42 | May 3, 2018 | The glenview lantern sports glenviewlantern.com This Week In... Titans Varsity Athletics BOYS GYMNASTICS ■May ■ 3 - at IHSA Sectional, TBA GIRLS SOCCER ■May ■ 3 - hosts Maine West, 4:45 p.m. ■May ■ 5 - at Edgewood (Wis.), noon ■May ■ 7 - at Wauwatosa East (Wis.), 7 p.m. ■May ■ 8 - at CSL Crossover, 7 p.m. ■May ■ 10 - hosts Crystal Lake Central, 7 p.m. GIRLS LACROSSE TRAVEL SOCCER TRYOUTS FC-1 Academy U12-U19 The North Shore’s Premier Travel Soccer Club FC-1 ACADEMY ADVANTAGES: r r r r r Affor r ■May ■ 3 - at Montini, 6 p.m. ■May ■ 5 - vs. Birmingham (Mich.), 9 a.m. ■May ■ 5 - vs. Marian (Mich.), noon ■May ■ 8 - hosts Vernon Hills, 5:30 p.m. ■May ■ 9 - at Loyola Academy, 6:45 p.m. BOYS LACROSSE ■May ■ 3 - hosts Glenbrook North, 6 p.m. ■May ■ 5 - hosts Lyons, 4 p.m. ■May ■ 8 - at Deerfield, 7 p.m. ■May ■ 10 - hosts Stevenson, 5 p.m. SOFTBALL ■May ■ 3 - at Maine South, 4:45 p.m. ■May ■ 7 - at Loyola Academy, 4:45 p.m. ■May ■ 8 - hosts Niles West, 4:45 p.m. ■May ■ 9 - at Niles West, 4:45 p.m. ■May ■ 10 - hosts Niles North, 4:45 p.m. BASEBALL ■May ■ 3 - hosts Niles North, 4:45 p.m. ■May ■ 5 - at Glenbrook North, 10:30 a.m. ■May ■ 8 - hosts Niles West, 4:45 p.m. ■May ■ 10 - at Niles West, GIRLS TRYOUTS BEGIN: May 12 BOYS TRYOUTS BEGIN: May 7 REGISTER FOR TRYOUTS TODAY AT: www.fc1academy.com/ (All players must pre-register online.) Join the high-performing and fastest-growing travel soccer club on the North Shore—serving Glenview, Northbrook, Wilmette and surrounding communities! Coach Talk 4:45 p.m. Jon ‘Coach’ Cohn Contributing Columnist Glenview Resident Play ball primer part two - ‘the Spiro’s edition’ If you walk into the long standing iconic Glenview restaurant named Spiro’s and you happen to be really hungry, I have one quick recommendation: Do not start talking baseball with owner Peter Nestos. If you do, you may never get your “Bomber,” that mouth-watering collection of specially seasoned Italian beef, secret mayo-plus dressing and peppers to die for. Or, for that matter, any of their other delicious sandwiches. The reason? Maybe the only thing Nestos loves more than the family restaurant started by dad Spiro (and of course his own family) is the game of baseball. More specifically, teaching it to the youth of Glenview. You get the oft-aproned owner talking “America’s game“ and the proper way we should be instructing it, and all I can say is settle in and get comfortable. The man has thoughts; lot’s of them. And he has the credo to back it up. Nestos started coaching for our Glenview Youth Baseball house league back in 1993 with no kids playing. He volunteered because of his love of the game and teaching it to young kids. Since, he has coached teams like the Glenview Storm, The Glenview Blaze, the Niles Braves and then back for another stint coaching his nephews, his daughter and now his two boys in the GYB house league. Somewhere around 25 years worth of youth baseball coaching experience. Prior to that, he played and competed on some of the top Chicago area 16-inch softball teams as well. So when the man speaks baseball, between making those delicious sandwiches (do not forget the Spiro’s award winning poorboy sub) we need to listen. “Number one” Netos said. “As a coach, you have to encourage parent participation. Having parents help out at practice allows you to break kids into small groups and maximize activity time for the kids. The biggest key is keeping the kids active at practice. We usually do stations, maybe six minutes per drill with the kids rotating. You only have a short time at practice, so you have to keep them moving.” Nestos also incorporates another teaching strategy: using catchy phrases and terms to help younger kids remember certain fundamentals. “For instance, we use ‘big bird’ to teach the separation stance for balance when throwing,” he explained. “We use ‘tell time on the clock’ to help kids remember proper hand position. Another is ‘knuckles to the sky’ for proper grip, ‘finish painting the fence’ for follow thru position when throwing.” He also threw in “frame the fly ball” and “the Ferris wheel” (think throwing motion) as a couple others to help the kids remember. “If they don’t learn how to catch and throw and field-the basic fundamentals, then really we are not doing our job” he said. “From there, they can go on to more advanced techniques, but you have to have the foundation first.” Nestos has a ton of drills for batting practice as well. Too many to go into here, but think tees, stations, fences, whiffle balls, big ball drills and you start to get the idea. “Get to it, and get through it” is an expression coach will use to teach the kids to swing and then follow through. In conclusion, let’s just say that if Nestos attacks running his restaurant with the same passion, enthusiasm and joy he does in teaching kids baseball, count on Spiros being around for maybe another 50 years. And now, I am really hungry. Cohn has been a coach, physical education teacher, sports announcer and athletic supervisor in the community for over 35 years. He can be reached at jcsportsandtees@aol.com.
glenviewlantern.com sports the glenview lantern | May 3, 2018 | 43 Shots of the Week Taking a look at the best photos from the week Glenbrook South’s Nomun Saintur (left) fights for the ball against a Glenbrook North player April 25 in Northbrook. Photos by Michal Dwojak/22nd Century Media Toni Zheleva moves the ball against the Spartans. Loyola Academy’s Sophia Rucker advances toward the goal while being defended by New Trier’s Sophie McGinnis on April 25 in Northfield. Photos by Tracy Allen/22nd Century Media Loyola’s Riley Dolan whips a shot on goal.
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