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Sports, recrecreation, and fitness
The net result: success
Watertown's youth lacrosse program grows in popularity
By TIMMY C., OWEN G., and JACK L.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporters
There is a new and exciting sport in Watertown: lacrosse!
There are three boys' teams (Under 11, 13, and 15) and two girls' teams, and kids can start playing when they are in third grade.
The girls' and boys' teams have different rules. The girls can have no contact at all and they only wear eye protection and a mouthguard. The boys wear shoulder pads, a helmet, mouthguard, gloves, and elbow pads. They are allowed to body check and hack. In Under 11, players can shove, but can not check.
The Under-11 team practices five days a week and has games on Sundays. The Under-11 coaches are John Beagan and Jamie Gurick. At practice, the team goes through drills. The players do bear crawls, duck walks, throw passes, and shoot on net. The players also run, and run some more.
The practices have really helped. The Under-11 team has won seven games and only lost three.
The Under-11 team travels to different towns. This weekend, it will play three games at Fort Devens.
The players are glad that this new lacrosse program has come to town.
--June 9, 2009--
Get your kicks (and punches)
Sensei Craig’s karate class provides break to boredom
By PATRICK W. and MAIREAD W.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporters
Every Wednesday in the Cunniff School gym after school, Sensei Craig comes to teach karate. Sometimes the sensei (which means teacher) brings a student from his dojo (which means school) or other senseis.
In karate class, students work on karate combinations and self defense. Boys and girls, from kindergarten to fifth grade, do it.
Some sessions there are a lot of kids, and some sessions there are a few.
Students start by doing simple punches and then can go to breaking boards or doing combinations.
Students have to wear white uniforms they get from their sensei. The uniform is called a gei. Students can wear a T-shirt that the sensei gives out.
Sometimes the students play games. One of the games is called Clip Sparring. Two students put on clips, like on a clothes line, and try to protect theirs while trying to knock off the other person’s.
At the end of the session, the students take a test. In each test, students use everything they’ve learned in that session. If a student passes the test, the student gets another belt. Students show ranks by belt. Each belt is a different color. Students start with white and work their way up.
After a student gets a brown stripe, the next is a solid yellow. On solid colors are tapes on the end of the belt and a student needs to get three tapes to get another solid color.
--May 5, 2009--
Get into the swim of things
Watertown Boys and Girls Club a great place to start
By SEAN L.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporter
If you don’t know how to swim, then come to the Watertown Boys and Girls Club.
At the Boys and Girls Club, you will meet a lot of nice swimming teachers, like Mr. Harrison.
I go to the Club to be taught how to swim every Tuesday. I like Mr. Harrison and I also like to swim.
I have a lot of fun when I go to the Boys and Girls Club, and when Mr. Harrison teaches me to swim.
I think everyone should go there!
--May 2, 2009--
Ryan Murphy of the Lowell Devils speaks with Cunniff Kids News reporters after a recent game at Tsongas Arena.
Having fun? Check!
Lowell Devils hockey scores with crowd of all ages
By CHARLOTTE V., ISABELLA V., ELIZABETH A., AND SHAY D.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporters
A blimp flies around and drops prizes. There is a doghouse -- for Devil Dawg -- that kids can climb in. Mascots have dance contests. Afterward, you can skate around the ice rink.
This is what you will find at a Lowell Devils hockey game.
On Feb. 8, some students and families from the Cunniff School in Watertown went to an AHL hockey game at Tsongas Arena in Lowell. The Devils beat the Hartford Wolf Pack, 5-3.
It was an exciting game from the first drop of the puck. There was a lot of scoring and a few fights.
There was a fight early in the game after the Devils went up, 2-0. Ryan Murphy of the Devils explained why.
"The guys usually fight because they are standing up for their teammates,'' said Murphy. "Sometimes two guys don’t like each other."
Murphy, who wasn't playing in this game, said he has been in fights.
"But penalties are bad, so we try not to take them," he said.
Murphy watched from the stands, although he wasn't quite sure why his coach didn't play him.
"You’ll will have to ask the coach why I didn’t play. I don’t know. It’s a long season," he said. "Sometimes the coach will have a guy sit in the stands and watch."
As Murphy, wearing a suit and tie, watched the game, he also signed some autographs.
"Yes, even tonight some kids came over and asked for an autograph," he said. "Usually if anybody asks, I’ll give it to them."
Between periods, there were still things for the fans to do. For example, there was a game called Chuck-a-puck and if a fan threw the puck onto the center of a target, the fan would win $200. There were also snacks, like fried dough, cotton candy, and ice cream.
Players eat, too, but their snacks are more healthy. According to Murphy, the players drink Gatorade and water and eat healthy candy bars “to keep our energy up.”
With all this healthy food, players have a lot of energy to play a physical game -- and sometimes they hurt each other.
Murphy, who turned 30 March 21, said he has broken "a leg, ankle, fingers, nose, and I've lost a few teeth."
After the game, anyone who wanted could skate on the Tsongas Arena ice. Murphy said he started skating when he was 3, but he agreed when he was asked if it was hard to skate without falling.
"But that's why we wear all of this padding, including a helmet, to keep us safe," he said.
