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Spring sports have sprung up a bit early

Tim Martinez: High schools

The Columbian
Published: March 15, 2010, 12:00am

So, on Friday, I was driving down NE 137th Avenue, or is it 136th, or 138th, or whatever it is there between NE 18th and 28th streets.

Anyway, up on the marquee outside McKenzie Stadium was an announcement for a boys soccer game between Mountain View and Union on 3/12.

And I thought “3/12? That’s … today!”

Yes, the spring sports season came up on me quickly. Practices for spring sports started on March 1 and most spring sports require 10 days of practices before the first spring game.

The assumption is that today — March 15 — would be the first day of spring games.

But if a team practices six days in the first week of March, that team could be ready to play by March 12. That is what the Mountain View and Union boys soccer teams did.

So while the spring season has officially started in Southwest Washington, the schedule gets rolling in earnest today.

Today’s schedule consists of 29 events in baseball, softball, boys soccer, girls tennis and girls golf.

So next up for The Columbian — after a very busy week with the Class 3A and 2A state basketball tournaments last week — is beginning work on season preview features for spring sports.

Our approach to season previews is to write a feature on a particular athlete or team to watch or a key issue from each of the spring sports, of which there are seven (baseball, softball, boys soccer, boys track and field, girls track and field, girls tennis and girls golf).

Along with features will run a list of other key athletes to watch and perhaps even a brief synopsis on what to expect in the area leagues.

Some fans have voiced a desire for more. They want a more comprehensive season preview with reports on every local team.

While we would love to be able to that for every spring sport, space, time and staffing constraints just do not make that feasible.

But take heart, prep fans.

We have an offer for you.

Earlier this month, we sent out preseason report forms to more than 100 coaches of spring sports at 27 high schools in Southwest Washington.

For every coach who returns a completed preseason report, we will put a capsule on their team on our high school sports blog.

So beginning this week, fans can go to www.columbian.com/preps and look for their favorite sports to see capsules on individual teams that will include key athletes and brief outlook for the upcoming season.

Coaches, if you haven’t seen your preseason prospectus sheet, contact your athletic director. Athletic directors, if you haven’t seen a packet from The Columbian, let me know.

In the meantime, you can look for the first of the spring preview features running in The Columbian, beginning next week and running through spring break.

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Thank you, Carl

I’d like to take this opportunity to send out a bit of appreciation to Carl Click.

Click provided Vancouver fans with live play-by-play coverage of the Union boys and Prairie girls basketball teams at the Class 3A state tournament in Tacoma via his Web site carlclick.com.

And it wasn’t easy, either.

Click was faced with a dilemma when the games on the girls court at the Tacoma on Thursday were running so far behind schedule that the scheduled 3:30 p.m. Prairie girls game would overlap with the scheduled 5 p.m. Union boys game on the adjacent court.

Click stayed with the Prairie girls until it became clear that it was not going to be the Falcons’ day against top-ranked Holy Names. Then he moved over to the boys side of the Tacoma Dome to call the completion of the Union-Rainier Beach game.

It’s been several years since KKAD radio (formerly KVAN) abandoned high school sports in Clark County as part of a business plan to reach a broader audience in the Portland metropolitan area.

In the past couple of years, the only way Clark County fans could listen to state tournament games for local high school football and basketball teams is through carlclick.com.

It’s a great community service that Carl provides for local prep fans, especially after Comcast cable also has a hard time figuring out that Vancouver is actually in the state of Washington and not a suburb of Portland.

Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached by phone at 360-735-4538 or e-mail at tim.martinez@columbian.com

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