What's the latest with BHS sports?
MAY 2017
In This Issue
Note from the Athletic Director
Spring Photos
Team News
Kellen Jones Memorial Scholarship
Note from the ABC Presidents                                            
Important Dates
May 15:  All Sports Team Parent Meeting
Jun 7:  Beaver Nation Athletic Awards


Note from the Athletic Director

Beaver Nation, 

I hope everyone has been able to stay somewhat dry during the Spring 2017 Monsoon season!  I knew it rained when we moved to Seattle, but many have told me this has been a bit more than normal…what a relief! (Finding dry fields has been an interesting task!)

Our teams are wrapping up a successful season, working their way through adversity with injuries, scheduling difficulties, and the like.  I’ve been impressed with the camaraderie I’ve seen amongst our programs and am excited to continue working with so many great athletes, parents and coaches.

  • Our Men’s Lacrosse team finished their regular season undefeated and secured a first round playoff win against Bethel on Saturday.  They will continue against Bellevue on Friday! 
  • Softball finished the Metro tournament strong with a 4 home run outing to take 3rd and advance to the SeaKing District 2 bracket starting on Tuesday, May 13.  The Lady Beavers will take on the winner of Lake Washington or Chief Sealth for a shot to advance to State! 
  • Our Men’s Soccer team fought through late season injuries and played with a lot of tenacity, falling just short of advancing to the SeaKing tournament.  Coach Wardlaw and crew have done an excellent job of coaching up our kids through adversity this season.
  • Tennis wrapped up Metros last week with several wins in the early rounds.  Val Boyanov moves on to SeaKing this week with a match on Tuesday morning – Good luck to Val! 
  • Baseball and Women’s Lacrosse both continued to build experience with young teams this year.  A major highlight of the spring for me and my family was traveling down to SafeCo to watch the Beavers defeat Highline 4-0 under the roof.  What an awesome experience! 
  • Track is continuing on to Districts as well, qualifying 5 men, and 9 women plus several of our relays.  James Konugres continued to run faster than I can drive and was crowned the Metro Champion in the 3200 meters with a time of 9:26!  There were some great individual performances on the track this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing some state hardware in 2 weeks!

While we still have 2 weeks remaining in the spring season, I wanted to take a minute to let you know some of the things we have been working on for the future - namely our Athletic Development program. 

This fall we are working towards rolling out an all-sports strength and conditioning program.  In my experience, it is very hard to specialize by sport in a Strength and Conditioning programs at the high school level, and truly not a necessity.  The ability to move quickly and have flexibility and power in the hips is standard across all sports.  While we will see gains in strength for those that commit themselves, the biggest value comes in the ability to focus on little details (such as getting your elbows up, not choking the bar, etc), and the solidarity across sports and what it means to be a Ballard Athlete.  Please stay tuned for specifics.

We are working on setting up a form of direct communication for Ballard Athletes.  While Twitter/Facebook/etc are very popular forms of publishing information, direct texting ensures that each athlete gets program information when needed.  With that in mind, we have set up a Remind.com group to send out important reminders to parents and athletes.  It will be a work in progress; but the intent is to communicate items like grade check reminders, paperwork deadlines, etc.  If you would like to be added, please text “@beaverath" to “81010" – easy!

While we still have the rest of spring and the summer to enjoy, I also wanted to clue you in to our Homecoming date.  This fall we will be hosting the West Seattle Wildcats on Saturday, September 30th.  Coach Humphries and company have been working hard this off-season and would love nothing more than a full event for the game.  Mark your calendars and get ready to bring the noise this fall!

I wanted to, one last time, thank everyone for the warm reception my family has experienced.  So many parents have approached us to welcome us to the school and area.  If you get to meet my young kids, you’ll know quickly as they show and tell you about their Ballard gear that they are proud to be in the Beaver family!  It truly is Always Great to be a Beaver!

Cheers!

Jason Thurston

Spring Photos

Head Softball Coach and former Beaver AD/AC receiving being recognized as the WSSAAA District 2 Athletic Director of the Year in Spokane.

Senior Lauren King was voted the Metro League Softball MVP, a tremendous honor in a talented league!

Men's Soccer team playing in a tight game under a gorgeous sunset at Blanchet.

Women's softball celebrating an outstanding class of ladies on Senior night.
Senior Sammy Blue competing in the high jump in Bellingham.

Beaver Baseball with the 4-0 win at SafeCo Field.

Team News

Boys Basketball

The Ballard Boys Basketball program has offered morning workouts and open gyms this Spring that are open to ALL students who enjoy basketball. Players from all ages will have a hoops-filled summer with a full schedule for Varsity, JV and JVC players, kicking off with the June 9th-11th Battle in Ballard - the 2nd annual weekend tournament held at BHS. Teams from around Western Washington and Canada join this year's strong field, so come out and support the Beaver basketball program, or sponsor the event to help raise important funds for the team's year round budget. 

