Belmont AD Jim Davis To Retire

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Photo: Belmont School’s Jim Davis who is retiring this year

Jim Davis who has been Director of Athletics & Physical Education for the Belmont Public Schools for nearly 20 years, is retiring, according to Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan in an email on Tuesday, May 11.

“After 36 wonderful years as a teacher, coach, and athletic administrator, it is time for a new chapter in life,” said Davis in an email to the Belmontonian.

“It has been my pleasure over the past 19 years to serve the Belmont Public Schools and the community of Belmont in the leadership role as the Director of Athletics ,Physical Education and Student Activities. During this span of time, relationship were born out of mutual interests and respect for one another. To me, this is at the core of what life is about,” Davis said.

For the thousands of students who have suited up in a Belmont uniform or whose only athletic activity was a “Phys Ed” class, for the past two decades, Jim Davis has been a steady presence in keeping all the moving parts of Belmont High School athletics operating like clockwork.

Davis was a constant supporter of interscholastic sports, patrolling the sidelines at events, traveling the state to follow athletes and teams competing in the post-season, and each year running and hosting the pre-Thanksgiving pep rally. He campaigned the school committee for increased support for athletics and the physical education curriculum in the elementary, middle, and high schools.

Davis’ time in Belmont began in 2002, after serving as the Director of Athletics & Physical Education for the Nashua (NH) Public Schools, with a stint with the Salem NH  Public Schools as a teacher coach before becoming the school district’s Director of Athletics & Physical Education. He began his career as a teacher for the Timberlane School District in 1985. Davis received his Bachelor of Science from Plymouth State College and his Masters of Education from Fitchburg State College.

Davis is also well known in Massachusetts interscholastic circles as a mentor and leading voice on policy and procedure among his fellow educators, serving on the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association board of directors and past president and a member of the executive board of Massachusetts Secondary School Athletic Directors Association. In 2008, Davis was named one of eight individuals across the US as a recipient of the NIAAA Distinguished Service Awards for outstanding contributions to interscholastic athletics.

“I have been truly blessed for having had the opportunity during my tenure to lead, guide, and mentor a  coaching and teaching staff that is deeply passionate about their profession and craft, but most of all are student-centered and teaches life lessons. You are family in every sense of the word. This culture is and has made this time so very special,” he said.

Davis gave a special thank you to the Community of Belmont , the Belmont Boosters, all the Belmont High School Friend’s of Groups, and the countless others that have given their support over the years. “Words of thanks can’t begin to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for all that you have done and continue to do to support our student athletes,” he said.

“As one chapter closes and a new one begins, with hope and optimism, I want to thank you all for enriching and blessing my life and the lives of all of our students and athletes,” said Davis.

Latest Rink Configuration OK’d By School Committee; Tennis Courts Remain A ‘?’

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Photo: The scheme approved by the school committee for a new skating rink in Belmont

The Belmont School Committee unanimously approved on Wednesday, May 12, the latest design scheme for a new skating/hockey rink located near the present location adjacent to Harris Field.

The joint meeting with the Belmont Select Board did not address a pair of vital issues that still require answers: how to find the $18 million to replace the dilapidated half century old rink, and how to resolve a consistent clarion call of the town’s tennis community seeking to squeeze five courts into a site already bursting at the seams.

“We do need to close this matter out and move the discussion forward. It’s not fair to anyone to just keep dragging it out and providing any group with any false expectations,” said Adam Dash, the Select Board chair who co-hosted the meeting with the School Committee’s Amy Checkoway whose committee controls the land use where the rink would reside.

Responding to a request from the town, Steven Stefton, lead of the sports and recreation practice of Perkins&Will’s Boston office, presented a trio of schemes in which the rink, parking, and three sports fields occupy the area west of Harris Field. In quick order, the most attractive of the plans had the single-sheet rink place adjacent to the commuter rail tracks and Harris Field, about 90 parking spaces with three sports fields occupying the remainder of the land.

Steven Sefton, Perkins&Will

The two-level 45,900 square-foot facility would top off around 35 feet tall. The rink’s program would be quite modest with locker rooms that would be available for hockey and teams playing at Harris Field. The site will also allow for a three sports field configuration with a limited amount of overlap. It would take 15 months to build – the shortest time frame of the three schemes – at a total cost of $20.3 million with a $2.25 million credit from the Middle and High School Building project.

