“GoAnimal has been on Bainbridge for just over two years. Its roots have existed since man emerged on the plains and valleys of Africa many millennia ago.GoAnimal is the brainchild of 45-year-old Frank Forencich, who converted an old woodshed on his property into a secret training facility so he can teach the physical education you should have gotten. It’s been replaced by sports and learning the rules of games. An obviously fit man, Forencich is the embodiment of the physical part. A longtime self-described climbing bum, he’s scaled numerous peaks in the Northwest and Canada. He’s ascended El Capitan, the sheer-sided symbol of Yosemite National Park, a few times. He has a black belt in karate and aikido.And education? He holds a degree in human biology from Stanford, a teaching credential and a massage certificate and has also been a flight instructor. He just returned from a month-long trip to Africa which he says taught him a great deal and is eager to pass along his new-found knowledge.So what is he trying to teach? “
“Coach Penny Gienger couldn’t have scripted Friday night’s game at Central Kitsap any better as her girls’ basketball team prepared for post-season play.Her team had been outplayed and outscored during the third quarter and trailed by three. Add a partisan Cougar crowd and a talented Cougar team that desperately wanted a victory and the scenario was complete.The Spartans responded. Keyed by six Emily Pierce points, Bainbridge went on a 9-2 run to open the fourth quarter and take a 54-50 lead, then held on for a hard-fought 58-55 win and a share of the Olympic League championship.It was a great, district-like game, Gienger said. Both teams played really well. Their crowd was wild and loud, and ours was the same, which helped. “
“The Spartan girls defeated Port Townsend on Tuesday, 59-39, in what coach Penny Gienger called a great game.Our defense was really tough, Gienger said, and Christine (Schwager) played well on their best player.The game also marked junior guard Fab Rezayat’s return to full health after several weeks battling the flu. She scored 11 points, dished out six assists, and had an eye-popping one-handed bounce pass that somehow threaded its way through three Redskins to set up an easy shot. “
“Trailing after three events, the Spartan swimmers rode the momentum of Jeff Christensen’s personal best 22.55 in the 50 free to a 381-363 victory over Lakes and their first district title in three years. Coupled with Andrew Sperling’s third place and Jon Rochelle’s 11th, the Spartans outscored Lakes 30-9 in the event to open up a 14-point lead and doubled the margin after nine events.Lakes closed to within 12 points two events later, but Bainbridge won the closing 400 free relay. Virtually the entire team was clustered at the end of the pool to urge on Erik Steinecker as he maintained a two-body-length lead.Christensen took just one breath in the 50, at about 35 yards, as he recorded his second automatic state qualifying time in the event in less than 24 hours. “
“Brandon Nall and Mike Roe both placed third in last Saturday’s Olympic/Pierce County League wrestling tournament to advance to this Saturday’s regionals in Ellensburg.Jacob Hayashi was the only other Spartan to place, finishing sixth. With three wrestlers absent due to illness or injury and no heavyweight entry, the Spartans finished ninth among the 10 teams. “
“Boys’ basketball coach Jeff Eller tells his players it’s important to be playing their best ball in February.Nick Thompson couldn’t wait.The senior co-captain scored 11 points in the first quarter to spark the Spartans to a 65-51 win over visiting Bremerton on Tuesday, lifting Bainbridge into sole possession of third place in the Olympic League.Though he scored just two more points the rest of the way to finish with a game-high 13, Thompson set the tone for the rest of the team by concentrating on the hoops equivalent of the Mariners’ Small Ball.Rebounding. Passing the ball around and working the clock. Lots of other things that don’t show up on stat sheets but help win games.It was a methodical, business-like effort, Eller said. Our guys were all very unselfish, and it was a classic team game. We did all the things a playoff team needs to do.And it wasn’t just Thompson. Playing perhaps their best quarter of team basketball and supplementing Thompson’s output, the Spartans jumped off to a 22-12 first quarter lead. Bremerton never got closer than eight points the rest of the way. “
