Full Court Press

The finer points of Basketball have always been a mystery to me. Pick & Roll? Sounds like a lunch special, and not a very good one. In spite of this, I have noticed one aspect of the game this season- the incredible effectiveness of the full court press. Earlier in the season, I noted how the varsity boys almost fell victim to Scranton's use of the tactic, Thursday night saw both teams use it to turn the freshman game.
In the first quarter, Hazleton seemed to be able to score at will, penetrating the Royal defense consistently for easy lay-ups. HR employed the press, which seemed to disrupt the flow for the Cougars, and turned the momentum of the game in favor of the Royals. HR took over the lead and carried it through most of the game, even after an injury took Christian Choman out for the night. Your Royals lead fluctuated between 5 and 7 points for most of the second half, and as time wound down, confidence was building among the faithful.
Once again. the full court press turned the game. Hazleton pressed in the final minutes, battling back to tie, then eventually take a slim lead. Time ticked away, the Royals had to resort to fouling the Cougars to try to win posession, but in the end Hazleton emerged with a 4 point victory.
Give credit to Hazleton- from what I can recall (from my playing days), the full court press takes a lot of effort to run. To say that they had a short bench is an understatement- I think there were 2 subs. Late in this game, they had to be fatigued, yet they summoned the energy to take control when they needed to.
Congratulations to the Freshmen Royals as well- After losing to this Hazleton team earlier in the year, they knew that they had to play well to stay in this game. A break or two goes HR's way and this game could have been very different.

Enjoy the gallery here. Don't forget that pictures are available for purchase. (Sorry for the shameless plug. There's a recession on, remember?)

Ski Club

Ski Club, to me, is one of the best extra-curricular activities at any school. Here in the FF target market, we live close to several adequate (small) ski areas, yet many of us may never wander over there without dangling the bargain of ski club in front us. In a former life, one of our staff photographers was involved in the ski business, working his way through college turning screws at a rental counter then later managing a store. What became clear from those days is that skiing has some PR problems. There is a pretty steep learning curve, it's fairly expensive, the shoes hurt, and you have to be outdoors in some marginal weather. The ski industry, however, does very little to bring new skiers to the sport. Ski club does a lot to change all that. There is a lesson included in the package, there is no cheaper way to get started, the really really cold weather night was postponed- and if you snowboard, the shoes feel better. Now that the bus stops next to the lodge for drop-off & pickup, there is no reason for anyone not to be part of ski club.

Picture day did not work out as well as I might have hoped, I'll blame the holiday weekend for causing people to straggle in a little later than usual. As it worked out, Jeff & PJ tolerated me for a few runs, so I got a few shots of them in the first gallery. Our staff will be on hand again next week- hopefully we can get a few more faces in front of the camera then. The light for pictures is best early (before 5:30 or so) and on the main hill (not the shaded North Face)- so find us early & ham it up!

PJ asked if I was going to get any "sick pictures" of ski club- You be the judge-

Ski Club Gallery 1

Mr Fink, It's Coughlin!

The title for this post is a quote from Natalie Adams, a favorite target of FF in the the HR girls soccer 2008 galleries. Before one of the games I was able to attend, Natalie was pulling on some gear that looked like the kind of armor knights would wear when they joust. It turns out they were field hockey shinguards, which are much much, more substantial than traditional soccer gear. When I asked her why, I expected to hear that she packed the wrong ones, or forgot hers these were all that she could find. If you know Natalie, you know that nothing is out of the realm of possibility in a case like this. Instead, I got "Mr. Fink, It's Coughlin!" Clearly the rivalry between the teams had become physical.
This was clear tonight as well. After watching the boys match, I expected a bit less physical play with the girls. Thankfully, I am rarely so wrong. This jewelery-free match was filled with collisions, sounds of cleats on bone, hard tackles and takedowns. Play like a girl? These girls played like roller derby queens (remember the Jim Croce song?) The result was a thoroughly entertaining, hard-fought match, which really sets the stage for the coming season.

All together, there were 3 matches tonight- links to the galleries are below. Our staff was trying some new techniques for indoor shooting, the early results seem to be fewer, but better shots. Feel free to weigh in with your opinions-

HR boys vs Dallas

HR Girls vs Crestwood

HR Girls vs Coughlin

4 in 1

Sometimes, things are not what they seem. Sure, I usually try to maneuver myself into a great seat for the games, just so I can catch the action (wink wink). Sometimes though, that can backfire- even the best seat can sometimes be obscured.

Referee eclipses aside, Saturday was a productive day for our staff. Through the wonders of highschoolsports.net, we saw a Saturday filled with 4 home basketball games, and therefore the chance to post 4 galleries without moving any further than the length of a basketball court. Pulled pork at the concession stand meant that meals could be in-house as well, so our staff set up camp for the long day.

The teams kept things interesting, earning a 4-0 sweep of the visitors for the day. Of particular note, Ryan Nemetz returned to the court as a referee for several games; The boys won easily enough that their gallery is not 90% Pete Alexis; the Red Sea was a no-show; Meyers brought one of the most vocal fans in recent memory; Laura Casey proved quite deadly from the 3 point arc (4 of 5 by my count, and I would have given her the one that the officials said was too close); and of course, I was able to get up close and personal with the referee in the picture.

Enjoy the new galleries on the FotoFink site- These links will take you right to the one you may want to see, or feel free to peruse the whole site if you wish. Help us out by leaving some comments to ID the players I could not.

