Sports: Building A Football Team in Belmont, Year Two [Video]

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Photo: A scene from Belmont Football 2015: First Look 2.0

Belmont High School senior James Neylon and Belmont resident and Dexter School student Lucas Tragos have completed the sequel to last year’s documentary on Belmont High School Football’s first year under a young and dynamic head coach Yann Kumin.
In Belmont Football 2015: First Look 2.0, the 20-minute film features the work put in by players and coaches this pre-season as well as takes you inside the homes of two of the team’s star players. 

Sports: Lynch Pins Field Hockey Win in Opener, Volleyball Fall to Powerhouse

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Photo: Belmont High Field Hockey.

Field Hockey: Melrose 0, Belmont 6

Belmont Head Coach Jessie Smith was hoping that senior forward Kerri Lynch – one of the strong core of returning starters from last year’s playoff team – would profit from being the forward the squad would be targeting to score this season.

After the opening game of the 2015 season on Wednesday, it appears that Lynch is taking to her new role just fine.

In the season opener against host Melrose, Lynch scored four times and assisted on another to lead the Marauders to an emphatic 6-0 shutout.

“Lynch is playing center forward for us and she clearly played an excellent game today,” said Smith. “Kerri is extremely athletic and she knows how to score. I’m hoping to see a lot more of this in the next two months.”

Sophomore Christine MacLeod – who is coming off a very strong softball season as the Marauders’ leading pitcher – had 6 saves in net in her first start on the varsity.

“We came out a little flat initially, but really stepped it up in the second half,” said Smith. “The passing in the second half led to multiple goals. The kids are using 10-15 yard passes really nicely.”

Smith praised senior defender and captain Molly Thayer as she is “so steady and so reliable” and pointed out that “Kate McCarthy really stepped up her play today. Her goal in the second half was a beautiful drive from the edge of the circle.” 

Smith added that Serena Nally “is excellent at center midfield. She has a quick shot and she’s able to distribute the ball so well.”

Volleyball: Melrose 3, Belmont 0

Last year, Melrose Volleyball was one of the best in the state, in the top 20 poll for the entire year, going 20-2 in the regular season and was the number 1 seed in the regional playoffs. So Belmont, coming off a 16-6 record, knew it would be a tough hill to climb in the season opener. The results, a Belmont loss,  25-13, 25-16, 25-8, will serve as a marker for the rest of the season for the young Marauders. 

School Committee Gives Initial Nod to Proposed New Rink/Rec Center

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Photo: Bob Mulroy.

The Belmont School Committee gave its initial “OK” Tuesday night, Sept. 8, for a youth sports organization to begin the process that could result in the construction of a new multi-purpose town recreation center. 

“We are not just looking at our needs, but … of the entire community,” said Bob Mulroy, who gave the presentation for Belmont Youth Hockey Association, which is leading the project that would include an NHL-sized skating rink, a second “half” skating surface that would transform into a field house for half the year, modern locker rooms, a community fitness center, and many more amenities.

While the proposal has received high marks from public and elected officials in August when the Board of Selectmen was presented with the proposal, those deciding the fate of the project are taking a long-view of the process. 

“I see this as the first step … I don’t see this as a significant substance discussion but just to understand what the proposal is before us,” said School Committee Chair Laurie Slap, as the committee members voted the proposal was “worth exploring.”

The $6.5 million complex – which would include off-street, on-site parking – would be overseen by a non-profit public/private partnership that would incorporate a wide array of town departments, the school committee, youth hockey and funders on the board.

In exchange for the land to build the center, Belmont schools, and high school teams will have use of the facility at no cost. 

Both sides acknowledge the first significant hurdle to clear is where to locate the center. Under BYHA’s ideal scenario, the complex would be built on the current home of the Belmont High softball team abutting the Mobile service station and across Concord Avenue from the Belmont Public Library.

But that is the same site where in May 2013 the school committee rejected a request by the Board of Library Overseers to place a new $19.5 million town library, actually killing the hopes of supporters for more than a decade.

The alternative location would place the recreation center on the existing rink footprint, across Concord Avenue from the Underwood Pool.

“We are aware that fields are crucial in town, and we are not looking to reduce that [amount],” said Mulroy.

