East County Observer 8.17.23

YOU

Schools open with addition

YOUR TOWN

Taste of salsa

Melanie and Jim Alsum (above) originally saw the Dynasty Dance Clubs program at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch and they were impressed.

When the club said it would be offering free lessons at Waterside Place, the Aslums decided to give dancing a try since they live right across the lake. They left the event after learning how to salsa dance.

“We love it down here,” Melanie said. “It’s always fun.” Lessons at the lake were offered to all ages.

With one teacher for the kids and another for the grownups, the event was called “Date Day.”

Shining bright in the new school year

Jeannine Germer (above), a fifth grade teacher, joined dozens of her Gilbert W. McNeal Elementary School colleagues for a night of painting before the school year began.

The teachers were guided through how to paint a lighthouse at Painting with a Twist Aug. 1.

The lighthouse is representative of the school’s theme, “Wildcats shine bright.” McNeal Elementary was designated a Leader in Me Lighthouse School during the 2022-2023 school year and is the first traditional school in Manatee County to earn the recognition.

Peculiar way to spend retirement

Retirement didn’t suit John Breiner, so he is opening the Peculiar Pub on Lakewood Main Street.

River Club’s John Breiner was loving retirement.

The Lakewood Ranch restaurateur had come to an agreement to sell his Wolves Head Pizza and Wings in May and he was home with his family, sitting by the pool and barbecuing.

Ahh, the good life. It lasted a whole week.

Breiner’s wife, Jackie, has a parttime job and a regular schedule she had formed while her husband worked at the restaurant, so she wasn’t available to keep him company. The twin boys, 21-year-olds Derek and Jason, had to head back to the University of Florida where they are studying to be doctors.

All Breiner’s friends, who are about his age of 57, aren’t retired yet.

And it was simply too darned hot for Breiner to go out on his own and play golf.

“That second week, reality sunk in,” he said. “What am I going to do with myself for the next 20 years?”

Jackie Breiner told him, “You need to get a job.”

A “worker” his entire life, his choice was inevitable. He would go back to work.

For much of his life, along with owning and working at restaurants, he would own or work in the construction industry. So he thought he might be a handyman in the area.

Then he saw a listing that Craft Growlers to Go and Tasting Room at 8141 Lakewood Main St. was for sale.

“I had never set foot in the place,” he said. “But when I came to see it, it gave me goose pimples.”

Breiner had stepped into what has become his newest venture, the Peculiar Pub.

On Aug. 12, Breiner took a break from painting the interior of his new restaurant to talk about his return to

OPENING SOON

What: Peculiar Pub

Where: 8141 Lakewood Main St., Lakewood Ranch

Expected soft opening: Within the next week

Owner: John Breiner

On the menu: Hot pressed sandwiches, cold sandwiches, hot pretzels, nachos, gourmet hot dogs, craft beer, domestic beer, wine Phone: 822-8131

Lakewood Main Street. He is hoping to have a soft opening in the next week.

The restaurant/pub is billed as “bites and brews” and will only serve beer and wine. The menu will be made up of hot pressed and cold sandwiches, hot pretzels, nachos, and gourmet hot dogs.

It will be a place where the patrons can enjoy a quick, reasonably priced meal or snack, along with a few brews. His beer lineup will include 18 Florida craft favorites along with “regular” beer selections such as Budweiser Select, Yuengling, Michelob Ultra and Stella.

“We’re going to have $3 specials and $6 crafts,” he said of beer prices.

Asked if he would be selling “Coney” dogs, he replied, “Being from Jersey? Come on!”

That was a big yes.

Peculiar Pub is about 1,400 square feet, down from the 2,500 square feet of Wolves Head, which was down from the 3,200-square-foot Ed’s Tavern, which he founded in Lakewood Ranch in 2008.

“It’s about stress, and life is all about quality of life,” he said.

It was in 2008, with the economy headed south, that Breiner was working to open the doors of Ed’s

Tavern at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch.

“When people were running away, we were doing construction,” he said. “It would be 6 p.m. and all the lights were off (on Lakewood Main Street). We were like, ‘What did we get into?’”

Ed’s Tavern, though, was turning into a hit, and eventually became more than what Breiner wanted to handle with his wife and two young kids at home. He was coaching basketball, baseball and soccer, but he felt the need to be around his business until closing, and that could be 1-2 a.m.

For the record, Ed’s Tavern had been the name of a business in Breiner’s family since the early 1930s. It started as Ed’s Grocery in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, before the family moved down the street at open the first Ed’s Tavern in 1935. Ed was his

great uncle, the late Ed Wilczynski.

When Breiner eventually moved to Port Charlotte in 2003, he opened his own Ed’s Tavern there, selling in 2008 when he moved to Lakewood Ranch, where he opened another Ed’s.

Anyone who knows Breiner understands he has a sense of humor. People would call Ed’s Tavern in Lakewood Ranch and ask for Ed.

Breiner would reply, “Ed’s dead.”

In 2014, Breiner sold Ed’s Tavern and bought the smaller space that became Wolves Head Pizza and Wings.

Wolves Head also did well, often seeing its patrons lining up for more than an hour wait.

“You should be careful what you wish for,” Breiner said of his success at Wolves Head. “I had more than 50 employees.” He has had success almost every

step of the way.

“It takes luck, hard work and the grace of God to be a huge success,” he said. “That’s it in a nutshell.”

He said owning a business at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch makes him feel like he has come full circle.

Being a worker, he was ready to get back to his painting after talking about his new restaurant. Certainly, he could afford to hire somebody to do the job, but he would rather do it himself. It might be work to most, but he likes it.

“You have to love this business, or it runs you over,” he said. “It’s a good thing, and a bad thing. I have to be involved.

“And this community has been so great to me and my family. We’ve made so many great friends. I am super stoked to be back on Main.”

A NEW SCHOOL YEAR: BY THE NUMBERS

The 2023-2024 school year features new leadership and more students in the School District of Manatee County.

As Jason Wysong, the superintendent of the School District of Manatee County, toured R. Dan Nolan Middle School, he was able to get a glimpse at the innovative programming offered.  Wysong, who was sworn in Aug. 3, learned all about Nolan Middle School’s Animatronics Lab, Anatomage table, FFA barn, and more. The tour at Nolan, along with other Manatee County schools on the first day of school Aug. 10, marked the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

Wysong said he is looking forward to meeting students, parents, teachers and staff.

“I’m getting to know them and receiving their feedback because that will shape some of my recommendations,” he said. “This is a community where academics, athletics and arts are already very balanced. I’m looking forward to getting to all of those events throughout the school year and looking for those opportunities to add new things while at the same time sustaining all the great initiatives that are already in place.”

As a national teacher shortage persists, Wysong said the School District of Manatee County had between 98% and 99% of teaching positions filled for the first day of school.

About 300 teachers attended the district’s new-teacher orientation July 26-27 at Braden River High School. Wysong said half of the new teachers were new to the profession while the other half are veteran teachers who moved to Manatee County.

He said the district is continuing to hire not only teachers but also bus drivers, individuals in food service and other positions.

As the school year begins, here’s an overview of the School District of Manatee County:

Derek Jensen has been named the deputy superintendent of instructional services. He previously served as the director of teaching and learning for Seminole County Public Schools from 2020 to August 2023 before joining Manatee County Aug. 7.

Joseph Ranaldi has been named the deputy superintendent of operations. He previously had been serving as the chief operations officer for the School District of Manatee County since

He

Administrator selection down to four candidates

Commissioners could select new Manatee County administrator as soon as Aug. 22.

LESLEY DWYER STAFF WRITER

Manatee County commissioners will interview the four finalists for the county administrator position Aug. 18, a day after those finalists have a meet-and-greet with the public, and two days after they tour the community.

The Aug. 18 meeting will be open to the public beginning at 1:30 p.m. at the Manatee County Commissioner Chambers, 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.

A Manatee County press release said a new administrator could be chosen during the Aug. 18 meeting or at the commission meeting on Aug. 22.

The Aug. 17 meet-and-greet will be held from 5-8 p.m. at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave., W., Bradenton.

A national search for a new administrator was pared down to five candidates at the Aug. 8 commission meeting. Each commissioner was asked to name four to five top choices to submit. One candidate was named by all seven commissioners — Andrew Butterfield.

Butterfield is serving as the operations manager for the city of St. Pete Beach’s Public Works department, and he has an extensive military background.

He served as a multiservice military base deputy commander, naval base commander, deputy chief of staff, squadron commander and department head. The other four candidates commissioners want to interview are William Smith, Don Rosenthal, Dale Dougherty and James Doar. Doar, who was placed in the top

five by all the commissioners except District 1 Commissioner James Satcher, has since dropped out of the running. He has been the county administrator in Gallatin County, Montana since 2014. Doar noted in his cover letter that he and his wife are both University of Florida alumni and have family living in Bradenton.  Smith received five votes from the seven commissioners. He’s been a county manager since 1993 serving Washington and Wayne counties in North Carolina, and most recently, Chatham County in Georgia.

Rosenthal and Dougherty each were supported by four commissioners. Rosenthal served as the assistant county administrator for Pasco County from 2014-2019 and is currently Pasco’s commercial and redevelopment project liaison.

Dougherty also gained experience in Pasco County. From 2015 to 2018, he served as the director of parks and recreation. Since 2018, he’s been the city manager in Garden City, Michigan.

Wetlands protections under scrutiny

Manatee County commissioners will consider lessening wetland protections to align more with state guidelines.

LESLEY DWYER STAFF WRITER

The residents who packed the Manatee County Administration Building’s Patricia M. Glass Chambers on Aug. 10 said they wanted to deliver a clear message to county commissioners.

On Aug. 17, the commissioners will consider changes to the Comprehensive Plan that would lessen protections for wetlands.

Manatee County staff members said they could save staffing time if commissioners would remove language that causes duplicative processes through both the state and county.

As Planning Commission Chairman Bill Conerly put it, it will also save time for anyone building anything.

However, the changes being considered would cut language out of the Comprehensive Plan where the county provides additional protection over state guidelines for wetlands when it comes to development.

