Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

WEBSTER – Greetings, sports fans! If you have been following this column the last few weeks, you know that we have been paying tribute to this year’s View From The Sidelines Super Team inductees.

This week our newest member is Shepherd Hill senior soccer and basketball star Taylor Daniels, who is featured in a separate piece in the Patriot this week. 

You’d think that by now, after all the school shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing, the terrorists attacks of September 11^th, the DC area sniper, malls and movie theater shootings, I’d be used to the violence and utter lack of respect some people have for human life.

You’d think by now, after watching the hours or even days of endless news coverage, I’d be numb to the overwhelming despair and pain that I feel watching and listening to the reporters interview the families and loved ones who have lost a part of themselves and are now facing a life that will never be the same.

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

Greetings sports fans! Even though the weather is barely cooperating, high school spring sports are underway.  In fact, when the Oxford boys’ baseball team and the Shepherd Hill girls’ tennis teams finally had a chance to get their seasons underway this week, it meant that everyone was finally out there doing their thing.

It was an unusual day at Oxford High School on Friday as both the boys’ baseball team and the girls’ softball team went into extra innings almost simultaneously against Northbridge High School.  The girls ended up squeaking out a 4-3 win, but the boys’ game was suspended after 10 innings with the teams still tied at seven and the Pirates had two incredible comebacks in the game.

Donny Freeland: Speaking of Oxford, this week we are very pleased and honored to add senior Donny Freeland’s name to the 2012-13 View From The Sidelines super team.

by Ginger Costen
Patriot correspondent

WEBSTER - When most Americans think about the 4^th of July, their memories include a celebration marked with parades, picnics, fireworks and parties. Tricia Gasparik thinks about a weekend in 2011 when she didn’t know if she’d be alive to celebrate another Christmas.

It was a Friday evening on July 1, 2011, when 34-year-old Tricia mindlessly scratched her right breast. But instead of just satisfying an itch, she found a large mass that went from one side of her breast to the other.

“I didn’t have any symptoms – no pain, no tenderness – nothing, said Tricia. Suddenly there’s a lump the size of a golf ball at the bottom of my breast. So I freaked out for a couple of hours and then I decided that whatever it was, I’d deal with it. So I went on with my plans for the weekend trying not to think about it, but I knew it was cancer.”

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

WEBSTER – Greetings from the sidelines, sports fans!

It was great to see some high school baseball and softball on Friday. There is nothing like being outside and catching some action on the diamond.

This week we welcome our second member of the 2012-13 View From The Sidelines super team, senior Akeem Belnavis from Bartlett high school.

Belnavis was born in Worcester and moved to Queens, New York, when he was five years old before relocating once again to Webster during his freshman year of high school.

“Initially we moved here because my aunt was here and due to some trouble she ended up leaving and we ended up staying,” said Belnavis. “The only reason I stayed at Bartlett was because basketball season was starting, and I played on the jayvee team.”

“The transition from New York to here was hard. It was different when I was first arrived. I felt like everyone was looking at me on my first day, it was like nothing I was used to. Eventually as time passed I adjusted. Kids are friendlier here, kids in the city don’t care, they just go about their day.”

Ironically the first person that Belnavis met and talked to was Dane Laboissonniere, who was at the time a first year history teacher at Bartlett, and also worked as an assistant football coach at David Prouty High School in Spencer

The two would go on a journey together as Laboissonniere became the head football coach at Bartlett the following year and watched as Belnavis was having problems in school.

“I was a class clown in the beginning, I got in a lot of trouble and I was kept back my freshman year. Then Coach L. sat me down when I was going to quit the football team after being suspended for seven games my sophomore year. I was walking off the field and I was ready to quit and he stopped me and gave me a great pep talk and it all worked out in the end.”

“He really made a big transformation in his life three years ago as a sophomore,” said Laboissonniere. “We are really proud of the way he grew as an individual in his time here at Bartlett.”

Belnavis grew up, although it hasn’t been easy. His family life has been a bit of a struggle and he currently has three siblings living with him and his mother and he has a lot of responsibility around the household, but that hasn’t stopped him from going to school and being active.

“Honestly I am not going to lie, my motivation for coming to school was sports, and if there were no sports I don’t know what I would be doing.”

He excelled in both football and basketball and became a co-captain in both sports. “My passion for football and basketball was so high, that is my life and I knew it. I want a future in basketball. That is my goal in life.”

What he didn’t pick up along the way from Laboissonniere, he picked up from his basketball coach Tony Paranto.

“My junior year I had more of a role on the team. I was taught when I was young to score, put the ball in the basket, but when I started playing under Coach Paranto he started teaching me more about the game. He taught me how to move without the basketball. My game got a lot better.”

Belnavis also credits one of his teammates for helping become more or a team player and a leader. “Nick Kobel helped me out, he strives for success; seeing him be that way kicked in for me. His winning mentality is so strong it rolled over to everyone else. I took it to heart, watching him made me play harder. He doesn’t know it but he was a role model for me.”

Now that his great high school career is over, the 6’2” athlete is ready to move on, but it won’t be easy.  “Words can’t describe how I feel, I am happy to finish school but to leave the sports is very hard for me. There was nothing like it for me. This was the best thing ever, just sitting here in this gym right now gives me goose bumps.” 

