Rebuild, Renew, Compete

by Steve Swogetinsky / staff writer
The Meridian Star

June 12, 2006 12:49 am

— There will be a couple of youth soccer teams playing in the State Games of Mississippi this weekend that should be everyone's favorite.
The BAYS (Bay Area Youth Soccer) program was one of Hurricane Katrina’s many victims when it hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast Aug. 29.
BAYS is an established program that has been around for many years. Nearly 700 players who came from Pass Christian, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Kiln and Diamondhead were signed up to play last fall. Instead of playing soccer, they found themselves trying to survive in the aftermath.
Hurricane Katrina washed the fields, nets and buildings away. The soccer facility property is now being used as a place for the county to operate its offices out of FEMA trailers.
Two teams (Under-12 boys and Under-10 girls) from BAYS will be participating in State Games Saturday, coached by Leo Laurent.
“The girls’ team is basically my recreation team and one other player we picked up,” Laurent said. “The Under-12 boys‚ team didn’t have enough so we have some 10-year-olds on it. But we were able to qualify in Laurel this past week and we are looking forward to it.”
Laurent’s 10-year-old boys’ team made it to the finals of State Games last year, but a lot has happened since then. For obvious reasons, the BAYS program did not have a fall season. About half of the league came back and played with the Gulfport leagues this spring. The teams stayed together and were included in the various leagues.
“Our registrar had saved all of the records from the storm,” Laurent said. “So it wasn’t that hard for the ones who wanted to keep playing, to do so. Our president (Matt Scardino) has worked hard to keep the organization alive and we will be back.”
Like many others on the Coast, Laurent lost his home in Hurricane Katrina.
“I lived about 10 miles up the river from the Coast, but the water came,” Laurent said. “My house was on top of my neighbors’ house. We are living in a FEMA trailer right now.”
Laurent, 30, grew up playing youth soccer and started as an eight-year-old in the BAYS program. He works as a delivery man when he’s not coaching soccer. He has three children who will be playing in State Games this summer, Brittany, Kaitlyn and Tyler.
It may be two or three years before BAYS program will be fully functional. In the meantime, Laurent said they will make do.
“We will still be playing in Gulfport, which is about a 15 to 20 minute drive,” Laurent said. “And we can practice in yards. And we have a little area. These are good kids and they love to play soccer.”

You can help
The State Games of Mississippi will have a special fund-raiser for the BAYS soccer program. Special arm bands are on sale now that read, “Rebuild, Renew, Compete.” The cost is $5 and all proceeds will be going to the BAYS program to help them rebuild.
“Amtrak paid to have 5,000 printed,” said State Games director April Luke. “All of the money will go to the BAYS. They will be on sale through the State Games and there will also be a collection can for anyone who might want to give some money.”
That could turn out to be a very nice gift of $25,000, not counting the gifts. And the BAYS program could probably put it to good use.
For more information, call State Games at 601-482-0205.

Changing sports

We all know that Clarkdale coach Rick Roberson stays busy during the school year with his slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball teams. But he doesn‚t get too much time off in the summer.
He will help run the softball competition for State Games this coming weekend. The tournament will be played under ASA rules and has several divisions in both slow-pitch and fast-pitch.
There will be a five-team high school division for slowpitch with New Hope, Perry Central, Clarkdale, Quitman and North Meridian Optimist Club entered. Other slowpitch divisions will include 14, 12 and 8-and-under divisions.
There will also be a high school fastpitch division along with a 14-and-under division.
The softball fields will continue to be busy for the next few weeks. First, there will be an ASA fastpitch national qualifying tournament for the 14s, 12s and 10-and-under division on June 24-25.
The USSSA was to hold its state tournament in Meridian on the weekend of July 1 and 2 but that has been moved to Brandon and Pearl. In talking with those folks, I couldn‚t quite get the gist as to why. But the ASA state tournaments will be back the following weekend on July 8 and 9. The 12s and 14s divisions will be played in Meridian while the 10s, 16s and 18s will be held in Tupelo. The national ASA tournament will be held later in July in Orlando, Fla.

More Clarkdale
High School notes:

— Construction is under way to build a new football field house. They are also building new bleachers and putting up new lights at the football stadium.
In related matter, the school board will meet Thursday to discuss what to do about the gym which was left unusable by Hurricane Katrina. Clarkdale‚s basketball games were played at Meridian Community College last year, and at this late date, I‚m betting that‚s where they will be playing at least some of the season there this year. A proposal to turn the multi-purpose building into a gym came in a $1 million over budget, and now the board will decide whether to re-bid it or look at what can be done to get the old gym back into use.
— The Lady Bulldogs won the NSA 16-and-under state tournament that was held in Hattiesburg last week. They beat the Jinx in the finals.
— Clarkdale will be host a slow-pitch team camp at Sammie Davidson on July 13 and 14. It will be similar to the basketball team camps where teams will be able to come in and play several games.
“It’s a couple of weeks before the start of the season, so it will give everyone a chance to get some work in,” Roberson said.
On a personal note — The summer will be over before you know it — and then it will be time for football season, thank God.
Steve Swogetinsky is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. Contact him at swog@hotmail.com.