OBJECTIONS TO CHANGES

Most in the standing room-only crowd Aug. 10 were pleading with the county not to make any changes to the Comprehensive Plan. One citizen said changes to the Comprehensive Plan wouldn’t even benefit builders in the long run.

“If our waterways are tainted, no one’s going to come (to Manatee County),” Elwood Park resident John Taylor said during the public comment period. “They’re not going to come and buy the houses they want to build. They’re not going to rent

houses or visit vacation homes if we have smelly waterways with dead fish.”

Some of those in attendance were worried that the proposed changes have come about because builders are pressing to have more land available for construction.

Bradenton resident Nancy West has lived in Manatee County for 50 years and is a member of the Serenoa Chapter of the Florida Native Plants Association.

“I’ve seen all the (proposed) changes,” West said. “And I’ve seen that the developers seem to have more power than the average citizen.”

Those who came to speak against the proposed changes received a level of satisfaction when planning commissioners voted 4-2 to recommend that Manatee County commissioners not make any changes that would lessen wetland protections.

The four planning commissioners who opposed a language change in the Comprehensive Plan said they either couldn’t see how the changes benefited the public or didn’t have enough information to recommend

any changes at this point.

Proposed changes to the Comprehensive Plan would effectively hand regulatory power to the state in regards to building near wetlands. Manatee County commissioners are not bound to follow the Planning Commission’s recommendation, so the proposed changes still could be passed Aug. 17 at the county commission meeting.

NO CHANGES RECOMMENDED

During the Aug. 10 meeting, Planning Commissioner Paul Rutledge made a motion to defer the vote on whether or not to recommend the changes until more scientific information on wetland impacts could be reviewed. When the motion became overly complicated, he made a new motion to vote down the recommendation instead.

Cindy Kebba seconded the motion, and it passed in a 4-2 vote with John DeLesline and David Roth providing the other two votes in favor. Conerly and newly appointed member Richard Bedford voted against the motion. Planning Commissioner Bill Smock was absent.

TWO NEW MEMBERS

Kebba noted a large number of public comments received by the Planning Commission prior to the meeting. She read them all, but said one simplified the matter for her when it came to voting — “Finish this sentence: This change is in the public interest because ...”

“I can’t answer that,” Kebba said.

“The staff report says the question we’re supposed to answer is “Is this in the public benefit? I don’t think it is.”

No one from Manatee County’s staff spoke during the presentation, which was handled by the county’s consultant, Daniel DeLisi. His assessment pointed to land acquisition and restoration projects as more effective means to improve water quality than the current language that extends buffers beyond state requirements, saying more is not “blanketly” better.

Former Commissioner Joe McClash, who served the county at-large for 22 years, brought a PowerPoint presentation and about 400 pages of scientific research to enter into the record to dispute DeLisi’s assessment and questioned the origins of the proposed changes.

“The request (to make changes to the Comprehensive Plan) was made by the Building Industry Association. Not a bad thing, people have the right to come before the county and ask for changes all the time,” McClash said. “The way it’s done, though, should be transparent. You have something that really wasn’t county initiated because it was duplication. It was because, supposedly, the development interests have an interest in changing the rules.”

Changes being considered would include lowering mitigation efforts, too. While the BIA requested the county reconsider a few policies and codes, Information Outreach Manager Bill Logan said there was no lack of transparency.

“This is common practice where engineers, planners or attorneys ask staff to think about updates due to changes in circumstances over the years,” Logan replied by email. “Land

On Aug. 8, county commissioners were tasked with appointing two new members to the planning commission. Within minutes, Richard Bedford and Lorraine Prosser were chosen.

Richard Bedford was appointed to the commission the morning of the Aug. 10 meeting. He takes the place of Ray Turner, who was appointed to the Board of County Commissioners by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Turner took office on Aug. 1, replacing District 5 Commissioner Vanessa Baugh. He made the motion to appoint Bedford.

Bedford was the vice president of planning for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch before opening Real Estate and Land Consulting LLC in 2019. While with SMR, he led design and consulting for the Waterside Place development. The second seat will be vacant as of October because Conerly has decided not to renew his appointment. Commissioner James Satcher nominated Prosser.

Prosser owns Prosser Painting LLC with her husband, David, and currently serves on the Environmental Lands Management and Acquisition Committee.

development regulations and Comprehensive Plans are not meant to be written and then left intact or irrefutable for 20-30 years.”

Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge stood in the back of the room for part of the discussion. He said the other commissioners were likely watching online, but until a presentation was given to the board, he wouldn’t comment.  If language changes are approved by the Manatee County Commission, those changes would go before the board one last time on Oct. 5 to either be adopted or rejected.

Construction, and learning, zones

LIZ RAMOS SENIOR EDITOR

Construction workers finished paving the parking lot and queuing loop at Tara Elementary School just in time for the first day of school Aug. 10.

The changes to the school’s campus won’t stop there.

While students and staff return to school, construction and architecture officials reassured members of the School Board of Manatee County that school would go uninterrupted as they progressed through the campus-wide renovations and additions at Tara Elementary School and Carlos E. Haile Middle School.

Joe Ranaldi, the deputy superintendent of operations for the school district, said both budgets have been at or below the guaranteed maximum prices for both projects.

TARA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Todd Sweet with Sweet Sparkman

Architecture and Interiors said the school will include a 200-foot perforated screen fence with the name of the school as well as images of children on the screen at the entrance.  He said the images of the children on the fence will vary in size to demonstrate the growth of the students within the building from kindergarten to fifth grade.

“We want to give the school a new image from the street,” Sweet said. “This was done in close collaboration with the principal, (Laura) Campbell and her staff, so they are a very vital, important part of this project.”

A front canopy with seating will be added to the front entrance.

The $31.4 million project will increase the student stations on campus from 701 to 781.

The four-classroom addition will be constructed to connect Building 1 and Building 2. Building 1 houses administration, the art and music classrooms and the cafeteria while Building 2 is classrooms.

HAILE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Haile Middle students will have to adjust to learning in portables this school year as 13 portables were put on the back of Haile’s campus last spring, and over the summer, the portables were hooked up with the infrastructure needed to be ready for the start of school.

A 10-classroom addition will be constructed next to Building 3 and include a technology lab, eight classrooms and an agriculture lab. The addition will add 220 student stations and bring the school’s capacity to 1,087 students from 889.

The guaranteed maximum price

ONGOING CONSTRUCTION

Here is a look at the phases of construction at both Tara Elementary and Haile Middle. The first phase on both projects is complete. The entire Tara project has a completion date of summer 2025 while the Haile project is expected to be finished in summer 2024

Phase 1: Site utilities and parking lot 1 renovation

Phase 2: Renovation of Building 1W (former Building 2)

Phase 3: Renovation of Building 2

Phase 4: Construction of addition

Phase 5: Renovation of Building 1

Phase 6: Renovation of Building 3

Phase 7: Renovation of Building 4

Phase 8: Work on parking lot 2 and playground renovations

Carlos E. Haile Middle School

Phase 1: Create construction entrance and add portables

Phase 2: Construct addition and renovate Building 4

Phase 3: Renovation of Buildings 3, 5, and 6

Phase 4: Renovations of Buildings 3 and 6 and renovate Buildings 1 and 2

for the addition and campuswide renovation is nearly $36.8 million.

The project includes replacement of mechanical and plumbing systems, new roofing, improvement of the technology infrastructure and building improvements such as the windows, doors and insulation systems.

There also will be site improvements including stormwater and repairs to canopies, concrete walks and associated drainage.

Courtesy rendering

Creative Contractors Inc. and Sweet Sparkman Architecture and Interiors is working with the School District of Manatee County to renovate Tara Elementary School and construct an addition.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

With 30% of the design complete, here’s where the plans stand currently.

AQUATIC CENTER

■ 25-yard-by-25-meter pool with starting blocks, lane lines, one-meter diving boards and a shallow area for swim lessons and fitness classes

■ 25-yard-by-50-meter pool

■ Therapy pool

■ Pool deck shade structures and seating

■ Public locker rooms with showers and restrooms

■ First aid and lifeguard office with staff lockers, showers and restrooms

RACKET CENTER

■ 24 pickleball courts, 14 are covered

■ 10 tennis courts

level of competition to the area,”

Park plans creep forward

New commissioner wants Manatee County’s staff to ‘step on the gas’ when it comes to building Premier Park.

LESLEY DWYER

STAFF WRITER

New District 5 Commissioner Ray Turner made it known he wants important projects in his district to progress in a timely manner.

Turner added Premier Park as a topic on the agenda for the Aug. 8 Manatee County Commission meeting. He wanted to know how soon the public can expect to see amenities at the park.

Manatee County purchased the 127-acre Premier Sports Campus in 2017, along with an adjacent 36

acres to the north. The county added another 75-acre purchase from SMR, adjacent to the north end of the 36 acres, in 2018. Those 75 acres, along with the 36 acres, have been referred to as Premier Park.

While the county will open the Lakewood Ranch Library late this year on the Premier Park property, no common sports facilities, such as courts, fields or gyms have broken ground.

Most of the discussion at the Aug. 8 meeting focused on the $40 million aquatics and racket center, which is 30% into the planning stage.

“How do we step on the gas?” he asked during the meeting in reference to building those facilities.

The answer was provided by Construction Services Manager Tom Yarger, who said the board needed to approve the design phase of the center to advance toward the 60% mark, from its current 30% level.

Turner’s motion to move the plan-

ning to the 60% level was passed unanimously by the board.

Presently, plans include 10 hardsurface tennis courts, 24 pickleball courts and three pools, each serving a different use. As is, the cost is estimated at $42 million with $39 million funded so far.

Discussions on the topic were limited. When Board Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge asked what each pool will cost, Yarger told him he can’t provide cost estimates on specific items until the planning reaches the 60% mark.

With 25- and 50-meter pools, plus an additional therapy pool, included in the design, Van Ostenbridge suggested the pools provide an easy place to make cuts if necessary. Deputy Director of Sports and Leisure Molly White explained the decision-making behind installing three pools.

“With an aquatics center of this size, you’d be bringing the highest

White said. “That’s due to the 50-meter.”

But a 50-meter pool alone won’t bring in the same level of competition it would alongside a 25-meter pool. White said the two work like sisters with athletes often using the 25-meter to warm up before competitions in the 50-meter.

