Kansan Summer Weekly
Wednesday, July 29, 1987
9
Sports
Thousands of sports campers hit KU in summer
By ROB KNAPP
Special to the Kansan
The bleachers at the south end of Allen Field House were wall-to-wall youngsters.
Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington paced the floor below them, giving a pre-practice chalk talk. Most of the kids gave Washington the same earnest attention she had gotten from her team during the season. Later, when a few of Washington's players demonstrated a defense, the crowd clapped enthusiastically for each good play.
These are campers, just some of the thousands that descend on Lawrence each summer. They come not with backpacks and pup tents but
with sneakers and tennis rackets and pom poms. Poison ivy medicine gives way to Gatorade, and "roughing it" means a loud night in Oliver Hall.
The KU summer sports camps are thriving as part of a nationwide boom. The youngsters that attend the basketball, tennis, golf and cheerleading camps in Lawrence are part of an estimated 4 million campers attending about 4,000 camps.
A baseball camp and softball clinics are usually operated by KU coaches as well, but coaching teams from other colleges can camp plans for at least this summer.
The camps that did operate had another in a line of increasingly successful teams.
basketball camp, from the time it was run by former coach Ted Owens up to today's camp under coach Larry Brown, has always been a good draw in basketball-crazy Kansas. But some of the other sports camps are growing at a phenomenal rate.
Kansas men's and women's tennis coach Scott Perelman started his tennis camp four years ago with one session of 18 campers. The enrollment increased to 140 campers in the summer of 1985 and to 205 last year. At Camp II, the camp included five one-week sessions and a total of 268 campers.
"You couldn't believe how much work it's turned into." Perelman said
recently. "It used to be I could get a few weeks off during the summer. Now I'm about to go crazy."
The incentive for Perelman and other coaches who risk insanity as camp coordinators is the money generated for them and their programs. Most coaches with camps have such matters as agreements on the use of school facilities written into their contracts.
And in a few cases, the money can be lucrative. The boy's basketball camps, which because of bulging facilities have leveled off at a yearly enrollment of around 1,500 campers, could generate as much as $75,000 for Brown, a Scripps-Howard news story reported.
For coaches in the non-revenue sports, camp-generated funds may be smaller but just as important.
Elaine Brady, KU Spirit Squad coordinator, said camp revenue is vital to both her and her program. "I've got to do it to supplement my income so I can go on doing what I do." Brady said.
Camp-generated funds also help allow KU cheerleaders to travel with the basketball team for road games, Brady said.
Brady held a KU cheerleading camp in 1983 and drew only 50 participants. A year later the camp reappeared with sponsorship from the National Cheerleading Association, which supplied counselors and
helped pay the camp's liability assurance, and drew 300 campers.
This summer, with the continuing sponsorship of the national organization, the camp drew 550 for its first year and 540 more for its drill team section.
As sports camps have grown and multiplied, the choices for parents and their superstars-to-be have grown more complex. Price, location, facilities and instructors are just a few of the factors considered when selecting a camp.
Come sail away at Clinton Lake
So now there are even books, like "Masters Guide to Sports Camps," which gives facts and figures on camps across the country.
ABOVE: Participants in the U.S. National Sailing Championships at Clinton Lake look toward a race committee boat after a recall signal was fired.
Darcy Chang/KANSAN
KU women's track coach resigns for job at Dartmouth
Bv ELAINE SUNG
Staff writer
In an unexpected move last week, Carla Coffey resigned as head coach of the University of Kansas women's track team.
Coffey has accepted a similar position with Dartmouth University, in Hanover, N.H. She will also be in charge of the men's sprints and hurdles programs.
Coffey, who was head coach at KU for seven years, had interviewed
with Ted Leland, director of athletics at Dartmouth, during a campus visit. Coffe left Lawrence yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
Dartmouth has had the position open for nearly two years, but no one was hired due to budget problems, Leland said.
Coffey's background in track, specifically the hurdles and sprinting events, had made her an attractive candidate for the position, he said.
