A group of women from New Tampa are headed to Peru Oct. 16ย to give students in a disadvantaged, mountainous area of the country laptop computers to enhance their educations.
The women are students of Hanaq Prana Yoga Studio, located at 10323 Cross Creek Blvd., Suite E., and the group is led by studio founder and director, Lorena Saavedra Smith, who is a native of Peru.
The group will spend a week at the Willa Tโika wellness retreat near Cusco, Peru, and will have a โpacked itineraryโ of doing yoga, experiencing the local attractions and serving the community.
โIโve been planning this retreat since February,โ says Lorena. โItโs a time of self discovery, time to reconnect, and for many of these women, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit such a fascinating country.โ She says the 10 available spots for the trip were filled quickly and she has a waiting list of three or four women who will be first to attend next yearโs retreat.
โWeโre going to explore the ruins, enjoy the beautiful scenery, visit the (15th Century Incan citadel) Machu Picchu, taking in all this amazing energy from the mountains,โ Lorena says. โThen, the service part is the last day of the retreat, so after weโve cleansed the body, and taken in the energy, we can serve these kids.โ
Tony Selvaggio, owner of eSmart Recycling, has provided 10 laptop computers to be donated for the trip.
โTony has an amazing business of keeping old electronics out of landfills,โ Lorena says. โThanks to this donation, students in the small village of Cusco will have the opportunity to succeed academically with the access to technology that this donation of laptops will provide.โ
left to right, DB Isaiah Bolden, QB Jacob Thomas and RB Dexter Leverette.
Anthony Egan knew his first head coaching job wouldnโt be easy.
He was inheriting a Wesley Chapel High (WCH) team that had gone 7-33 the previous four seasons. Five of those seven wins were against teams that were either 0-10 or 1-9.
In 2013, the Wildcats only scored 68 points all season en route to a winless campaign.
โChange Chapel?โ
Yes, please.
โWhen I first came to Wesley Chapel, I heard guys like (senior running back) Ellrie Allen and some of the seniors saying, โChanging Chapel,โโ Egan says. โWe cut the โingโ off and made it our own.โ
The โChange Chapelโ mantra is paying dividends, as the Wildcats head into the toughest stretch of the season, starting with tonight’s home Class 5A, District 8 game against Anclote.ย
The Wildcat players have clearlyย bought into shedding their image as a losing football team. In fact, Wesley Chapel is now 6-0, the Wildcats’ best start since posting back-to-back 10-0 regular seasons way back in 2001-02. The Wildcats are 4-0 in 5A-8, tied for first with upcoming opponents Zephyrhills (Oct. 21) and River Ridge (Oct. 28).
Wesley Chapel won its first two 2016 games against two teams with the deepest tradition of playoff football in Pasco County, knocking off Land OโLakes 13-3 in the season opener on Aug. 26 and following that up with a 34-21 win over Pasco on Sept. 9. It was the first time since 2007 WCH had beaten the Pirates.
The Wildcats were just warming up. In its next three games, it outscored opponents 137-28, beating Ridgewood (42-22), Gulf (50-0) and Fivay (45-6). Last week, the Wildcats rallied from a 28-20 fourth quarter deficit to beat Hudson 39-34.
โWeek one, we had about 90 percent buy inโ Egan says. โNow weโre at 100 percent,โ Egan said.
New Coach, New Attitude
It started with Egan. He had two coaching runs, at River Ridge High as well as a short stint at Hudson. Heโs a 2003 River Ridge graduate. Last season, when Egan was still at River Ridge, the Royal Knights devoured the Wildcats in the first half, 35-0.
โWe were up big but Wesley Chapel came out in the second half and outscored us 21-7,โ Egan says. โI saw a lot of athletes, a lot of guys moving around fast and I knew this was a place I wanted to go.โ
Tony Egan talks to his team at a recent practice.
Egan was set on finding a head coaching job somewhere after serving as a defensive coordinator and line coach for several years. It wound up that the only place he applied was Wesley Chapel; he was hired in January.
โWhat I saw right away was a good group of respectful kids ready to work,โ Egan says. โWe had 40-50 kids in the weight room, 40-50 all through the summer.โ
In the spring game, Wesley Chapel thumped Weeki Wachee 54-20, showing off the steady running game that was the hallmark of the Knightsโ attack the past few seasons. The Wildcats seemed to be on their way.