Plans for the 50-meter pool also include diving boards, which will attract diving competitions as well as swim meets.

The therapy pool would only be about four-feet deep and is intended

for people struggling with ailments such as joint pain. The park could also utilize it for classes like water aerobics.

Commissioner Mike Rahn asked if the plans allowed for water polo and synchronized swimming events to be held on the campus.

“I’m just trying to think about all the competitions we could bring into this aquatic center that would make it one of those elite facilities, like Benderson is for rowing,” Rahn said.   White said a deeper depth would be required for those types of competitions, which would change the pricing and size of the pools, but it’s been discussed by staff and can be revisited.

“The aquatics building and the racket building — currently, it looks like they are connected,” Yarger said. “One of the cost savings measures that we would be considering is to separate them and make each one of them a little bit smaller, so we can save the square footage cost of that.”

The parking lot is expected to have about 500 spaces.

The matter of baseball and softball fields versus pickleball courts was also raised. Commissioner James Satcher felt the fields were less expensive and more of a need within the community.

There are future plans for a cloverleaf design that incorporates four baseball and softball fields, but the $39 million is earmarked for the aquatic and racket center only.

Turner cited the large number of retirees living in Lakewood Ranch and said sports fields should be a priority, but only after the pickleball courts are completed.

WHAT’S TAKING SO LONG?

The property was originally purchased by Manatee County from Schroeder-Manatee Ranch in 2017 under the agreement that an aquatics center would be built within five years.

“A lot has happened since 2017 or 2019; 30% plans means that the process for installation of the facilities is indeed underway. In addition to dealing with a pandemic and global supply chain issues, it’s important to note that the economy, at the time, was different,” Information Outreach Manager for Manatee County Bill Logan said. “There was also a focus on aquatics north of the river, which was realized with the Lincoln Aquatic Center and getting the athletic fields up and running at Premier. We look forward to the further work and eventual completion of this important project.”

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of learning exists was over.

“It is surprising to me they think I have nothing to say,” Novak said. “But a lot of my work was in direct opposition to what was popular.”

SPREADING THE WORD

He is hopeful if his ideas spread through the sports world, through coaches like Herbst and nonprofits like NXT Athletics Institute for Learning, school systems might take notice that the concepts can be used in the classroom.

“This has been a new theory of sports learning,” said Novak, who first started creating concept maps in 1975. “If we can get the parents to see this works in sports, they might ask ‘Why can’t we get this to work in education?’”

That thought makes each day exciting for Novak, who has lost most of his vision and in October said he wasn’t going to write any more books.

Working with Herbst and NXT Athletics Institute, he said another book might be possible.

One of the hooks that prompted Novak into working with Herbst was a seemingly simple practice wall (3D Sports Walls) the coach created.

“He developed this wall, but it’s not flat,” Novak said. “It has panels at an angle. The players have to think about strategy (because of the way the ball comes off the wall), how they will cope. I told him, ‘You are a creative guy.’ I thought we could work together.”

Answering the call

For much of his life, 92-year-old Joe Novak wondered whether he has been banging his head into a wall as he promoted a societal change to “meaningful learning” as opposed to the norm of memorization-heavy Rote learning in public schools.

Perhaps Novak, who lives in the Sheridan in Lakewood Ranch, was just competing in the wrong arena.

Tennis anyone?

In September, Novak’s story was told in the East County Observer with an article that covered his educational studies, his 41 books on education subjects, and his basic concepts of learning.

At the end of that article was Novak’s telephone number and his offer to speak to anyone interested about the topic. He thought, perhaps, someone from the School District of Manatee County would like to pick his brain.

The call came, but the person on the other end of the line was an unexpected inquirer. It was Lakewood Ranch’s Dickie Herbst, a former professional tennis player and a longtime coach. Besides his professional and college career at Pepperdine, Herbst, who is entering his second season as Lakewood Ranch High’s tennis coach, is known for coaching pro stars such as Patrick McEnroe and Tim Mayotte.

“As a coach, it is difficult to improve, to get better,” Herbst said.

“I was fascinated on Joe’s theory of education, and his concept mapping.”

Herbst wondered if he could incorporate many of Novak’s strategies into his coaching, and if he could go even farther and positively influence the way kids in general learn tennis, or any sport for that matter.

He began meeting with Novak, a professor emeritus at Cornell University, at least once a week, starting in October. They quickly developed a friendship that will promote changes to the way kids approach learning a sport. A bonus developed in that goal when it became a healthy relationship for Novak as well.

Novak’s wife, Joan, died in January, so his regular work with Herbst has kept his mind busy.

“It has been so refreshing to talk to Dickie and his friends,” Novak said.

“It’s like I am back in the classroom again.”

HIGHLY MOTIVATED

Novak said that most of the people his age he encounters only want to talk about “what the next meal is.”

Now he wakes up each morning “highly motivated.”

“Joe says that I have given him a new lease on life,” Herbst said with a smile.

Herbst is motivated as well. Besides incorporating Novak’s concept mapping and interview strate-

gies into his own coaching methods, he is using the concepts to spearhead a non-profit he has helped to form with other powerful tennis personalities.

The NXT Athletics Institute for Learning wants to integrate Novak’s concept mapping into a program it hopes to spread across America.

The NXT Athletics Institute has put out a statement saying, “The most impactful and transformational contribution coming out of Novak’s 60-plus years of research is a process known as ‘concept mapping.’ Concepts, connected by linking words, form propositions that describe one concept’s relationship with one or more other concepts.

“Such maps reflect externally the hierarchical way in which the brain comes to understand, connect, store and access these concepts. Understanding the hierarchical nature of knowledge leads to greater retention.”

Simply put, NXT Athletics Institute for Learning believes that children play sports, but they don’t learn how to play a sport.

The nonprofit offers the following example. “Memorizing multiplication tables does not result in an understanding of the concepts of math, nor does knowing how all the pieces on a chess board move result in understanding the strategies of the game.”

Novak has pushed that concept for years in the education arena.

Herbst points to Novak’s last book “Helping People Learn,” that was published last year, and notes that it offers “compelling evidence that most American students today experience Rote learning in a “memorize–test–forget” environment.

He said it leaves most students “unable to grasp the connections and relationships between concepts, and so they are not able to “see the big picture.”

Novak thought his days of trying to convince educators that a better way

Herbst, who is 68, loved the compliment.

He started taping his interviews with the players (of all ages) that he coached, and he would have Novak review the tapes to critique them.

“There is not a lot of meaningful learning in coaching,” Herbst said. “That is what frustrates me about coaching. You see these kids, and they are drilling six hours a day. In tennis, you are physically memorizing how to hit a stroke. But the players don’t understand the job of a forehand or a backhand. They are looking at it from one piece.”

He said a lot of the strategy had been coming to him for some time, but Novak gave him the “scaffolding” to build a better system.

Dave Fish, who coached tennis at Harvard for 44 years, loves the “scaffolding” as well. Fish has joined NXT Athletics Institute and he believes Novak’s concepts will be a big part of the nonprofit’s efforts.

“Joe is like Yoda and Buddha,” Fish said of Novak. “He will listen, and then add something that will pull everything together.  He is going to impact families on the way kids learn.”

NEW IDEAS Fish said he hopes parents and youth sports coaches are willing to listen to the new ideas about to be spread by NXT Athletics Institute.

“The mission is to pass this on,” Fish said. “What we are seeing is that, at first, parents are uneasy, and the kids are uneasy. But with questions, they all jump in.”

The whole system also uses parents as observers who can work with the coaches, and offer input that can be passed to the athlete with “one voice.” Fish said he also has built his own concept map.

“I’m 73 and I’m playing better than ever,” he said. “I am treating myself as a Guinea pig. I’ve found that the concepts create a better way to learn. The potential here is enormous. This could have a lasting impact on the future.”

For more information about NXT Athletics Institute, 3D Sports Walls, meaningful learning or concept mapping, contact Herbst at Dickie@ NXTAthletics.org.

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944

Publisher and President / Emily Walsh, EWalsh@YourObserver.com

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At 92, Joe Novak finds that his learning theories are still in demand.

Wetland protections should draw public interest

You might have experienced this Lakewood Ranch-area garage phenomenon yourself.  This is a roughly middle class annoyance that occurs after you buy your home, and then try to pull in the garage with your F-150 pickup.

Everything looks great, until you find out that you can’t close the garage door because the bumper is sticking out.

Let’s be clear about this — the American-made Ford isn’t to blame for making pickups that are more than 17 feet long and won’t fit into garages.

I can assure you that I love everything about my home. It is well-built, and comfortable from floor to ceiling, and front door to back. A lot of thought went into making the kitchen area and master bath/bedroom as perfect as can be. I couldn’t be more impressed with the builder.

Except for the garage.

Sure, I could have parked my F-150 (this was not a super cab, extra long truck) in the garage if I would have removed the utility sink and any shelving. It was either that, or parking the truck in the driveway, or getting rid of it all together.

Goodbye old friend.

It points to a rather huge flaw when it comes to builders, and space.

Common sense would tell you that anyone building a home, and especially anyone who builds hundreds of homes, should know that size garage isn’t appropriate for our society. In January, Ford announced that the best selling pickup in America, for the 46th consecutive year, was the F-150.

Do builders all drive Toyotas?

Now let’s suppose that those drawing up the plans for these middle class homes are not stupid. That means they designed these shortie garages for a reason.

Consider an 800-home development, and an extra three feet of materials and land per home to make a longer garage. God forbid, it might mean the builder would have to build 798 homes. At $500,000 apiece, that’s a cool $1 million savings with the shortie garage, not even to mention materials.

So is it surprising that on Aug. 17, the Manatee County Commission will consider changes to the Comprehensive Plan that could reduce county-set buffers separating construction and wetlands?

For builders, this is simple math, just like with the garages. Let’s say you can save 100 yards of space, 25 feet wide. Can you squeeze another two houses into your development?

When I got rid of my F-150, I

wasn’t thrilled, but the choice to buy the home was my own. Considering my neighborhood has few pickups, I would imagine that several others made the same choice.

It was our choice.

When commissioners consider reducing wetland protections, it is also our choice. We elected them.

