In a little less than a day from now, 30 Andalusia Stingrays swimmers will compete in the Alabama Recreation and Parks Association’s state swim meet in Cullman — an event they’ve been working toward all summer.
The state swim meet will take place more than three days — today through Saturday — at the eight-lane outdoor pool. The diving tournament will take place today, and the swimming tournament will take place Friday and Saturday.
There are 1,000 people slated to attend the state meet, according to the Cullman Times.
Thirty Andalusia Stingrays qualified for state this week after posting exceeding times at the district meet July 16 in Dothan.
Approximately 12 swimmers from the 7-10 age group, and more than 15 from the 11-and-up group will participate in the meet this week.
“What you’ve got is the best in the state from all of the districts represented,” 11-and-up coach Gavin Donaldson said. “A lot of these kids are seeded well, even the ones that are not.
“I told them, ‘the qualifier was at district. These are the finals right here,’” he said. “‘You’ve got one shot, one opportunity. What you do with that opportunity is your choice.’”
Warm ups will take place from 7:45 a.m. until 9:45 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, the meet will begin at 10 a.m. with the individual medley, breaststroke and short freestyle events. An hour break will follow and medley relays will begin shortly afterward, from approximately 1:15 p.m. to 3:05 p.m.
On Saturday, warm ups will stay the same, and the meet will begin at 10 a.m. with the butterfly, backstroke and long freestyle events. An hour break will follow and free relays will begin shortly afterward, from approximately 1:15 p.m. to 3:05 p.m.
Carrie Browning, interim 10-and-under coach for Candy Parker who is on a mission trip in Haiti, said the kids are “ready” for the meet.
“I think we’re going to do real well,” Browning said. “We’ve been practicing our relays. We’ve had some good relays going.
“We think we’re going to do real well this year,” she said. “I’m very proud of all of our swimmers.”
Seven-and-8-year-old coach Andy Shaddix said he’s looking forward to seeing what the younger swimmers will do over the next two days.
“They know what’s coming up for state and they know what they need to do (to succeed),” Shaddix said. “Even though they won their races at district, they weren’t happy on their times. They’re determined to do better at state.”
Fast-paced practices and more yards swam have been a staple during practice at Cooper Pool this past week, Donaldson said.
“This team is where they needed to be two weeks ago,” he said. “Right now, the practices are what they should’ve been two weeks ago. I’m excited to see the full potential of this team here at state.
“I think there’s a lot of the team members that have an opportunity to be seeded well,” he said. “They have an opportunity to go in there to meet the challenge. I’m just ready to get up there and see what happens.”
Andalusia Housing Authority Director Lena Boswell said Wednesday she is still awaiting arrival of the new cluster boxes to install before mail delivery service can be reinstated at West Haven apartments.
“I have the confirmation,” she said. “And we are hoping they will be here by next week.”
Mail delivery has been suspended to the apartment complex since a June 25 incident in which a threat of injury or attack by dogs roaming loose,” for the local letter carrier, USPS spokeswoman Debra Fetterly said.
Fetterly said she received confirmation that the boxes have been ordered.
Until the boxes are delivered and installed, residents may continue to pick up their mail from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Wednesday and Friday. On Thursdays and Saturdays, they can pick up mail from 9 a.m. until noon.
The Andalusia Board of Education approved employment and fundraisers at a special called meeting Monday night.
The board approved an alumni football game for Aug. 11 at Andalusia High School and approved a fundraiser for the AHS football program to sell ads for radio commercials.
The board also approved employment for:
• Beth Wilkes and Debbie Posey as part-time family and consumer science teachers at AHS, effective from Aug. 2 to Dec. 16, 2011.
• Delores Bell as fulltime family and consumer science teacher at AHS, effective Jan. 3, 2012.
Superintendent Ted Watson said that Bell was not available for employment until January.
-Kendra Bolling
The 12 World Series teams are set.
Now, it’s time for some softball.
In a little more than a week, the 2011 Babe Ruth Softball 12U World Series will take place at the Andalusia Sports Complex from Aug. 4-9, and 12 teams from around the country will vie for the coveted title of champion.
The final team that qualified for the World Series did so Monday morning, tournament coordinator Dwight Mikel said Tuesday.
The teams competing in the World Series are Franklin, La.; Mineral Area, Mo.; Halifax, Mass.; Othello, Wash.; Hazlet, N.J.; Fern Creek, Ky.; Lodi, Calif.; Oviedo, Fla.; East Brewton; Brewton; South Alabama (host); and Alexander City.
Mikel said everything is “coming along real well” in getting ready for next week’s tournament.
“If we had to start tomorrow, I think we could pull the trigger and start tomorrow,” Mikel said. “I don’t believe you’re ever totally prepared, or ever totally finished. I think we could drive a stick in the mud right now and play if we had to.”
During a regular World Series committee meeting Tuesday, Mikel said the finances for the tournament “are in good shape.”
“I had projected out ‘(about $70,000)’ that needed to come from outside sources other than those needed to be generated by the tournament,” he said. “We’ve met that with $2,000-$3,000 to spare.”
However, Mikel said right now the key to the financial success of the tournament will come from three sources.
“The success of it is how many folks come, the concession revenues and the vendor fees generated, which are percentage driven,” Mikel said. “Other than that, if those three things come in, then we’ll do very well.”
Mikel said the revenues from the folks that attend the tournament, the concession and the vendors are roughly anticipated to be about $32,000-$33,000.
Teams will arrive in Andalusia next Wed., Aug. 3, some time after lunch, Mikel said.
Three teams will fly into Montgomery, and two teams will fly into Pensacola. Buses and coaches will make the trips to pick the teams up.
Passing. Dribbling. Defense.
These are just a few things campers are learning this week at the Challenger Sports British Soccer Camp at the Andalusia Sports Complex.
European instructors will coach students ages 3-10 on the basics of soccer.
Charlie Howe, of London, England, said the primary focus this week is to give the campers “skill” in the game.
“We want to be able to improve the kids’ soccer skills,” Howel said. “The kids love it, and we want to leave them with that — a love of the game.”
On Monday, campers learned the basics in dribbling. Today, campers will learn about passing and receiving; Wednesday will be for shooting; Thursday will be for defense; and Friday will be a fun day for the campers, Howe said.
The camp will run until this Friday, and every day from 9 a.m. until noon, campers ages 6-10 participate in the half-day time slot. Campers ages 3-4 participate in the 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. time slot each night.
This is the sixth camp Howe and Robert Bailey — the other instructor of Birmingham, England — have instructed this summer.
They worked the first part of the summer in Florida, and moved up to Georgia before coming to Alabama.
“We love it here,” Howe said. “This is a great facility.”