SportsWeek
section B Also Religion , Obituaries, Classifieds July 12, 2007
L_ MB.
Photo by Greg Turner
TICKS point guard Richard Daniels Jr., is ready for the national tourna
ment July 14-21.
T.I.C.K.S
prepare for
Division II title
Squad goes through training camp
over the weekend
BY ANTHONY HILL
THE CHRONICLE
Several players on the
T.I.C.K.S (Teaching Inner
City Kids Structure) 14U
AAU squad were probably
thinking last Friday's train
ing session was going to be
like a normal
sleep over when ? ?
activities were a shock to
some of the hewer kids,"
said head coach Quincy
Smiley. "... but a lot of the
guys from last year proba
bly told them what it was
going to be about. They all
had an understanding. We
had the guys for 17 hours
last year. I actually
the team spent
the night at the
Central YMCA
? a week before
leaving for
Cocoa Beach,
Fla., to play for a
national title.
But last
week's training
session was any
Smiley
let them have two
hours of sleep this
year too. Then,
they did drills and
ran laps/'
T.I.C.K.S assis
tant Richard
Daniels Sr., added:
"There's no other
AAU teams doing
stuff like this.
When have you
thing but normal. The play
ers spent 12 hours (6 p.m.
until 7 p.m.) at the Central
YMCA doing various drills
and exercises to tune-up for
next week's big Division II
tournament. The training
session was known as
"Coach Q's Second Annual
Boot Camp." The team
began the night , with free
throws. Then, the squad did
water aerobics. The squad
then went through a
strength and conditioning
aerobics courseVUoth aero
bic sessions were led by
paid instructors.
"I'm sure some of the
seen a team have a training
camp like this? We have
them doing various exercis
es in different stations.
Some of the drills the
squad did were gutts, coun
ty fair (station rotation
drills), chops and more
gutts. The team also spent
time watching a brief edu
cational seminar. Smiley
said the extra practice time
gave his squad a chance to
get more comfortable with
the game plan, which is
pressing defense and pene
trating office.
"Our game plan is work
See TJ.C.K.S. on B3
High Five
Photo by Charlie PfifT
star Ohris Paul gives a young camper some love during the
*lP3 youm basketball camp at Forsyth Country Day earlier this
week, yfe camp, which began on July 9, will conclude tomorrow.
' Photo by Tony O'Brien/ Action Images/Icon SMI
Venus Williams celebrates after winning Wimbledon for the fourth time.
Venus' game
OUT OF THIS WORLD
I am not a huge fan of watching golf or
tennis on the television. But I try to catch a
good Tiger performance on the- links, and
sneak in a few good Venus and Serena
Williams swings during big tournaments.
This past weekend I watched Serena bat
tle so hard after suffering from some type of
she launched a service ace that was clocked
at 125 miles per hour. I don't want to return
that serve, and I'm a pretty strong guy. I
can't believe there's many women that can
compete with that. That's not all, though.
Venus is fast, long and strong. Plus,. she's
smart. I'm just talking about Venus right
leg injury. You all
should've seen her
determination. That
excited me. What
was - even more
exciting was watch
ing Venus win her
fourth Wimbledon
title. Venus also won
in 2000, 2001 and
2005. I honestly
FROM THE
/HUDDLE
Anthony Hill
now. I can go all day
when talking about
Serena.
I think Venus
was ranked No. 31
during last week
end's tournament
That made Venus
the lowest-ranked
women's winner in
Wimbledon history.
didn't know Venus had that many
Wimbledon titles until this weekend. Venus
beat some young lady named Marion
Bartoli 6-4, 6-1 to actually win her sixth
Grand Slam title.
That's what's up. I honestly feel that
Venus and Serena could easily be the beSt
female tennis players to ever play the game.
I mean, when they're on they're near *
unstoppable. Did you all see the way Venus
did Bartoli to finish the match off? Well,
. That's something when a player seeded
that low can dominate the competition like
Venus did. That's not right. That's like the
No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament run
ning past all of the top seeds to win a
national title. That's basically what Venus
did. To be honest with you, it really doesn't
matter what seed Venus or Serena have
entering a tournament. Just like it doesn't
matter where Tiger Woods is ranked. Most
Sec Hill on B4
Emmanuel
Akah
WSSU's
Akah
going to
Broncos
He played three
seasons for the Rams
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Denver Broncos signed
guard Emmanuel Akah
(Frankfurt Galaxy), corner
back Bill A I ford (Frankfurt
Galaxy), cornerback Kevin
House (Cologne
Centurions) and tackle Cliff
Washburn (Hamburg Sea
Devils). As per club poli
cy, terms of the contracts
were not disclosed.
Emmanuel Akah (6
foot-3, 330 pounds) is a
first-year player who started
all 1 1 games at left guard
for Frankfurt in 2007. help
ing the Galaxy lead N(T_
Europa in scoring (25.4
ppg.) and advance to World
Bowl XV. A native of
London, Akah began his
professional career in NFL
Europa in 2006 and saw
time with Rhein and
Frankfurt that season. He
signed with Miami on June
2, 2006, and competed in
the Dolphins' training camp
before he was waived on
Aug. 29.
Akah played three sea
sons at Winston-Salem
State University following
one year of junior college
football at State University
of New York-Canton. A
graduate of Tottenville High
School in Staten Island,
N.Y., Akah was born on
Feb. 8, 1979, in London.
Akah's three seasons of
play at WSSU were under
current head football coach
Kermit Blount and he was a
starter all three seasons for
the Rams. Following his
departure from WSSU he
spent time with the Miami
Dolphins before competing
with the Frankfurt Galaxy.
Small Surprise
Young gymnast exceeding early expectations
BY ANTHONY HILL
THE CHRONICLE
Morea Mouzon, 6. had a large number of fam
ily members in Greensboro to watch her perform
at the North Carolina Amateur Sports State Games
on June 23. Even a couple family friends from
Atlanta were in the Tumblebees Ultimate Gym a
couple weeks ago. <,->
Mouzon didn't disappoint either. The young
gymnast finished with four medals. Mouzon cap
tured three gold medals and one bronze in the
Level 2 division of the gymnastics competition ?
beating out kids as old as IS years of age.
"We are very proud of her," said Jessica
Mouzon. Morea 's mother. "Some of the girls were
a lot older than Morea too. We weren't sure if she
was going to win anything. We just wanted her to
do her best."
Morea's parents weren't even sure if she was
going to win anything after watching her perform
during certain events. As a matter of fact, when
the judge announced another young gymnast in
fifth place, her mother immediately started feeling
bad for Morea.
"After they announced the fifth place winner I
thought my baby wasn't going to win anything,"
Jessica Mouzon said. "Then I was amazed when
See Mouzon on B5
D% M B#c Seen
Young Morea Mouzon, who's a gymnast, recently won four medals at the State Games.
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