Clinic set to help communication between officials, coaches

The highest accolade a basketball official can receive is silence.

I am positive you didn't see many high school games in 2007-08 where officials were treated that way.

There always are fans taking exception with calls and some coaches who complain constantly and work the officials from the opening tip.

Not every official can handle those exchanges with coaches without appearing overly aggressive or confrontational.

That's where Ed Curtin comes in. Curtin has over 40 years in basketball as a former player, coach, official and now assignor of officials.

"While this situation can be sensitive," he says, "it is still necessary to maintain control of the game calmly without assessing a 'T.' "

With that in mind, Curtin plans to have a "Classroom Clinic" in September at the Palatine Public Library in an effort to help officials who need guidance in this area of dealing with coaches and situations that develop.

"The class will only cover communicating with coaches and diffusing any problems that could occur," Curtin said. "Coaches are people, too. Officials can learn to converse with them successfully and help the game run smoothly."

Some of the subjects covered will be how to talk to coaches and keep them under control, diffusing potential problems, improving your people skills, gaining their respect, calming them down, listening to their complaints, keeping them from getting a "T" and handling their problems.

Although the event is Sept. 23 from 6-8:45 p.m., the class is limited to the first 20 officials, so reservations should be made as soon as possible.

Call Curtin at (847) 991-3144 or fax to (847) 934-5861.

Basketball

Jonny Reibel (Hoffman Estates) of Rollins College (Winter Park, Fla.) was named the Daktronics South Region Co-Player of the Year. He was first-team all-Sunshine State Conference.

The 6-foot-2 senior averaged 20 points per game (No. 1 in the SSC) and 7.2 assists (No. 2).

• Senior Gabrielle Cottrell (Prospect) scored 21 points in her final game for Manhattan College. She was 5-of-8 shooting from the arc and had 5 rebounds. She finished with school records for 3-pointers in a season (74 at 43.3 percent), free-throw percentage in a season (89.1) and most games played in a career (120).

Baseball

Tyler Ladendorf (Maine West) is on a batting tear at Howard Junior College in Big Spring, Texas. Through 20 games, Ladendorf was hitting .604 with 29 hits in 48 at-bats. He had 8 doubles, 8 home runs, a triple and 31 RBI.

• Pitcher Bryan Chalekian (Wheeling) of the University of Wisconsin-Stout appears to have earned the closer role. He made his relief debut with the bases loaded and two outs and struck out the hitter and then in his next appearance struck out two in the final inning and got the ground ball that ended the game. He was clocked throwing at 89 mph.

Catcher Kim Chalekian (Wheeling) of Loras College had 3 hits in a doubleheader with Millikin, including a double, homer and 4 RBI.

• Concordia University (9-1), ranked No. 39 by d3baseball.com, won both its games at the Webster University (St. Louis) tournament.

J.D. Rotzoll (Prospect) had 3 home runs, going 4-for-8, with 4 RBI. He is now batting .488 for the season.

Ryan Hantel (Prospect) started the second game and got his third (3-0) win. Ryan has a school-record 20 career wins.

Rotzoll also was named athlete of the week at Concordia after hitting .486 for eight games on the spring trip.

• Ryan Copeland (Elk Grove) of Illinois State pitched 6½ innings in a win over Akron and is 3-1.

Softball

Freshman pitcher Claire Voris (Barrington) of Washington University (St. Louis) is off to a 7-0 start. She has worked 46¿ innings with a yield of 40 hits and 14 earned runs, striking out 64.

• Freshman Kiley Lythberg (Prospect) picked up her first collegiate pitching victory for Central College of Iowa with 2½ innings of relief against Wheaton in Orange, Calif.

Track and field

Micky Cobrin (Stevenson) of the University of Arkansas earned All-America recognition by taking eighth in the mile run (4:05.99) at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. He finished 1.5 seconds behind the winner and had the lead at the 1,400 mark. Arkansas was sixth in the team standings.

• Elizabeth Ambrus (Rolling Meadows), a redshirt senior at the University of Alabama Birmingham, ran 16:24.85 in the 5K at the Notre Dame Last Chance Meet to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The time set a school record. She also won the conference USA 5K title this season in a record 16:31.83 and was second in the 3K, running a school-record 9:32.17.

• Sophomore Amanda LaRocca (Palatine) of Illinois Wesleyan University qualified in both the 55-meter dash and 55 hurdles for the NCAA Division III national indoor championships. She had the fourth-best qualifying time in the 55 hurdles, a school record and NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 8.23, and her time of 7.19 in the 55 dash was the eighth best in the nation.

Fitness run, walk

The Prospect High School Booster Club has scheduled its 5K race and 2-mile walk for the school campus on Memorial Day Monday, May 26.

The age groups range from elementary and middle school (under 20) to over 50 years.

There will be awards for top finishers, door prizes and refreshments with all proceeds benefiting long-term athletic booster projects.

Race packets will be available at the Prospect field house at 7 a.m. The event starts at 8:30 a.m.

The link to the registration form is up and has been updated. The form can be accessed by the Prospect Athletic Booster Web site: www.prospectknights.com.

For questions on the event and registration information, contact Tom Mataloni at (847) 846-3443.

Fencing

Members of the Illinois Fencing Club (IFC), based at the Lions Park Recreation Center in Mount Prospect, made a strong showing in the 2008 North American Cup held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.

Tim Glass won the veteran 50-59 men's epee with John Lartz in 16th, and Glass was third and Lartz 20th in veteran combined men's epee.

Maciek Zmyslowski took third place in Division III men's epee, Daniel Brissette was fifth, Corey Hinks seventh and Harrison Siegel 15th.

Bob Baldwin was 15th in veteran 60-plus men's epee, and Julia Paul was 20th and Linda Georgoulis 26th in Division III women's epee.

Alan Markow was 33rd and Christopher Monti took 35th among 147 fencers in Division III men's foil.

IFC provides beginner, children's and advanced fencing programs in Illinois. Visit lllinoisfencersclub.org for more information.