-The Brattleboro Boys & Girls Club (BBGC) will host its 15th annual Going the Distance-Bike Ride Fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 21, to support free after-school programming for all local youth.
Organizers says Going the Distance is a ride-at-your-own-pace event, not a race. Riders have multiple routes to choose from including two new gravel rides and three road options. Registration fees are waived for riders who receive donations of support. Each cyclist sets their own fundraising goal.
"It's such a fun and interesting ride!" Betsy Hall of Brattleboro, a cyclist and longtime BBGC supporter, said in a news release. "Canal trails, rail trails, historic Deerfield, and for those of us who can't pass up a treat- Sweet Lucy's [Bakeshop in Bernardston]! 60 miles has never been so easy."
Both road and gravel bikers have a variety of routes to choose from. All rides are fully supported with rest stops, delicious foods, and support vans. All routes begin at the Club on Flat Street. Gravel rides travel through the dirt roads of Dummerston and Putney, while road bikers cruise through scenic areas of Turners Falls and Deerfield, Massachusetts.
Rest areas provide snacks and a hearty lunch from the beloved Marina Restaurant will also be served. The finish-line party is hosted by BBGC board members who will greet riders with food and drink.
This fundraising event typically raises $50,000, which covers the club's operational costs for a month. BBGC provides crucial skilled-based programming for teens and elementary aged students. All money raised supports the one-of-a-kind indoor skatepark, professional performance space, and computer lab for teens.
To register, volunteer or make a donation toward this event, visit bgcbrattleboro.org/going-the-distance, or email gtd@bgcbrattleboro.org.
High school teams start play this week
• The fall high school sports season gets started this week with a renewal of the Twin Valley/Leland & Gray soccer rivalry at Hayford Field in Wilmington. Both the boys and girls teams will be in action, with the boys playing at 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, and the girls playing at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31.
The Rebels will have their home openers in Townshend next week against Springfield, with the girls playing on Tuesday, Sept. 3, and the boys playing on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Both games start at 4:30 p.m.
Brattleboro soccer begins on Aug. 31, with the boys traveling to Woodstock for an 11 a.m. game. They'll have their home opener at Natowich Field against Burlington on Friday, Sept. 6, at 5:30 p.m.
The Brattleboro girls will start their season in Bennington in the Patriot Classic Tournament at Mount Anthony's Spinelli Field on Sept. 5 and 7. Their home opener is Thursday, Sept. 12, against Bellows Falls at Natowich Field at 7 p.m.
Bellows Falls soccer gets started on Aug. 30 with the Terrier girls at Springfield for a 4:30 p.m. game and the Terrier boys hosting Springfield on Aug. 31 for an 11 a.m. game. The BF girls will play their first home game on Tuesday, Sept. 10, when they host Twin Valley.
• The local field hockey teams begin play on Sept. 3, when Bellows Falls hosts Windsor for a 4 p.m. game. The Terriers then take a trip to South Burlington for an 11 a.m. game on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Brattleboro opens the season at Fair Haven on Aug. 31 at 11 a.m., and plays its home opener at Sawyer Field against Woodstock on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 4:15 p.m.
• The BF cross county team opens its season with a multi-team meet on Sept. 3, at 4:45 p.m. in Westminster, and will host the Eno Invitational on Friday, Sept. 13, at 4:15 p.m.
The Brattleboro cross country team will be at both events, as well as participating in a Tuesday, Sept. 10, meet at Thetford Academy.
• And Week 1 of the Vermont high school football season begins Aug. 30 with Brattleboro hosting Burr & Burton at 7 p.m. at Natowich Field, and Bellows Falls hosting Lyndon on Aug. 31 at Hadley Field for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
New sod for Natowich Field
• Tenney Field is not alone in seeing some long overdue upgrades. Brattleboro Union High School's other main sports facility, Natowich Field, got re-sodded over the summer. According to BUHS facilities director Ricky Aither, it is the most extensive work done to the field surface in its long history.
The natural grass surface at Natowich has taken a beating in recent years. Once reserved solely for football, it is now also used by the soccer teams in the fall and the lacrosse teams and Ultimate disc team in the spring. New sod will make it a smoother and safer playing surface for every team.
It's tough to maintain a natural turf field in Vermont, but not impossible if you have the time and resources to do it right. The football field at the Hadley Field complex at Bellows Falls Union High School is exceptional, but it is used only in the fall for football and has time to recover between seasons. The varsity soccer and field hockey fields behind the high school and the baseball diamond at Hadley Field are among the best in the state. All are nicely kept up, and that makes all the difference.
