PROVINCETOWN — It’s T-minus-one day until the first-ever halftime show for seven cheerleaders at practice on Feb. 15. Fifth-grade energy abounds, and arms punch high. Then the cardboard parcel of black-and-white pom-poms appears, and the cheers begin, one after another, with hardly a breath in-between.
sports
HIDDEN STRENGTHS
At Rehearsal With the Cape Cod Ballet Theatre
Athleticism and joy fuel young dancers’ return to the stage
HARWICH PORT — Kyla Potoczny soars through the air with grace at full stretch during the Cape Cod Ballet Theatre’s rehearsal for “Ballet, Broadway and Beyond,” which opens June 18. It will be the theater’s first live production since December 2019.
THE YEAR IN SPORTS
The Outer Cape’s Stories Range Far and Wide
Adventures in Sunday soccer, backyard bocce, West Coast skateboarding, Korean basketball, and bullfighting school
There were times when it seemed like 2021 would be a year without sports. But coaches and athletes found ways to keep playing. I was glad for the chance to cover a more or less regular slate of high school games and to be inspired by the dedication of the students.
But as I look back on the year that was, I realize that the Outer Cape’s sports stories extend beyond the schools in unexpected ways.
I met Don Sack, an Eastham resident, at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans one morning in early November. He told me about his two trips to the Sankey Rodeo School, where he attempted to become a rodeo bullfighter. Don lasted a combined five days at two sessions, one in Georgia, the other in Tennessee. He also spent a total of 12 days in the hospital.
I’ll never forget the way Don described his first face-to-face encounter with a 900-pound bull.
“Boom! He comes at me,” Sack said. “I remember putting my hand on his head and trying to turn around his horn and get under his shoulder. The next thing I know, I must have been a good five or six feet in the air.
“My first thought,” he added, “was, ‘Oh, this is not so bad.’ ”
A lot of people know Nat Santoro, who also lives in Eastham — or think they do. They’ll tell you he’s a real estate broker associate with Kinlin Grover. But not many know he was a defensive standout for the Italian-American Stars, an amateur soccer team in New Britain, Conn.
Santoro learned to play soccer in his home country of Italy, where the kids in his neighborhood fashioned soccer balls out of old newspapers bound with rubber bands in order to play. They couldn’t afford a real ball. In 1967, Santoro helped lead the Stars to its first National Cup title over a team from St. Louis that had won multiple championships.
Maria Redo brought her sport from Italy as well. She has been hosting summer bocce tournaments in her Truro backyard for 31 years.
Maria turned 96 in 2021. We tossed a few bocce balls while I interviewed her. Let’s just say that, in the game of bocce, age does not matter.
The games she hosts are “for fun” but no doubt competitive. As Maria put it: “Italians take bocce very seriously.”
Then there was Wentzle Ruml. Before he became a Wellfleet commercial fisherman and carpenter he was one of the original members of the legendary Zephyr skateboarding team, a.k.a. the Z-Boys in the 1970s. Ruml had endless stories to tell as we sat on a couch at the Cape Cod Skate Shop in West Harwich, where he and his business partner, Tommy Wrenn, sell vintage boards collected over the years.
The shop also hosts a gallery of photos and ads from Ruml’s prime skating days, curated by artist Mike Page. It was truly old-school cool.
I had the chance to watch a few Sunday morning soccer games organized by local Jamaicans at Baker’s Field in Wellfleet.
One player, Burchelle Edwards, was particularly charismatic and a joy to watch. Some of the players are also members of the Wellfleet Breakers soccer team that competes in the Cape Cod Soccer League during the summer.
When I was in high school (I graduated from Nauset in 2013), Nick Minnerath was an almost mythical figure. I heard stories about how Minnerath had managed to make it from Truro into the world of professional basketball. And by 2021, he was playing professionally in Seoul, South Korea.
I reached out to him in February and was surprised when he agreed to a phone on the spot.
Minnerath told me his entire story — and not just the flattering parts. How he loved basketball but didn’t have much guidance during high school and got cut from the team twice. How he was working a construction job post-high school in the dead of winter in Truro and fell into some bad habits during that time. How a road trip with his dad in 2007 became a turning point for him.
The two were helping Minnerath’s sister with a move to Nebraska. While he was there, he decided to play some pickup ball in a gym. He was by far the best player in that gym, but when people asked where he played, he was embarrassed to say he didn’t play college ball.
That led to his transformation. Minnerath earned a spot on a junior college team in Jackson, Mich., where his mother’s family was from. He played his heart out, earned a scholarship to Division 1 University of Detroit, battled through injuries, and eventually made it to the pros.
