Brett Allen has heard it time and time again. So much, in fact, that it sometimes seems as though it has become an annual rite of passage for first-year Kent-Meridian football coaches.
Allen, who took over the K-M football program in February after Trevor Roberts stepped down, is the program's sixth coach of the decade.
Seattle Thunderbirds General Manager Russ Farwell on Aug. 26 announced the team has two new radio partners for the 2010-11 season.
The T-Birds will have 20 regular season games broadcast on 710 ESPN during the season. Select playoff games will also be broadcast on 710 ESPN.
In addition, all T-Birds regular season and playoff games will be streamed live on www.mynorthwest.com
Seattle Thunderbirds vice president Colin Campbell has announced the T-Birds promotional and giveaway calendar for the 2010-11 season.
Seattle Thunderbirds legend Glen Goodall will be welcomed back to Seattle at the T-Birds home opener on Saturday, Sept. 25, against the Portland Winterhawks at 7:05 p.m. at ShoWare Center. Goodall and his family will be in attendance and the T-Birds have several events planned to recognize Goodall and his contributions to T-Birds hockey.
He received a second chance on the baseball diamond.
And it could have killed him.
Instead, it saved Ryan Voelkel's life.
She changed her mind.
But Kristin Lutes’ ascension on the volleyball court remained very much the same.
“I was actually committed to Eastern Washington (University),” the 2003 Kentlake High graduate explained. “Then Sacramento State saw me play. Since Eastern wasn’t offering me a (scholarship) ...”
The decision was obvious.
The location has changed, but the world-class instruction will remain the same for Velocity Taekwondo, which moved from Tukwila to Kent earlier this month.
The Kent Little League Senior All-Star team bounced back from a tough loss to win the District 10 title to end June.
In July, that same bunch bashed its way to the state championship.
The local Stars, which is comprised of 14-16 year olds, hit a wall from Aug. 3-10 in Ontario, Calif., where they played in the Western Regional tournament, which brought together the top 10 teams from the region.
It started as a means to lose weight.
In a little less than a year since, it has blossomed into a passion to become fit, eat better and reach goals that once seemed impossible for Kent’s Sheryl Sprague.
“Originally, I started out doing a 5k walk,” said Sprague, who has lost more than 100 pounds during the last year and now weighs in at 350 pounds. “Each one I did told me that I could do more than I originally thought I could do. Sometimes, you’re scared and think, ‘Oh gosh, what if I can’t do this?’ Then you do it, and you’re amazed and wonder, ‘What can I do next?’“
The rain came.
But that hardly put any sort of damper on the first-ever ShoWare Shootout 3-on-3 basketball tournament, which played out Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 7-8, amidst grey skies and sporadic rain showers. The 160-team, 16-division tournament that took place in the parking lot of the ShoWare Center brought players from as far away as Yakima and Spokane, Everett and Marysville.
A bounty of mullets, the notion that every truck includes a gun rack, and it’s a city that “doesn’t sleep.”
That’s the information I was given about Kent before I moved to the area a little more than 10 years ago.
First-year Kent-Meridian High football coach Brett Allen and the Royals took the field last week at Foster High in Tukwila during a three-team camp that also included Cleveland High of Seattle.
Allen is a familiar face to the K-M program as he coached wide receivers and linebackers for the team from 2001-2004.
They delivered a big comeback in the state semifinals.But the Kent 9-10 Little League All-Stars couldn’t sustain the momentum on Saturday in the state championship… Continue reading
The 10U Bulldogs baseball team, which is comprised of players from around the Kent Valley and practice at the Diamond Sports Training Center in Sumner, won the Summer Knights IV baseball tournament in Federal Way on Sunday, July 25. The Bulldogs won six straight games, culminating with Sunday's 16-8 victory over the Eastside Jettas. Back row, left to right, coaches Kevin Wright, Jeremy Wright, Charles Agron. Middle row, left to right: Zach Redelf, Gavyn Tinsley, Alex Lambeau, Gabe Casselman, Merlin Emery, Nic Roes, Jacob Booth. Front row, left to right: Jacob Butler, Asher Walker, Dominic Agron, Mark Wright, Riley Rowland.
Jared Mackie couldn't look up or around Saturday at Hartman Park in Redmond. Things were that crowded.
Yet, instinctively, the Kent sophomore-to-be knew this was what Little League baseball was all about.
Call it gut instinct.
Whatever it was, Kent Senior Little League coach Kevin Vallala was right on the money Wednesday night at Redmond's Hartman Park.
"I had a good feeling before the game," the coach said. "I told the players we were going to get 15 hits and win 10-3."
Vallala undershot just a bit.
Eight Seattle Thunderbirds players are scheduled to participate in the 2010 Rob Sumner Hockey Camp at ShoWare Center in Kent from Aug. 16-22.
The players scheduled to be at the camp are goalie Calvin Pickard, defensemen Brenden Dillon and Dave Sutter and forwards Luke Lockhart, Brendan Rouse, Brenden Silvester, Tyler Alos and Marcel Noebels.
Talk about having a day.
Kent’s Matthew Franceschina had an entire week rolled into two hours Sunday afternoon.
Franceschina blasted three home runs and drove in six, leading Kent’s 9-10 All-Stars past Pac West of Burien 10-0 in an opening round game of the state tournament at Shoreview Park in Shoreline.
“I don’t know if I have ever seen that,” said Kent coach Steve Wright. “I’ve seen kids hit two (home runs in a game), but three ... that’s pretty rare.”
Kevin Vallala could sense a momentum shift coming.
But would it happen too late?
Thankfully for the Kent/Chinook Senior All-Stars (ages 14-16), the swing of momentum happened just in time during the opening round of the state tournament on Saturday at Redmond’s Hartman Park.
Exhausted and aching in unfamiliar places, Martin “Mitch” Mitchell uttered three words Monday evening that have come to define his character.
“I did it,” Mitchell said.
Aiesha Goodlow got redemption.
It has been a little more than a month since the recent Kentwood High graduate just missed qualifying for the Class 4A state track and field meet in the 100 hurdles. Goodlow, however, received a second chance of sorts during the Nike Track Nationals, which was held from July 1-4 at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.