Now you might want to argue that point, but it is how the system works. If you don’t like it, go find a candidate to run in the next election. Or show up at the commission meetings and make your point. Or make sure you write or call your commissioners to let them know how you feel.

In the case of wetland protections, I believe the public has made its stance clear. In 2020, 71.27% of

the voters passed an environmental lands program that would identify and purchase endangered, environmentally sensitive and significant land.

This doesn’t say anything about wetlands protection and construction, but a third grader could understand the significance of the 2020 vote. The citizens are concerned about the environment and especially our water in the face of overwhelming growth.

In that environment, so to speak, would anyone support such a move in order to line up with softer state regulations concerning wetlands?

On Aug. 10, the Manatee County Planning Commission voted 4-2 not to recommend any changes to county regulations regarding

wetlands and construction. Commissioners don’t have to follow that recommendation, but in this case, it would seem to be the right move, if they indeed represent their constituents.

It all has put new District 5 Commissioner Raymond Turner in a tough spot in the first month of his tenure in office. Turner said last week that a commissioner can both prepare for oncoming growth, and be environmentally conscious. I totally agree.

Growth in our county is inevitable and to ignore infrastructure improvements would not be in the public’s best interest. Manatee County’s development boundary must be extended to accommodate growth. The existing border doesn’t reflect current conditions and is outdated.

The environmental part of the equation, though, is just how it is done, and where, and why. If commissioners, indeed, are both pro-growth and environmentally sensitive, they will have to be cognizant of projects that don’t make sense, and dismiss them.

While the Aug. 17 meeting won’t be about the development boundary, it is about environmental concerns. Can the commissioners bring new homes, businesses, and tax revenues to the county and live with tighter wetland regulations than the state offers?

We will see.

Make A Plan.

Braden River grad applies himself to a musical

Senior year at Braden River High School was filled with stress and anxiety for Gabriel McDerment in 2021.  He applied to 14 universities, mostly Ivy League schools, and would have applied for more if his parents, Brooke and Cliff McDerment, didn’t limit the number he could submit.

With graduation fast approaching in May 2021, and admissions being limited at several universities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McDerment felt more pressure than ever to be accepted. He also kept comparing himself to other students.

To process his feeling of the college admission process, McDerment went to the artistic medium he knows best: musicals.

“I always felt that musical theater had a power to explore the human condition deeper than an individual song,” said McDerment, who is now a junior at New York University. “As a composer, I felt I could do more with a section of songs built on characters that I felt I had a relationship with. There’s never been a moment of my composing where musical theater was not my favorite medium.”

After spending two years at New York University composing nine songs and developing characters for his musical, “Acceptance Pending,” McDerment felt comfortable with sharing the musical with others.

On Aug. 27-28, “Acceptance Pending” will make its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland as part of the festival’s student program.

“I really didn’t write it for anybody else to see, but I feel like there was a point when I realized there are a lot of people in that same situation as well,” McDerment said.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Gabriel McDerment School: New York University

Major: Binaural psychophysics and sonic ethnography

Alma mater: Braden River High School (2021)

Musical: “Acceptance Pending”

Favorite musicals: “Rag Time” and “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”

Age he started composing: 12

The musical addresses the mental health and emotional wellbeing of college-bound students.

He used his personal experiences to develop his characters.

It Makes a Difference.

Liz Ramos

Gabriel McDerment will debut his musical, “Acceptance Pending,” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

“Acceptance Pending” follows Andrea, a high schooler dreaming of attending an Ivy League school, as she works through the pressures of applying for college, waiting for results, and the emotions that come with rejection.

“I saw (college admissions) as a season to push through, and I really pushed hard,” McDerment said. “I think I entered college more exhausted than I should have because it was just such a strong push to the next thing. I didn’t have time to stop and think about whether it was too much or not because I didn’t have a choice in it.”

Lights, camera, family

After her daughters, Juliana and Alexia, were born, Suzanne Mattes exited from the theater stage left.

She had been performing every chance she could since falling in love with acting as a junior in high school. However, once she began having children, it was her turn to take a seat in the audience, watching school plays and dance shows.

The Country Club resident happily did just that for more than a decade.

In 2021, though, Suzanne Mattes was encouraged by a friend to audition for the Manatee Performing Arts Center’s production of “Mamma Mia.” She landed the role.

In a role reversal, Juliana and Alexia Mattes sat in the audience to watch their mom.

Now, with Juliana, 17 and Alexia, 14, the mother and her daughters have crossed another threshold. They’re all part of the ensemble cast in the Manatee Performing Arts Center production of “Something Rotten.”

“It’s been a very different experience, because as a parent, you like to watch them,” Suzanne Mattes said. “But to be in the show with them, I have to release that.

“Instead, you get to be part of the whole process. We have our inside jokes for rehearsals. We come home

laughing in the car about whatever happened or how we messed that up.”

At 48, Suzanne Mattes feared she couldn’t keep up with her younger counterparts because the play involves so much dancing. She has impressed herself and her daughters, who are their mom’s biggest fans.

Both girls attend Manatee School for the Arts and started dancing at 5.

“It is my dream to become a working actor,” Alexia Mattes said.

The show is demanding with a large ensemble of 20 actors, quick costume changes and multiple tap numbers. Suzanne Mattes changes her shoes seven times during each performance.

The family has spent about three hours a day, five days a week rehearsing since June. During tech week when the actors are bringing the show together on stage with props and lighting, the rehearsals last longer. The show began Aug. 10 and runs through Aug. 27.

“This show, the ensemble is on the stage all the time,” Suzanne Mattes said. “There are the dance numbers, we’re the background in scenes, and the ensemble is moving the set.”

In one scene, the mother and two daughters tap dance in egg costumes, which is Juliana Mattes’ favorite part of being in the show.

“Something Rotten” is set during the Renaissance and is a musical about writing a musical. It’s rated

IF YOU GO

“Something Rotten.” Manatee Performing Arts Center, Stone Hall. 502 Third Ave. W. The musical runs through Aug. 27. Matinee and evening performances are scheduled. Tickets cost $38. Visit ManateePerformingArtsCenter.com or call the box office at 748-5875.

PG-13 in the program for “themes, suggestive language and bawdy humor.”

“The show is incredibly highenergy and funny. The audience seemed to really eat it up,” Suzanne Mattes said of the production’s opening night. “It’s totally different from a lot of theater out there. It’s just one joke after another.”

“It’s like our little thing together,” Suzanne Mattes said. “You have sports families that all go to the fields. This is ours. We all go to the theater.”

The family enjoys performing together. Juliana and Alexia Mattes were both part of MPAC’s production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” last season, and Suzanne Mattes and Alexia Mattes were cast in “Gypsy.”

Alexia Mattes plans to audition for “Oklahoma,” but Juliana Mattes is still undecided.

The mom says her two girls are so different that they’re never in competition for roles. They’re often auditioning together, but there aren’t as many plays that incorporate a role for her, too.

“I lucked out in this because I dance and am still able to tap,” Suzanne Mattes said. “A lot of times, I’m just not right for the shows they’re interested in.”

While dad, Lance Mattes, is a kinesiologist and not an actor, he’s an avid fan.

Suzanne Mattes has been cast again by MPAC for the upcoming production of “She Loves Me,” which begins Nov. 30. She’ll be playing Ilona Ritter.

“Something Rotten” is the latest production from the Manatee Performing Arts Center. Lakewood Ranch

Suzanne Mattes

her

teenage daughters, Juliana and Alexia, are in the ensemble cast.

A+E INSIDE:

< PERFECT PITCH: Hip-hop meets high school in soccer team song. 15

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REMIXED!: Show follows the life of John Fogerty. 16 >

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Art that makes amends

The Ringling’s ‘Reclaiming Home’ bears witness to the trials and triumphs of the Seminole tribe.

Back in the 1970s, at the height of the American Indian Movement, it wasn’t unusual in places near reservations to see bumper stickers and T-shirts emblazoned with the words “You Are On Indian Land.”

While it could be argued that the slogan applied to the entire United States, it is certainly true in this part of Florida, where the Seminole tribe was forcibly removed from its land during three wars with the U.S. government. Today, many descendants of those Florida natives live in Oklahoma.

With the 2016-17 protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, the movement for indigenous rights picked up steam again. Members of 200 Indian tribes gathered together for the first time in 150 years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The next year the John and Mable Ringling Museum hired Ola Wlusek as curator for modern and contemporary art. A former public art coordinator for the city of Calgary and curator at the Ottawa Art Gallery, Wlusek was the driving force behind the Ringling’s exhibition, “Reclaiming Home: Contemporary Seminole Art,” which runs through Sept. 4.  Can you draw a straight line from the Standing Rock protest to the “Reclaiming Home” exhibition? Not exactly, but they both signify a growing awareness of Native issues.

If you haven’t seen the Ringling’s ambitious, wide-ranging show in the cavernous Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing, make time to do so. The colorful, multimedia art works are profound and arresting. Like the circuses that generated the wealth that built the museum on Sarasota Bay, “Reclaiming Home” has something for everyone. It’s family-friendly to be sure.

IF YOU GO

When: Through Sept. 4

Where: John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bayshore

Road

Tickets: $25

Info: Visit Ringling.org

Descriptions like “ground-breaking” and “awe-inspiring” are not hyperbole for an exhibition that was five years in the making.

Hundreds if not thousands of hours of discussion and consultation paved the way for “Reclaiming Home.” Some of Wlusek’s travel and research was underwritten by a curatorial research fellowship she received from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

“Reclaiming Home” was made possible by loans from leading Native American cultural institutions including the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and the IAIA

Amends

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, both in Santa Fe, N.M. Last but not least, art and advice was lent to the Ringling by the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.

The exhibition is accompanied by a handsome catalog with thoughtprovoking articles by its artists.

GHOSTS OF THE PAST

Museums have come under fire in recent years for acquiring or accepting donations of looted relics. They have been forced to return antiquities to their original owners, including governments and tribal nations. Since nearly all of the artwork in “Reclaiming Home” is loaned, that isn’t a concern here. But the Ringling show takes place at a time when museums and other cultural institutions are being questioned about their practices and even their existence.

