The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Sports Page ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY 1977 Hundred and Third Year No Second Section Tempest in a teeball AMBA To tee or not to tee John The first local baseball season to be play without a tee- ball league has reached the playoff stages and few people on the Minor Baseball executive seem to miss it although there is evidence that it helps the players tobe to learn the fundamentals of the game In teeball the batter steps up to a ball on a tee and keeps swinging until he hits it In the field stands every player of the opposing team with little regard for the standard positions worked out by old when he in vented the game The purpose of the game is to teach the young beginners the rules where to run how to swing a bat how where to throw the ball and other skills of tint general level No support Teeball was dropped this year because of lack of sup port from the parents at the annual meeting held after the season last year About 16 people showed up for the meeting according to Glenn presidentof The same number of people attended a second met ling this soring rhc executive voted to drop the teeball teams for a year to see how It worked out Now that it is gone some parents would like to see it back The opinion of the executive seems to be that tecball does little good in producung players They don learn to face a pitched ball and coaches have to retrain them to watch and hit a pitch according to Mrs So tet ball is out for the season and some are glad to Nancy coach of one of the Grasshopper teams in the are i is one of them I don t think this year has hurt any she slid She that coming out of a teeball league a lot of kids arc scared to hit off the pit They are used to stand up and hitting at a sitting and adjust to having a ball thrown at them She also pointed out that players who don make an Horn rep team used to be dropped back into Ice- ball where they learned nothing more to help them improve This season with Griss hopper teams formed they still fact pitcher and have a better chance to make a rep team next year if they try again Want baseball Mrs believes the players want to play baseball while the parents want them to play teeball My five year Old wants to play base ball and the kids on he team she said I of interest on p part was pointed out by nearly everybody the free Press talked to There not a whole lot of parent par said Mrs It takes eight people to run a teeball leigue four coaches and four helpers have a hard enough time gelling coaches said Mrs Glenn Tei- ball worthwhile Some parents coaches however think teeball is worthwhile Mrs John Ford whose son plays in the grass league says I find the group when they re out on the field they just stand there Hall at the grass hopper level tend to mainly of walks or if the pitcher manages to get the ball across the plate strike outs Very little hitting goes on and even less fielding There too much to e all at once said Mrs J whose son Brent also phjs in isshoppers because ihey rt trying to hit the ball from pitchers who ein pitch it the same time where to run how to held She concedes that the grasshoppers have learned a lot but feels For little kids there should be a year of tee- ball first Bob Paul couch of the construction atom boys says he can see a differ between atom teams who played leebull and those who didn We can catch and hit I with no tee- ball hit or catch Hardball faster He also says l tee is for baseball not The Softball makes the muth slower simply because it is heavier Teebdl worked quite well about four years when they used i he said Henry has two Billy teeball last year Billy more advanced than the ones who play any tee ball to Mr he mam objection to tee- ball seems to be that it players to hit a pitch and when they come up ignnst pitcher they have But starting a High purse at Greenwood August is the date of the highest purse offered this year it Greenwood is the three yeir olds and upward take to the track for the Miplt Leaf Trotting Classic As a warm up to it lonight will sec one of two runnings of the Standardised snkes this week this one for Trot fans will be able to watch another running of the Ontario Sires stakes tomorrow evening while the second Standard bred Futurity Slakes pace goes off a ice for three year old fillies On swim team at Canada games of ft It f Itockwood has been chosen the Ontario vim team it Ihe mad times in St Johns New later this month He competed in Ottawa a few weeks ago for a place on the team and just recently learned he has been accepted He goes on to training camp Sunday Tor a week and then leaves for the east August He returns August just in time to i position imp who is 18 has re many swim awards in the list of years He swims with the Guelph club I ike other team members he will reccUe white pants and a red jacket to wear at official ceremonies during the games His parents arc Walter and Virena player off against a pitcher without giving him the funda mentals of a good swing first is making it even harder for him If a player knows some of the basics when he starts he will be in a much better position to learn quickly when he ftces someone throwing a ball at him and should deve lop into a good hitter faster One of the concerns voiced by many parents is the danger involved when a five year old never having played the gimc Is playing eight and nineyear olds in grasshopper players often go into day dreams out on the field and one could easily be hit by a ball off the bat of an older child who was cut from atom or squirt play This was always true how ever even in teeball In other years 13 year olds played with year olds said Mrs Glenn This year we ve tried to end this bach team is evenly balanced Players not making atoms ire still dropped down into grasshopper but the problem is no worse than it was in other yeirs Having fort Everything written so far presumes that the purpose of a minor baseball association is to produce good baseball players No thought has been given to the question of having fun Do the kids want to play baseball or would they rather play teeball and have some action The answer would seem to be that at least a little teeball is what they want Both