TP_021419

34 | February 14, 2019 | The tinley junction sports
tinleyjunction.com
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
10 Questions
with James Ochoa
James Ochoa is a senior
swimmer for Tinley Park
High School who also
played water polo and ran
cross country.
How did you get
involved in swimming?
When I was little, I had to
watch my sister swim and I
loved it ever since.
If you can swim against
anyone, who would it
be against?
I would swim against my
coaches in their peak performance.
It would be cool
to swim against people who
taught me how to swim.
What is your proudest
moment in athletics?
My proudest moment in
athletics has to be seeing
myself get faster throughout
the years.
Are there any
embarrassing moments
you had in sports?
No, I’m a pretty boring
guy.
Do you have a favorite
pregame pump-up song?
Either Eminem’s “Lose
Yourself” or “Eye Of The
Tiger.”
Do you have a hero, or
someone you look up
to?
There are plenty of people
to look up to but I would
have to say coach [Bob]
Westberg because he is always
there for you to better
yourself and only wants the
best for anyone.
Is there a movie you
could watch over and
over without getting
bored with it?
“Doctor Strange” because
he’s my favorite superhero
and he’s pretty cool with his
magic.
JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
If you could have dinner
with anyone — living
or dead — who would
it be with?
I would have dinner with
[Bob] Bowman, since he
trained Michael Phelps. I
would see if he had any tips
for me.
If they made a movie
about your life, who
should play you?
The Rock.
What would that movie
be called?
“The Grind of the Swim
Seasons.”
Interview conducted by Sports
Editor Jeff Vorva
GOLF
With no Tinley
expo, golfers
head to
Homewood
PHIL ARVIA, Freelance Reporter
For seven years, the Tinley
Park Golf Expo brightened
a cold February weekend
for area duffers, drawing
thousands to a show that
ballooned to three days and
more than 100 vendors over
its run.
This year, the expo, which
was held at the Tinley Park
Convention Center, is off
and a few vendors who were
regulars there landed at the
smaller Chicago Southland
Golf Merchandise Show at
Ravisloe Country Club in
Homewood on Friday and
Saturday, Feb. 8 and 9.
“The partners had a divorce
and that was it,” Daniel
Fitzgerald, managing
director of the Convention
Center, said. “Their LLC
is dissolved. I received
official notification from
lawyers.”
Joe Copeland and Gregg
Tengerstrom, former partners
in Tenco Events, which
organized the expo, declined
to comment when reached
individually via phone.
“It was a great show,”
Fitzgerald said. “It’s certainly
a big loss for February.”
Fitzgerald pledged to find
The Tinley Golf Expo is gone and a smaller show at the
Ravisloe Country Club has taken its place. PHIL ARVIA/22ND
CENTURY MEDIA
a new golf show for the
same dates in 2020.
“We’re trying to replace
it,” he said. “We have a
couple of contractors in the
pipeline for next year. We’re
fully confident we’ll replace
it.”
Meanwhile, Ravisloe’s
show is filling the void.
“My staff put this together,”
Ravisloe general manager
Jeff Siegmund said.
“We didn’t have anything
booked in our banquet facility
in January and February.
We put this together in a
couple of weeks.”
The merchandise show is
almost entirely that — racks
of clothes and tables of clubs
sold by a handful of courses
trying to free up space in
their pro shops. The opportunity
to hit balls, afforded in
the vast space of the convention
center, is unavailable.
But losing some of the bells
and whistles isn’t necessarily
a bad thing.
Mark Haines, the manager
at Lincoln Oaks Golf Course
in Crete and the golf coach
at Governors State University,
was a regular in Tinley
Park.
“We probably got the
names of 3,000 golfers at
that show,” Haines said.
“But this is more localized,
which is good.
“One of the frustrating
things for people who went
to the Tinley show was, ‘I’m
not here to get my bathtub
done,’ ‘I’m not here for life
insurance.’ They were concerned
with selling space to
vendors. This is just about
golf.”
THIS WEEK IN
TITANS VARSITY ATHLETICS
BOYS BASKETBALL
■Feb. ■ 15 – hosts Lemont,
6:30 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 19 – Evergreen Park,
6 p.m.
BOYS SWIMMING
■Feb. ■ 16 - IHSA Sectionals,
TBA
WRESTLING
■Feb. ■ 14-16 - IHSA Individual
State Tournament, TBA
GIRLS BASKETBALL
■Feb. ■ 14-15 - IHSA Regional
finals, TBA
■Feb. ■ 18-21 - IHSA
Sectionals, TBA
GIRLS BOWLING
■Feb. ■ 15-16 - IHSA State
Finals, TBA
THUNDERBOLTS VARSITY
ATHLETICS
BOYS BASKETBALL
■Feb. ■ 15 – at Thornridge,
6:30 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 17 – at Evergreen Park
Mustang Shoot-Out, TBA
■Feb. ■ 19 – at Lincoln-Way
West, 6:30 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 21 – at St. Laurence,
7 p.m.
BOYS SWIMMING
■Feb. ■ 16 - IHSA Sectionals,
TBA
WRESTLING
■Feb. ■ 14-16 - IHSA Individual
State finals, TBA
GIRLS BASKETBALL
■Feb. ■ 14-15 - IHSA Regional
finals, TBA
■Feb. ■ 18-21 - IHSA
Sectionals, TBA
GIRLS BOWLING
■Feb. ■ 15-16 - IHSA State
Finals, TBA
GIRLS GYMNASTICS
■Feb. ■ 15-16 – IHSA State
Finals, TBA