II
May 9, 1985
Page B1
Fast Wins
I By DAVID BULLA
Chronicle Sports Editor
Bennie Lassiter stands behind
the Boys Club on Stadium Drive
on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.
It is the sort of day for a little
basketball with the boys, some
light work in the yard or a relaxing
walk in the park.
Lassiter, however, is watching
22 6- and 7-year-olds chase a soccer
ball across the Boys Club
athletic field.
"This is my first year. 1 tried to
get her (daughter Kendra) to run
track, but she preferred soccer,"
Lassiter says, tipping off the fact
that the East Winston Noon Optimist
Youth Soccer League is a
family affair.
4 * I
i 1 uccn wun uvcr
because this league teaches you
how to play something for fun.
They stress that, whether you win
or lose, play to have fun."
On the field, the movement of
the ball is understandably slow.
Occasionally, a child executes a
pass that draws oohs and ahs
from the crowd, and a proud
parent tries to hold back a smile.
Suddenly, the largest child on
the field breaks free of the pack
and faces a one-on-one withjhe
goalkeeper, who makes a splendid
save. The coach, who at this
age level, stays on the field
throughout the game, cannot
contain his elation. He lifts his
goalie in the air and all cheer.
Later, another one-on-one
takes place, involving the same
children. This time the goalie is
not so fortunate. His taller rival
places a high kick to his left,
completely out of reach. The ball
lands in the ne? fqir the game's
first goal.
4 fri -.-ii . > -
i ney leu you not 10 teacn
competition," said Wanda
Williams, Kendra Lassiter's
coach. "But that's impossible.
Losing tears them to pieces/'
Games are won and lost in this
league to be sure, but almost half
Bibby 's h
this time t
By DAVID BULLA
Chronicle Sports Editor
The gentle windup belies the v*
ty of Jim Bibby's fastball.
"What was that?" asked the
rhhnr o nitrhino
|w..vv?e pivviuii^ vvawn ui ivici
mhand Kevin Burrell. "Abou
(miles per hour)?"
"Seventy-nine," yelled pit
Wray Bergendahl, who stood nea
"Eight-three tops."
"What!" screamed Bibby. "If
throw 85, then I'm twice as fast,
if I am a 40-year-old man."
"Eighty-seven or 88," Bu
chimed amid a chorus of figure?
ing offered by his Lynchburg u
mates.
"Go get the gun," someone
from the left field bank, just al
the visitors' bullpen at Ernie S!
I Field. "It'll say 85."
The Mets actually have a r;
device to measure the velocity of
ching. Yet the thought was only \
hearted. Had someone plugged
machine in, it's a sure t.t
6-foot-6, 250-pound Bibby wi
have been throwing as fast as an
his pitchers.
Today this is a familiar scene
Bibby, whose playing career er
less than a year ago. The Franklir
native, who had the best wini
percentage in the National Leagu
1979-80, feels fortunate to still b
baseball, one way or another.
"I miss the big-league atmospl
and the money," Bibby said last v
when the L-Mets were in town to ]
the Winston-Salem Spirits. ,4Bi
came to accept that one day my 1
in the big leagues was going to
ton Noon (
??
. Tr \ ^
; K
SkM 4* ' '
Afternoon D<
Willard Hodges, above, and his
an East Winston Noon Optimist
watches a shot miss high. He ar
the Tigers 0-0 (photos by Jamei
of them end in ties.
"But I do feel that participating
in soccer benefits these
children in a major way,"
Williams continued. "Not
everybody can play .basketball
and. football. Soeotr everybody
can do."
Indeed, the theme of this
league is: Soccer offers
something for everybody.
Bili Oshodi, who is the league's
founding father, makes this point
succinctly.
"What did Akeem Olajuwon
ack in Care
is a Met i
? "I miss the
loci- leagm
Lyn- mosphere and
t fa? money. B
came to ac
cher
_l 4- Lm *~m 4 M n W % \
*vy- iriui uric uuy
you time in the
even leagues was g(
irreii to end
i be:am
? Jim Bi
said
3ove and that I would have to
hore something else.
"I'm just glad to get theo
adar ty to stay in baseball. I er
pit- I'm doing. But if I was i
ialf- leagues again, that w
the something I would cherish,
the Bibby, who played for $
Duld Texas, Cleveland and P
y of now oversees a pitching staf
cAm0 tAimk /\ /Ntlf ^
wiiiv k\Jugu avu iu iuuuw, ,
for ago, Lynchburg had Dwighi
ided now the flame-throwing sta
lton York's rotation. Four others
ning 1983 team made it to the m
ie in year, including Calvin Schi
ie in Tibbs, Jeff Bettendorf j
Gardner.
here Las* season, Lynchburg h
,eek much talent. Randy My<
play Aguilera, Floyd Youman
jt I Cook and Kevin Brown all
:ime in the high minors or mi
end year. They pitched the M
SPORT!
optimist So
~ j
*?*
* ^
^ ^'Ao.v.
