McLaughlin right on

We want to thank sports columnist Joe McLaughlin for his column: Some children get along well without sports (BDN, Oct. 24). In all the years that we have lived and worked in the Bangor area (since 1967 to be exact), McLaughlin’s thoughtful and touching column is the first public statement we’ve seen affirming the value of a childhood not dedicated to or dominated by sports. We were especially touched by McLaughlin’s account of his own slow growth in awareness, since his own life, as he acknowledges, has largely been devoted to sports.

McLaughlin’s willingness to look at his children as individuals, and to reconsider his own long-held assumptions about not just the value but the need for sports, especially contact sports and ball-based sports, testify to his devotion to his family and the real welfare of his children. We too have a son named Matthew who was, and still is, a skilled writer and devouring reader.

That he is also a sports fan reveals his – and our – wide interests in activities that appeal to us without being vital to our sense of self. I hope that McLaughlin’s column is widely read, much commented upon, and displayed on refrigerators and locker room walls. It’s a much-needed reflection on a culture in which the children of this part of the country are still growing up, a culture which for all its excitement and reward is by no means the whole of life as it sometimes happens.

Ruth and Jerome Nadelhaft

Bangor

UM team admirable

My name is Bob Crawford. My son is a junior at UMaine and I just returned from a two-week visit to Orono. During my visit, I had the pleasure of watching the University of Maine women’s hockey team play Bemidji State twice and I just wanted give my thoughts on the team.

Even though we live in Northern California, we have been a hockey family for a long time. I played club hockey in college (University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif., 1972) and continued to play recreational hockey until injury and age finally sidelined me. My wife is a Canada native and her father was quite a hockey star with Clarkson University in the late 1940s. Our family has held tickets with the San Jose Sharks since their inception.

That said, I really enjoyed watching the Maine team play. Frankly, I wish I was in your neighborhood permanently and if I was, the Maine women’s hockey team would probably be the team I’d follow most closely. For much of my early career I was a sportswriter and covered a lot of prima donna high school and college athletes. Frankly, it drove me from sportswriting into news.

Watching the Maine women’s hockey team was refreshing. I saw them with much better skills than I expected coupled with a joy of playing the game and a level of sportsmanship that I remember in my youth. It was a pleasure to watch. In my view, the seats should be filled, just as they are for the male version of the Black Bears.

Bob Crawford

Turlock, Calif.

Mahaney pro-education

Larry Mahaney and his proposal for a stadium dome at the University of Maine have taken some hard knocks in the media lately, perhaps because most people tend to recognize this community-spirited business leader for his active support of athletics. But Mr. Mahaney is a man on a much larger mission than he gets credit for. His true passion is increasing educational opportunities and career options for Maine youth.

Webber Energy Fuels’ generous scholarship programs, under the stewardship of Mr. Mahaney, have assisted hundreds of Maine students in pursuing a successful future. But this enterprising company, personified by Mr. Mahaney’s progressive leadership, also sponsors innovative research to determine the cause and find solutions to problems that discourage or prevent too many Maine high school students from pursuing post-secondary education and from leaving their home state to seek lucrative job opportunities.

Specifically, Mr. Mahaney is spearheading Webber’s sponsorship of the Maine Aspirations Benchmarking Initiative, which is providing the state with unprecedented information about the complex educational, social and personal factors that affect student aspirations and the total learning environment. More than 200 Maine schools have taken advantage of this free opportunity to survey their grade 6-12 students about their education and future and to develop targeted research-based reform efforts.

The Students Speak survey and its ability to generate data based on student perspectives sparked interest far beyond Maine’s borders and has evolved into a research instrument that is requested and used nationally. In all, more than 70,000 students have taken the survey, again positioning Maine as an innovative leader in educational reform. Schools from one side of the country to the other are using the survey information to make instructional and programming decisions that better address the needs and potential of all students.

A controversial, proposed sports dome grabs headlines. But Mr. Mahaney’s bold vision and investment in human capital ventures to increase opportunities for present and future generations cap them all.

Russ Quaglia

Director, National Center for Student Aspirations,

University of Maine