The pressing issue here is whether the Ringling can live up to its lofty goal of allowing the Seminoles to reclaim, if not their home, their identity. Of course, the Sarasota museum cannot erase the history of colonialism and the ramifications of the policy of Manifest Destiny that pushed the American frontier across the country to the Pacific Ocean.

It cannot restore to their original owners the native lands now occupied by condos, shopping centers and highways. It is ridiculous to think that art can right these kinds of wrongs.

What the Ringling has achieved with “Reclaiming Home” is to provide for the first time within its halls a forum for the telling of Seminole stories through authentic Native art.

One can’t help leaving the museum with thoughts and images of ghosts that lurk among the 100 pieces of art by 12 artists of Seminole, Miccosukee and mixed heritage.

One of the first ghosts a visitor sees upon entering the Searing Wing is a painting with a native American warrior in full regalia holding a rifle. He’s hovering in the clouds above a

young soldier fighting in a jungle, presumably Vietnam.

Noah Billie, the artist who painted the acrylic work “Untitled,” in 1998, was traumatized by his wartime experience, Wlusek said in a recent gallery talk. Upon returning from Southeast Asia, Billie isolated himself and didn’t speak. Creating art helped heal his psychic wounds, she said. Considered to be one of the most influential Seminole artists in Florida, Billie died in 2000.

Phantoms are also invoked by a big, graffiti-inspired installation in red and black in the exhibition. Wilson Bowers pays tribute to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women with the stark piece, which ends with the words, “They are someone.”

According to the University of San Diego, there are at least 23,000 people missing from tribal lands in the U.S., mostly women, but most experts feel this number is much higher.

In 2021, President Joe Biden declared May 5 “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day” to shine light on the matter, which is also a widespread problem in Canada.

A thrilling sense of martial speed is evoked by Bowers’ brightly painted skateboards on the walls of the Ringling. It took strength for Pedro Zepeda, who is Seminole and Mexican, to carve the canoe on display in “Reclaiming Home” from a cypress log using the same tools and methods that have been employed by the Seminoles for at least 200 years.

According to a video narrated by Zepeda that is streaming in one of the gallery’s nooks, the Seminoles adopted metal tools after they were introduced by Europeans.

Feminine energy is also in evidence in “Reclaiming Home.” Ruffles, tiers and rick-rack embellish the dresses worn by Seminole women depicted in paintings as well as costumes on display.

One elaborate outfit, “Night at the Ringling,” was made specifically for the “Reclaiming Home” exhibit, says Wlusek, by artist Jessica Osceola, who imagined what she would wear to the opening of the show.

Artist Elisa Harkins uses images and sound to capture the Native songs that the exiled Seminoles

sang to lift their spirits as they traveled the “Trail of Tears” from Florida to Oklahoma. Harkins, who is of Cherokee/Muscogee/Creek descent, also preserves Native culture by creating costumes and taking photographs.

If there is one piece of art that can lay claim to being the set piece of “Reclaiming Home,” it is “The Last Supper,” C. Maxx Stevens’ multimedia installation of a table laden with replicas of sugar-filled goodies. This cornucopia of cakes, cookies and the like is a monument to those who have perished from diabetes.

Strewn underneath the table are shoes, canes and crutches, reflecting the loss of mobility and amputations suffered by many diabetes victims before their ultimate death.

“The Last Supper” is a moving reminder that unhealthy food has taken its toll on Native Americans, including the Seminoles.

In the face of the devastation suffered by Florida’s natives, is it

possible to leave “Reclaiming Home” with any hope? It is.

Just look at the work and life of Jessica Osceola. (There’s more than one Osceola in the show.) The Seminole/Irish artist grew up in her great-grandmother’s Seminole village in Florida and today owns a microfarm and studio in Naples.

A 2008 graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University, Osceola holds a master’s degree in fine art sculpture from Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Osceola has compiled her life story and art into a book, “We Will Always Be Here: Native Peoples on Living and Thriving in the South.” Her 2017 work, “Portrait One, Portrait Two, and Portrait Three,” recently became the first work by a Seminole artist to be added to the Ringling’s permanent collection.

It’s been 167 years since the Seminoles were forced to move to Oklahoma, but the art of Florida’s original residents is getting the attention it deserves in their homeland.

door might not seem like a big deal to many of us. But, to a homebound senior, it could signal the arrival of the only person they might see all day or all week long. It brings hope. It brings health. It brings the nutrition and care that will completely

A knock at

HIP-HOP MEETS HIGH SCHOOL

Yo! Happy Birthday, hiphop!

August marks the 50th anniversary of hip-hop music and culture in the U.S. Celebrations have been going on all over the country, including Sarasota, where Ryan “Ryanito” Larrañaga recently released his “Paraiso/ Paradise” project.

For those wondering about the birth of hip-hop, music historians have decided it all began in a rec room in the Bronx, where DJ Kool Herc and his sister, Cindy Campbell, had a party and started doing funny things with vinyl. The rest, as they say, is history.

Here in Florida, Ryanito is trying to make a little history of his own. When he set out to create a theme song for Sarasota’s new USL League soccer team, the Paradise, he decided to experiment and make different versions of the song.

There are renditions of “Paraiso/ Paradise” in Spanish and English as well as a house style version (hip-hop fans will understand) and a recording featuring an orchestra. There’s even one with a high school marching band, none other than the Riverview High Kiltie Band.

In an interview, Ryanito says he has been watching soccer all his life but it was his business partner, Marcel Bauduin, also known as DJ Cellus, who called his attention to the new game in the town that Ryanito has called home since 2009.

The Sarasota Paradise, a “preprofessional” soccer team, kicked off its first season in June, against FC Miami City at Sarasota High School’s stadium.

Yes, the team plays at Sarasota High, but chose Ryanito and Bauduin chose Riverview High for their collaboration. However, there are no hard feelings, according to Ryanito.

Part of the reason the Kilties got the job is its band director. Not one for understatement, Ryanito and Bauduin said in a statement, “Ryanito reached out to band director Tamara Lewis and collaborated with the Riverview High School Kiltie Band, exemplifying the artist’s commitment to engaging the local community and youth in the creative process. This collaboration underscores the powerful connection between music, sports, and the community.”

A native of the Baltimore area, Ryanito understands the impact that the arts can have on children.

He grew up singing in youth choirs at school and studied poetry. Like other kids of his generation, he listened to rappers such as KRS-One and Nas.

Ryanito is no stranger to mixing things up with unexpected collaborators and guest artists. Back in 2018, he performed music from his first LP with Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe artist Michael Mendez and The Pops Orchestra of Bradenton and Sarasota. Besides working with local artists,

the rapper reaches across international boundaries. The original studio versions of “Paraiso/Paradise” were created by Mateo Merola from Uruguay, while Karl Roque from the Philippines produced the house music version. A second-generation American, Ryanito is connected to Uruguay through his father, who grew up there and traces his ancestry to Spain’s Basque region.

The “Paraiso/Paradise” album

features artists from Mexico, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Venezuela. Like soccer, music is international. “With the internet and the ability to create your own lane, you can share your music worldwide,” Ryanito says.

Ryanito has fans not just in Sarasota, but in Europe and Latin America. Featuring local artists is a way to appeal to local audiences in these regions.

Asked what he’s aiming for in the fragmented streaming world that dominates music today, Ryanito says he wants to: “Be a pioneer. Establish the roots. Bridge the gaps.”

Later this month, Ryanito will release his children’s book, “The Cosmic Kid.” Available on Amazon, it tells the story of a boy named Rayo who dreams of becoming a successful rapper.

Like others in Sarasota, Ryanito has been inspired to give back to his community. In recent years he has visited Sarasota County schools, where he has inspired students to learn and to embrace positivity through his Art, Rhymes & Kids program.  If the Art and Rhymes part sounds familiar, it’s because Ryanito and Bauduin have done an adult version of the show called Art, Rhymes & Beer at local taverns.

As the artist likes to point out, rap is a style of music, but hip-hop is a lifestyle. And Ryanito is determined to live it to its fullest, but on a positive note.

Rapper Ryanito teamed up with Riverview High for the Sarasota Paradise’s anthem.

With the internet and the ability to create your own lane, you can share your music worldwide.”

Rapper Ryanito

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

DIVAS THREE 7:30 p.m. at FST’s Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. $18 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Three female vocalists present four decades of songs made famous by Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and other women who have won the coveted title of “Diva.” Runs through Sept. 17.

‘A COMEDY OF TENORS’ 8 p.m. at FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St. $25 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Set in 1930s Paris, “A Comedy of Tenors” follows a producer trying to keep a concert of opera superstars from descending into mayhem. Runs through Aug. 27.

‘THE GRADUATE’ 7:30 p.m. at The Players Centre, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail $30 Visit ThePlayers.org.

Directed by Elliott Raines, “The Graduate” explores the unlikely liaison between a recent college grad who is adrift in life and a friend of his parents who knows exactly what she wants. Runs through Aug. 27.

SATURDAY

SARASOTA YOUTH OPERA FAMILY DAY Noon at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. Free Visit SarasotaOpera.org

Hear the Youth Opera sing, attend a singing session, join in acting games and stand on the stage when you take a tour of the opera house. The whole family is invited to come see what Sarasota Youth Opera is about.

OUR PICK

THE BOLDS BROTHERS Brothers Jordan and Joel Bolds perform their mesmerizing blend of soul, gospel and jazz. Jordan Bolds is a 22-year-old saxophonist who discovered the sax in the fourth grade and has appeared at the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival. Joel Bolds, 20, is a professional drummer who also taught himself how to play piano. Special guest artists include Charlie “CJ” Melton and Marc Dortch. Continues through Aug. 20.

IF YOU GO

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Where:West Coast Black Theatre Troupe’s Donelly Theatre, 1012 N. Orange Ave.

Tickets: $25-$100

Info: WestCoastBlackTheatre.org

MONDAY

MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ AT THE CABARET

7:30 p.m. at John C. Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. $34-$39

Visit JazzClubSarasota.org.

Monday Night Jazz features Rebecca Richardson and the Dan Heck Trio, both popular in Venice.