'Her background is very strong
We want to build up a stronger women's team, and we feel that Carla will make the difference." Leland said.
Coffey's coaching abilities and demands for academic accomplishment were well respected by Bob Frederick, KU director of athletics. He said Coffey had discussed the situation with him three weeks prior to her official July 20 resignation.
Her departure and the retirement of KU men's track coach Robert
Timmons in a year leaves the athletic department with the decision to either keep the track programs separate or to combine them under one head coach, said Richard Konzem, KU assistant director of athletics.
"Now that we have two positions open, we may want to consider combining them (the teams) at this time." Konzem said. "We'll need to decide in the next few weeks, with school starting so soon."
KU Frisbee Club tourney draws teams from four states
By a Kansan reporter
The KU Frisbee Club is holding its annual "Savage Seven" Ultimate frisbee tournament Saturday and Sunday.
Tournament director Ernie Hughes said that eight teams from the Midwest would play in the tournament Teams will come from St. Louis, Wichita, Kansas City, Iowa, and Colorado.
'Lawrence will field three teams and one will come from Kansas
Games will be played all day
Saturday at two fields: one west of Oliver Residence Hall and one west of Lawrence High School. The semi-
Hughes said the tournament is called "Savage Seven" for two reasons. The first is that players can be substituted only between games. Players cannot leave the field unless they are injured.
more demanding on athletes.
"I'm hopeful we'll have less people go to the hospital this year than last year," Hughes said. Two players from Colorado were put in a hospital after last year's competition. One stayed overnight.
When that rule is combined with the extreme heat and humidity characteristic of a Kansas August, Ultimate; as any sport, becomes much
"It's very hot out there. Only a crazy man would play," said Stu Peterson.
Price said that semifinal games lasted three hours. At the tournament, each team could play up to three games in one day.
Price said he had played in two of the three Savage Seven tournaments. Last year, his team lost in the semifinals to a team from St. Louis and Springfield, Ill.
"The main thing is you sweat a lot," said Price. "You have to keep drinking fluids to not become dehydrated."
Price said he felt like he was in shape to play in the heat and that he recently went to the Ozarks to prepare for the tournament.
Price said he was ready to lead his Lawrence team, the Kings of the Wild Frontier.
Sports Briefs
Two KU football players quit team
Bryant, listed as a 6-foot-2, 205-pound sophomore, came from Hutchinson in 1985 as a quarterback. He red-shirted his first season, then played for the junior varsity team as a free safety last season.
University of Kansas football coach Bob Valesente announced last week that two football players, Vince Bryant and Scott Carlson, have left the sound for personal reasons.
Carson, from Beatrice, Neb., is a 6-6, 245-pound junior who was projected as a starter this season at defensive end. He was the fifth leading tackler on the squad, with 79 tackles in the 1986 season.
Valesente is out of town and could not be reached for comment.
Carlson could not be reached to specify his reasons for leaving the squad, but Bryant, a pre-med student, has said that he could not both play football and continue his studies.
"All I know is what I read from the paper, and I know Bryant said that he has to spend more time on his book. And I can certainly understand that."
Dave Dunkelberger, KU defensive coach, said he has not talked with either of the players, but could understand their reasons for leaving.
Carlson's departure leaves a potential gap in the defensive lineup. Dunkerbeck said he did not know if he would be seen in fall as a result of the hole.
"It remains to be seen," he said. "I don't think that we can answer that until we start playing."
Kansas basketball recruit Ricky Butler, a 6-4 forward from Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach, Calif., will not be attending
Butler won't attend KU
Jim Harris, Butler's high school coach, said last week that Butler does not qualify for the scholarship under Proposition 48, the NCAA's academic requirement standards for incoming freshmen.
RIGHT: Mike Hackbarth, skipper of the boat, and Michael Hartman both of Georgia, wait on a signal from the race committee boat.
the university on a basketball scho larship.
Butler had the required 2.0 grade point average in a core curriculum of classes but did not have the ACT scores needed to play at Kansas this season.