โAs soon as Coach Egan came in, you could feel it in the air โ there was that hunger,โ senior quarterback Jacob Thomas said. โThis was not going to be the same Chapel. We werenโt going to do what weโd been doing for years and years.โ
A Perfect Mix…
A few new players have been contributing to the Wesley Chapel turnaround, including highly-regarded junior defensive back Isaiah Bolden, a Florida State verbal commitment and 4-star recruit, according to the Rivals.com.
Though he transferred in from Jacksonville-area Bartram Trail (to be with his father), Bolden is not new to Wesley Chapel โ he went to Thomas E. Weightman Middle School and played football for the Weightman Wildcats. He had moved to the Jacksonville/St. Johns area for high school to be with his mother, where he developed into a top recruit.
โIt was different, real different when I came back from Bartram Trail,โ Bolden says. โI just wanted to see where Iโd fit in.โ
He has fit in just fine. Last season, Bolden had a 108-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Bears, and those skills were in full effect against Pasco, when Bolden ran a kickoff back 95 yards for a TD.
First-year running back Dexter Leverett is another transfer having a big impact. Leverett played for Eastside High in Taylors, SC, as a freshman but spent a whole year on the sidelines, waiting for his chance. After transferring to Wesley Chapel for 2015, he was on the team but ineligible to play.
He now leads Pasco County in rushing, with 906 yards (7.6 yards a carry) and six touchdowns. Leverett’s 906 yards is more than the Wildcat team rushed for the entire seasonย in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Teammate Malik Melvin is tied with Leverette for the team lead with six rushing touchdowns, while contributing 297 yards.
Thomas, the senior leader at QB, continues to excel, even if he isnโt throwing the ball as much as he is used to.
Last year, Thomas threw an average of 33 times a game for a county-best 1,825 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior for the Wildcats, but he has sacrificed his prolific numbers, throwing only seven times a game this season, for the sake of the team.
The 6-foot-4, 180-pounder has completed 17 of 42 pass attempts, but almost half his completions — eight, to be exact — have gone for touchdowns, including three to junior WR Justin Trapnell and two to freshman RBย Keith Walker.
โIf I donโt buy in (to Eganโs gameplan), then who does?โ Thomas said after the win over Pasco. โWe are going to run his style (of offense), I knew how it would be but he makes the calls and we execute them.โ
โJacobโs been great, heโs been patient,โ Egan says. โHeโs a big kid thatโs still waiting on that first (college) offer. He can really hit receivers when theyโre open and thatโs what the running game (sets up). He is such a good leader, he could hand off 60 times and pass two. Itโs all about winning. Heโs worried about the team and winning.โ
Thatโs what it is all about at Chapel these days.
Republican candidate Donald Trump was trounced in the first Presidential Debate by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, but our editor says he canโt vote for either of them.
So, like 80 million or so other Americans, I watched every second of the first presidential debate between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and I will admit that the former First Lady, U.S. Senator from New York and Secretary of State absolutely wiped the floor with the businessman/real estate developer/reality TV star who somehow fooled Republican voters into thinking that he would be a better choice than the dozen or so much more qualified GOP candidates he ended up besting during the primary process.
And, as a native Lawn Guylander, it was hard to not see the irony of two candidates I truly dislike, each with ties to New York, duke it out at Hofstra University, which is 15 minutes from where I grew up.
Does anyone…even the staunchest Republican supporters…still believe that the unprepared, unimpressive โLa Donaldโ was the best choice for the GOP to try to take back the White House after eight years under President Obama? Seriously?
Trump didnโt just lose the debate; he embarrassed himself and his supporters. Registered Republicans across the country let out a collective โuh-ohโ as the billionaire stumbled, bumbled and sniffed (what was that anyway? a cold? allergies?) his way to the worst on-stage performance by a Republican since Sarah Palin.
Trump railed on about the number of murders in Chicago, but seemingly only because itโs Pres. Obamaโs hometown, not because he had some important (or valid) point to make. He gave himself credit for changing his mind about the presidentโs birth certificate not being real, but never explained why he did three+ years after that certificate was produced.
When Trump jabbed lightly at Clinton about her 33,000 deleted emails, she countered with a smashing left hook to the jaw about why he wonโt disclose his taxes. โMaybe heโs not as charitable…or as profitable…as heโd like us to think,โ Hillary said to the American people. โBut mainly, I think itโll show that he hasnโt paid any federal income tax for years.โ
โThat just makes me smart,โ the precocious billionaire sniffed back.
