Collier Citizen Sports

Just call Naples Sailing and Yacht Club Fleet Captain Jerry Watkins “The Accidental Sailor.” To say Watkins helmsman career got off to an inauspicious start would be an understatement. Full story »

There are things we wait for all our lives and never know it. Then it happens and we recognize at once who we are and how we’re meant to proceed. Make no mistake, Scott Stewart is a basketball player. Always has been. Always will be. Played at Lely and the University of Florida. Even played 10 years as a pro internationally, in more than 35 countries. Full story »

Working for a newspaper affords a person certain opportunities, perks, if you will. This past Saturday provided one of those opportunities. In my column, last week, that I made a promise to get out more and enjoy our big beautiful Mother Nature. I had no idea my first such venture would involve exploring the open sea in a way I never had. Full story »

Some people ring in the New Year at midnight with fancy-dress parties and copious amounts of alcohol. For the Gulf Coast Runners, though, a 5K run at 7:30 the next morning was just the ticket to start the year off right. Dave Cranor, Sr. would have approved.
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The gifts have all been opened, the kids’ toys are put away, the ball has dropped and the tree is at the end of the driveway awaiting its final escort via the big green truck on Wednesday morning. I have had enough. Full story »

When Saltwater Sports in East Naples received Sea Kayaker Magazine’s Readers Choice Award recently for Best Outfitter and Best Tour Operator, it helped owner Chris Boland bring more recognition to the sport he loves best - kayaking. In business for five years, Boland, who left his job as a registered nurse to start Saltwater Sports, uses his company as a platform to promote the joys and insights associated with paddling Full story »

In early days of Marco Island, there wasn’t much for kids to do. There were few sidewalks on which to bike,and even fewer parks in which to play. Many kids found refuge in fishing. Chris Crossan was one of those fishing kids. Crossan was raised on Marco Island with a handful of founding families shortly after the Deltona brothers brought Marco into its development boom in the early ’70s. Off he went with his fishing pole, to conquer fishing in canals and bays surrounding Marco Island. Full story »

It’s time once again for our look back on 2008. It goes by so fast. Sems like just yesterday we were, well, taking a look back at 2007. I’m noticing a pattern. As we do every year, the sports section likes to take some of the best of the best in photos and put together an extended sports views section. In looking back, I tried to make sure each sport was covered (emphasis on try), and each school was represented; again, the try thing. What I didn’t necessarily put emphasis on was the more successful teams, programs or individuals. I will let you be the judge of that.

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At the Barron Collier Holiday Duals on Dec. 20, Cougars junior Kathy Harcourt only got to wrestle once. She pinned Camden DeJohn, of Cardinal Gibbons, in one minute and forty seconds. A number of people in the crowd were surprised a girl could beat a boy and reacted to the whole thing as a novelty. After three years on the Cougars’ wrestling team, Harcourt brushes off such attitudes - she’s too busy challenging herself to get better.
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The Florida High School Athletic Association this past week announced football district realignments following the reclassification of some schools. I read through the results. Twice. Stood up. Shook my head. Three times. Read it once more and it wasn’t until I read it upside down did it make any sense. Full story »

The second annual Southwest Florida Kicking Challenge was held Dec. 13 for area high school football kickers. The event was run by former University of Michigan and Florida Firecats kicker Brandon Kornblue. Connor Goulding, of Gulf Coast High, won the kicking competition while Port Charlotte High School’s Sam Costa was the winner in the punting competition. Full story »

When Michael Pineda enters the pool, he’s only looking for the wall and all he can think of is first place. He wants to break records like Michael Phelps, and the 13-year-old, an eighth-grader, is starting by besting the times of Palmetto Ridge freshmen, the school he will call home next year. Full story »

Last Friday night, Mitch Woods, Jr. sat in the stands at the Community School gym with his Seahawks teammates watching his younger sister, Michelle, playing ruthless defense against St. John Neumann. A few rows over, Mitch and Michelle’s mother, LaSonya, is sitting with their grandmother and other members of the Woods’ extended family. Full story »

As the only girls’ basketball coach in Gulf Coast’s history, Pierre Eaton’s sideline doctrine hasn’t changed much since his first day back in 1998.
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The Florida High School Athletic Association’s plan to shake up the state’s football system resulted in districts that were too large, and unfair travel schedules, so the organization has scrapped the idea. The prep sports governing body released its tentative football district realignments Monday, keeping the current format of 16 districts in the largest four classes and eight districts in the smallest four. Changes in enrollments have moved several local schools up or down in classes, possibly erasing county rivalries that have stood for the past four years. The realignment will be official in January. Full story »