“There’s a myriad of opportunities with this design that we think we could really create a high-performing facility in the future. And then ultimately it’s the most cost-effective solution that can be phased easily,” said Stefton.

Checkoway said while the committee does have a preference on design, it will be necessary to “at some point figures out a way to finance it.”

“This [meeting] is really about holding a place for a potential new rink at some point in the future,” said Checkoway.

But for many of the 100 residents on the virtual meeting, the topic on the top of their agenda was finding some way to place five tennis courts on the site. Belmont High was once the home of ten courts – located on the northeast side of the existing building – before construction began on the new Middle and High School.

A decision in 2017 by the Middle and High School Building Committee in consultation with Perkins&Will (the architects of the new school) eliminated the courts in favor of new fields and parking on the site. In January 2020, the School Committee reiterated the earlier action with a promise to add courts at the nearby Winn Brook Playground.

Dash noted the select board and school committee devised a compromise in which an extra court would be built at the Winn Brook to allow the varsity tennis teams a “home” facility, albeit without changing and restrooms. The Community Reinvestment Committee will present a proposal to Town Meeting in June to pay for a single court at the playground for a total of five.

Not feeling heard

But even with a partial solution at the Winn Brook, “there are a lot of tennis players in town, tennis parents that feel disenfranchised,” said Select Board member Mark Paolillo.

Those advocating a return of courts to the school’s site gravitated towards two possible options, one of which would reduce the number of parking spaces from 90 to approximately 20 and install the courts close to Concord Avenue.

The School Committee’s Mike Crowley said with the need to deal with the climate crisis and for more sustainable approaches to transportation, “I don’t know that I want to see those students driving to school. So I’m looking at that space, I’m seeing tennis court potential.”

Planning Board Chair Stephen Pinkerton was then recognized who said while “it’s aspirational” to limit student driving, the reality is if those drivers are coming and if they can’t find parking at the school, they will on side streets.

Any attempt to reduce parking would require tampering with the agreement between the school district and the Planning Board on parking at the new school. As part of the Site Planning Approval encompassing the entire project, an agreement was reached where the project would have 400 parking spaces with 90 of those spaces located west of Harris Field, a settlement Pinkerton said was hammered out with numerous parties – residents from nearby neighborhoods, transportation groups – involving long and at times contentious dialogue.

In an apparent compromise that would return the high school tennis teams on campus, Select Board member Mark Paolillo raised the point of the need for a junior varsity baseball field west of the campus.

“Can we program around JV baseball so that we can get the tennis courts on the campus,” said Paolillo, noting the popularity of tennis and the removal of half the courts’ town-wide in the past decade.

“It seems strange to me that there are junior varsity fields on the campus and yet we can’t get a varsity sport on the campus and yet we can’t get a varsity sport on the campus,” said resident Lou Miller.

Town and school officials said removing baseball isn’t that simple due to the lack of an appropriately-sized baseball field in town. Jon Marshall, assistant town administrator and recreation director, said moving the JV team to another field “would have a ripple effect” on the high school and town sports teams as it would require altering small diamonds into “90-foot fields” – referring to the number of feet between bases on the standard adult playing grounds – which would affect the playing choices for regional and town baseball teams.

After the committee voted to OK its favorite scheme, it appears a formally installed working group to established to find answers to financing, parking, and land use will be a result of the meeting.

A Q Adieu: Belmont High Football Head Coach Yann Kumin Stepping Down

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Photo: Coach Q

Yann Kumin, who seven years ago took over a faltering football program and restored a sense of pride and a return to winning at Belmont High School, announced Tuesday, April 13 he was stepping down as head coach of the Marauders effective after the final game vs Arlington High of the shortened Fall 2 season.

The game against the SpyPonders takes place on Saturday, April 17 at 1 p.m. at Harris Field.

“I am so terrifically honored and humbled to have been to be the Head Coach of the Marauders for the last 7 years,” he said in a prepared statement on Facebook.

“Becoming so was the realization of 10 years of work and of a lifelong goal. I cannot put into words how much this experience has meant to me personally, how much I have learned, and most importantly, there is no way to thank all the wonderful human beings I have met.”

Kumin – known affectionately by players, parents, and friends as “Coach Q” – said after 17 years of coaching that requires a year-long commitment to do well, “I have reached a point in my life where I very much wish to experience some of the other paths and offerings that this existence has available to me.”