Smart? OK, maybe he is. But, appealing to undecided middle and lower class American voters who somehow have to pay thousands of dollars a year to Uncle Sam while only making thousands themselves? I donโt think so.
As I mentioned in my editorial after the first debate, Iโm a registered Republican who could have happily supported Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson or Marco Rubio (I voted for Rubio in the primary, even though I donโt agree with all of his Tea Party positions), saying that I could get behind almost anyone other than Trump.
The only other major candidate who gave me similar pause was the second-place Republican Ted Cruz, who would attempt to make Christianity our national religion, despite our countryโs diverse population. Trump may have sold GOP voters on the โfactโ that he was the only non-politician in the field โ just as he sold unsuspecting students on the bogus Trump University and unsuspecting condo buyers in New York, Tampa and other locations on buildings with his name on them that he ultimately walked away from without completing โ but his โnon-politically-correctโ responses did nothing throughout the campaign but convince me he was the wrong choice, even as he built up his treasure trove of delegates.
So, obviously, I canโt vote for Trump โ or recommend that anyone else should either. Even so, I also canโt throw my support behind Clinton, as I twice did Obama. A few weeks prior to the debate, I heard the former Secretary of State take credit for being in the โwar roomโ as Pres. Obama and our top military officials came up with the plan to ultimately โtake outโ Osama bin Laden, but where was the First Lady when her husband was President? Meeting multiple times with the Al Qaeda leader after he had made his first (and unsuccessful) attempt to blow up the World Trade Center?
Did we even once hear Hillary say, during either of her Presidential campaigns, that, โWe shouldโve taken out that SOB when Bill had the chanceโ all those years ago?
No. Instead, we have been (since the 1990s) โ and continue to be โ told about the โstand by my manโ relationship between Hillary and her husband, who surely didnโt begin and end his process of wooing White House interns with Monica Lewinsky. I donโt believe the Clintons are in any way, shape or form a loving couple. I say Hillary has stuck with her hubby only because she feared that she would never become president herself if she divorced him, despite his blatant philandering.
Hillary claims to be fighting for you and me, but I honestly believe neither candidate cares as much about us as they do themselves.
Yes, Clinton dominated Trump in Round One. It was so bad that if it were a prize fight, it would have been stopped early, with Trump sniffing blood back into his nose instead of sniffling before and after every time he spoke.
Even so, I will still be at the polls on Nov. 8, voting for other offices. I just canโt see myself casting a ballot for either of these two, even though one of them has to win. Heavy sigh.
Wharton freshman Zach Godbold (center) receives his gold medal for his career-best throw of 167 feet, 5 inches, in the javelin at the AAU Junior Olympics in July.
Looking for something new to try, Zach Godboldโs eyes caught a javelin sitting in the grass near where his Running Tigers of Hillsborough County Track Club teammates were training.
Uninterested in the long distance runs that had lured him to the club with his big brother Frankie, Zach had been only mildly satisfied with throwing the shot put and discus. โThey were just okay,โโ he says.
But, the javelin? Now, that looked a little more interesting.
Turns out, Zach made an excellent choice that day. He is now the best 14-year-old javelin thrower in the country and the reigningย AAU Junior Olympic (JO) champion. In August, the New Tampa teenager turned in the biggest throw of his life, a whopping 167 feet, 5 inches โ at the biggest event of his life โ to capture the gold medal.
โIt was pretty big,โโ Zach says. โEspecially because it was such an important event.โ
The JO win capped a huge spring and summer for Zach, a 14-year-old freshman at Wharton. He won a handful of local and regional events, and improved his throws by more than 40 feet from the beginning of track and field season to the end.
โI think thatโs what was most impressive, how he went from throwing 120 to 140 to 160,โโ said his father, Frank. โThatโs pretty impressive.โ
Frank and his wife Maria hardly imagined such heights were attainable five years ago,
when Zach first noticed that javelin laying in the grass near the track at Turner-Bartells K-8 School, where the Running Tigers practiced.
Coach Gig Brown told him to give it a try. It was a natural fit.
โI wasnโt the best at it (right away),โโ Zach says, โbut I learned it quickly.โ
There arenโt many sports at which the natural athlete hasnโt succeeded. He plays top-flight club soccer for the Temple Terrace Spirit, he was an exceptional pitcher on the Little League baseball diamond, he has run track and heโs currently playing junior varsity football โ as a kicker and punter โ for the Wildcats.
