I became excited when I stumbled upon a story on the Anoka-Ramsey homepage about the Engineering and Physics club building a hovercraft. Ever since I was a little boy I wanted see an actual hovercraft in person. I was fascinated when I first came across the concept of hovercrafts in the back of a Boy's Life magazine. The ad promised to include everything necessary to build a personal hovercraft using a vacuum cleaner engine. Oh how I begged my mom every time I saw the ad, but it was no use; I would never get my hovercraft...
But soon my dream of actually seeing a hovercraft in person could be fulfilled. The Engineering/Physics club got the kit for a ten feet by five feet hovercraft through the $6 student fees charged per credit. They plan to have it complete by the end of May, which would complete the clubs first phase of the project. Phases two and three involve evaluation of the hovercraft and then deciding on possible uses for the craft. I'm interested in finding out if they plan on having a public showing when it is complete.
For the full story on the AR homepage visit: http://www.anokaramsey.edu/news/Story_606.cfm
Friday, April 17, 2009
Community Leader
As stated in my previous blog, I am an assistant coach for my younger brothers tenth-grade basketball team. I thoroughly enjoy my time spent teaching and guiding the younger kids to be able to play up to their potential. This makes it an easy choice to research the issues that are important to the director of this basketball league. Since I plan to stay involved with the organization for the next two years, I am personally interested in what he believes are the key issues regarding boys basketball in the Andover Athletic Association.
The man to talk to was Steve Gompertz, Boys Basketball Director, as well the President of the Andover Athletic Association(AAA). The AAA is an organization that provides youth with the opportunity to play basketball, as well as softball and track. As one could imagine, Mr. Gompertz is a busy man. However, I was able to spend some time talking face to face after one of our Saturday basketball games. He seemed very enthused that I was interested in the issues regarding the league, even though the concerns he had aren't of any monumental proportion.
His biggest issue currently is the high numbers of youth interested in participating without having enough coaches volunteering. He stated that he has never had to turn kids back before because there weren't enough coaches, and he almost had to do that with two teams this year. But thankfully some parents volunteered so that their kids could play. His other concern was regarding sportsmanship during the games. Gompertz made it clear that there is a problem with some of the kids being disrespectful to the referees, other players, or even parents in the stands. I asked him what he could do to help curb this problem, and his response was to have coaches inform the players that this behavior isn't acceptable. This seemed like a simple method, but I guess there isn't much that can be done about the attitudes of high-school boys.
For more information regarding the Andover Athletic Association please visit: http://andover.multisportsystems.com/page/show/5018-home
The man to talk to was Steve Gompertz, Boys Basketball Director, as well the President of the Andover Athletic Association(AAA). The AAA is an organization that provides youth with the opportunity to play basketball, as well as softball and track. As one could imagine, Mr. Gompertz is a busy man. However, I was able to spend some time talking face to face after one of our Saturday basketball games. He seemed very enthused that I was interested in the issues regarding the league, even though the concerns he had aren't of any monumental proportion.
His biggest issue currently is the high numbers of youth interested in participating without having enough coaches volunteering. He stated that he has never had to turn kids back before because there weren't enough coaches, and he almost had to do that with two teams this year. But thankfully some parents volunteered so that their kids could play. His other concern was regarding sportsmanship during the games. Gompertz made it clear that there is a problem with some of the kids being disrespectful to the referees, other players, or even parents in the stands. I asked him what he could do to help curb this problem, and his response was to have coaches inform the players that this behavior isn't acceptable. This seemed like a simple method, but I guess there isn't much that can be done about the attitudes of high-school boys.
For more information regarding the Andover Athletic Association please visit: http://andover.multisportsystems.com/page/show/5018-home
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