“Because of a game-day problem, some of the Port Angeles High School gymnasium lights were at their usual brightness Friday evening, while others were noticeably dimmer. One basket was bathed in intense light, while the other sat almost in shadow, and other parts of the court had different degrees of illumination.The lighting served as a symbol for the game itself, as the Roughriders played with an incandescent attitude in downing the Spartan girls’ basketball team, 62-45.With the support of a nearly full house, Port Angeles worked their offense effectively while a tight defense never let the Spartans get into any kind of a rhythm. “
“The girls’ basketball team played 27 fairly ordinary minutes on Friday against visiting Sequim. They also played five minutes of very extraordinary basketball en route to a 63-50 win that maintained their undefeated Olympic League record.Midway through the opening quarter the score was a modest 6-6.For the rest of the quarter and the beginning of the second, Bainbridge nearly caused the scorekeeper to develop carpal tunnel syndrome keeping up with the onslaught of Spartan hoops. Nearly every shot went in, nearly every pass threaded its way through the Wolves’ defense to find an open shooter, nearly every rebound ended up in Spartan hands, and the few shots the Wolves got off in the face of a smothering defense caromed off the rim or missed it altogether. “
“The Spartans grapplers lost to perennial power Central Kitsap by a much-closer-than-expected 44-32 Thursday, in what coach Steve Hohl termed a good outing.Were not for the illness of seniors Travis Dever and Mike Roe and the by now customary heavyweight forfeit, the score could easily have been reversed. “
“Spartan wrestlers led Mercer Island by a single point, 197-196, going into the finals at Saturday’s Island Invitational tournament.But the Islanders’ five finalists produced three wins to take home the first place trophy by a 10-point margin, 212 to 202. Still, second place represented the Spartans’ best finish in five years. “
“The boys’ swim team returned to action by defeating both Central Kitsap/ Klahowya and Olympic in a double dual meet Thursday, winning 129-56 against CK and swamping the Trojans 132-26.Most of the events represented 1-2-3 Spartan sweeps, and in numerous cases the visitors entered only one or two swimmers.It was nice to have some of our swimmers back in the water after they were missing due to vacations or illness, coach Lynn Wells said.The one truly competitive event was diving, with Spartans Zander Burmer and Kris Ley competing against two seasoned CK divers. “
“There’s this kid named Ryan, who lives in Renton. Good-looking kid, nice smile, seems like he might be a little shy. Loves snowboarding, seen The Matrix a few times, watches The Simpsons regularly. Sounds pretty normal. Except for one thing…About this time a decade ago, Santa brought him a lump of coal. He was diagnosed with leukemia. He was all of 8 years old.Four years ago, Santa was a little kinder. Ryan received a bone marrow transplant and his disease went into remission.And two years ago, island insurance broker Andy Kosick looked like the sort of guy you’d consider asking to be Santa at your office Christmas party. No more. Kosick has lost 45 pounds as the result of cycling 6,500 miles since then and has had to re-stock his closet.Nowadays, he says, If I don’t do at least a Chilly Hilly when I go for a ride, I don’t feel like I’ve done anything.And on Nov. 18, Kosick did a lot more than a Chilly Hilly; he joined 77 other riders from the Puget Sound area, including islander Gloria Satur, and hundreds more nationwide who rode under the banner of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America. “
“For most people, fun is something you do that produces maximum pleasure with minimum pain.For Bainbridge residents Kathy Cole and Lisa Lund, along with former islander Laurie Leonetti, fun was competing in the Isuzu Ironman Florida Triathlon on Nov. 4. The Ironman began as a bar bet some years ago, to serve as a means of pushing human endurance to the limits. It became famous soon afterward when TV cameras captured the stark image of the woman who had led throughout the entire race collapsing within sight of the finish and crawling agonizingly on her hands and knees as another woman passed her. The race has expanded from its original setting in Hawaii to a number of sites worldwide, and the distances have become standardized and as carefully calibrated as any Immunex researcher’s experimental data: “