But, it is this most unique sport that has brought Zach his greatest success.
Once Brown got him started, Zach took it from there. He would find a place to throw while his teammates raced around the track, and he and Frank would search out empty fields near their Arbor Greene home to practice, often at the overgrown baseball fields across from Pride Elementary. Because actual javelin coaches are about as rare as an uncongested road in New Tampa, Zach studied YouTube videos in his free time to hone his craft.
โThe javelin is much different from other throwing events because you donโt need to be big and strong and have a lot of muscles to throw it,โโ says Zach, who is 5-foot-9 inches tall and roughly 160 pounds. โIf youโre smaller and want to try throwing because you donโt like running, you can be good at this.โ
Or great, as Zach was this summer.
He had competed at the Junior Olympics the three previous years, in the javelin and the discus, but had never had his breakthrough.
In 2013, he finished seventh, followed by a second-place finish in 2014 and 12th-place in 2015.
Taking It To His Rival
His primary rival was No. 1-ranked Jack Caudle of Atchison, KS, who beat out Zach for the gold in 2014 and set a national record for 13-year-olds while winning again last year, with a throw of 147-11.
If he were to win, Zach knew it was Caudle he would have to beat as they squared off with 58 other competitors at Turner Stadium in Humble, TX.
Competitors are allowed three throws in the preliminary round, with the top eight advancing to the finals, where they get three more throws. The best throw, including those in prelims, wins gold.
Zach wasted no time โ on his first throw, he delivered a career-best toss of 167โ-5โ.
โI felt pretty confident, and I knew that was going to make it into the finals,โโ he said.
Zach didnโt manage a better throw, though he did clear 160 feet with two other throws.
He didnโt need to improve, however. He anxiously watched as the other competitors tried to better his top distance, including Caudle, who had come up short on his first five throws.
But, the tall lefty had one throw โ and one nerve-wracking moment for the Godbold family โ remaining, and he sent the javelin sailing high into the Texas sky, his best throw of the competition.
โI was so nervous,โโ Zach said. โI knew it was going to be really close.โ
It was โ Caudle came up with a throw of 166โ-10โ, just seven inches shy of a third straight championship, and in the stands Frank and Maria Godbold jumped with joy.
โI thought Maria was going to lose her mind,โโ Frank said, chuckling. โIโm real proud of him, obviously. Not just about winning, but doing it on the biggest stage. The other guy had just been better than him, and to see him get over the hump, it meant a lot. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine this kind of moment when he started throwing a javelin.โ
As a former Little League pitcher and back-up quarterback in football who was only used for long throws like Hail Marys, the javelin was the perfect fit. Most in his age group send their javelins arcing high into the air; Zach is known for his low, long throw.
โHe always had a tremendous arm,โโ says Frank. โHis uncle used to tell him he should be throwing a baseball.โ
In five years, Zach has developed into one of the best young javelin throwers in the land. He has put away his 600-gram (21-lb.), 7-foot-long javelin for the winter, while he focuses on football and soccer.
Despite the fact he canโt compete in the event in high school because the javelin is not a sanctioned high school field event in Florida, like the discus and shot put, Zach plans on throwing the javelin all the way to college, and maybe beyond.
Next spring, he moves up to the 800-gram (28-lb.) javelin, which is between 8โ3โโ and 8โ7โ long, the same one you see being thrown at the Olympics. He will continue to travel the state and country as he competes in AAU track season and competitions, with one goal in mind โ to keep getting better.
โItโs definitely something I love doing,โ Zach says, โand Iโm definitely sticking with it.โ
Like five years ago, thatโs probably another good choice.
State Rep. Shawn Harrison urges voters to support Republican candidates at a candidate fair held in Carrollwood on September 13. (Photo: North Hillsborough Republican Club/Facebook)
When District 63 State Rep. Shawn Harrison, a Republican who is running for re-election on Nov. 8, stood before a crowd at a candidate fair sponsored by the North Hillsborough Republican Club at Carrollwood Country Club on Sept. 13 and urged them to help put a Republican on the Tampa City Council for the first time since he had served on the council, Jim Davison, M.D., couldnโt help but smile.
Dr. Davison, a longtime Hunterโs Green resident and a friend of Harrisonโs, had just spoken a few minutes before to the same crowd, and he viewed Harrisonโs comments as something of an unofficial endorsement of his candidacy in the District 7 race.
