Community notebook: Break with tradition and try some different activities to stay fit

In one sense, Breakaway Social Sports League is a break with tradition.

Flag football and kickball, two of the first sports the league is offering, are not exactly mainstream adult activities.

But the four friends behind the new venture — Brad Ellertson, Joe Larama, Jon Larama and James Schmeling — hope to build something that establishes a tradition of active involvement for sports-hungry adults of Southwest Washington.

In addition to providing sports for area adults to play, the four want to use Breakaway as a vehicle for helping local charities. Ten percent of registration fees will be donated to charities in Southwest Washington, Ellertson said.

“You don’t have to worry about being good enough,” Ellertson said. “We want people to be competitive, have fun, but remember that you’re playing for a purpose.”

Ellertson, Schmeling and the Larama brothers are 2000 graduates of Hudson’s Bay High School. According to Ellertson, the idea for Breakaway grew from the desire of all four to continue participating in sports, which led to discussions about the need for more adult sports opportunities in the Vancouver area.

The league is scheduled to begin play in early July, with basketball, flag football and kickball leagues for adults at several Vancouver venues. The kickball league is coed, with each team needing at least four women. Women are also welcome in the flag football and basketball leagues.

Teams are forming online at www.playbreakaway.com, where individuals or teams can sign up for the three summer sports.

Cost to play is $65 per person.

Ellertson said response to the league has been encouraging. Word about the new league has spread through friends of the league founders, social media, and participating charities, he said.

“We’ve been talking about this for a while,” Ellertson said. “We have so many friends here who still want to be active. We want to give adults more sports opportunities, and encourage a healthy lifestyle in our communities.”

Ellertson said the goal is to have 10-12 teams in each of the three sports this summer.

Flag football games will be played on Sunday mornings at Kiggins Bowl. Basketball on weekday evenings at Discovery Middle School. Kickball games will be played between 4 and 7 p.m. on Saturdays at Bagley Park.

Ellertson said the long-term vision includes adding more sports and games, and offering separate competitive and recreational divisions if the interest is there.

For a first step, they chose flag football, basketball and kickball because those were activities that friends expressed an interest in playing, Ellertson said.

Special Olympians shine at regional

Clark County athletes collected 84 gold medals in swimming and in track and field events, and two team soccer gold medals, during the Special Olympics of Washington Spring Sports Southwest Regional competition. The events were held April 20 and May 7 in the Tacoma area.

Winning swimming gold medals were: Brian Andrade, Nicholas Ball, Kristy Carnine, James Carter, Jerrod Crowson, Mariah Davis, Natasha Dever, Shelby Hilvyak, Sophia Iandoli-Perillo, Zachary Kersavage, Alyssa Kwak, Lauren Milam, Heidi Moss, Stacey Page, Sara Polendey, Jonathon Schauer, Rebekah Skufca, Tara Taylor, George Valentine, Donovan Wark, and Bryanna Zychowics.

Winning gold in track and field (athletes and Unified Partners) were: Matt Baker, Diana Bartusek, Patrick Blue, Bryan Cook, Holly Cook, Michael Cook, Tim Cook, Heather Doenecke, Dennis Dole Jr., Jason Downey, Jeremy Haliski, Emily Hamilton, Josh Holmes, Becky Johnson, Katie Kaiser, Dusty Lang, Santos Lopez, Cory Robak, Deanna Sanders, Katharine Sanders, Lynnadelle Schoeneberg, Angelina Schubothe, Everett Smith, Michelle Smith, Samantha Spencer, Eric Stage, Andrew Stekhuizen, and Ally Warner.

The soccer champions were the Jaguars and the Bulldogs. Playing for the Jaguars were: Jacob Blunt, Craig Francis, Shawn Hassig, Kay Heilbronner, George Hernandez, Kelly Jeans, Matt Jenkins, Michael Suire, Alex Trimble, and Jackie Winters. Playing for the Bulldogs were: Adam Barr, Kevynn Bogart, Nathan Ellis, Russ Jones, Robert Schmitz, Ivan Soltero, Jason Sorenson, Sean Starr.

A complete list of medal winners and ribbon winners from Clark County is in the Community Sports Scoreboard.

On June 3-5, the gold medalists from regionals will be joined by cyclists and power lifters in representing Clark County in statewide competition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Clark County Special Olympics will be organizing summer golf and softball programs, with the registration meeting set for noon on June 11 at Pied Piper Pizza, 12300 N.E. Fourth Plain Road, Suite E. To learn more, contact Rick Cook by e-mail at CCSOWA@live.com.

Super Senior golf champs crowned in Washougal

Tim Liljeholm of Prineville, Ore., won the Oregon Super Senior Championship golf tournament, played on May 24-25 at Orchard Hills Golf and Country Club in Washougal.

Liljeholm finished the 36-hole competition with a 13-over-par score of 153. He beat Jim Ferguson of Portland by four strokes in the tournament for men 65 and older.

Bill Bristol of Vancouver, the defending champion, tied for third place with a 19-over 159 two-day total. Jerry Williams of Vancouver was eighth in the field of 61 at plus-22 162.

In the women’s tournament for players 60 and older, Karen Harness of Portland made par on the final hole to beat Darlene Moen of Vancouver by one stroke. Harness shot a 23-over 165 for the two days to top 11 entrants in the women’s competition.

Pat Emrich of Washougal finished third at 167, two strokes off the lead.

Washougal mountain bike race is Saturday

A six-hour mountain bike race will take place on Saturday at the Washougal MX Park.

The course will be between 6 and 7 miles long and will include an elevation change of about 800 feet per lap.

The race will begin at 10 a.m. with the last lap starting no later than 3:45 p.m. and all riders finishing by 4:30 p.m.

Participants must be members of the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association.

Cost is $55, with discounts for juniors and for multi-rider entries. Registration begins at 7 a.m. and the pre-race meeting is at 9:30 a.m.

For details, visit www.obra.org and check the schedule for mountain bike events.

Vancouver USA Marathon deadlines near

After June 5, the price to participate in the first Vancouver USA Marathon climbs to $110, and registration will only be available during the pre-race expo on June 17-18.

The inaugural Vancouver USA Marathon will be held on Sunday, June 19. The full marathon starts at 7 a.m. and the half marathon starts at 8:30 a.m.

In-person registration is available at Fit Right Northwest, 700 SE 160th Ave., Ste. 111, in Vancouver. To learn more, visit www.VancouverUSAMarathon.com.

Registration gears up for camps

Registration is ongoing for a variety of summer youth sports camps and clinics.

One example is the Girls Basketball Camp of Champions, which takes place June 27-30 at Prairie High School.

Led by Prairie High girls basketball coach Al Aldridge, this camp includes a morning session for girls entering grades 3-6, and an afternoon session for girls entering grades 7-12.

Cost is $110, and registration is through Battle Ground Community Education, 360-885-6584. The camp is open to all girls, not limited to those in the Prairie boundary.

To learn more about camps in the area this summer, check out the online Community Sports Calendar. Camps are listed under the appropriate sport.

The Community Sports Notebook is published each Tuesday. To submit news items, send an e-mail to paul.danzer@columbian.com or call 360-735-4521.