HR vs Berwick, Boys Varsity

HR vs Meyers, Freshman Girls

HR vs Meyers, JV Girls

HR vs Meyers, Varsity Girls

Main Site

In Memoriam

By now, anyone affected has heard of the death of Ian Pope on Tuesday, December 23, 2008. Ian died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident on an icy road; two of his friends who were in the car survived the crash. Losing Ian has been a tremendous blow to all of us who knew him- coaches, teachers, classmates, friends, teammates, and family are struggling to come to grips with this horrible news.

Ian was a special "target" here on Fotofink for several reasons. I have the pleasure of meeting a lot of parents and players with this project, and I have to admit that the Popes have been among my favorites. Watching Ian play this year was a treat- it was just last year that he was one of the young guys, cheerfully succumbing to the hazing ritual of the chain-link fence wedgie. This year, he grew into a clear team leader, stepping up not only his play but his role with the team. Head balls usually make for good pictures, and Ian became dominant in the air this past season. I joked with his Mom at one point during the year that almost all of my pictures of Ian were of him winning head balls- the kind of plays that take as much heart as skill to make. The best example of his heart came near the end of the season. As Holy Redeemer battled for a district playoff spot, games became more and more important. Ian hurt his knee in the win over Crestwood to push the team to Districts; the following day he could barely walk as he made his way to his classes. Ian was the sort of player who gave all, and in spite of the injury he played in the district game a few days later. This was no small feat; click here to revisit my thoughts at that time. Weeks later, at a dome game, Ian was still not healed fully. I remarked to his Mom how he was visibly limping when the ball was far away, but as the play got closer, there was no sign of the injury- as if he could flick a switch to find a way to play when he needed to. He was a player... a leader... a captain.

While his play on the field was how I knew him best, my family also knew Ian as a friend and a student. It is no surprise that a player this respected on the field was also a terrific person off the field as well. Ian had a smile to light up a room, and a cheerful attitude that brought it out often. Everyone who knew Ian was better for it.

So what now? How do we adjust to life without Ian Pope? To some extent, we can't. There is a hole in our hearts that perhaps will never heal. A family will never be the same, school will feel emptier, and the soccer community will never know what excitement could have been ahead for a rising star. As much as we all feel worse with Ian's passing, I'll suggest that this is a time to count the blessings we have. We are all lucky to have known Ian to whatever extent we did. Our world and each of our lives are a little richer for the time he was here. We are in the middle of the holiday season, hopefully spending time with our own families. Appreciate your loved ones every day, for as we have seen, life is precious and can change in an instant.


You may already know that I have set up a gallery on the photo site of all of Ian's pictures from the last 2 seasons. Click here to access the gallery. In addition, I have set up this slide show that I hope can be a remembrance of a fine young man. Feel free to download, save, share any of this material. I hope it helps us to keep Ian in our hearts.

Boys Bball vs Scranton

Lots of things to think about after last night's game vs Scranton. The Royals come away with a victory that was truly hard-fought- Scranton's full court press was nearly our undoing. Pete Alexis had 3,000 points. Steve Ruch draws two offensive fouls. Zach Redding outleaps guys twice his size. The JV game comes down to the last shot. We all missed the fundraiser at Senunas' to see the game.

Why then, is there a picture of our fans at the top of this entry? Simple- They were chanting "FotoFink... FotoFink.... ! Perhaps I am as much a glutton for attention as they are.

So what was once the Argent Nation (forgive my Hoban background), then the Royal Court (I never liked that one- not intimidating at all) is now the Red Sea. T-shirts, after eventual approval from the censors, will be in soon. In the meantime, perhaps someone can explain the green Pat Farrell shirts?

As the season wears on, the fans should be able to work out the kinks. Red means red. We really should have a mascot, instead we have one guy dressed as a chicken (yes, a chicken. Browse through the gallery to see), Jordan looks like that guy from the margarine commercials 100 years ago(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2Ia0z-WnM), and Vince looks like he was in that Tom Petty "Alice in Wonderland" video (he had a cool top hat on earlier. Here's a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7gWzWqJu1k) Here's a thought- It's a long winter. Pick a theme. Stick with it. Whatever you decide, FotoFink is with you.

Here's the link to the gallery with all the game shots- Enjoy!

http://fotofink.smugmug.com/gallery/6753788_xH6Wi/1/431343448_YveM4

Posters

With fall sports pretty much wrapping up, and the Holiday season upon us, perhaps some of you are wondering- "What happened to those cool (very cool) posters you used to make up? Please Mr. Fotofink- tell us we can still get them!" Now- If you actually said that, I feel bad for you. But I need a lead-in to my next speech here, so I'll use that- kind of like a website that lists FAQ's- that are never asked.

Anyway- Posters. Yes, you can still get them. Believe it or not, they actually take a long time to make up. Granted, if I actually sat down someday to improve my Photoshop skills, it might not be such an effort. Considering how terribly boring that sounds, I can assure you it is a long way off. So what's the deal with the posters then?

I will be glad to make them up, really. I am going to do it by request only, however. If you want one, give me some ideas. Just your player? Mostly your player? The whole team? How big? Unless you want a Wallhog, posters can go up to 24x36. Your blacklight posters from Spencer Gifts were that size. Once we get some ideas, I'll make something up, and you are free to order away. As always, you can reach me at sfinkernagel@hotmail.com. Prices for posters are slightly different than regular prints (yes, higher) and are listed below:

8x12- $20

12X18- $30

16X24- $40

20X30- $55

24X36- $65

The poster at the top of this post was one I did for the Hoban boys soccer team in 2006. I have it in my house in the 24x36 size, it looks awesome. There are more around the site- you should be able to sniff around and find them. One last note, if you do find one already on the site, you may still be able to get it at the old prices- I am far too lazy to go back and increase them all just to be consistent.