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Matrix Headed To Junior Olympics

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 16, 2008

In its inaugural season, the Matrix has hit the ground running. Literally.

The Tampa-based track team, which is comprised of some of the top athletes in the county, including Chamberlain's Dentarius Locke, Hillsborough's Lindsey Lamar and Terrence Mitchell and Tampa Bay Tech's Tanesha Maxwell, qualified 27 athletes for the AAU Junior Olympic Championships, which begin in Detroit on July 23.

Unsurprisingly after their performances for their high schools at the FHSAA state championships, Locke, Mitchell, Maxwell, LaVaughn King and LaShae White all won individual championships at the Region 4 championships in Winter Park three weeks ago. The Matrix also went 1-2 in the young boys 4x100 relay, and won the 4x400 title in the same division.

"We have a Hillsborough County high school all-star team," Coach Gary Watson said. "All assembled together on an AAU team, and we're doing our thing."

Watson previously coached with the Tampa Trailblazers before starting the Matrix this year, and said once some athletes, like Locke and Lamar came on board, word of mouth quickly built the team, and brought in other talent.

"Everybody was really excited about it, and kids were telling their friends about it," Watson said. "And so I was able to pick up kids like Leon Robinson and Mark Williams and Kevin Williams. All those guys jumped on the bandwagon."

For the Matrix's younger athletes, the Junior Olympics have an added importance over competing for a national championship. Thanks to the level of competition, younger athletes are able to get what is sometimes their first exposure to college coaches. Locke, Lamar and Maxwell's performances at previous AAU Junior Olympics put them firmly on the track-and-field map. Watson is hoping the same thing can happen for athletes like seventh-grader Sevondria Hardy, who ran a 59.03 in the youth division 400-meter final in Winter Park.

"This meet is really big because there are a lot of college coaches who attend this meet," Watson said. "Especially for those kids who are coming out 13, 14-and-up, those kids get put in a position where the college coaches can track them throughout their high school career as a result of this meet."

But while the team has found success, it has outrun its financial means. As of Thursday, the team only had enough money to send 15 athletes to Detroit. Watson, who can be reached at (813) 493-1985, has already received help from parents and others in trying to raise funds, and the team tried to raise money through a car wash Saturday.

Strictly Soccer Squad Getting Back On Map

Three years ago, St. Petersburg-based Strictly Soccer's boys under-13 team was on top of the world. A two-time state champion, the team was considered one of the best in the country, and, according to Coach Hans Burt, ranked No. 1 in its age group nationally.

Then, it fell apart. Players left to join other clubs, and the team, when reconstituted for its under-14 season, was left with only four players from its 12-player squad.

Now, Burt has rebuilt the team, thanks in part to players from Tampa. Spencer Muratides, Trevor Berecz, Josh Munch, Ethan Baine and Jake Felman are part of the team that will compete for the U.S. Club National Championship in the under-16 division in Virginia Beach, beginning July 26.

Strictly won an eight-team tournament at Jacksonville in May to reach the national finals, defeating IUS Elite 2-1 in the final. With a 32-player squad to choose from, competition on the practice field can be as intense as in competition, and Burt says the size of the squad the team has been able to carry had been a key to its success.

"I think a lot of the success has come because we were able to develop into two teams," Burt said. "Although we didn't run it as an A and a B, we ran it more as a group of players. For each tournament, they had to compete to try and get on the roster, so our roster is always changing."

Palma Ceia Taking It One Game At A Time

When Palma Ceia Junior League baseball manager Scott Linabury was looking around in the league's clubhouse recently, he made a discovery.

Around two dozen balls from the 2004 Junior League World Series, won by his team's predecessors.

"I took one," Linabury said, "and I used it as a motivator to the guys to show them 'you know, this is what we're striving for, this is what we need to focus on.'"

But while that remains the overall goal for Linabury's team, which won the District 6 title with a 9-2 win against Northside Little League last Thursday, the plan on how to get there will always be the same.

"One game at a time," Linabury said. "Of course, my expectations are to go the whole way, which I think we possible can, but you can't do it until you win that next game. So our focus as a team, and that's how we play, as a team, is to take it one game at a time."

This year's Palma Ceia team retains a core of five players who have played together since they were in the under-10 division in 2003. Tanner Anderson, Tyler Linabury, Clark Russo, Matt Sanders and Pete Cordero were on the team then, and have grown with the team.

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243 or nmurray@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Youth Sports for more news, notes and live game stories.

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