Sonoma Country Life

Petaluma's Football Frenzy

Standing by the fence at the gates to Petaluma High School's humble track and football field (humble in the capacity of this particular Southern Sonoma County sporting arena retaining its mud and guts status as one of the few remaining high school fields in the region yet to be afforded a glam remodel into high-tech turf and a double set of state-of-the-art bleachers to boot), it was a heart-warming sight to see so many familiar faces from city hall to Big-Apple 20-somethings back home to rivertown for Thanksgiving and a not-to-be missed NCS Football Playoff game.

Number one seeded gladiatorial Petaluma High School Trojans are said to be the best team here in town in the past 20 years - currently ranked as number 6 favorite in the state by the SF Chron. Last night's 28-14 fever-pitch playoff game was a packed-out event with everyone and his mother wrapped up for the chilly, thrilling spectacle of the Trojans living up to this season's legend of undefeated victory.

A sea of scarves and gloves and hats and blankets failed to dampen the spirits of impassioned P'town fans in a spectacular show of community support this Thanksgiving weekend, just what the doctor ordered for this city at the end of a tough year for so many of its friends and neighbors.

There was nothing to mope about in the West Petaluma streets around PHS Friday night, walking down the hill with the dog and the crew to be a small part of the pounding crowd was a first for this unlikely football fan, but really, how could anyone resist?

(Dear pal with a Cardinal Newman star player for a son tipped me off to last night's game and though I'm a purple-crested, PHS parent myself, the first half momentum having gone to Newman made for the play a nail-bitingly grand evening out). 

Next Friday's game against the winner of today's NCL game between Eureka and Ygnacio Valley will be hosted at PHS at 7pm. If the Trojans win that playoff, they'll be off to the section finals for the first time in a decade.

 

Fantasy Football

Simply could not pass up the opportunity to share this snap of Petaluma's own Michael McCullaugh (Redwood Cafe, Aqus and more) taken by his sports-fan Mrs - L, on a recent outing to not only watch an SF 49ers game but to romp around on the field, hob-nobbing with players and cheerleaders alike. Ultimate Fantasy Football, I'd say and not bad for a day out from the bustling eateries back here in Southern SoCo.

In the meantime, Aqus Cafe's music permit application is still under consideration with the city planners here in Petaluma, following a flood of support from loyal customers who'd be heartbroken to lose out on entertainment in this wonderful little live music venue.

"The outpouring of support for Aqus Café has been incredibly moving," says co-owner John Crowley. "I spent most of the weekend in amazement, reading the emails that were CC'd to me. The city-planning department received over 1000 emails of support."

"My wife and I started Aqus Café with a dream," says John. "With a vision to create a community gathering place, a multi-generational space where people gather to connect, get to know and trust each other - to create social capital.  With the help of our friends Lesley and Michael McCullaugh we have been able to make our shared dream a reality."
 
"I'm not sure if there is something good in the local water or what it is but there is a strong and tangible sense of connectedness, a sense of community that has made Aqus possible.  We are committed to the community, to our customers, to our neighbors and to building social capital. And we are only just beginning," says John.

Clearly, fantasy can swiftly become a reality with such positive attitude amongst this inspired Petaluma partnership!
 

Basketball Fans - Don't Miss PEF Night at the Golden State Warriors

Support innovation in Petaluma education when you come see the Golden State Warriors take on Dwight Howard and the defending Eastern Conference Champ Orlando Magic at the Oracle Arena on Saturday, December 5th, 2009!

Hear Petaluma Junior High School Choir sing the National Anthem. Watch Petaluma Junior High School and Kenilworth Junior High basketball teams in a pre-game scrimmage on court.Post game free throw on Warriors court for every Petaluma student. Free hot dog, chips and drink with each ticket.

Hurry - first 100 people to sign up for PEF Night at the Warriors are invited to participate in an exciting courtside shootaround and watch players warm up!