But, it wasnโt.
The next day, Harrison sent out Facebook invitations for a fund raiser he hosted at his home on Sept. 22 for one of Davisonโs opponents โ Arbor Greene resident Avis Harrison, a former elementary school teacher and registered independent who proudly touts her lack of experience and is no relation to Shawn.
โShe has been a family friend for several years, and I think she would be an excellent member of the City Council,โโ Harrison said.
Shawn had already co-hosted a fund raiser for Avis Harrison on Sept. 8 at the Avila home of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden, and raised more than $8,000. But, Davison was still surprised, considering what he heard at the candidate fair.
Dana Young, who represents Floridaโs 60th District and is the Florida House majority leader, spoke right after Davison and also delivered glowing remarks. While the City Council race is non-partisan, it is no secret that Davison is a registered Republican and the only one so registered in a field that includes Luis Viera, Gene Siudut, Cyril Spiro, Ph.D., Orlando Gudes and Avis Harrison.
While Davison canโt refer to his party affiliation on campaign information because he is running for a non-partisan seat, Republicans who are not running for non-partisan offices are not bound by that rule.
โI just met (Davison) last night and this is a big deal,โโ Young said. โIf you live in his area, he is the only Republican running for City Council, and heโs got like five Democrats running. So, if every Republican votes for him, he wins.โ
Once the applause died down, Young added, โThis guy is a Republican and if you are a Republican, you need to vote for him.โ
She then turned the microphone over to Shawn Harrison, who is defending his Dist. 63 seat against Democrat Lisa Montelione, who is vacating the District 7 City Council seat for which Davison, Avis Harrison and the other candidates are competing.
โEveryone up here is a real quality conservative who you need to get out and support,โโ Shawn Harrison told the crowd. โI want to plug my friend Jim Davison, as well.โ
Harrison also told the crowd that when he served on the City Council for eight years, he was, for some of that time, the only Republican.ย Since he left, there havenโt been any.
โThere are seven democrats on our City Council now and our mayor is a Democrat,โโ Shawn said at the candidate fair. โCanโt we have just one of us? Just one? Is that too much to ask? So weโre going to get out and support Jim in his efforts here. We need one out of those seven seats to be red.โ
Harrison said since he was at a Republican event, he was appealing to the Republican voters. โFrankly, Iโm not sure any voters from New Tampa were there,โโ he added.
Davison said he was then completely blindsided by Harrison holding a fund raiser in his home for one of his non-Republican opponents. But, he plans on staying loyal to his party and his friend.
โAm I still voting for Shawn?,โ Davison said. โYeah.ย Am I disappointed? Yeah.โ
Harrison says he has no obligation to support Davison just because heโs the only Republican in the race. He said Siudut has reached out to him for campaign advice, and he touted the endorsements he has received from Democrats in his race vs. Montelione.
โIf you are a good candidate, party identification should play less of a role,โโ Harrison said. โI want the best person in that seat for New Tampa.โ
MONEY GAME: The Gruden fund raiser for Avis Harrison helped launch her from the bottom of the fund raising race to near the top.
She raised $10,250 for the Sept. 3-16 filing period, putting her at $20,188.34 overall, right behind Viera and Spiro.
Viera, a Hunterโs Green resident and lawyer with Ogden & Sullivan, P.A., raised $6,195 during the most recent filing period, and now has $58,954 overall, which keeps him comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.
Dr. Spiro has raised $26,217.83 overall, the fieldโs second-largest fund-raising haul. Siudut, an editor with La Gaceta, has raised $18,630, while Gudes, a former Tampa Police officer, is at $15,766.10. Davison, who got into the race a little later, is at $7,395.30.
ENDORSEMENTS: Davison has offset his low fund-raising numbers by picking up some endorsements he says are as big as anyone elseโs.
Davison received an endorsement from former Tampa City Council member Joseph Caetano, and another from Gus Bilirakis, the U.S. Representative for Floridaโs 12th congressional district.
Caetano recently received 10,681 votes in his unsuccessful bid for the Hillsborough County School Board. Viera picked up an endorsement from the Tampa Bay Builders Association last week, which is generally considered an important โgetโ for candidates.
A group of women from New Tampa are headed to Peru Oct. 16ย to give students in a disadvantaged, mountainous area of the country laptop computers to enhance their educations.
son to the end.
But, it is this most unique sport that has brought Zach his greatest success.