The proposal would both help find solutions to real recreational needs – providing adequate changing space and locker rooms for all sports teams – in Belmont as well as replace the 45-year-old “Skip” Viglirolo Skating Rink, which Mulroy described as “toast.”

The rink, with gaps in the walls, few comforts, and antiquated mechanical systems, has past its useful life “long ago,” said Mulroy.

Belmont Youth Hockey is the rinks biggest customer, taking three-quarters of the available rental time.

Mulroy told the meeting the cost to renovate the current structures to current code would be the same as building a new recreation center. 

Under the current blueprint, the proposed center would include:

  • A 25,000 sq.-ft. NHL-sized rink (approximately 200 feet by 85 foot).
  • A half-sized skating rink used for seven months then transformed into a field house for tennis, soccer and community events.
  • Six modern year-round locker rooms.
  • A 5,000 sq.-ft. health club/gym open to the public.
  • Exercise classrooms.
  • A skate shop.
  • Concession stand.
  • Meeting rooms.
  • Athletic offices.
  • A trainers/medical center.

The proposed building would cost between $8 and $9 million, with construction priced between $6 to $7 million financed with private debt. The cost of field renovations would be $1 million with the funds coming from a Community Preservation Committee grant and the final $1 million used to outfit the new space and purchase equipment.

The reasoning behind adding a second, smaller rink to the NHL-sized sheet of ice is financial, said Mulroy. Under economic models of similar existing arenas in New England, Mulroy said the Recreation Center will take in just over $1 million in income annually with expenses of $600,000 for a net “profit” of just under $500,000 a year. 

Mulroy told the Belmontonian after the meeting that several funding sources are prepared to step forward to provide the debt financing. 

Mulroy said he anticipated the planning and design stage – when the details on financing, governance, and zoning will be hammered out – to take a year with construction an additional nine months. He believes the entire project will take 24 months to complete.

From the town’s perspective, the private/public venture is a win/win on many fronts; it is financially sustainable without requiring town funding to run, it takes an enormous expense off of the town’s “to-do” list of capital projects, and it provides Belmont with a new facility at limited cost.

While amenable to the project, School Committee members joined Board of Selectmen Chair Sami Baghdady that many details on financing, governance and a myriad of issues “will need to be flushed out over time” before final approval is granted. 

Member Elyse Shuster suggested that the school committee use the proposal to begin a discussion on the “whole [Belmont High School] campus” as an integrated whole. 

“I would encourage us to think about integrating the [the high school’s Higgenbottom Pool] and making it a true recreational facility,” she said.

Sports: Girls and Boys Soccer Start Seasons Shutting Down Melrose

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Photo: Belmont’s Carey Allard (right) after scoring the first goal of the season as Belmont defeated Melrose, 5-0, in the season opener on Sept. 8. 

Girls’ Soccer: Belmont 5, Melrose 0

If you are looking for a high power opening act, you can’t get any better than Belmont’s Carey Allard.

In the last two opening games of the season, the 10th grader has scored a total of seven goals including a brace on Tuesday, Sept 8, as Allard spearheaded a quick Belmont High Girls’ Soccer team (1-0-0) to a 5-0 home win over physical Melrose High team to open the fall season. 

“She’s the real deal,” said Belmont head coach Paul Graham of his right wing.

Allard led a sophomore rush on the scorer’s sheet as fellow underclassmen Emma Sass and Eliza Filler – via a header in the second half – each tallied a goal in the contest with senior captain Kristin Gay scored the game’s third from in close after Allard tip-toed along the goal line before sending a nifty short pass to the midfielder at the 27 minute mark of the first half. 

Junior Georgia Parsons made her first varsity start a memorable one earning the shutout. 

After a first 10 minutes in which both teams missed stellar chances in front of the net, the game opened up at the 12 minute mark when Allard caught up to a Gay pass and snuck the ball by the Melrose keeper. 

Belmont doubled its lead two minutes later as Sass launched a high-arching shot into the net after the Marauders swarmed the Melrose’s goalie box causing a great deal of confusion. Allard pocketed her second goal with an assist from Filler at the end of a series of quick passes inside the Melrose 18 meter zone. Allard could have doubled her goal total if not for a blown kick in front of an open net and another drive hitting the crossbar. 