Great Discounts on Tix
$40 Standard Club
(second level) Seats: 
PEF PRICE - $28
$85 Lower Level Seats:
PEF PRICE - $70

Warming the Queen's Seat at Twicker's - Touring Home of England Rugby

 

 

For my American readers, brace yourself, I know how devoted you are to your version of Football, but these here snaps depict the Rugby Football League, in England, quite a different take on the global concept of a big bunch of massive blokes chucking a ball about and beating the heck out of one another to get it back. 

Rugby Football League evolved through the actual players, not by laws of any outside authority, deriving as a direct descendant of a version first played in Rugby School in Warwickshire in 1823. 

An impressive museum inside Billy Williams Cabbage Patch (Twickenham Stadium, home of England Rugby, which was first erected in 1895 on the site of a market garden) displays an array of colorful rugby jerseys of the past 100 odd years, surprisingly similar to those still worn by the strapping lads of international rugby today.

Simply could not bring the boys to Twickenham to visit family without taking a tour of the stadium, totally scored with a private tour seeings as the British schools were still in session and not a lot of mid-week tourism in the rugby fanatic department at that point!

Sat in the Queen's seat to experience the vantage point over the stadium occasionally viewed by HRH, though I gather that it's far more likely you'd spot the two younger royal princes tucked away in the back of the VIP box in their England Rugby supporter jerseys than opting for the royal treatment as official guests with union jack at mast and all. 

Liked the idea of the 'sin bin' chair for naughty tackler's time-out! And the fact that a local falconer comes into the stadium to scare off the pigeon population was pretty cool, too.

Only 21 days of Rugby season per year, with two to three matches per day, the rest of the time the stadium is used for conferences and pop concerts, the Rolling Stones in particular, as Mick Jagger lives just down the road in Richmond. Despite the fact that he's a mere stone's through (couldn't resist that one) from the Stadium, he still insists on the temporary removal of six cast iron, claw foot bath tubs (the oldest remaining fixtures in the building, used to ice and heat mud encrusted, battered players) from the locker room to house a pool table in his makeshift dressing room.

Had a peek into the Rugby Football League President's suite, the super-plush Nike Box and discovered that it has long been the tradition to hang numbered shirts upside down 48 hours before each international game to ease creases.

Doorways into any area a rugby player may have to enter or exit are seven feet three inches tall to accommodate the lofty lads. A fully equipped mini operating theater with dental and x-ray facilities looked like it had earned its keep over the years, the century of its sport having made a mess of many a fine looking face.

According to our volunteer tour guide (a very nice, newly retired rugby-lovin' chap who was only slightly disconcerted to hear that the boys play lacrosse) there's a ghost in one of the private boxes in the older section of the stadium. Appearing at night for no apparent reason, the figure of a lone woman causes the temperature to drop in that part of the deserted stadium. Wonder who she was and why she can't let go of the game?

Rugby is, by most accounts, a gentleman's sport, with many players having studied the law and medicine and the likes alongside muddy mahem on their university teams. Its history and rules of etiquette are intriguing to an outsider such as myself. For fans (and former players such as my brother-in-law and most of his five brothers) its a true religion.

Hundred and Ten on the Field - A Sizzling Season Finale for U11A Rivercats Lacrosse

Roads to glory are always worth the struggle, yet Saturday's blasting heatwave could have easily caused a meltdown on the sizzling turf at Sequoia High School, Redwood City, venue of the first-round playoffs for the NCJLA Under 11 A Lacrosse 'elite eight'.

Yet Petaluma's feisty U11A Rivercats still went to battle armed and determined, despite soaring degrees in helmets, pads, and black jerseys.

After an outstanding fight for a tied 6/6 game against fifth seeded South Marin, the Cats were narrowly defeated in a devastating third round of 4 minute overtime.

Thanks to the truly great, inspirational and ultimately positive coaching of Dave Almy and Mike Lantier, pictured below, the spirited Cats were soon revived with a few bottles of water over their boiling heads. What a season it was! And some awesome talent coming through the ranks for Petaluma Lacrosse.

Team Photographer Heidi Fowers deserves another special mention for her unwavering dedication to snapping so many fabulous live, action photos (and my favorite candid ones, too) at each and every game.