His career has mostly been overseas, but in 2015 he signed a short contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers and played some preseason games with LeBron James.
My takeaway: There are some amazing people here, with no shortage of stories to tell — including sports stories. I can’t wait to hear more of them in 2022.
MARCH MADNESS
Spring Sports Suspended Until at Least April 27
Coronavirus halts activities here and across the country
Editor’s note: This article has been updated since the publication of the March 19 edition of the Independent.
EASTHAM — The local sports schedule has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Mass. Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) has pushed back the start of the high school spring sports season until at least April 27, the day after the scheduled April vacation. Completion of regular season and tournament games would take place no later than June 20, the MIAA said.
“There’s no playbook for this,” Nauset Supt. Thomas Conrad told the regional school committee on March 12.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced on March 15 that all schools would be closed for a minimum of three weeks.
Other events like Nauset’s winter sports award ceremony scheduled for March 12, the 28th annual Billingsgate Basketball Tournament at both Wellfleet Elementary School and Nauset Regional High School scheduled for March 21 and 22, and Wellfleet Recreation’s postseason basketball party scheduled for the same weekend have all been canceled.
Nauset Athletic Director John Mattson did not return a phone call or email last week.
All adult and youth recreation programs in Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown have been suspended until further notice.
Provincetown Recreation Director Brandon Motta said in an email that Veterans Memorial Community Center will be closed to the public, but recreation staff will still be responding to phone calls and emails.
These measures fit within a larger context of caution and cancellations as the professional and collegiate sports world has come to a standstill due to the spread of COVID-19.
The Masters golf tournament held annually in April has been postponed. The Boston Marathon has also been postponed to a tentative date of Sept. 14. The National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS) have suspended their seasons until further notice.
It was announced on March 11 that NBA player Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus and the association immediately suspended the season. Gobert and the Jazz played the Boston Celtics in Boston on March 6. Players from teams that had played the Jazz within 10 days of March 11, including the Celtics, were told to self-quarantine, according to ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst.
Since that time at least two other NBA players have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The annual “March Madness” collegiate men’s and women’s basketball tournaments have been canceled. Major League Baseball (MLB) announced it will delay the start of the 2020 season by at least two weeks.
warriors watch
Girls Race to Track Championship
A weekly wrap-up and preview of Nauset High sports
Note: Team records are listed as of the Independent’s deadline
Thursday, Feb. 20
Girls ice hockey: In its last game of the regular season the Cape Cod Furies will play the Vineyarders at the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Rink at 4:30 p.m.
The Furies defeated BMW-ORR 1-0 on Feb. 17 to improve to 7-7-5 on the season. Sophomore Eve Abboud scored the only goal of the game on an assist from sophomore Sophie Coelho.
The team needs to win on Martha’s Vineyard to qualify for the postseason.
Friday, Feb. 21
Boys wrestling: The Warriors (0-8) will compete in the Division 3 Championships at Wayland High School. Time to be announced.
Saturday, Feb. 22
Girls indoor track: The Warriors (4-0) won the Division 4 Championships for the first time in Nauset history last weekend with just seven girls on the roster.
The team will compete in All-States at the Reggie Lewis Center with times to be announced. All-States features school winners across all divisions in the state.
Boys wrestling: The Warriors continue state competition at Wayland High School at 9 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 23
Coed cheerleading: The Warriors will compete in the David Prouty Invitational at David Prouty High School in Spencer beginning at 12 p.m.
This is the team’s first competition of the winter season.
CROSS-COUNTRY
High School Girls Look to Defend Their State Title
Nauset remains undefeated entering the Eastern Mass. Div. 4 Championships
EASTHAM — After ending the regular season with a 9-0 record and a first-place finish in the league championship meet on Oct. 26, the Nauset High girls’ cross-country team aims to defend its state sectional title on Nov. 9 at the Eastern Mass. Division 4 championships.
Nauset won the Atlantic Coast League (ACL) championship last year. But at the end of the school year the league was consolidated into an expanded Cape & Islands League. Nauset now competes against large schools like Dennis-Yarmouth, Falmouth, and Sandwich along with private, charter, and smaller public schools.
“[This season] kind of mirrors what we did last year,” Coach Katie McCully said. She has been head coach of girls’ cross-country for 13 years.
The team consists of 11 girls: four seniors, five juniors, and two sophomores. Leading the way are co-captains senior Abby Farrell and junior Izzy Nobili.
In just her second year on the team, Farrell placed first overall in every one of the team’s regular season competitions and ran right into the record books.
Farrell beat her own school record at Nauset’s 3.1-mile home course by posting a time of 18:28 at the team’s meet against Sandwich on Oct. 15. Her previous record was 19 minutes.