In winning his 299-game in a career beginning in 1993, Graham praised the work of his very young team especially the defenders – made up of a pair of freshmen, a sophomore and a junior – including frosh Megan Tan and junior Rachel Berets “who has been unbelievable on the back line tonight.”

Belmont hosts Stoneham on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 6 p.m.

Boys’ Soccer: Melrose 0, Belmont 1

A goal from senior Arreg Krikorian with 10 minutes remaining in the first half was all the scoring Belmont would need as the Marauders began its 2015 campaign with an important away win at Melrose on Tuesday, Sept 8.

In a game in which the physical contact was ever present, Belmont used its conditioning and ball movement to control the time of possession at the later stages of the first half.  

Belmont’s breakthrough came in the 30th minute as a through ball into the 18-meter box from junior Daron Hanparian reached Krikorian who touched once before clinically finishing.

Matt Thompson‘s first varsity game was also his first shutout in the nets.

Second-year head coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane will lead the Marauders into Stoneham on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m.

Psst: Can You Keep a Secret? Private/Public Scheme to Build New Skating Rink

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Photo: “Skip” Viglirolo Skating Rink.

It’s the worst kept secret in Belmont: a proposal to build a new private/public skating rink and field house on the site of the existing nearly half century old “Skip” Viglirolo rink and the White Field House adjacent to Harris Field off Concord Avenue.

Not that this latest news required a “spoiler” alert for its official unveiling at a big joint meeting at the Chenery Middle School on Tuesday, Sept. 8, as information surrounding the proposal has leaked to the public over the summer.

According to four separate sources, the project – final cost is still to be determined but its likely several million dollars – to replace the existing structures have been on the minds of many for decades.

Now, after recent examples of private donors using their wallets and connects to successfully improve, maintain or rebuild municipal and school properties – laying down the new varsity court in the Wenner Field House being the latest – a new group has set their sights on what many consider a town asset that has seen its best days pass it by, the “Skip” Viglirolo Skating Rink. 

Built in 1969 during the rise of the Boston Bruins and Bobby Orr, the rink’s limitations and faults are legendary to visitors, players and parents. The physical structure was never fully constructed with heavy sheet metal side walls with gaping openings that allow both the weather – whether it is blistering cold or spring time warmth – and birds to migrate inside.

There is no heat or comfortable seating for viewers; the locker rooms are old, and the lighting is far from adequate while the only “warm up” space for spectators is the small snack room.

Editor’s note: One visitor from Calgary, Canada – no stranger to wind swept blizzard conditions – told the Belmontonian editor in 2002 there were warmer outdoor rinks in his hometown than the indoor Viglirolo rink.

But despite its threadbare condition, the rink is an asset to the town and hockey programs from beginners to high school varsity programs, providing a place to skate and practice at an affordable price. 

“Many towns would die to have its own rink,” said one

In addition, the White Field House – dedicated to a Belmont High alum who died during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 – while structurally sound, doesn’t provide space for the large number of female athletes who could use a changing area adjacent to the main athletic field.

In past documents, town officials and Capital Budgets placed the rink was one of the town’s major capital expenses that required addressing.

The sources – all who spoke on background as they promised not to reveal the proposal – said a spokesperson representing a group of residents advanced an initial proposal in early 2015 to a Financial Task Force subcommittee during the later stages of its tenure. to replace the dilapidated rink with a new structure and provide a new field house using private fund.

The initial response from town and government committees was enthusiastic yet guarded. While the outline was interesting, the group was told much more work needed to be done in both how the deal would be financed and, just as important, provide greater detail concerning the governance and use of the facility once it is built.

Recently, a dispute has been brewing in Wilmington over the Ristuccia Arena, constructed with the town’s help in the 1980s to provide access to town youth and adult hockey programs, which is accused of now catering to professional hockey teams, private school programs and elite skating clubs over local interests. 

The private group returned in late July for a formal presentation to the Belmont Board of Selectmen with representatives of town departments and the Captial Budget and Warrant committees as well as the Planning Board in attendance. 