Laboissonniere has been pushing him to pursue football in college and the interest is definitely there.

“Being a two-sport athlete, I think he is feeling torn on what he wants to do at the next level. I can’t speak much on the interest on the basketball end but I know that Dean College in Franklin is very interested in having him play football,” said Laboissonniere. “It’s a junior college program and it would be a great opportunity for him to develop and show if he wants to play at the next level. There is also a mutual interest with Curry College.”

Belnavis has applied to both schools, where he wants to major in sociology or sports management and knows the value of having a degree to fall back on.  Still, you can tell by his words that he needs to be playing sports to make it all it work. “Regardless of what I go to college for, I am trying out for both sports. It doesn’t matter. The Dean coach said that they can turn me into a D1 player at split end, Coach L. feels the same way and he has never lied to me.”

It wasn’t easy for Akeem Belnavis to move to a town like Webster, but he made it work after a shaky start and he has left his mark at Bartlett.

“He was always a good leader in his life off the field,” said Laboissonniere. “On the field he was tremendous: he got better every year and he got better every day.  He was coachable, which is the number one thing we look for in a player. He would listen to what the coaches had to say and use what he learned on the field.”

“He is going to be a tremendous asset down the road at whatever school he goes to. We will truly miss him for his leadership qualities here at Bartlett,” said Laboissonniere.

Akeem Belnavis was an easy choice for the 2012-13 View From The Sidelines super team. He joins Lauren Barton of Shepherd Hill as part of our exclusive club.

More Anna Maria softball talk:  JoAnne Bond, mother and “agent” of 2012 Bartlett graduate Lindsay bond was nice enough to let us know that we didn’t mention a third local who is playing with Lindsay and Shepherd Hill’s Sam Miler on the Anna Maria softball team. 

Former Shepherd Hill player Liz Haggerty is playing second base and was hitting close to .300 last time we checked.

By the way, Lindsay was hitting .250 with a homerun and four RBI’s, not too shabby for our favorite freshman.

Upcoming big games: On Monday, April 8, Bartlett and Oxford will meet in both baseball and softball in Webster. 

Until next week, see you on the sidelines! Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any sports news and check out the new View From The Sidelines Facebook page with exclusive photos and news at https://www.facebook.com/ViewFromTheSidelines

Forgive me please for putting a damper on the New England weather last week. I fell for the meteorolgists’ pessimism and they had me thinking that there was an outside chance of spring sports being able to get out on the fields sometime by the fourth of July. That’s all changed in the past week and teams are out on their respective fields playing baseball, softball, tennis, lacrosse, and track. Mother Nature has a mind of her own and I should know that.

The Rev. Janice Ford, Rector
The Church of the Reconciliation, 5 N. Main Street, Webster
www.reconciliationweb.org

Mary Magdalene was grief stricken.  She went to the tomb to anoint the body of her Lord, and she found nothing.  It was bad enough that they tortured and killed him, but now his body was gone, too.  She had hoped for one last opportunity to be with him, to be able to look upon his face, and touch his hands one last time, and now that was not to be.

Much has been written about Mary Magdalene, and most of it has been slanderous.  In the days of the early Roman church, in an effort to keep women in their place (and away from Holy Orders), she was called a woman of sin—one of those cast off hangers-on that Jesus seemed to collect.  Some modern day writers have tried to contrive a romance between Jesus and Mary.  Their twisted reasoning is simple:  no woman could love a man in this way and have it be platonic.  Their reasoning was twisted because they chose not to acknowledge the charisma of Jesus.  They did not understand that Mary loved him passionately, as did all the others who followed him, because he was the Son of God.  Making the relationship between Jesus and Mary sordid and pedestrian was much more fun to write about—and it definitely sold more books.

By Ginger Costen

If I had to sum up the past eighteen months along my journey towards bariatric surgery I guess it would be a frustrating trip of three pounds forward and two pounds back.

During this time I’ve been through a twelve-week program focusing on ways to change eating behaviors while also dealing with trigger foods that can sabotage a commitment to making healthy choices. (I’ve come to realize that having an eating disorder and food addiction is about as much fun as having a free all-day pass to a New England water park in February.)

OK, I know we are in the middle of March madness, but somebody needs to do some "splaining" as Ricky Riccardo would often say. When is enough enough? How many Division 1 men’s college basketball teams need to get rewarded by extending their regular season and going to post season play?

Here is the breakdown for teams playing in mid March: The real NCAA tournament started out with 66 teams in their field, up by two teams from the normal 64, while the N.I.T. had 32 and the C.I.T. (College Insider Tournament) had 16 teams. That’s 114 teams playing in the post season. Are you kidding me? This is definetly quantity over quality. I know I am repetitive on this issue, but "everybody gets a trophy today just for showing up."

by Barbara Van Reed

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a special awards ceremony at Assumption College to honor the recipients of the 2013 Thomas S. Green Public Service Awards. Four people are honored each year with this award, which is given by The Research Bureau to recognize selected municipal employees for their outstanding public service.

In the 25 year history of this award, and out of 84 honorees, only four have been public employees outside of Worcester, and this year there was a fifth: Commander Michael Masley, Jr., who seventeen years ago founded the Oxford High School Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC), and still heads it up today.