Rivercats Take on Redwood City for Long-Distance Lacrosse Playoffs

Made a pre-Mother's Day mission to cheer on Petaluma Rivercats Under 15 B2 team all the way down in Redwood City Saturday evening as they entered the regional season playoffs in a valiant attempt to thwart opponents from that area.

Although the cats didn't come home triumphant, the boys from Petaluma put up a great fight and almost had the game. Petaluma has some passionate sporting parents, that's for sure. It was a blast in the bleachers with rousing support from so many of our local families.

The way the league works locally, all of the boys from the B1 and B2 Rivercats Under 15s will be dividing and conquering now that this 2009 season has come to an end, as they try out for Junior Varsity Teams at Petaluma High, Casa Grande and Sonoma Academy.

But wait ...... it's not quite over for Sonoma Country Life crew just yet. Middle son (far right - after a thrilling first season and discovering an innate talent in attack) might have aired the protective pads and gloves and helmet for summer storage, but youngest son's Rivercats Under 11 A team are scheduled for the first playoff this Saturday, in, wait for it .... beautiful Redwood City.

PEF Tickets Now on Sale for SF Giants Vs. New York Mets Game

What could be better than a West meets East Coast major league baseball game that raises much-needed funds for cash-strapped Petaluma schools?

Now's the time to order specially priced, $18 reserve tickets for the annual PEF seating section at the May 15, 7.30 Giants Vs. New York Mets game, with a blockbuster guarantee that every $8 spent will go to Petaluma Educational Foundation coffers, funding grants, scholarships and fine art programs for all Petaluma schools.

Directed by Petaluma Junior High Music Director, Preston Bailey, the National Anthem will be performed once again by the PJHS choir, PJHS band and Petaluma Elementary Philharmonic group.

A heartwarming sight to behold - scores of proud young Petalumans marching onto the diamond at AT&T Park and giving their musical all for the crowd whilst captured on the big screen for parent-pleasing close-ups of teen commaradarie.

It's a terrific evening and a big part of the annual PEF fundraising calendar, so don't waste a minute, check out ticket ordering information online at the Petaluma Educational Foundation, today.

 

Famous Five Go to Calgary - Petaluma Rivercats U11 Take on Indoor Elite!

Five fearless young Petaluma Rivercats U11 Lacrosse players have made the grade for the first Northern California BOX lacrosse travel team set to compete on an International level in Calgary, Canada, this summer. 

Petaluma's 10 & 11-year olds, Tommy Buickerood, Max Bechtel, Matt Salazar, Spencer Almy and Kyle Gomez-Fowers have been bitten by the lacrosse bug, big-time. Not only are they storming the fields of the Bay Area and beyond in one of the top regional U11A field lacrosse teams, these intrepid Petaluma Rivercat players have been carpooling (thanks to their dedicated parents, I must add) down to San Jose for regular indoor lacrosse training with the sports top pros.

Indoor Lacrosse is known simply as "Box" in Canada, where it originated and remains the most popular form of the sport, largely, I would imagine, due to climate.

Box Lacrosse is traditionally played on an indoor ice hockey rink once the ice has been removed or covered after the winter season. Two teams of six players each make this an altogether faster, rougher, compact version of the outdoor sport, more along the lines of hockey contact.

Pro lacrosse player with the San Jose Stealth, Shaydon Santos is the man behind the movement here in the South Bay, after bringing real Box lacrosse (Canadian Rules) to California. Shayden grew up in Canada and has a passion to share his favorite game with Bay Area youth.

California's 10 & 11-year-old  players are required to raise the money to support their trip - jerseys, additional equipment, facility time for practice, tournament fees and travel to Calgary. 

The boys will "billet" with host families during the June tournament.  Paired with a host from the Calgary Axemen team, the lads will stay 4 nights, eat their meals and hang with their Canadian pals when not at the tournament facility. 

Some of the kids will stay with a fellow Cali*Lax team mate at their host family's home and other boys may have to brave it alone. A huge part of the experience for our young 1998-born Petaluma boys, some of whom are now in line at the post office for their very first passports.