Highlights of the proposal:

  • A new rink design will require taking some land from surrounding practice fields using by Belmont High School and youth sports programs.
  • The design of the rink and field house will allow for on-site parking, which will relieve traffic and parking congestion along Concord Avenue.
  • The town will benefit financially from the rink’s hourly rental fee that will be an income
    stream.
  • Belmont Savings Bank will take a major role in financing the proposal.

While the Selectmen, department heads and governmental committees who attended the presentation came away eager to move forward with the plan, the land on which the rink and field house reside is “owned” by the Belmont School Committee. The six-member committee will need to sign off on any proposal to see it advance from the blueprint stage.

This marks the second time the School Committee will be asked to allow land assigned to athletic fields to be used for a development; in May 2013, the committee denied a request from the Library Board of Trustees to use a small section of the same playing field for a proposed $19 million library. 

While nearly all  is enthused about the proposal, all sides decided to keep a somewhat tight lid on the plan in deference to the School Department who will have the first say about whether the proposal will work or not.

“We don’t want a repeat of the library fiasco,” said one source. 

Marauders in the Middle: Second Year of Chenery Football Underway

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Photo: Head Coach James MacIsaac with some of the players at Chenery Middle School.

The grass on the Chenery Middle School playing field was green and freshly mowed on Monday, Aug. 24, greeting 40 7th and 8th graders who “are going to learn football,” said James MacIsaac, the head coach of the Chenery Middle School team.

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While the squad is a member of the Eastern Middlesex Middle School Football League, “I like to think of this as a 12-week football camp,” said MacIsaac who is running the program for the second year.

“It’s a great league because we don’t have playoffs or championships; it’s all about learning the game, being drilled in the fundamentals,” said MacIsaac, who is also Belmont’s assistant police chief.

Now in its second year after being dormant for nearly four decades, all but three of last year’s 7th graders have returned, “which says a lot about how we treat the players and how much they enjoy being part of this team,” said MacIsaac, a lifelong resident, as he put the players through their paces around the field.

The team will have three home games scheduled including one at Belmont High School’s Harris Field “which will be special. They love playing there, with the turf field and stands filled. It’s great fun.”

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Tearin’ Up the Wenner Floor! Installation of New Court Underway

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Photo: Crew from American Sport Floors preparing for a new surface at Belmont High School’s Wenner Field House.

When former athletes heard that the basketball courts at Belmont High School’s Wenner Field House was being torn out, former players began coming to see the crew taking the surface out with requests.

They wanted their own section as a keepsake.

OK, the slippery, threadbare vinyl surface was deemed by Belmont players and opponents alike as the worst court in the Middlesex League. But Ryan, the supervisor of the crew from Rockland-based American Sport Floors, said students and alum were asking for floor samples as souvenirs, especially the painted section around the free-throw line. 

As of Tuesday, July 28, the only recognizable section remaining of the former court was the Marauders logo that once stood at center court, cut out to be saved as a memento.  

Since last week, Ryan and his workers have been physically peeling off the nearly three-decade old vinyl surface as part of a private/public partnership financing the installation of a new textured and padded synthetic surface at Belmont High School.

As the workers heap strips of the former floor in piles, Ryan points to places on the bare cement foundation.

“You can see where the glue never took hold,” he said.

“There was nothing holding the old surface in place since it was laid,” said Ryan.

Led by Belmont Savings Bank, Belmont Youth Basketball and Belmont Boosters, the removal and installing of the new varsity volleyball/basketball court began with the official groundbreaking held this past Monday, July 20.

At the event, Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan and Belmont High Principal Dan Richards were thankful and appreciative of all the donors and especially for the additional time and effort put in by the original committee made up of John Carson, Paula Christofori, Jon Baldi, Chris Messer and David Ramsey.

The new stone grey and dark blue court – which will be inaugurated by Belmont High’s Volleyball team in September – is being financed with private funds, including a pair of $35,000 contributions, one from the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation and the other from the Belmont Youth Basketball Association. An additional $5,000 was collected at a fundraiser held at Hopkinton Country Club.  

A $100,000 appropriation from the Capital Budget Committee was approved by Town Meeting to complete the adjacent JV court and the surrounding area in 2016.

