevitably slabbing together two sandwiches. There are no guarantees on the seas, so you gotta enjoy yourself pre-departure.
There were at least 50 boats, probably more, bobbing along the half-mile-or-so stretch of water we fished. Among of the cast were 12-foot aluminum rigs and cabin cruisers pushing 40 feet and more, boats of all sizes. There were boats full of beer-guzzling men, fathers and husbands who I’m guessing would have stayed out longer had the season allowed — all traps had to be out of the water by 3 p.m. — and there were father-son duos, solo anglers, rookies and wily vets.
People were friendly and talkative, waving to their fellow anglers. We were all out there for the fresh catch.
Aboard the Parker the first two hour-long soaks yielded next to nothing. We loaded both traps with mashed-up cat food and let them sit on the bottom of the ocean floor— in 200 to 300 feet of water — for 60 minutes per round. Two hours, four hauls and a pair of wet gloves later, five shrimp flopped around in our deep cooler. Five shrimp. Five. Enough to count on one measly hand. Not nearly enough to cover the bottom of our icebox.
Some guy named Larry, a first-timer who prior to dropping his one and only trap had asked for advice and tips, reported with a grin that his first two hauls yielded 118 shrimp. Great. Good for you, Larry. Your 20-something son is doing all the heavy lifting, the hauling, for you.
All fishermen have a burning desire to know how their counterparts are faring:
“Any luck over there, Jimbo?!”
“Yeah, brother, we can’t keep them off our line! Knockin’ em dead! How bout you?”
“Nah, nothing yet, but we’re just getting started.”
“You’ll get ‘em, don’t worry!”
The conversation always ends with all parties smiling, a mutual, “Good luck!” But as soon as the guy with all the fish, or shrimp, is out of range, the empty-handers begin to grumble. Over and over, they question if what they’re doing is correct. If the bait is stale. If they are in the right spot.  If the tide is affecting the bait scent. If there is a hole in the trap.
This was the case aboard the Parker — until haul number three, a jackpot.
We let the traps soak an extra 15 minutes, dropped them closer to shore and fastened more lead inside them to prevent them from drifting along the bottom. Bingo. 88 shrimp. Get the cooker up to a boil, baby, because we were in business.
All 88 heads were immediately ripped off — decapitating the shrimp and putting them on ice keeps them the most fresh — and our traps went back in.
That 88-critter haul was the best of the day, and we chipped away the rest of the afternoon, meeting our limit of 80 shrimp per licensed angler by about 1:30 p.m. Larry and his son “limited” out sometime around noon, I think, but that didn’t matter.
Not with our cooler full.
Not with a guaranteed feast, and a shrimp hangover, waiting.

Check out the boys soccer sub-district and district brackets here.

And here are a few images of the Knights, courtesy of former girls soccer coach Lance McCoy:

The letters are big and bold, and as you can see, plastered directly above one of the main entrances. Olwell said the floor inside will be painted this summer with Ken Wills’ name. Should look pretty sharp when the project is finished.

Although there is no disputing these two coaches should be recognized, I wonder how much the gym name means to the students? How much do they know about these two coaches? Perhaps all coaches at Bremerton, from here on out, should make it a point to educate their players on who these men were and what they did for the school, their athletes and the city.

Unless the students understand the history of Bremerton basketball, the new gym name will be, well, just a name.