She set a new meet record at Barnstable’s 2.6-mile course on Oct. 1, posting a time of 15:25. That’s a pace of under six minutes per mile.
The only race Farrell hasn’t won this year was the Cape & Islands championship meet.
Co-captain Izzy Nobili has not been far behind, placing second in several competitions.
Cross-country races are scored by assigning points based on the place a runner finishes in. The first-place runner earns one point, second place two points, and so on. The lowest team score wins the meet.
The first five runners on a team are scored based on where they finish. After that, runners’ scores don’t count toward the team score but they can help to displace runners on other teams. For example, if the sixth Nauset runner finishes before the fifth runner on another team, that team’s score is one point higher.
Last year Nauset won the championship with a score of 84; second place Westwood scored 110.
“We have a strong group of runners,” said Nobili. “Last year we gained Abby and Makayla [Hutchinson] and this year we gained Shay [Riske]. So we have a continued influx of talented athletes.”
From top to bottom the team is very solid, McCully said.
Along with the co-captains, sisters Rebekah and Rachel Pranga and Ella Kelly have led the team to an impressive season.
“The success this year comes from a strong work ethic,” McCully said. She tries to give the team challenging workouts while also making sure they understand the importance of proper rest and stretching, she added.
The Nov. 9 championship meet is a 5K (3.1-mile) race on a golf course in Wrentham. McCully said the team has been training at Fort Hill in Eastham and some other hilly local courses in preparation for the terrain. Most races during the regular season are held on flatter courses. Weather can also be a factor: runners faced heavy winds and a muddy track at last year’s state meet.
More than 30 teams will compete for the state sectional title, which means around 200 girls will be running.
“The target is on our backs,” McCully said.
The cross-country team will graduate its four seniors this year, including Farrell, but five juniors, including Nobili, will look to continue the success next season.
“We’re riding this wave we’ve been on,” McCully said, noting that after next year a rebuilding phase may be in order.
But last year Nauset Middle School added a cross-country team to its athletics program, and McCully said she hopes that will continue to produce fine runners.
“We have a good, hardworking group of girls willing to face any obstacle,” Nobili said.
Learning
Spin, Swing, Twirl, Leap, Fly
Season 7 at the Payomet Circus Camp
Photos and words by photographer Edward Boches.
TRURO — Where could you go to get a full-body workout, improve your concentration, build self-esteem, and learn how to collaborate better? At the summer circus camp at the Payomet Center for the Performing Arts, young people work hard to gain those skills. But if you ask them, they’ll tell you they’re just having fun.
The camp just wrapped up its seventh season under the tent at the Highlands Center in North Truro. Campers ages 7 to 14 learned aerial arts, trapeze skills, and juggling, all under the watchful eyes of accomplished performers.
“The kids fall in love with it because it seems unachievable at first, and then they’re doing it,” said Eleanor Getz, co-artistic director of the Spoke Movement Ensemble of Fort Collins, Colo., who’s been teaching at the camp for five years. “It’s both fun and difficult, with immediate feedback. You suck at first, but then you get it.”
The circus camp develops both discipline and creativity. Payomet provides scholarships to any family who needs help with the tuition. It’s a small part of Payomet’s programming, said artistic director Kevin Rice, “but one of its most important.” When you see these young people spin, twirl, leap, fly, and smile, you understand why.
Strength and concentration are at play for Dennis Jimenez, 12, of Highland Lakes, N.J., as he jumps into the aerial arts under the tent at Payomet.
Young performers like Aviv Schwab-Jacobson, 11, of Wellfleet learn precisely how to wrap the ribbons around their arms and legs to suspend their bodies as they swing, twirl, and spiral 20 feet in the air.
Izzy Levenson, 10, of Truro just after completing an aerial performance.
Silks make the work look easy, as Calie Wotherspoon, 12, of Wellfleet (left) and Aviv Schwab-Jacobson hoist themselves into the air.
“Is this how you do it?” asks Gus Scalcione, 6, of Wellfleet, as he holds his diabolo juggling sticks.
Max Poteat-Garrett, 9, of Washington, D.C., stretches before heading to the ropes and silks to work on his aerial skills.
You spend a lot of time upside down when you’re working on a ropes routine. Just ask Rosalie Shalom, 9, of South Orange, N.J.
Another aerial performance completed, Hadleigh Christenson of Westhampton floats back to earth.
Clara Whitlock, 7, of Eastham balanced a flower stick on her head as she acknowledged cheers from the crowd after her juggling performance.
Liftoff: Kaden Wotherspoon of Wellfleet launches himself with help from the mini-trampoline.
With focus, balance, momentum, and confidence, Violet Yingling, 10, of Wellfleet, spins the diabolo.