Cool, lacrosse fundraising merchandise is available on-line. There's no denying that lacrosse is something of an 'accessory' sport, with sticks and heads and gloves a near fanatical phenom with passionate players. All good negotiating tools - a new set of strings for several additional chore responsibilities. Works wonders. Go Cats, go!

Designers Rendering of Saint Vincent De Paul's Sporting Future

Patience is indeed a virtue! For half a century, Saint Vincent De Paul High School in Petaluma has been holding out for a top-flight sports field. Now the hopes and dreams of three generations of sporting students should be finally coming to fruition.

Petaluma-based Landscape Architect Rob Brockman of Alfresco Designs was gracious enough to let me share this sneak peak (with faculty permission of course) of his artistic rendering of just-announced plans for fabulous, new all-weather fields at Saint Vincent De Paul High School.

"The new fields at SVHS have been long awaited," says Rob. In fact, they have been on the school's wish list since its inception in 1960.  "Twenty some years ago,  a local parent offered to grade the site for the field that is there today, one that resembles something more for farm animals than a playing field for the NCS Champion Mustangs.  We now have the opportunity to put the dream of a true multi-use sports field into action through the extreme kindness of an anonymous benefactor with the hopes of implementation by homecoming, if all the cards fall right."

State-of-the-art, all-weather, all-purpose fields will replace a scrappy old, grass football field, an undersized softball field, and an undersized baseball field. "No more homerun balls into neighbors yards," says Rob, of his design for official-sized, high-quality artificial turf fields that will work to "shine up the campus and the school's sports programs." 

The concept includes the removal of a small, dilapidated house that has been surrounded by the school since it’s inception, digging the site down to create amphitheater seating and a striking new, sunken diamond softball field.  "Certainly a diamond in the rough," says Rob. 

"By moving the softball field we will relocate the baseball home plate to the SW corner, currently right field so that the two fields share a foul line.  A unique feature will be the  baseball field fence, with tight space, a 295’ centerfield with our own green monster.  The beauty of these fields is the uniqueness of how they are blended with the existing site conditions.

"We are not destroying parking areas, tearing down class rooms, we are artfully integrating the fields to create interesting and unique playing conditions, while preserving the sports programs at a time when budget cuts are decimating the public schools. St. Vincent De Paul High school is looking to the future."

In order to get this done by the Fall semester of 2009, The Saint Vincent's planning team is banking on an abundance of "hope and faith and support of the community, and of course the City of Petaluma to help us through the permit process," says Rob.  

Oh The Places You'll Go.....

Golden hills above the Bay over at historic Benecia beckoned, with the P'Town Under 14 Azzurri boys vying for a second slam-dunk tournament win at the start of this fast paced 2008 season.

Narrowly missing another tournament total triumph to follow their Kickin' Chicken coup, Azzurri scored big in with a second place trophy win at Benecia's Old Capitol Classic Tournament. Previously unbeaten in any tournament game in their age group this season, the Azzurri's were the sole remaining team representing the city of Petaluma in the dramatic Benecia tournament finals.

Coached by the heavily bearded mountain man, Timo and a clean-shaven Mark Wolf, The Azzurri's climatic 2 to 3 defeat to Santa Rosa United brought an end to this thrilling seven-game undefeated winning streak.

Down one in the first half of this intense tournament final, the Azzurris came back with a penalty kick goal by attacking mid-fielder, Alexi Taylor. Leading scorer, striker Virgilio Ortiz slammed in a second goal to match Santa Rosa United's second score, bringing his two tournament goal total to an outstanding 14. Santa Rosa's game winning third goal came in the final minutes of this fast-paced tournament game. Petaluma Azzurri captains Drew Gonzales and Dominic Reif inspired their team in taking home a second tournament trophy.

Hairy coach Timo had taken his pledge not to shave until his team was defeated, completely to heart. Despite my protests, his silver facial hair was starting to take over the topic of conversation at the dinner table, down at Aqus Cafe, in his office, on the sidelines.....

Needless to say, he's looking about ten light years younger today, sporting an all-new, clean shaven mug shot for la famiglia and friends!