Kumin’s most successful season came in the fall of 2019 when the team finished 6-4 to give the program its first winning season in a decade, secured a place in the Division 3 North sectionals playoffs for consecutive years, and defeated arch-rival Watertown on Thanksgiving at Victory Field. He accomplished those feats after a cancer diagnosis, surgery and coaching while undergoing chemotherapy.

He said his health is good and was not the reason he left his post in Belmont.

A graduate of Harvard College with a degree in English, Kumin brought his own unique outlook onto the field and in his life. Below is his message to the team:

Going Out On Top: Fred Allard Retires As Belmont High Hockey Head Coach

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Photo: Fred Allard addressing his team after winning the Div. 1 North title over St. John’s (Shrewsbury).

Fred Allard, who in his six years at the helm of Belmont High Boys’ Hockey rebuilt the program into a champion-caliber squad that was, in 2020, a win away from the school’s first MIAA state championship, has announced his retirement from coaching in an email sent on Saturday, March 20.

“I am all in when coaching on and off the ice and ultimately after six years could not continue with the time commitment the program deserves and that I expect from myself,” said Allard.

“Coaching Belmont has been one of the most fulfilling and rewarding times in my life. I left Belmont for Matignon in high school and while it was for the best, I always had a sense of sadness not playing for my town,” he said.

“Coaching has given me the opportunity to feel that sense of town pride and for that I am eternally grateful. Program is in great shape for the future and I look forward to being a fan in the stands.”

Allard took over the head coaching position from the legendary Dante Muzziolli after the 2014-15 season having spent two years as an assistant coach. Allard was a youth hockey coach in town before heading to the high school.

Allard’s final two seasons were his pinnacle coaching on the bench. After finishing last in the Middlesex League in the 2018-19 season, Belmont forged a 10-5-5 season then proceeded to win four 1-goal games in the playoffs culminating in a 3-2 thriller against St. John’s (Shrewsbury) to take the program’s first Division 1 North title to set up a state championship final vs. Walpole. But the game was cancelled as the state entered quarantine due to the rapidly spreading world wide coronavirus.

In the shortened 2020-21 season, Belmont finished 7-3-1 and after winning games in overtime (over Wakefield) and in a shootout (against Arlington) was preparing to take on Winchester for the first-ever Middlesex League Tournament title when the game was cancelled due to COVID protocols.

In both cases, Belmont was named a co-champion.

Belmont born and bred, Allard attended Matignon (class of 1985) where he played on a pair of state championship teams (1983-84) under coach Marty Pierce. He matriculated at the University of Lowell, where he played four seasons under Billy Riley.

COVID Ends Belmont Boys Hockey’s Chance To Be Solo Champions For A Second Time In A Year

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Photo:

For the second time in less than a year, the Belmont High Boys’ Ice Hockey team saw its chances of playing in a championship game cancelled as the Marauders’ Saturday, Jan. 20, match with Winchester in the first-ever Middlesex League tournament was scraped Friday night due to COVID-19 protocols.

The Middlesex League has declared the teams co-titlists.

In March 2020, the finals of the MIAA Division 1 state tournament between Belmont and Walpole was postponed when the first surge of the coronavirus spread across the country and the teams were declared state co-champions.

The abrupt end of the season, and also the careers of one of the most winningest senior classes, came after Belmont earned a place in the finals with a pair of nail biting tournament games in which the Marauders won both matches in extra time.

After dispatching Wakefield with 3.2 seconds left in a 3-on-3 overtime session Wednesday, the Marauders came back the next day to prevail, 2-1, in a shootout over league powerhouse Arlington.

Belmont came into the game having twice been shut out by the SpyPonders in the previous week, giving up nine goals in the two matches. Despite Arlington’s advantage on offense in setting the tempo and scoring chances, the Marauders had an answer in the guise of sophomore goaltender Ryan Griffin and senior captain Tom Grace who lead the defense.

When the Belmont coaching staff selected the three players to take the sudden death penalty shots, they needed to only look to the Fici brothers – senior captain Ben Fici and sophomore standout Cam – to seal the deal.

After Arlington’s Jack Sadowski scored first in the second round of shots, Ben Fici threw off Arlington goalie Jack Davies with a quick move to his right and roofed a backhand by the sophomore netminder to tie the shootout at one.