TUESDAY

‘CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REMIXED!’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1239 N. Palm Ave. $18 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

“The Jersey Tenors” veteran Vaden Thurgood has created his own musical revue based on Creedence Clearwater Revival and the band’s hits such as “Proud Mary” and “Bad Moon Rising.” Runs through Oct. 15.

WEDNESDAY

JAZZ HAPPY HOUR

6 p.m. at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free

Visit SarasotaMusicArchive.org.

Sarasota Music Archive wraps its summer Jazz Happy Hour series with the Robbie Rose Retro Quartet. Reservations are required.

YOUR NEIGHBORS

NINJA COURSE NO OBSTACLE FOR 12-YEAR-OLD

Country Creek’s Mila Goetting grew to love such competitions by watching ‘American Ninja Warrior.’

Once per week growing up, Country Creek’s Mila Goetting would spend the night with her family, sitting in front of the TV watching “American Ninja Warrior.”

She was amazed as she saw the ninja competitors sprint through obstacles, fly through the air like trapeze artists, and eventually claim success by pressing a buzzer on top of a 14-foot-high wall.

Goetting loved their speed, strength and stamina, and at only 4 years old, she started dreaming of becoming a ninja contestant.

Now, instead of watching others compete in ninja competitions on TV, the 12-year-old Goetting is the one negotiating obstacle courses.

Even as a small child, Goetting said she was the kid climbing fences and trees, so becoming a ninja competitor felt natural to her.

Along with her parents, Erin and Ed Goetting, and her 14-year-old sister, Layla, and 10-year-old sister Livia, Goetting now participates in approximately 20 ninja-style competitions per year.

Although each member of the family competes, Erin Goetting said Mila has landed on the podium most often.

She earned a silver medal for her age group in the first-ever Ninja World Cup, USA July 29-30 in Orlando. She competed against 53 girls in her age group representing 12 countries.

A wall in Goetting’s bedroom is covered in motivational posters from her family members and all her accolades, which include dozens of medals from ninja competitions.

“Six years ago, I probably wouldn’t have thought I would get to this level,” Mila Goetting said. “The sport has grown so much. Six years ago it was a lot smaller. Obstacles weren’t as big and difficult.”

ABOUT ‘AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR’

“American Ninja Warrior” started in 2009 as an obstacle course competition.

Challengers from across the country gathered to complete a course riddled with obstacles testing competitors’ jumping, climbing, swinging, traversing, balance and floor skills.

The goal is to get through the course and hit the ending buzzer as fast as possible.

After becoming hooked on the show, the Goetting family became interested in learning more about the sport. In Chicago, where they were living at the time, there weren’t any nearby “ninja” gyms.

So when the family moved to East County six years ago, finding a ninja gym was a priority.

In Pinellas Park, they found Jungle Gym, where Mila Goetting spends two nights per week training.

The Goettings travel across the country competing and plan to compete internationally this year at a competition in Barbados over Labor Day weekend.

Erin Goetting said ninja training and competitions has become a bonding experience for her family.

“I literally cannot imagine our lives without having become a ninja family,” she said. “We honestly have made all of our Florida friends pretty much through ninja. When we go to a ninja competition, it’s not just going there to compete, it’s going there to be with our friends. We look forward to doing something together afterward as multiple families come together to hang out.”

Goetting makes completing obstacle courses look easy. Before hurling herself into the air, she covers her hands in chalk and stares narrowly at the obstacle head. She takes a deep breath, already knowing every move she’s about to make to successfully get across the course.

Once off the ground, she gracefully flies from one obstacle to the next, strategically knowing the exact moment to let go of one obstacle to send herself to the next using the least amount of energy possible.

“Some (obstacles) are long and tiring and hard on your fingers, and then others are just really fun, like a big laché where you’re flying through the air.”

In gymnastics, laché is a term the describes a move where the competitors must swing their body back and forth to gain momentum to transfer between obstacles.

At competitions, Goetting is a little more on edge compared to training. Between 30 minutes and an hour before she’s stepping up to the start, she’s excited, ready to take on the course, but as it gets closer to her turn, her nerves start to kick in.

“It’s a little bit nerve-racking, but what I have to remember is not a lot of people will remember your run because they’re so focused on theirs,” she said.

The courses are never the same, so there’s no opportunity for the Goettings to prepare before a specific competition.

“It’s part of what’s awesome about ninja,” Erin Goetting said. “It’s always different and you never know what to expect, so the challenges keep changing.”

Mila Goetting said competing first puts her in the toughest spot. She has to set the pace for the entire competition. Once she’s completed the course, it’s out of her hands, and she has to hope no one completes it faster than her.

At the World Ninja League compe-

tition in June, where she competed against 136 girls, she felt a sense of overwhelming accomplishment.

“When I hit the buzzer on stage two out of three stages, I had a feeling of relief because I had never cleared stage two in a worlds course before,” Mila Goetting said. “It felt really good to hit the buzzer because it meant I was still in the running to be the world champion.”

Pre-K student Olivia Turko and her brother, fourth grader Benjamin Turko, bring flowers for their Freedom teachers. Their mom, Tatyana Turko, says “We were Russian, and there the teachers get flowers on the first day. We carried it over.”

WELCOME

Ryan Jones, MD

Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician

Dr. Jones received his medical degree from St. George’s University in Grenada and completed his residency in family medicine at Promedica Monroe Regional Hospital in Monroe, Michigan. He offers comprehensive primary care for the entire family, starting at 2 days of age and older. He specializes in the following services:

• Care for acute and chronic medical conditions

• Well child and annual physical exams

• Women’s health, other than obstetrics

• Medicare wellness visits

• Preventive screenings and immunizations

Dr. Jones is accepting new patients.

To make an appointment, call 866-515-9777 or schedule online at lakewoodranchmedicalgroup.com

YOUR CALENDAR

BEST BET

SUNDAY, AUG. 20

FARMERS MARKET

Runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Lakefront Drive in Waterside Place, Lakewood Ranch. The Farmers Market at Lakewood Ranch will run year-round every Sunday. Vendors will be offering seafood, eggs, meats, dairy products, pastas, bakery goods, jams and pickles, among other items. Other features are children’s activities and live music. For more information, visit MyLWR.com.

COMMUNITY

THURSDAY, AUG. 17 THROUGH

SUNDAY, AUG. 20

LIVE MUSIC AT JIGGS LANDING

Runs from 5-8 p.m. at Jiggs Landing, 6106 63rd St. E., Bradenton. The live music lineup at Jiggs Landing includes Donnie Bostic (Thursday), Sycamore Shade (Friday), Nat Langston (Saturday), and Flip Flop Dave (Sunday). The Friday show has a $5 cover, and the rest are free. For more information, go to JiggsLanding.com.

FRIDAY, AUG. 18 AND SATURDAY, AUG. 19

MUSIC AT THE PLAZA

Runs from 6-9 p.m. at Waterside Place, 1561 Lakefront Drive, Lakewood Ranch. Singer/musician Frankie Lombardi provides the entertainment on Friday, while Steve H Music performs on Saturday. The entertainment is free. For more information, go to WatersidePlace. com.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS EVENT

Begins at 8 a.m. each day at Nathan Benderson Park, 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle, Sarasota. The Special Olympics Florida 2023 Stand Up Paddle Championships will see approximately 200 athletes from across Florida compete in a variety of stand up paddle, or SUP, races. The event is free for spectators. For

more information, visit NathanBendersonPark.org or SpecialOlympicsFlorida.org.

SATURDAY, AUG. 19

KNITTING CLASS

Begins at 1 p.m. at the Braden River Library, 4915 53rd Ave. E., Bradenton. The Braden River Library hosts a drop-in knitting class for adults. The free class will meet in the new Maker Space in the library and those attending should bring their knitting projects. The program is suitable for knitters of all levels. For more information, go to ManateeLibrary.Libcal. com/Event.

MURAL CLASS

Begins at 10 a.m. at Bob Gardner Park, 2710 White Eagle Blvd., Lakewood Ranch. The Mural Project — A Piece of Our Heart is open to all ages. Each participant learns about the elements of art and uses the elements of line, textures and color to create their own piece of the mural. All the pieces will come together to form a giant heart. The class is free.

SUNDAY, AUG. 20

YOGA IN THE PARK

Begins at 9 a.m. at Waterside Place Park, 7500 Island Cove Terrace, Lakewood Ranch. Lakewood Ranch Community Activities offers yoga that is free to residents; $10 for nonresidents. For more information, go to MyLWR.com.

Country Club East home tops sales at $2 million

Ahome in Country Club East topped all transactions in this week’s real estate.

Carla Pihl, of Lakewood Ranch, sold her home at 16334 Castle Park Terrace to Robert and Lori Eshoo, of Glenview, Illinois, for $2 million. Built in 2019, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,163 square feet of living area. It sold for $922,800 in 2019.

LAKE CLUB

Janice and Don Markell, of Myakka City, sold their home at 16843 Clearlake Ave. to Ted and Sandra Stuckey, of Macon, Georgia, for $1.8 million. Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,037 square feet of living area. It sold for $1,050,300 in 2021.

RIVER CLUB SOUTH

Brain and Beth Grogan sold their home at 10081 Cherry Hills Ave. Circle to Nelson Hurtado and Paula De Freitas, of Bradenton, for $1.15 million. Built in 1997, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,215 square feet of living area. It sold for $319,500 in 2001.

INDIGO

Daniel and Angelia Buhr, of Sarasota, sold their home at 13203 Indigo Way to Karen Louise Wansa and William Michael Wansa, of Bradenton, for $1,075,000. Built in 2017, it has four bedrooms, four baths, a pool 2,895 square feet of living area. It sold for $973,000 in 2022.

John and Marianne Groenings sold their home at 12723 Crystal Clear Place to Tracy Mason, trustee, of Lakewood Ranch, for $530,000. Built in 2016, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,495 square feet of living area. It sold for $318,700 in 2016.

COUNTRY CLUB EAST

David Semon Paletta and Pauline Paletta, of Washington, Pennsylvania, sold their home at 7036 Whittlebury Trail to Catherine Claire Camp, trustee, of Lakewood Ranch, for $949,000. Built in 2019, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,231 square feet of living area. It sold for $518,000 in 2019.

