Bangor team caught in middle of complaint

As the parent of “standout” athlete Amy Hackett of Bangor, I was quite offended by the letter of Michael El-Hajj of Winterport (BDN, Oct. 31). I totally disagree with him as to the coverage all Bangor area teams receive from the Bangor Daily News. I have been reading the Bangor sports pages since Amy’s dad was a “standout” athlete for Orono High School and the University of Maine in the 1980s and I feel that the BDN does justice to all teams.

If the Bangor Daily News seemed to lean toward Bangor it could have been because the reporter who wrote the article had probably been to most of Bangor’s biggest games and had watched the Bangor girls go undefeated up until the time of the last game of the season. This reporter probably knows that they have done it with a lot of class and the loss was heartbreaking and unexpected since they went in No. 1.

I wish Mr. El Hajj would not have used the girls team to voice a problem he has with the Bangor Daily News. Mount Ararat may not have received the written credit of playing a great game, but the Bangor girls soccer team can certainly attest to the fact that they are a great team.

However, the Mount Ararat student fans that attended our game will not be winning any sportsmanship banners. Especially the boy who walked up to my very disappointed “standout” athlete right after the disappointed loss and made an obscene statement. I wonder if that student has ever played on a high school sports team and put in all the time and effort it takes to become a “standout” athlete? I bet not.

All of these girls are incredible athletes and students. I think we have two valedictorian candidates on the team and if you look at the first semester honor roll you will see a huge majority of the girls names on honors and high honors. (Including my standout athlete).

But back to why I really wrote this feedback! If Mr. Elhajj has a beef with the BDN about how much publicity his town or children get or doesn’t get he should just say that instead of dragging in a girls soccer team who does deserve all the publicity it can get.

Candi Hackett

Bangor

Negative stereotype doesn’t fit Van Buren

I would like to congratulate all the teams in Aroostook County on their fine soccer seasons.

While some teams may not have reached their goals or not gotten as far in the playoffs as they had hoped, most used outstanding sportsmanship during the year. Unfortunately, there are always a few who do get a little over exuberant, but look at the positives. These are kids and we as coaches do our best to teach our athletes right from wrong.

While they still make mistakes, the positive sportsmanship I have seen this year far outweighs the negativity, like the spontaneous signing of the national anthem by the two soccer teams and the fans when the sound system would not work; the players helping a player up or saying “sorry” to them when they unintentionally fouled them; a player from the opposing team coming to me after a hard fought playoff game and saying congratulations and good luck, we will be cheering for you.

These are just a few examples of the many that I choose to reinforce. I just want to apologize to the Ashland fan for the one or two people who were being negative and say: Please don’t group a team or community into a negative stereotype for all the actions of a few.

Coach Jay Edgecomb

Van Buren

Cutting Chappelle was difficult for Auerbach

I want to thank Andrew Neff for his excellent article on the reaction of local people to the death of Red Auerbach (BDN, Oct. 30). For more than a year now, I have been writing a biography of Skip Chappelle, which will appear in 2007. In my research, I have found that Skip has had a number of contacts with Red Auerbach.

In 1957, two days after breaking a 37-year old New England high school tournament record by scoring 38 points at the Boston Garden, Skip was introduced to Red.

Four years later, Skip found himself working as a counselor at Auerbach’s Camp Millbrook in Marshwood, Mass.

Then, of course, came Skip’s tryout with the Celts and a remark made by Red to a Celtic intern to the effect that selecting John Havlicek over Skip was one of his most difficult decisions.

Bill Sawtell

Brownville

No sport involved in killing sentient beast

John Holyoke announced in his column (BDN, Oct. 31) that Chandler Woodcock killed a deer. Good news! The republican candidate for governor enjoys killing sentient beasts -for those who read and enjoy Holyoke’s column on a regular basis, “sentient” means the creature has the ability to feel pain – for the pure “sport” of it! I cannot think of a better reason to vote for anyone else for governor.

John D. Blaisdell

Bangor

Officiating was poor for HA vs. Belfast

On Oct. 27, I had the privilege to attend a great high school football playoff game between Hampden and Belfast. The teams were closely matched and the score was tied throughout the contest. This game was also the poorest example of officiating I had seen all year. There have been some pretty bad ones.

The next-to-last play of the game, Belfast scored a touchdown to go ahead. However, an official threw a flag three seconds after the touchdown and took it away. The five officials could not agree on the correct call. Belfast still had the ball after a large penalty.

The next play, the officials performed a makeup call against Hampden to try to make up for the previous poor quality call. The clock read 0.0 for time but the game could not end on a defensive penalty so Belfast got to try a field goal. They missed, game goes to overtime and Hampden is given the game by the officials.

Belfast had already won, they should not have had to win again. The officials of Eastern Maine Class B football are poorly trained and quite often biased for or against one team. They expect the fans, coaches, and players to respect them but they do not deserve it.

The officials need more accountability for their actions. The Maine Principals Association has rules for the actions and behavior for coaches, fans and athletes. The officials don’t seem to answer to anyone.

As a parent of a Belfast player I had to ride home and try to explain to a teenage boy why the officials are so poor. They are old, they are human, they try their best, etc. were lies to me.

Donald Barrett

Palermo

Soccer club played role in Bangor success

I was very pleased to read about the Bangor High School boys’ soccer team’s triumph in the Eastern Maine championship. Following on the heels of the girls winning their first championship last year, it appears that soccer has taken hold here in Bangor.

Indeed, boys coach Adam Leach remarked to the BDN that BHS has a “tremendous feeder system” in place. That feeder system is the Bangor Soccer Club.

Not too many people are aware of the history or even the existence of BSC other than those in the soccer community. In the fall of 1993, several parents of Bangor youths got together to discuss the idea of having something more than a recreational soccer program in the area. With a lot of hard work, the Bangor Soccer Program was formed in 1993 to provide travel soccer opportunities to local children ages 8-14.

That first year, there were two U-12 teams coached by two of the founders, Jerry Smith and Kevin Frazier. The next year, there were 74 players and five teams. In each successive year since then, the club has grown such that this past fall, the club put out 14 teams with 192 players. In addition, in 1996, the club began a spring recreational program which has evolved into the largest area youth sports program with over 520 children playing soccer in the program last spring.

BSC projects that in 2007, it will provide soccer playing opportunities to close to 1,000 children in the area. The club is nonprofit and run completely by volunteers, ranging from the nine board members to the 58 volunteer coaches in the spring to the 31 volunteer coaches this past fall to the 14 team parents.

The club has a strict developmental program in place for its fall travel program that ensures that the players in the program will develop over time in terms of skills and understanding of the game while also providing a fun, healthy sporting alternative for area youth to participate in.

While BHS fans revel in the success of their soccer players and coaches, the BSC is proud to have contributed even in a little way to that success as there were over 20 players on the BHS roster and a comparable number on the BHS girls varsity roster who are “graduates” of BSC’s fall travel program (including BHS girls’ varsity coach Larry Smith). This, in addition to BSC “alums” on the John Bapst Class B champions and even the Ellsworth Class B runners-up.

Due to the work of people like Kevin Frazier, Jerry Smith, Heidi and Robert Sypitkowski, Dawn Pelletier, Rod Towne, and countless others, BSC has flourished, and has made Bangor, once thought to be a football-baseball-basketball town only, a soccer town.

Terence Harrigan

Bangor

Note to readers: The BDN reserves the right to edit submissions for libel, taste, clarity, and to fit available space. Letters should include a signature, full name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be mailed to: P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402, or e-mailed: bdnsports@bangordailynews.net