The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper

Vol. 12 No. 34 - June 6, 2012

sports

Soccer playoff stunners

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

Scott dell | Submitted
Zoran Kolega, of Best Buy, sends the long
pass up field during Community Center playoff
soccer action.

The adult co-ed soccer playoffs are heating up at the Anna Maria Island Community Center. The action is intense, as each team competes in the single elimination tournament to see who will be crowned this year’s Community Center Cup Champion. Win or go home is the motto, and the first round of the playoffs stunned and excited the fans.

The number two seed, 6-1-2, Island Pest Control team was upset by the seventh place, 2-5-2, Pink & Navy Boutique team. A huge performance in goal by Scott Rudacille, with 9 saves and goals by Damir Glavan, Scott Pardue and Anthony Rasulo, led Pink and Navy Boutique to the next round of the playoffs and the 3-2 win. Adam Bujarski had both goals for the Island Pest Control team, and Blair Schlossberg had six saves in goal in the final game of the season for Island Pest Control.

The number one seed, 7-1-1, Slim’s Place team barely squeaked by the eighth place, 1-8, Agnelli Pools & Spa team with a 1-0 win. Sean Sanders had the only goal for Slim’s, and Adam Mott had 4 saves in goal to advance to the next round. Troy Shonk had 9 saves in goal for the Agnelli Pools team.

Featured to be the game of the week was the third place, 5-2-2, Don Meilner & Son Construction team against the sixth place, 3-6, Best Buy team. The Don Meilner & Son team dominated play from the start and won 5-1. Stephen Perry and Tim Tedesco each had 2 goals, and Matt Plummer added one goal. Nate Talucci had 6 saves in goal. With the Best Buy team banged up, the only goal came from Josh Petitt. Pedro Gonzalez had 10 saves in goal.

The final game of the night was a very exciting way to end the first round of the playoffs. The fourth place, 5-3-1, Florida Discount Signs team tied the fifth place, 3-6, Wash Family Construction team 2-2 in regulation play. Danny Anderson and Hampton Harrison each had a goal for Florida Discount Signs, and Josh Peurifoy had 5 saves. Norman Fleet and Austin Wash each had goals for Wash Family Construction and Rich Subiando had 10 saves. In the playoffs though, there has to be a winner to advance to the next round, so it went to a shoot-out. Florida Discount Signs advanced to the next round after a 4-2 win in the shootout. BJ Grant, Hampton Harrison, Josh Peurifoy and Danny Anderson all scored shootout goals for the win.

Adult Co-Ed Basketball Results

Gator Man Pools 61
The BeachHouse restaurant  65
Antwaun Jackson had a double-double with 32 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists. Brandon Kern had 24 points and 8 rebounds in the BeachHouse restaurant win. For Gator Man Pools, Aaron Duduks had 28 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Sean Hubbard had a double-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists.

Beach to Bay Construction  45
The Feast  50
Matt Morgan had 13 points and 9 rebounds, and Jonathan Moss had 13 points, 3 rebounds and an assist in The Feast win. For the Beach to Bay Construction team, Richard Atkins had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Scott Eason had 11 points and a rebound.

B.Y. Construction  44
Bowes Imaging Center  53
Tyler Bekkerus had 18 points and 3 rebounds, and Jason Mickan had 13 points and 5 rebounds for the Bowes Imaging Center win. For the B.Y. Construction team, Matt Ray had 24 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists, and Kevin Austin had 9 points and 7 rebounds.

Island Sun newspaper  46
BeachHouse restaurant  66
Antwaun Jackson had a double-double with 22 points, 14 rebounds and 2 assists. Brandon Kern had a double-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds and 2 assists in the BeachHouse restaurant win. For the Island Sun, Matt Dwyer had 22 points, 6 rebounds and an assist, and Matt Plummer had 7 points, 4 rebounds and an assist.

Adult Basketball Playoff Schedule

June 8, Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Bowes Imaging vs. B.Y. Construction

June 8, Tuesday, 9 p.m.
Island Sun vs The Feast

Youth Basketball Schedule
8-10-year-olds

Wednesday, June 6, 6 p.m.
Beach Bistro vs. Walter & Assoc.