LAKEWOOD NATIONAL

Steven Philip Shwartz and Elaine Regina Shwartz sold their home at 16721 Bwana Place to Julius Nussbaum III, of Prospect, Kentucky, for $931,000. Built in 2018, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,207 square feet of living area. It sold for $530,000 in 2018.

UNIVERSITY PARK

Mary and William Misichia, of Bradenton, sold their home at 7012 Stanhope Place to David and Caryn Bross, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, for $925,000. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,433 square feet of living area. It sold for $610,000 in 2004.

RIVER CLUB NORTH

Sondra Melvin, of Tampa, and Nigel Geoffrey Legge, of Lincolnshire, England, sold their home at 6701 Oakmont Way to Branislav and Edita Milenkovic, of Bradenton, for $910,000. Built in 1993, it has four bedrooms, four baths, a pool and 3,866 square feet of living area. It sold for $350,000 in 1999.

HERITAGE HARBOUR

Doug Allan Willard Doucet sold their home at 511 Grand Preserve Cove to Diane French, of Bradenton, for $885,000. Built in 2007, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,707 square feet of living area. It sold for $320,000 in 2012.

Louis Woratzeck and Deborah Ellen Woratzeck sold their

home at 6878 Willowshire Way to Kenneth and Alicia Davis, of Bradenton, for $669,000. Built in 2015, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,006 square feet of living area. It sold for $399,900 in 2019.

Shirley Conklin, trustee, of West Springfield, Virginia, sold the home at 6632 Candlestick Drive to Ronald and Sharlene Bertino, of N. Wildwood, New Jersey, for $465,000. Built in 2014, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,384 square feet of living area. It sold for $194,800 in 2014.

GREENBROOK

Huw and Michele Morgan sold their home at 14337 Sundial Place to Jonathan and Jerrel Mattson, of Bradenton, for $877,500. Built in 2007, it has four bedrooms, threeand-a-half baths, a pool and 3,084 square feet of living area.

Robert Fili and Steven Scialo, of Nashville, Tennessee, sold their home at 14210 Nighthawk Terrace to Thomas Macone and Victoria Lynn Macone, of Lakewood Ranch, for $685,000. Built in 2003, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,377 square feet of living area. It sold for $350,000 in 2021.

POLO RUN

Nathan and Wendy Magee, of Providence, Utah, sold their home at 17214 Polo Trail to Armando and Maria Monterroso, of Bradenton, for $870,000. Built in 2019, it has five bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,915 square feet of living area. It sold for $585,000 in 2020.

CYPRESS CREEK ESTATES

Karen MacDougall, trustee, and Robert Bruce MacDougall, of Bradenton, sold the home at 6186 Ninth Ave. Circle N.E. to Feng Xian and Donghong Min, of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, for $857,500. Built in 1999, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,124 square feet of living area.

DEL WEBB Philip Baltunis and Esther Baltunis, trustees, of Bradenton, sold the home at 6854 Chester Trail to Charles Lee Girard and Beverly Ann Girard, of Bradenton, for $835,000. Built in 2018, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,994 square feet of living area. It sold for $491,900 in 2018.

Elisabeth Burghart, of Bradenton, sold her home at 7612 Kirkland Cove to Pierre and Claudette Hamelin, of Bradenton, for $615,000. Built in 2019, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,388 square feet of living area. It sold for $560,000 in 2022.

Robert and Betty Peterson, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, sold their home at 17734 Northwood Place to Thomas and Shelly Phillips, of E. Aurora, New York, for $585,000. Built in 2022, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,395 square feet of living area. It sold for $448,800 in 2022.

KENWOOD PARK

Harry and Gayle Yaverbaum, of Sarasota, sold their home at 8154 Dukes Wood Court to Susan Richardson and T.J. Richardson, trustees, of University Park, for $780,000. Built in 2003, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 2,372 square feet of living area. It sold for $430,000 in 2012.

COUNTRY CLUB

Robert and Sally-Anny Houghton, trustees, of Wakefield, Rhode Island, sold the home at 6733 Pebble Beach Way to Carlos Correia and Carla Correia, trustees, of Bradenton, for $745,000. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,191 square feet of living area. It sold for $370,000 in 2008.

CENTRAL PARK

Mark and Emily Swain, of Parrish, sold their home at 11758 Forest Park Circle to Joseph Patrick Nelson and Amanda Brooke Nelson, of Bradenton, for $720,000. Built in 2012, it has five bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,494 square feet of living area. It sold for $699,000 in 2022.

COACH HOMES AT LAKEWOOD

NATIONAL

Pierre and Claudette Hamelin, of Lakewood Ranch, sold their Unit 5222 condominium at 6056 Worsham Lane to David and Nancy Nolan, of Seneca, South Carolina, for $715,000. Built in 2021, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,108 square feet of living area. It sold for $385,000 in 2021.

Mad Capital Investments II LLC sold the Unit 3212 condominium at 17627 Gawthrop Drive to John and Helen Baker, of Lynbrook, New York, for $597,000. Built in 2020, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,786 square feet of living area. It sold for $320,000 in 2020.

SOLERA Philip and Leticia Esposito, of Lakewood Ranch, sold their home at 5117 Sultana Cove to Matthew George Schmidberger and Bethany Christine Schmidberger, of Lakewood Ranch, for $670,000. Built in 2022, it has five bedrooms, three baths and 2,674 square feet of living area. It sold for $510,000 in 2022.

See more transactions at YourObserver.com

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WILD FLORIDA

Manatees deserve our protection

MIRI HARDY CONTRIBUTOR

Also known as “sea cows,” Florida manatees are federally designated as “threatened” due to boat collisions and habitat loss.

As they feed and rest in shallow waters where they’re quite difficult to spot, they’re highly vulnerable to boat collisions. With development and pollution destroying seagrass beds and freshwater aquatic vegetation, they’ve also been losing their main food source in many areas.

These large marine mammals consume approximately 10% of their 1,200-plus-pound body weight in aquatic vegetation a day, therefore preventing overgrowth that could obstruct our Florida waterways. They provide ample fertilizer to enable water vegetation to thrive.

Due to these key roles, manatees are considered a keystone species as without them, their aquatic ecosystems would be dramatically different or even cease to exist.

As unhealthy or abnormal manatee behavior tells us that something is going wrong in the environment, these gentle giants are also considered an important indicator species. Their imperiled status is therefore greatly concerning.

The wild and scenic Myakka River meanders through Myakka River State Park all the way to Charlotte Bay to the south, where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. As manatees thrive in both fresh or saltwater, during periods of high water levels the river offers a gateway to Myakka for aquatic wildlife seeking safe refuge and food. Indeed, to the surprise and delight of park visitors, manatees are regularly observed in the park.

Visits to Myakka are unfortunately not without peril for manatees. In the past, during periods of low water levels, the historic weir (which was removed in 2022 to restore the natural flow of the river) and Downs’ dam (a private dam near the park’s south boundary), have unfortunately proven to be obstacles to manatees traversing the river. This is especially an issue when high waters naturally recede after manatees have made their way up into the park. Encountering boats illegally speeding on the river can injure or even kill manatees. To protect manatees, please give them plenty of space, and never disturb them. When boating anywhere in Florida, be sure to note and comply with posted speed limits.

Friends of Myakka River exists to support Myakka River State Park and the Wild and Scenic Myakka River. Follow us @FriendsOfMyakkaRiver

THE SUN SHINES BRIGHTER

on

the bay.

The calming quiet of the water. The refreshing warmth of the Florida sun. This is your slice of paradise. Picture yourself here, ideally situated on Sarasota Bay at Plymouth Harbor.

With so much to explore and experience so close to Downtown Sarasota, St. Armands Circle and beyond, you’re never far from a new adventure.

Imagine a home where there is less reason to hurry or worry and more occasions to breathe, laugh, and drink it all in.

Learn more about Plymouth Harbor on Sarasota Bay by calling (941) 200-0254 or visiting plymouthharbor.org.

Dams and speeding boats pose dangers to Manatees.

Fast Break

Courtesy photo John Rivera, a Lakewood Ranch High and University of Mississippi alumnus, will represent Puerto Rico at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Former Lakewood Ranch

High boys track and field athlete John Rivera Jr. will represent Puerto Rico at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, held Aug. 19-27 in Budapest, Hungary. Rivera, who graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2022, will compete in the 800-meter run at the event with a qualifying time of 1:45.29. Rivera is ranked 70th in the world in the event by World Athletics.

Jodi O’Neill (12) won the “Even” division of the Nine Hole Ladies Golf Association Odd and Even event (individual low net scoring) held Aug. 10 at University Park Country Club. Alynna Fricke (18) won the “Odd” division of the event.

GreyHawk Landing women’s tennis player Hayley Roberts reached the round of 16 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Summer Circuit event held July 22-25 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Roberts beat Tessa Trate 6-0, 6-4 before losing 6-1, 6-3 to Eleanor Schulson. Roberts is the No. 76 recruit in the national Class of 2025 according to the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Lakewood Ranch baseball player Mateu Dalmau had a two-RBI single Aug. 12 while playing for Team East at the Prospect Wire All-American Games, held in Nashville, Tennessee. Dalmau, who is representing the Florida Burn travel team, is a Class of 2026 player.

MLB.com released new top-30 prospect rankings for each team on Aug. 10. Former Lakewood Ranch High outfielder Grant McCray now ranks seventh overall in the San Francisco Giants system while former Lakewood Ranch pitcher Colton Gordon also ranks seventh overall in the Houston Astros system. Both players have a projected major league arrival of 2024.

Better in bulk

Can The Out-of-Door Academy football team do it again?

ODA was a surprise in 2022, its first year under Head Coach Rob Hollway, by going 9-1 and reaching the Sunshine State Athletic Conference Class 5A semifinals before losing 21-0 to Saint Stephen’s Episcopal.

The Thunder were winless in 2021 and 2020.

The turnaround was led by the Thunder’s running game. With a bruising offensive line, ODA ran for 2,960 yards (8.0 yards per rush) and 44 touchdowns.

The leading rusher Griffin DeRusso, who gained 1,444 yards, has graduated, but the team is confident that it can repeat its success. One reason is that the team’s stalwart offensive line is back — and senior Blake Neumann, senior Blaine Bentley, junior Chase Polivchak, junior Marvin Palominos and sophomore Max Polivchak are ready to dominate.