July 17th-21st Coach Broom and the team will host the Beaver Hoop Camp for boys entering 3rd through 8th grade. Current players will help run the camp and teach fundamental skills in an interactive, fun environment. More information on the camp is available at http://ballardboyshoops.com/ and updates via Twitter @BallardBBall.  

Email Coach Broom at mrbroom@seattlschools.org for more information regarding summer activities.

Girls Basketball

We are excited to announce our Ballard High School Girls Basketball Summer Camp! For girls entering 3rd through 9th grade, this camp is designed to improve player skill and confidence all while having a ton of fun!

Details: July 10-14 from 9am-3pm at Ballard High School.

To register, visit: Ballard Girls Basketball Summer Camp

Football

We are just a few short weeks away from our Spring Football Camp! Players and Coaches are very excited. We have invested countless hours together in preparation for the upcoming season. Spring Camp is our first opportunity to get back on the field together!

At the end of our camp we will travel as a team to Evergreen State College to compete at the Gridiron of Champions Football Camp. This will be a great experience for our team. At this camp we will stay together in the dorms and scrimmage nine other schools over the four days of the camp.

During Spring Camp we are holding a Youth Football Camp (June 12-15) and an Incoming Freshman Camp (June 27-30) at BHS. This will be a great experience for future Beavers! At these non-contact camps the campers will learn various fundamentals of football and also be introduced to the “You Can Count On Me” philosophy that drives our program. If you would like more information on either of these camps please email us at ballardbeaverfootball@gmail.com .

Our 2017 schedule has been finalized! The Metro League realigned its football divisions this year and we are excited about the division we have been placed in. Take a look at the 2017 schedule and mark your calendars!

If you haven’t already follow us on Facebook (Ballard Beaver Football), Twitter (@BallardHSPride), and Instagram (ballardbeaverfootball).

Gymnastics

It's hard to believe our season starts again in only 6 months! The gymnastics team is looking forward to another exciting and strong season with some talented returners and some great new additions. Much of the team is already hard at work learning new skills and getting ready for next year. We will miss our seniors Emma Combes and Maia Degaetano!

Boys Lacrosse

After struggling through several disappointing seasons, the Ballard Boys Lacrosse team has been working very hard to turn things around this year. It certainly shows, as they closed out their regular season with an 14-0 record, clinching the Metro Division 2 title in the first undefeated season in team history.

The team now moves on to the State tournament for the first time since 2013.

A host of records were broken this year, including multiple first-ever wins against division and non-division teams and a host of players being honored for all-conference.

Congratulations on a legendary season, and congratulations to our graduating Seniors who have been working towards this goal since their Freshman year!!   

Girls Lacrosse

With the last Varsity game on May 6, and the last JV game on May 8, the girls lacrosse team wrapped up the 2017 season.

Both teams finished strong with several impressive team performances including a sweep over Curtis in our double header and a great win over Holy Names in our senior's last game!

Varsity finished with a 6-6 record, and just narrowly missed a trip to the postseason (ranked #18 in state). With only four seniors, the team looks to build on this year's success in 2018.

Best of luck to our seniors -- we'll miss you!

Swim/Dive

Boys and Girls Swim/Dive have been working hard on their dry-land training. Monday through Thursday mornings, athletes can participate in off-season training where we work on core strength and stability, cardio and team cohesion. Our goal is to come into each season at the same (if not higher) level of fitness that we ended the previous season. This off-season training opportunity has also been a great way to allow both teams to get to know athletes from within the program since they compete in different seasons. Looking forward to next year, we have been working on redesigning our dry-land program as well as our pool time plan and are excited to implement these with the athletes. 

Kellen Jones Memorial Scholarship Application

Senior athletes if you would like to apply for the Kellen Jones Scholarship, please get your applications in ASAP.  Download the application here.

This scholarship awards one male and one female athlete $500 towards continuing education.

Applications must be turned in by May 30th to be considered. Recipients will be announced at the Beaver Nation awards night.

Note from the ABC Presidents

As this school year is quickly coming to an end, there are still a great things happening in Ballard Athletics! 

Monday, May 15th we will be voting in the 2017-18 ABC Board.  The current board, a representative from each of our teams, potential new board members and anyone else wishing to attend are invited to the Staff Lounge at 6:30 Monday evening. If you are interested in joining the board, there is still time to put your name forward!  Please contact Lauren at ajandlmj@gmail.com, or Jennifer at jenniferrdoherty@comcast.net. 

Tuesday, June 7th we will celebrate all Ballard Athletes at The Beaver Nation Night. All teams and athletes will be honored with dessert and other goodies. Special awards will be given to individual teams, coaches, parents and athletes. Please don't miss this evening of celebration; our athletes and our coaches deserve this night of recognition for all of their hard work and hours of dedication. 

Finally, keep checking the calendar!  As the Spring season wraps up, we still have teams and individual athletes competing in playoffs, district meets, and state meets.  

You got this, Beavers!

Lauren and Jennifer
ABC Co-presidents
Visit the ABC website for specific team info, sports calendars, and more!

Join the BHS Athletic Booster Club and help us support Ballard athletes!