Mrs Ford and Mrs reported that their son given a single game of tee- ball liked it best It is possible that the kids are being organized a bit too young Atoms at eight and nine are just barely old enough to plfly ball accord ing to Bob Paul One person theorized that the organ iza ion starts players so young because parents want their kids to play either because of their own pride or simply be cause hey want the kids out of the way to do some shop ping The organization itself concentrates on competitive playing What we try to do is cater mostly for children The house league and the rep teams are the division bet ween fun and serious play said Mrs Glenn There looks like a good balance but we concentrate on rep teams be cause they represent all The return of teeball depends on the interest of the parents About players register each year according to Mrs Glenn and for them to become teams they need sup port and help from parents There will be a general meeting at the end of the season and if parents want teeball next year they will have to show up and fight for it If they do it bringing back tecball will be taken into consideration Mrs Glenn reports Victorious Vans widen lead in weeks industrial league play but when JUST TURNED SIX John Ford likes he was given a chance to play tee ball that was great according to his mother There was more action and more chance to do something in a tee ball game he thought open playoffs with big win Acton the bantam lacrosse team are making themselves a royal pain for the rest of the teams in their league in their first season of league play They finished the year in top spot with a record and began their playoff action last night by easily beating the Kitchener Chippewas the only team to defeat the in regular season piny Final score of the rough game played in Kitchener was for the behind six goal performances from both Peter Hurdle and Peter Mike Mar shall and Lorenzo each netted one shot to round out the Monarchs scoring Tied The game was tied 3 after one period of play and Acton opened up a lead of only 7 In the second It was in the final frame that the walked from them according to coach Bob Peter Turkosz and Peter Hurdle made the difference according to as the Monarchs were hampered by having only nine players losing the rest to vacation trips Playoff action for the red hot continues to night when they face the third place Kitchener Frontenncs at the Acton Community Centre at for the second game of their round robin playoffs I Jiial standings in the six team local league showed Acton in front with a record the Kitchener right behind at the Kitchener in third with a mark In fourth with an even record in fifth at and the Kitchener Crows folded Senior lacrosse arranges exhibitions The Acton senior lacrosse announced in next weeks team has arranged two ex paper gomes with Hunts One of the organizers Bob villc for the next two weeks said Anybody in a home and home series wanting to play Senior la F inn date for the Acton game should come out to the has not been set but will bo arena Thursday at 7 Vans Welding continued to dominate he industrial soft ball league is they took a pair of victories this week tripp ing up Family Cleaners Thursday and getting revenge on Hills trie 12 Monday In other industrial Monday JrSportsgot back on Ihe winning track with a 103 win over Station and Family edged Hills Catering 12 In a sluggers duel to end the day All teams had trouble filling out their rosters Monday as players were slow in returning from the holiday weekend wins Ken Pilgrim was ihe pitcher striking out only four but getting good support in the field Pilgrim walked only one batter in the game John Dunn homered for the losers to drive in two runs in the first inning Cleaners final tally came in the fourth on hits by Bill Shannon and Dave Paul Vans benefitted from a five run outburst in fourth as Danny Allen Ed Steve Marshall Al Avery and Ken Pilgrim scored In the inning The Welders light defense continued to hold in their re match with Hills Dec trie The Electricians had dumped Vans twice last week but repeat the feat this time They scored twice in the second inning and once in the third but were shut out by winner Alex Ward from that point on Vans scored seven times on 14 hits in two innings as their bats found the range against loser Don Archibald The Electricians went down In order last two innings Ward and his knuckleball struck out three from the Electric squad walking two and hitting one other batter Losing pitcher Don Archibald also struck out three Score twice Station Hotel scored twice to open their game with but Frank Daley held them scoreless from then until the last inning to ensure the win sent three men across the plate in each of the first three innings to pile up a quick lead Height was the loser giving up ten runs before replaced by Ken who shut out the Sportsmen for the rest of the game Occasional winds were big factor in the game as they forced many fielding mistakes in the e Innings collected I hits in the 12 of them off Height white Station notched up J I although they were unable to put them together into points for most of the game tneonlrot Loser Brian Lawrence was in control of Ihe Cleaners Caterers contest until the last three innings when the erupted for of their runs They connected for hits in the three Innings and three walks to for their markers was the winn pitcher Vans with their two wins opened up four point lead over Sports Hills Catering The Welders twice they can move into a record is at 11 5 while JT tic for first and Catering hold identical 9- counts is eight Standings points off the pace with a W record Cleaners are right Vans 136 behind at and Station JT 137 106 brings up the rear with a 11 Cat 18 113 110 mark 7 14 face Station Hotel this Clean 6 151 Thursday and if they win Station 115 PLEASE DON T TAG ME Stations Bill Boyd was almost to third base before he decided he shouldnt have tried for It He dug in the brakes and was easily tagged out by J T Sports third Ron Nicolucci Armana Steeves in background prepares to make on of the easiest calls he had to make all game Sportsmen won the Monday encounter by a wide 12 3 margin over last place Station Industrial play continues Thursday