12 commit to Kansas
Kansas baseball coach Dave Bingham has announced the signing of 12 players to letters of intent. The list includes high school graduates and junior college transfers.
The list includes Lawrence High and Legion athlete Mike Byrne, who hit .307 with 10 home runs and 34 doubles for County Community College last year.
Trov Mentzer, a catcher from
Allen County Community College in Great Bend, was a signee. The Topeka native, who was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent in the 1986 free agent draft, hit .409 with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs.
OU cat is out of bag
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — A former Oklahoma State football coach said Monday that “a lot of closet doors will pop open” if the NCAA ever investigates the Big Eight Conference.
"The thing I say is, 'everybody's got a coat with skeletons in it. I think before it's all said and done, a lot of closet doors will pop open," former assistant coach Willie Anderson said.
Anderson said he believes the Big Eight Conference "is going to be investigated like the Southwest Conference. I believe that wholeheartedly."
Rock Chalk tournament successful in Lawrence
By ELAINE SUNG
Judging by the enthusiasm of the crowd during the finals, the Rock Chalk Tennis Tournament should become a permanent event in Lawrence, said a United States Tennis Association official.
Staff writer
"The crowd has been just great," USTA tour director Jim Handley said. "I certainly hope it will be here next year. Nothing in the tournament has happened to make it not come back."
Lawrence was the first of a fourstop circuit being held by the United States Tennis Association. The players had only a two-day break before the next stop in Lexington, Ky., where qualifying rounds began Monday.
The last two stops will be St Joseph, Mo., and Lake of the Ozarks.
The tournament has brought several surprises, such as a player ranked 258 in the world who entered late and played in the qualifying rounds.
The late entry was Jim Gurfein, Great Neck, N.Y., who made it to the singles finals to face Roger Smith of the Bahamas.
Smith won the tournament and the first place prize of $1,375 in straight sets. 6-4, 7-5.
Gurfein appeared sluggish in the first set, with poor recovery, but came from behind during the second set and was able to hold on until Smith's power serve took over the game.
"I wasn't frustrated during the game because I knew I was playing a good player, but I didn't bear down until the end," Gurfein said.
Sunn was disturbed in the second set by a serve that he thought was out but Gurfein said was in. The umpire ruled it in, and Smith momentarily lost his temper.
"I'm happy I came through finally," Smith said. "I don't give up and I give 120 percent with every point you do that, things start to happen."
But Smith came back point for point in the rest of the set, and with the help of his pounding volleys and serves, was able to cap off the set and the match with an ace.
The doubles competition pitted Mark Basham and Alex Nizet of Santa Barbara, Calif., against Stephen Aniston, Irvine, Calif., and Juan
Franko of Chicago.
Basham-Nizet won the title in three
sets, 6-4, 7-6, 6-1.
Ainson-Farrow appeared to have the upper hand in the first set, but the relative ease of the first set and the short tempers that developed toward their failure to win either the tie-breaker in the second set or the match
'The crowd has been just great. certainly hope it will be here next year.Nothing in the tournament has happened to make it not come back.'
"We just underestimated them." Aniston said. "It was easy coming in, and they are just in college. They played well, and we played extremely poorly, missing ball after ball."
- Jim Handly,
USTA tour director
Aniston also admitted that he was frustrated toward the end due to his poor playing style.
"When it gets that bad, I just don't know what to do," he said. "I lost serve twice in one match, and I don't usually lose serve twice in a year."
Basham and Nizet disagreed off the court as much as they did on. On several occasions they failed to communicate and nearly collided at the net. They also could not agree on where they felt their turning point in the match was.
"We've known each other for a while, so we can be honest. But I think it was winning the tie-breaker in the second set that did it," Basham said.
Nizet, who also nearly lost his temper several times, said that it was at another point that they started playing well enough to win.
"It was in the second set, even before the tie-breaker, when we broke serve," Nitzet said. "That was when we really started getting juiced up."