 

Originally the focus was just the varsity court but a substantial contribution of $15,000 by the Belmont Boosters will allow the the surface surrounding the court, out to the inner track, to be completed.

According to American Sport Floors, the court should be installed and painted by the start of the new school year in late August/September.

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Those responsible for the new court at Wenner Field House: John Carson; Committee Member, Michael DiMarco; Belmont Savings, Jim Reynolds; Belmont Boosters President, David Ramsey; Committee Member, Chris Messer; Committee Member, Hal Tovin; Belmont Savings, Matt Cubstead; BYBA President, John Phelan; Superintendent of Schools, Dan Richards; Belmont High School principal. Absent from the organizing committee are Jon Baldi and Paula Christofori.

Belmont High’s Pitching Ace Bartels Commits to Penn State

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Photo: Cole Bartels. 

Belmont High School’s rising senior ace Cole Bartels has verbally committed to attend Division 1 Penn State University. 

The big, lanky right-hander, named the MVP of the Middlesex League and selected as a Boston Globe All-Scholastic this season, will be heading to State College, Penn. after his high school eligibility ends to pitch for the Nittany Lions in the Big 10 Conference.

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On the mound, Bartels had a sub-1.00 ERA as the Marauders’ number one pitcher. He also batted at nearly a .450 clip.

Bartels, who is a high honor roll student and a member of the varsity basketball team, joins a program rebuilding in a highly-competitive league which includes teams such as Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State and Maryland. He will be playing in the 5,406 seat Medlar Field, considered one of the best college facilities in the country. 

The earliest Bartels can submitted a national letter of intent to attend Penn State is Nov. 11. 

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Cardinal Ready: BHS Field Hockey’s Habelow Commits to Louisville

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Photo: AnnMarie Habelow.

From the first time AnnMarie Habelow stepped onto Harris Field in the late summer of 2013, spectators could quickly tell the Belmont High School field hockey player was something special. 

In the past two years, the raising junior has demonstrated a rare set of skills for an underclassman, playing as a forward in her freshman campaign or in the midfield last season in which number 13  helped lead the Marauders into the quarterfinals of the Division 1 North Sectionals. 

Just a junior, Habelow’s talents have brought her to the attention of many at the next level of the sport. And one team already wants her to be part of their future as Habelow signed a letter committing to play field hockey at the University of Louisville, beginning in the fall of 2017. 

Ranked 13th in Division 1 at the end of the 2014 season, the Cardinals play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the most competitive league in the nation with six teams in the top 13 spots in the final national poll, including number 1 North Carolina and two-time NCAA runner-up Syracuse.

The league also includes Boston College, which will allow family and friends to see Habelow play in the Boston area at least twice in her career.

Bulls-eye! BHS’s Bennett Medals at National Rifle and Pistol Championships

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Photo: Belmont High School’s Kevin Bennett at the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s gun range at the USA Shooting Rifle and Pistol National Championships.

His fellow Belmont High School students know Kevin Bennett as the tall, affable, nice guy who helped keep score for the volleyball team last fall.

To his competitors on the shooting range in Massachusetts and across the country, the raising senior at BHS is moving closer to being a sure shot for a future national team.

And Bennett moved one big step closer to making his first national team last week at the 2015 USA Shooting Rifle and Pistol National Championships at Fort Benning, Georgia when the 17-year-old captured the bronze medal in the Junior Men’s Rapid Fire pistol, his first national individual medal, while earning a “High in Class” medal in the same event.

What made Bennett’s achievement all the more remarkable is that it was his first ever Rapid Fire match since the event is not offered competitively in Massachusetts. 

(from left) Silver medalist Glenn Zimmerman of Waterville, Ohio, gold medalist Tony Chung, of Diamond Bar, California, and bronze medalist Kevin Bennett of Belmont and Belmont High School.

Tony Chung, of Diamond Bar, California, earned the title in the junior competition – for men under 20 – followed by Glenn Zimmerman of Waterville, Ohio. Unlike the senior divisions, only the first two placements make the national junior team. 

Bennett also won a divisional gold medal for High J2 (15-17 age group) in Junior Sport Pistol.

The USA Shooting Rifle and Pistol National Championships is where the national federation selects athletes for competition at World Cup and Olympic shooting events.