“We move as a five-man unit,” Neumann said. “We’re all big, but it doesn’t matter unless we do everything together. That’s where the strength comes from. We all know our responsibilities. We’re getting mental reps and physical reps. We just have to execute.”

Hollway called his offensive line the backbone of the team. All five linemen are 6-foot-2 or taller and 265 pounds or heavier. In the SSAC, linemen of that size are rare, and Hollway said it gives his team an advantage.

“They’re a tight-knit group and they work hard,” Hollway said of his offensive linemen. “They were training all summer and they go to camps together. They push each other and they push the line of scrimmage. They’re also just a cool group of kids.

If I was in high school, I would want to hang out with them.”

While the ODA backfield will feature multiple runners, as it did a season ago, the team’s leading likely will be sophomore Allen Clark, who had 44 carries for 391 yards and six touchdowns in 2022. Senior Jack Meyers should also see plenty of action, as he had 18 carries for 153 yards and three touchdowns in 2022.

As dominant as the running game could be, Hollway expects the

ODA FOOTBALL: AT A GLANCE

Thunder’s passing game to play a key role. ODA will feature more of a passing attack than it did last season, thanks to the arrival of Jackson Roth, a 6-foot-1 junior quarterback who transferred from Iroquois Ridge High in Ontario, Canada. Hollway called Roth a true pocket passer who will be able to stretch the field with his strong arm.

Roth said he’s still adjusting to the rules of the American version of football, but so far likes it better than the Canadian version he grew up playing. In Canadian high school football, teams use 12 players at a time, which leaves less space to maneuver. Plus, the fields are 110 yards, and offenses only get three downs maximum to get a conversion and move the chains. All of those tweaks lead to less scoring, Roth said. In America, things are more offense-friendly.

“Up there, if you have one bad play, you’re pretty much ruined (for a drive),” Roth said. “So you’re forced to try for more big plays to move the ball. Here, you can have more con sistency. You can have a more varied offense.”

Roth said he’s excited to stand behind an offensive line as big as ODA’s when throwing, a luxury he did not have in Canada.

On the defensive side, Hol lway has high hopes for his linebacker corps. The unit is led by senior Charlie Tack, who had 62 tackles in 2022 to lead the team. Hollway said Tack is still talking to Ivy League and Patriot League schools to find the right spot for him in 2023, but he will be playing college ball somewhere. Alongside Tack is senior Brandon Beasley, who had 48 tackles in 2022, and newcomer Chase Taraska, a senior. Taraska’s twin brother, senior Jack Taraska, will be the team’s starting free safe ty. The brothers previously played on the school’s baseball team.

The players are not the only reason Hollway is excited about his defense. The program brought in a new defen sive coordinator in Elbert Grim, a veteran of the Georgia high school football scene who has brought a new energy to the program.

ODA graduated 12 players from last year’s roster, many of whom were significant contributors. That could mean the players stepping into those roles have a learning curve ear ly. A third week of the season game against Saint Stephen’s on Sept. 8 will be a strong test. But Hollway is confident in the players he has and the system he has implemented. Looking beyond the 2023 sea son, Hollway said the program has

2022 record: 9-1 (lost in the semifinals of the SSAC Class 5A semifinals 21-0 to Saint Stephen’s Episcopal)

Head Coach: Rob Hollway, second season

Key to the season: The offensive line. If senior Blake Neumann, senior Blaine Bentley, junior Chase Polivchak, junior Marvin Palominos and sophomore Max Polivchak can re-create their run-blocking dominance of 2022, while adding consistent pass protection for new junior quarterback Jackson Roth, the Thunder can control the flow of every game it plays.

Schedule (all games at 7 p.m.):

■ Aug. 18 vs. Keswick Christian

(Preseason Classic)

■ Aug. 25 vs. Berean Christian

■ Sept. 1 at Oasis High

■ Sept. 8 vs. Saint Stephen’s Episcopal

■ Sept. 22 at Faith Christian

■ Sept. 29 vs. Santa Fe Catholic

■ Oct. 6 vs. Bell Creek Academy

“I can anticipate a lot of stuff before it happens and I know what I should be doing at a given time.”

— Mustang lacrosse athlete Morgan Barton SEE PAGE 27

The Thunder’s huge offensive linemen are expected to clear away any obstacles to a big 2023 season.

PROSE AND KOHN RYAN KOHN

Lakewood Ranch High makes Gould-en hire

Aformer Mustangs softball star has returned to the stable.

Taylor Gould, known as Taylor “Fig” Newton when playing for Lakewood Ranch High, was publicly named the softball program’s head coach on Aug. 7 — though Gould said the deal was actually done by the time the program held its end-of-season banquet in May.

Gould will take over the Mustangs from Todd Lee, who was the bench boss for one season following the retirement of T.J. Goelz, who led the team to back-to-back state titles in 2021 and 2022.

Gould is a 2013 graduate of Lakewood Ranch. As a junior, Gould led the Mustangs to the Florida High School Athletic Association state Final Four by hitting .379, with 11 doubles, four triples and three home runs. But her star did not stop shining after she left the Mustangs.

Gould played for James Madison University and graduated from the Dukes in 2017 as the school’s alltime RBI leader with 181, though she has since been passed by Kate Gordon (200). Gould, an outfielder, also finished her college career with a .325 average, 39 doubles, nine triples and 37 home runs while making just six errors in the field.

For Gould, the opportunity to come back to the Mustangs was a case of timing. She had never considered getting into coaching prior to 2020, but after her JMU career ended in 2017, she was burned out.

When Lee, who at the time was coaching the Mustangs’ junior varsity team, reached out on a whim to see if Gould wanted to act as an occasional assistant coach, she agreed. While volunteering, Gould said she began to “feel the itch” of softball again. She missed being around the game, and for the first time, began to think about a potential future with the program.

When Lee took the varsity job in 2023, Gould continued to volunteer

and formed close bonds with the Mustangs, especially the seniors returning in 2024. When Lee told Gould he would be stepping down following the season, the job “fell into her lap.”

The chance to dig deeper into the bonds she formed with the varsity squad was one reason Gould agreed to steer the program full time.

“It’s about giving back to the community,” Gould said. “When you’re successful, you want others to have that same success. It’s carrying on the legacy of what was already done here. I want the girls to have a great experience, and winning is a part of that, but it’s not everything. It’s the icing on the cake.”

Gould said her primary focus will be making sure her players are following the culture she sets, namely being good teammates. To Gould, that means supporting each other in the ups as well as the downs,

but also doing the simple things in practice, like picking up balls at the end of the drill, without being asked, as well as implicitly trusting each other.

If someone strikes out with the bases loaded, Gould said, there cannot be any doubt that the player will come through next time she’s in a big spot. The players should support each other with that in mind.

Is Gould feeling any pressure to return the program to a state title game?

“No,” she said. If the Mustangs act like Gould wants them to act, success will follow. Heart can prevail over talent — though having talent does help.

They’ll have some talent in 2024, though the team will inevitably look different. The Mustangs graduated six players from last year’s team; and only seven players will remain from the program’s championship team in 2022. Only two of those

players saw significant playing time during the title run.

Thankfully for Lakewood Ranch, those two players are elite — senior pitcher Ella Dodge, a University of Tennessee commit, was the Class 7A Player of the Year in 2022, and senior outfielder Grace ShawRockey, who hit .345 with 21 RBIs in 2023.

How quickly can Gould get the team’s arrow pointing up? It’s a question that will not be fully answered until the team takes the field this spring, but Gould has fans in the Lakewood Ranch community excited, including Lee, who said he had a recent lunch with Gould to catch up. Lee said he believes Gould will be a “great hire” and keep the team’s recent success going.

Gould said the team will begin offseason conditioning drills in a few weeks. She’s excited to see the team in person, she said, and begin the long road to the 2024 season,

which begins in February. If winning is the icing, offseason training and creating the trust that Gould desires is the cake.

“It’s going to be a new chapter, but we’ll build it on what has been established at Lakewood Ranch,” Gould said. “When you’re a female athlete who has played at every level, you get a sense of how to approach coaching a team. At the same time, every team is different. There will be some trial and error. But I’m going to use an approach that stems from a love of the game. We’re going to be super competitive.”

Ryan Kohn is the sports editor for the East County Observer. Contact him at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.

Morgan Barton

Morgan Barton is a senior girls lacrosse player at Lakewood Ranch High. Barton, an attacker, is committed to Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia. She had 18 goals and nine assists in 17 games for the Mustangs last season.

When did you start playing lacrosse?

I was 10. I played soccer before then, but I stopped because, well, I was 10. I got bored of it. I had some neighbors who played lacrosse, so I started watching some film of it and I thought it looked cool. I decided to try that instead and I’ve stuck with it ever since.

What is the appeal to you?

I love my teams, both my high school team and my club team (LaxManiax). The sport creates a fun environment. I love how competitive it is. Even if I don’t have a great day or a great game, I still love going out and being with everybody and competing.

What is your best skill?

Reading the field. I can anticipate a lot of stuff before it happens and I know what I should be doing at a given time. I know how the defense is going to react.

What have you been working to improve?

My speed and dodges. Those are the two most important things for attackers. This summer I have been doing a lot of sprints to improve those things.

What is your favorite memory?

Last year at Lakewood Ranch we played Riverview High in a district tournament game. I got three goals. It was the first time I had done that in one game, and the Riverview goalie (Mia

If you would like to make a recommendation for the East County Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Ryan Kohn at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.

Rey) was actually on my club team, which made it even more fun.

What made you want to commit to Berry College?

I decided I want to play in college, so I started going to camps, and through that I met the Berry coaches. I’ve been talking to them for the last year and when I went on my visit, I thought the campus was stunning. I loved it.

What are your goals for the next high school season?

I want to get my goal count up. I haven’t had as many as I’d like. And as a team, I want everyone to have more fun while they’re playing and to play hard no matter what.

What are your hobbies?

Well, the classic Florida response is saying I like to go to the beach with my friends. But I also show cows through my school. That’s one of my other hobbies.

Finish this sentence: “Morgan Barton is …” … Funny. At least I think I’m funny. I don’t know if everyone

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