Everybody has their own individual frustrations with a specific sport or sports.

Several Maine sports personalities were asked what changes they would implement to improve a sport.

Art Greenlaw, former Stearns High School of Millinocket football coach: “I would allow girls in field hockey to use both sides of the stick, especially at the high school level. It doesn’t make sense to prevent them from using both sides of the stick.”

Julie Treadwell, Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield athletic director and field hockey coach: “I’d like to see them allow high school girls to score within the 25 [yard line]. As it is now, they can only score from within the 16-yard circle.”

Jim Dyer, assistant athletic director at the University of Maine: “I’d let field hockey players play the ball with either side of their stick. It’s a great game now and there are some great athletes playing the game. Being able to use both sides of the stick would allow the game to open up even more. Players would develop even more attacks. It would be more exciting for not only the players, but the spectators as well.”

Mike McDevitt, St. Joseph’s College women’s basketball coach: “I would make the rules the same for both men’s and women’s basketball. I don’t know why they have different rules. The women have a 30-second shot clock and the men have a 35-second clock. And there’s no 10-second backcourt violation in the women’s game like there is in the men’s game. It’s basically the same game, so why not have the same rules?”

Dale Duff, WZON-AM program/sports director: “The two that come to mind are no hockey ties and no artificial turf for baseball. Artificial turf should be outlawed. I hate ties in any sport. They should just keep playing or come up with some rule so that somebody eventually wins. You spend all this time watching a Boston Bruins game, they play through overtime and that’s it. It’s a tie.”

Terry Kix, University of Maine women’s field hockey coach: “In the sport of men’s basketball, I would find it very interesting if they raised the basket from 10 to 12 feet. It would be more difficult to score. It’s getting too easy for those guys [to score]. In the sport of ice hockey, I’d like to see them get rid of icing. I hate that rule.”

B.L. Elfring, University of Southern Maine sports information director and compliance officer: “I’d get rid of the full facemasks in college hockey. It has destroyed the game. They overreacted when they implemented the full shield. The half-shield might have been the better answer. The game of college hockey looks more like a football game now. If I want to watch wrestling, I’ll watch the WWF [World Wrestling Federation]. The game has become so physical. There’s a total disregard for players’ own personal safety let alone the safety of other players. In basketball, I’d widen the lane to spread the defenses out. There would be less congestion and traffic in the lane. Little guys could drive the lane. And would somebody explain verticality to me? If I stand there with my arms straight up in the air and the player with the ball crashes into me, I get called for the foul 99.9999 percent of the time. I wish the referees would either not call anything or call the offensive player for a charge.”

Madawaska’s Cyr SLC-bound

When the opening ceremonies are held for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Madawaska native and University of Maine graduate Charlie Cyr will be in the procession wearing Team United States colors.

The 46-year-old Cyr is the team leader for the United States’ figure skating team, its coaches and the judges. He will head up the delegation and will be responsible for tending to their needs.

“Getting to walk in with the athletes is going to be cool. It’s a dream come true,” said Cyr, who is an accredited judge for figure skating and ice dancing at the national and international level.

He has judged three world championships and 10 national championships. Cyr is one of only six people in the U.S., out of 1,200 judges in all, who can judge both skating and ice dancing.

He is also on the Board of Directors of the United States Figure Skating Association.

His rise to prominence began on his neighbor’s outdoor rink in Madawaska and led him to take figure skating lessons at the indoor arena in neighboring Edmunston, New Brunswick.

He competed and wound up working under Woody Carville at the newly opened Alfond Arena in 1976-77 when he was a student at the University of Maine.

“Woody was a great boss. He was the brains behind the athletic department,” said Cyr, who eventually got into judging and moved to Rancho Mirage, Calif., in 1980. He is an administrator for a 20-man orthopedic practice in Palm Springs, Calif.

He said there is a very big figure skating community in southern California.

“I became a national Canadian judge in 1980, but it took me seven years to finally become a national American judge,” said Cyr, who had to fight his way through red tape.

His parents, Zoel and Hilda, have Canadian roots which had enabled him to become a Canadian judge.

Cyr, who has judged events as far away as China and Japan, returned to Madawaska for the first time since 1980 this past Christmas with wife Jolene and daughters Ashley and Allison.

“Our kids had never seen snow. They got to go snowmobiling. We all had a blast,” said Cyr, who also had a good time at the U.S. Figure Skating championships at The FleetCenter in Boston last week.

“The people in Boston were great. They gave us police escorts [from the hotel to The FleetCenter] every day. And I think we broke attendance records,” said Cyr.