After a while, it was time for everyone to get off the ice and go home. Being at the game was lots of fun.
(To learn more about Ryan Murphy, go to his page on the Lowell site:
http://www.lowelldevilshockey.com/theteam/profiles/0809roster/murphy.php.
For information about the Lowell Devils, their schedule, and how to buy tickets, go to:
http://www.lowelldevilshockey.com/.)
Having a ball after school
By DYANNE B.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporter
Greg Marcotte runs the Cunniff’s afterschool sports program in the gym.
Fourth- and fifth-grade students go every Tuesday. Second- and third-graders do a similar program on Mondays.
On Tuesday, Feb. 3, up to 21 kids were playing bowling with a lot of balls and pins. The balls were colorful -- red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, purple, and white -- and different sizes.
The kids were having fun. The program lasts 10 weeks and is going to be open again next year.
According to Mr. Marcotte, among the sports played will be soccer, basketball, floor hockey, and, “All kinds of crazy things.’’
-- Feb. 23, 2009 --
Four members of the Boston Blazers -- (back row, left to right) Dan Dawson, Scorch, Gary
Bining, and Mitch Belisle -- came to the Cunniff School in Watertown Jan. 27 to speak with
students and reporters from the Cunniff Kids News.
Fired up over the Blazers
Boston's newest team hopes to lead people to lacrosse
He is 6 feet 8 inches tall with a head too big for a helmet and red hair that looks like its on fire. His name is Scorch and he is the mascot of the Boston Blazers, Boston’s newest team.
The Blazers play in the Na  tional Lacrosse League. There are 12 teams in the NLL and each team plays 16 games (and some play three playoff games). The players come in all sizes. Dan Dawson, the Blazers’ captain, is 6 feet 5 inches tall. Mitch Belisle is very strong and 5-10. Gary Bining, who is very fast, is 5-7 and the shortest player in the league.
They came, with Scorch, to the Cunniff School in Watertown, to talk about their team.
The Blazers play their home games on weekends in the Boston Garden, the same home as the Bruins and Celtics. A lot of players have other jobs during the week. Dawson is studying to be a firefighter and Bining is taking his medical exams and wants to be a doctor. Other Blazers are teachers, police officers, and investment bankers.
“We play because we love it,” said Dawson.
The Blazers practice during the week.
“Games are fun, but practices are important,” said Belisle.  “Most guys who play professionally have to love going to practice,” Bining said.
Many players live together. “We’re kind of like a big family,” said Bining.
Lacrosse is a lot like hockey, except with a ball instead of a puck and a stick with a net on the end of it to catch the ball. Canada has two national sports, hockey and lacrosse. Kids growing up in Canada, like Dawson and Bining did, play hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer. Bining started playing in fourth grade and Dawson in sixth. Belisle, who grew up in Rochester, N.Y., also started playing in sixth grade.
Dawson said his favorite part of the game is scoring goals. Bining likes something even better.
“I like winning games,” he said. “I’m in such a great mood after we win, no matter how I play.”
Lacrosse was invented by the Native Americans.
In indoor lacrosse, there are five players and one goalie on the field at a time, except when there’s a penalty. If a player gets a penalty -- players can’t hit another below the waist, or in the neck or head, or swing their stick like a baseball bat, or fight -- they have to sit in the penalty box for 2, 4, or 5 minutes.
Fake grass is put down in the hockey rink, but the boards and glass are left up. There are nets set up at Boston Garden behind the net to keep the balls in play and keep the fans safe.
The lacrosse ball is white and made of really hard rubber and can go 100 miles an hour or more. The players can check each other and use their sticks to try to knock the ball loose from players on the other team. The hit  ting is Belisle’s favorite part of the game. The players only have gear on their upper body: helmets, gloves, and shoulder and elbow pads. The goalie -- the Blazers’ goalie is Anthony Cosmo -- wears much more gear and looks like a sumo wrestler.
Cosmo is Belisle’s favorite player. Dawson and Belisle have the same favorite, Hall-of-Famer Gary Gait.
The Blazers also promote the L.E.A.D. program. L.E.A.D. stands for Leadership, Education, Attitude, and Dedication. The players want these things in their teammates. They said if kids learn in school, have a good attitude, and stay dedicated they will become good leaders and be successful.
Dawson, the captain, is the Blazers’ leader. He said he has made it to the NLL championship game three times, but has won it “zero times.”
“But hopefully we’ll win it this year,’’ he said.
Scorch, whose head is shaped like a big lacrosse ball, won’t play in the championship game. He spends the game running around the stands, high-fiving the fans.
“We can’t find a helmet big enough or else he’d play,” said Dawson.
(Story reported and written by Cunniff Kids News staff reporters Akram B., Caroline D., Meagan K., Jie Sen L., Tia P., Beth P., Sydney P., Christine S., Renee S., Isabella V., Elizabeth A., Shay D., Julia F., Mairead W., Ryan L., Rose M., Sam C., Jia Yi L., Sean L., and TJ P.)
(For more information on the Boston Blazers, the NLL, the players, and how to get tickets to watch the Blazers play, go to http://www.blazerslacrosse.com/.) -- Feb. 13, 2009 --
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