Student-athletes deserve a well-maintained field to play on, and the ongoing improvements at BUHS are a step in the right direction.
SVL holds its annual league meeting
• Coaches, athletic directors, and game officials met on Aug. 20 in Rutland for the Southern Vermont League (SVL) annual meeting. According to Tom Haley of the Rutland Herald, there were a few items of interest that came out of the meeting for Windham County fans.
The SVL cross country championships for the larger schools will be held once again later this fall at Bellows Falls Union High School.
SVL soccer officials assignor Eric Evans said there should be no shortage of game officials for boys and girls soccer this season. He said four new officials have joined the ranks, and they'll be doing junior varsity games to gain experience this season.
There were requests by various athletic directors to move up or down divisions within the SVL. Brattleboro was one of them, as athletic director Chris Sawyer asked for the Bears' field hockey team to be moved up into the A Division for the 2025 season, saying that Brattleboro's program numbers are healthy and that many of the schools in the B Division, where the Bears now play, do not have junior varsity teams.
SVL executive director Tim Brown said he will continue to compile SVL standings for all sports and get them out to the state's media outlets in an effort to promote the league and raise its profile around Vermont.
High school sports participation hits an all-time high
• It has taken a long time for high school sports to get back to the participation levels we saw before the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there was some encouraging news last week from the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS), which announced that in 2023-24, the number of athletes participating in interscholastic high school athletics in the United States topped 8 million participants for the first time.
The annual NFHS participation survey found there were 8,062,302 participants in high school sports in the 2023-24 school year. That number represents an increase of more than 200,000 participants and breaks the record of 7,980,886, set in 2017-18.
Both boys (4,638,785) and girls (3,423,517) posted record highs for participation, according to the survey, and the 2023-24 total marked the second consecutive increase after numbers tumbled during the pandemic.
"Since the first survey after the pandemic, participation in high school sports has increased 444,248 in just two years," wrote Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the NFHS, on their website. "We are really pleased to report that for the first time we had more than eight million participants in high school sports. This tells us that our schools are doing a great job trying to engage as many kids as possible in our programs."
Nationally, football was the top sport on the boys' side (1,031,508). Outdoor track & field (625,333) was second for boys, and ranked as the most popular individual girls' sport (506,015). Basketball and outdoor track & field were the two most common sports, with 18,587 boys' basketball teams and 18,090 girls' basketball teams nationally.
The growth in girls' sports opportunities has greatly increased since the first NFHS participation survey in the 1971-72 school year, the last school year before before enactment of Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government.
In 1971-72, there were just 294,015 girls participating in high school sports. By 1973-74, that number increased to 1,300,169. By 1993-94, it was 2,240,461. By 2006-07, it was 3,021,807.
Vermont is the state with the lowest number of participants in school sports, which is not surprising given the total population of Vermont (647,064 as of 2022; only Wyoming has fewer people) and the equally small school-age population (83,534 students enrolled in a total of 293 schools in 98 school districts as of 2022). The 2023-24 numbers have not yet been released by the NFHS, but the 2022-23 survey found 5,044 boys and 4,676 girls participating in Vermont high school sports.
Senior bowling roundup
• Since we didn't have a sports roundup in the Aug. 14 issue, I lost track of how many weeks were left in the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl. Last week was Week 17, the next-to-last week of the season and Misguided (58.5-26.5) remains in first place. Slo Movers (53.5-31.5) is in second place, and could finish tied for the season championship with Misguided, but they would have to win all their games this week and have Misguided lose all their games to do that.
Half Normal (49-36) is in third place, followed by Spare Change (43.5-41.5), Fab 4 (43-42), Split Happens (41-44), Stayin' Alive (40-45), Three Musketeers (36-49), High Rollers (27-58), and Incredibowls (28.5-31.5).
Carol Gloski had the women's high handicap game (258) and series (650), while Chuck Adams had the men's high handicap game (258) and series (724). Slo Movers had the high team handicap game (927) and series (2,618).
Adams had the men's high scratch series (688), with games of 244, 230, and 214. John Walker had a 596 series with games of 224 and 193, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 569 series with two 199 games, and Milt Sherman had a 546 series with a 198 game. Gary Montgomery had a 545 series with a 201 game, Robert Rigby had a 535 series, Jerry Dunham had a 500 series with a 193 game, and Mike Pavlovich had a 211 game.
Gloski once again had the women's high scratch series (515) and game (213). Nancy Dalzell had a 163 game, Diane Cooke had a 161 game, Candida Wall had a 155 game, and Shirley Aiken rolled a 151.
Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at news@commonsnews.org.
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.