It was now Griffins time to shine as he blocked Reid Malatesta’s attempted to go between the pads. With the game on the line, Cam Fici took it in close and shoved a shot through Davies’ pads to hit the side netting for the winning goal.

Belmont finished the shortened season with a record of 7-3-1.

Three Belmont Teams In Middlesex League Tournaments Starting Wednesday

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Photo: Belmont teams are participating in a first-ever Middlesex League championship tournament.

The regular season might be over but three Belmont teams will be playing on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of a first ever Middlesex League championship tournament.

Boys’ Hockey and Girls’ Hockey and Basketball are playing in this impromptu playoff as the Middlesex League is following the examples of other athletic conferences by adding a tournament in place of the MIAA interscholastic championships which have been suspended for the school year.

Wednesday’s schedule includes:

  • Third seed Boy’s Hockey will play host to Wakefield at noon, Wednesday at John A. Ryan Area in Watertown. You can catch the game on cable – Ch. 96 Comcast or Ch. 30 Verizon – or on the web at belmontmedia.org/infotv
  • Girls’ Basketball, the fourth ranked team will play long time rivals Watertown at 2:30 p.m. While Belmont is the home team, the game will be played at Watertown High School. Watch the game on Ch. 96 Comcast or Ch. 30 Verizon or at belmontmedia.org/infotv
  • Finally, fourth seed Girls’ Hockey takes on Winchester at 7 p.m. at the Burlington Ice Palace. You can see the game on Ch. 96 Comcast or Ch. 30 Verizon and on the web at belmontmedia.org/infotv

Sports: Holiday Near Sweep Dampened By Season Ending Loss of Girls’ Hockey Captain

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Photo: Emma O’Donovan with Belmont High Head Coach Ken Murphy

Belmont High sports teams came out of the Martin Luther King Day holiday on the right foot as all four teams took away points in their reverse fixtures against Winchester on Monday, Jan. 18.

But a dark cloud ascended over the day’s good results as the Belmont High Girls Ice Hockey program lost its most dynamic player for the remainder of the shortened season.

Senior captain and offensive powerhouse Emma O’Donovan suffered a serious injury in the final five minutes of the Marauders 3-2 victory over the Sachems in a game played at Woburn. While picking up a puck behind the Winchester’s net, O’Donovan – who scored a pair of goals in the game – was pushed into the end boards by a Sachem defender. O’Donovan went directly to the ice and stayed there for nearly 10 minutes.

The Winchester player was issued a game misconduct for a boarding infraction – it’s unknown if the penalty was reduced post game – as O’Donovan was taken for medical care. A number of individuals with direct knowledge of the injury said the senior captain suffered a broken leg in two places.

O’Donovan’s line mate senior Sam Rocci scored the Marauders other goal as Belmont saw its record rise to 3-0-1.

The loss of O’Donovan is especially hard for the team and community knowing how the senior has struggled and succeeded to stay on the ice and the field hockey pitch. A first-year phenom, O’Donovan missed her sophomore year in 2018 after it was discovered she was suffering a aneurysmal bone cyst in her left ankle, result in her missing that year and required multiple operations. An article in the Boston Globe (“Belmont’s Emma O’Donovan has been the epitome of perseverance” Jan. 13), detailed her effort to getting back on the ice at the same high standards as before the diagnostic.

O’Donovan was seeking to reach the 100 point career mark and was 21 points from that goal after scoring eight goals and one assist this season.

Senior Caleb Christensen put in an offensive rebound with 14 seconds remaining to give Belmont Boys’ Basketball a 62-61 over previously undefeated Winchester (3-1) at the Wenner Field House. The victory marks the second time the Marauders (2-2) lost the first game of a series only to take the second, having lost to Winchester by three, 52-49, on Saturday.

After rolling past Winchester in the first game three days earlier by 28 points (80-52), Belmont Girls’ Basketball had a bit of a tighter game against the Sachems but came out on top, 42-34, as the team goes to 3-1 in the season.

Boys hockey fell behind twice only to rally with two goals in the second to earn the tie against the Sachems to remain undefeated. Senior Ben Fici and sophomore Peter Grace tallied for the 3-0-1 Marauders as sophomore goalie Ryan Griffin posted 34 saves.