' '' *
l||pw^:i
slight
seventh-month-old daughter Ores
Youth Soccer game last Saturday
id his Warrior teammates, who p\i
s Parker).
play when he was growing up?M
asked Oshodi, a native Nigerian
who played semi-pro soccer while
he was in school in England.
"Akeem was a goalie.
"So you see that anybody can
mm S. A -
piay soccer, tan or snort, large or
small. You also feel a part of
something very large, something
multinational, since soccer has
more participants than any other
sport in the world."
But it's not just soccer that
makes the 4-year-old East
Winston Noon Optimist League
)lina Leagu
ntching coa
l 89-49 regular-season
" earned run average of
7 to a 96-43 mark with <
' the '83 sqaud.
th6 "I don't think this
> ^ j quite as deep," Bibby
* too early to tell how gc
CCDt and how these gu;
compare."
' my So far the Mets, i
consecutive Carolina
pionships, haven't t
yilJQ history. They had a
? - league-best 17-8 recor
Sunday.
Lynchburg is Bibby
hhy as a. minor-league p
After playing trials nv
mmmm St. Louis went awry
resort to good friend Hank j
development director 1
pportuni- Braves, called and sa
ijoy what opening. Bibby accept
n the big as pitching coach at
ould be Braves' Carolina Leag
M When the Bulls lost
St. Louis, three games to one
ittsburgh, dominated league
T that has series last September, 1
Two years Met minor-league c
:Gooden, Schryver. A possible
ir of New chburg was discussed
? from the pitching coach John C
lajors last eager for a promotion
raldi, Jay When Cumberland
rod Wes the pitching coach's jc
(the Mets' triple-A ai
ad just as signed with Lynchburj
rs, Rick It was a perfect n
s, Mitch Bibby has lived in Mad
will pitch Lynchburg suburb, f
ajors this years.
ets to an Please see p
9
?
5WEEK
ccer: Som<
>ha rest on the sidelines during
k Goalkeeper Daren Hunt, right,
ly in the 11-14 age group, tied
so attractive.
For instance, since the league
plays its games on Saturday,
parents get an opportunity to
socialize with friends.
"I just saw a friend I hadn't seen
since November," said An-'
nie Lassiter, Kendra's mother.
"We try to encourage parents to
participate as much as possible
and socializing is one of the offshoots.
"There's plenty to do. Parents
can coach, act as linesmen, provide
or serve refreshments/'
record with an
year's staff is
>od it's going to
ys are going to I
?vho have won
League chamawed
by ^HBH99PS
-- surprise! -- wfcfc
d through last
's second stop
itching coach. J
ith Texas and I
last year, his 1HSI9IEM
\aron, player
the Atlanta
iid he had an
ed the position
Durham, the
ue
to Lynchburg
in a pitchingchampionship
3ibby talked to
Steve
move to Lyn,
since L-Met I
. . .
umberland was M
was awarded
?b at Tidewater
filiate), Bibby
Back On
narriage, since
ison Heights, a Lynchburg's Jirr
or the last 17 York Met farmh
coach's fastball,
age B14 subject, pitching
4
Roui
colu
ithing for <
sSSSSmu
WLmM
<Mfe3NEfcv<
- *%.*<?'* , ' - >'v*4?*> ^ ?.4"^J^Hr *"* ^ .
- - .? - * ?*** - *.." l * _ \ .. i. 1
f ? ,. ."*'* . ?'"*"*? u * 1
* ,d ?v? > ' v
?.ir V ' < ->'
*? .. - ? ji
* jx?^;'jmj\
*MT< ?*tru ^#j*~
Illllllti
'. ;.r
Williams has coached in the
league each of the last three
years.
441 worked with several of the
guys who organized the league,"
she said. "They needed bodies.
W? %_ _! .? ? J -At ' ' ?
even inougn 1 aiani tenqw mucn
about soccer, I helped out the
first year.
"Then I went to clinics to learn
how to play the game. We watched
films and heard coaches
speak. So the next year I
volunteered to coach."
That first year, the coed league
^f "f
k^^^S * 4^-->, ^iu^^NtegpP^(jte ^W?. *#j
^S^SSOSf; - ^
The Farm
i Bibby, who grew up on a farrr
anus, wmu uuuasionany maKB i
Bibby's been doing some hea\
j (photo by James Parker).
*
????????- ^
ndups,
mns and profiles.
everybody
_ ? M "x: -' ~- ? *- L W *-; S
had 65 children on six teams. The
league has grown to more than
200 children and 14 teams.
Four years later, Oshodi is
beginning to .see some positive
ramifications.
"We're starting to see players
from this league make it onto the
high school soccer teams,'*_he
said. "What's next? We'll
possibly see our players get
scholarships to college. It might
nat Kommam +!* *? ? ? I ? ? ?
nwi nap^vu 111 IS ycai , UUl its lung
Please see page B2
>5f i *
9h^
^^m^CRSrjBiF^ch '
i in Franklinton, oversees New
fun of the 40-year-old pitching
ry reading lately on his favorite
i