The basketball court at Stebbins High School is being name in honor of former Wilmington College standout athlete Ronald Coleman.
Coleman, who was a multi-sport athlete at McClain High School and then Wilmington College, was the brother of Jim Coleman, who coached junior varsity basketball at WHS.
He was an educator with multiple schools for 35 years, a decorated coach, and a color commentator with Wright State for 10 years. He was involved in career based intervention for at-risk students at Stebbins High School. The Coleman family was actively involved with Coleman 4 A Cure, a cancer foundation.
Coleman died in 2003 at the age of 72.
Myers art
In the column about former News Journal sports editor David Myers, there were several of his photos published online and in our print edition.
There were athletes named in those photos but a couple others who were not identified.
In the photo with Merle Henry driving to the basket and a Clarksville player in the background, that Clarksville player was Ralph Robinson, a Clinton County Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
In the baseball photo of Charlie Smith, a player is sliding to the base behind Smith. There has been two names tagged with that sliding player as a possible ID — John Streber and Dale Hillard.
Blan sports
Blanchester has not put a boys soccer team on the field the past two seasons. It likely won’t happen again this fall.
And there may not be a cross country program for the blue and white in 2024.
“I have someone who is interested in coaching, but we currently only have six kids signed up,” Blanchester athletic director Brad Ballinger said.
He added at the high school level there are three boys and a girl interested, with one boy and one girl at the middle school level interested.
“We’ve had conversations about whether it is worth trying to continue funding a program — paying a coach, paying (meet) entry fees, using resources for transportation, hosting a meet — when the interest doesn’t appear to be there,” said Ballinger.
As for boys soccer, Ballinger said there are six athletes signed-up, with those six being told 15 were needed to field a team.
Blanchester is not the only school with athletic team number issues. It’s county-wide, state-wide, nation-wide. So many sports for kids to choose from and each sport wanting kids to specialize or focus their workouts, training on that sport, even if it means missing time with another sport.
New rules
There are rule changes for softball and track/field for the 2025 season.
High school softball coaches will be able to use electronic devices in the dugout for one-way communication to the catcher while the team is on defense beginning in 2025.
“This change is the result of analysis of current data, state association experimentation and a positive response from the membership,” said Sandy Searcy, NFHS director of sports and liaison to the Softball Rules Committee. “The committee has made these changes to support the use of emerging technology within the sport of softball. Being a permissive rule, the use of this one-way electronic communication will allow those who choose to embrace the technology an additional option to communicate with the catcher while on defense. It will also maintain the ability for those who prefer a more traditional approach to communicate using signals or a playbook/playcard to continue that approach.”
Accommodating one-way communication to the catcher brought new language to two different sections of the NFHS Softball Rules Book, starting with Rule 1-8-6.
Devices such as earpieces, electronic bands and “smart” watches are now permitted as an EXCEPTION within the rule — provided the player does not utilize said device to return correspondence to the coaching staff.
In addition to permitting the one-way communication devices, the updated version of Rule 3-6-11 regarding “Bench and Field Conduct” specifies that coaches are prohibited from using the device “to communicate with any other team member while on defense or any team member while on offense” and the coach cannot use the device “outside the dugout/bench area.”
Also next spring, races in high school track and field will be recalled in the first 50 meters when a competitor falls due to contact with another competitor.
Julie Cochran, NFHS director of sports and editor of the NFHS Track and Field Rules, said the committee determined that 50 meters is sufficient in calling a fair start, which previously was listed at 100 meters.
“Athletes are accelerating and are up to racing speed well before the 100-meter mark,” Cochran said. “In addition, the current recall distance is problematic depending on the number of officials on the track and location of field events that may obstruct the view of the 100-meter distance around the entire curve.”
A complete listing of the track and field rules changes will be available on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org. Click on “Activities & Sports” at the top of the home page and select “Track and Field.”
Reach Mark Huber at 937-556-5765, via email [email protected] or at twitter.com @wnjsports