Belmont HS Winter Season Starts Limited Schedule On Saturday, Jan. 2

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Photo: Preston Jackson-Stephens, Belmont High senior

After an abbreviated fall season, Belmont High sports returns to open the 2021 winter sports season as basketball and ice hockey dominate the schedule on Saturday, Jan. 2.

Like the Fall 1 season, the Middlesex League league has limited the season to 10 games with Belmont playing back to back games with the five opponents in the Liberty division. The season starts against Lexington High with return fixtures next Saturday.

Unlike the fall season which allowed a limited number of observers as the games were played outdoors, spectators will be prohibited from viewing the matches in rinks, basketball courts and indoor tracks. Most games will be available online via community-based media.

Belmont returns four playoff teams in basketball and hockey with boys’ ice hockey named Division 1 state co-champions (with Walpole) after the title game was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Belmont Schools Name Ruane Interim Athletic Director

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Photo: Matt Ruane

Matthew Ruane, a Belmont High School counselor and assistant baseball coach, was named Belmont Schools interim athletic director for the next four months on Friday, Dec. 4. Ruane will fill in until the first week in March for long-time AD and Director of Physical Education Jim Davis who is expected to return at that time. Belmont Superintendent John Phelan did not provide a reason for Davis’ temporary departure.

Ruane will be responsible for managing the athletic department during the Winter Sports season and what is being called Fall II beginning in February during which football is to take place. He will be facing sports which will be playing a limited schedule and possibly without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the while promoting participation and the health and safety of students.

While Davis is away, his physical education duties will be split between three “lead” teachers.

  • Ted Trodden: elementary students
  • Dena Cocchiola: Chenery Middle School
  • Stacie Marino: Belmont High School

Before Davis left, he took care of the team’s schedules, transportation needs, and gym registrations.

Ruane is no stranger to Belmont High athletics. As a student (Class of 2007), Ruane was named Boston Globe Division 2 Baseball Player of the Year (going 7-0 as a pitcher and batting .521 to lead the Marauders to a sectional title) and was named a Middlesex League’s first-team all-star at quarterback. He played baseball for four years at Bowdoin College compiling a .324 average with 12 home runs.

Ruane has been a high school counselor in Belmont since April 2016. He holds a Master of Education from Cambridge College and earned an economics degree from Bowdoin.

Letter To The Editor: Our Plan For A New Rink Worked But Town Lacked The ‘Political Will’ To Get It Done

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Photo: Rendering of the Belmont Youth Hockey’s proposal to the town for a new rink.

To the editor:

On Nov. 10, the Belmontonian reported that eight months after receiving a single proposal for the development of a new skating facility, the town of Belmont determined the proposal was not economically feasible. While certainly convenient to blame the bidder, it was not true; the proposal submitted by Belmont Youth Hockey Association to develop a new facility was professionally vetted and fully financially feasible.  

The deeper story is that the town issued a Request for Proposal that was never feasible. The RFP asked for more square footage of programming than currently exists in the designated development space west of Harris Field. In an area that currently houses the White Field House, one rink (the Skip), a soccer field, a softball field and facility parking – the town’s RFP asked for all of these to be maintained and improved while adding an additional half rink, baseball field, shot put and discus area and 90 additional parking spaces required by the new high school.   

Once the review committee realized they needed more space to meet their own RFP requirements, the town made the decision to pass on the opportunity to adjust their expectations to make the project feasible. The town lacked the political will to address the need for incremental parking for the high school in an alternate location.   

The decision by the Select Board to pass on the only proposal caps nearly 10 years of effort by Belmont Youth Hockey to address a critical issue: the town continues to operate a facility that is structurally and mechanically unsound. By passing, the town has eliminated any potential for a public/private partnership. Belmont is no longer a credible partner. The town wasted the time, resources, and diligent efforts of a consortium of financial, construction, design, operating firms, and individual volunteers all collaborating to solve a pressing safety and viability concern.  

The positive news is that the path forward is now clear. By failing the RFP process, the town must move forward on its own. It’s time to allocate and approve the approximately $15-$20 million needed to rebuild the Skip and the White Field House and to do so as part of an integrated plan to develop the space west of Harris Field so that the pending development of the field space is not squandered. Continuing to deny the lack of structural integrity of a complex that services several thousand kids and adults each year is not a responsible option.

Bob Mulroy

Belmont Youth Hockey