Wednesday, June 6, 7 p.m.
Gettel Toyota vs. Island Real Estate

11-13-year-olds

Tuesday, June 5, 6 p.m.
Eat Here vs. Sandbar restaurant

Tuesday, June 5, 8 p.m.
Southern Greens vs. Ross Built

Thursday, June 7, 6 p.m.
Walter & Assoc. vs. Eat Here/Sandbar winner

Thursday, June 8, 7 p.m.
Holy Cow Ice Cream vs. Southern Greens vs. Ross Built winner

14-17-year-olds

Saturday, June 9, noon
Dips Ice Cream vs. Anna Maria Oyster Bar

 

Beach being fouled by garbage

I’ve been away traveling the U.S. on my book tour that has been arranged by my publisher. I’ve been to New Orleans and Cape Canaveral since my last column. It was good to be back on my morning 3-mile run the day after Memorial Day right in front of the lifeguard stand at Manatee Beach. Not many people were at the beach as the residual wind, clouds and choppy surf from Tropical Storm Beryl kept most people inside.

It was a red flag day, meaning rip currents and whitecaps abound – my favorite time to run. Instead of people-watching as I run, I focus on the music from my iPod and the beautiful, serene beach that reminds me why I'll choose a Florida summer over a midwest summer any day of the year.

I always watch the shoreline ahead, looking out for remains of tunnels and castle holes that can cause baby turtles and oblivious runners to trip and fall into. On this day, I see ahead a mylar balloon next to two glass beer bottles. I hate to stop when I'm running, but in my frustration, I kicked the bottles out of the way as the encroaching high tide was about to take them out to sea. I'll pick them up on my way back, I thought.

Then I started noticing how much garbage was on the beach. I belong to a group that cleans up the beach four times a year. As a former TV reporter, I'm aware that often runners are the ones who discover dead bodies and call police.

So nothing should shock or horrify me. But as I kept running, I kept getting angrier as I saw discarded full diapers, many plastic water bottles, beer cans, energy drinks, foil, ice-cream cups, several abandoned mylar balloons and one in particular that caught my attention which said, Feel Better.

Our beach is terribly sick. The garbage was a few waves away from joining our oceans' plastic islands. These are located at various places in the Pacific Ocean estimated to be the size of Texas to the size of twice the area of the U.S.

From the Sacramento News Review, Captain Charles Moore, of The Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, Calif. says, "We have discovered that reeflike structures are forming on the plastic, with crabs, sea anemones, barnacles and even coral heads living on the plastic jetsam floating in the ocean. These reefs alter the deep ocean by blocking sunlight and alter the ocean’s chemistry.

The plastics are toxic, and as animals feed on them, these pollutants enter the food chain, carrying and amplifying them as animal after animal is exposed. Then there’s just the straight ingestion issue with evidence that whales, turtles and fish are filled with these plastics."

Abandoned, discarded filled diapers? Really? Were there other children around who watched this rude behavior? What are you/we teaching them? Or the discarded bathing suit top pads? Four of them? What were you thinking? I know, you were not thinking or you wouldn't have done this.

The worst was all the discarded plastic toys. Behind every abandoned toy was a parent who taught a child to do the same. Whoever mistook our beach for a garbage dump, did you not have parents who taught you to clean up after yourself? If you didn't, are you thinking what our children and grandchildren will inherit? Where is your sense of dignity? Oh, the inhumanity!

As I furiously began taking pictures, a group of people assembled with garbage bags and began cleaning up some of the debris.

"They'll give you a garbage bag at the restaurant, if you ask." one said.

I thanked them, although much of the debris was from the restaurant. The high tide was getting closer to the discarded Monster drink can. I couldn't help but stew over the irony of the appropriately-named can. We sure have created a monster.

I couldn't help but think, multiply this by all the beaches in America that on Memorial Day, had the same silent disaster. C'mon everyone, clean up your garbage! Don't depend on the bulldozer or me to come behind you!

You can follow Island resident Ellen Jaffe Jones on her Facebook page and keep up with her just released book:,"Eat Vegan on $4 a Day," or her website: www.vegcoach.com. She is also a nationally certified personal trainer and running coach. For training in a gym or private hire, contact Ellen at ejones@vegcoach.com or 941-704-1025.


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