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Shelton-Mason County Journal
By EMILY HANSON ~ ton State University, basket- Club as an outside customer service represen-
emily@rnasoncounty.com ~ ball at Capital High School, tative.
Evergreen State College, "I've been following the Shelton program
Rainier High School, Grays for 35 years," Sandberg said. "I was an assis-
For 32 years of a 35-year coaching career. Harbor Community Collegetant at Capita] for 21 years so I followed the
Del Sandberg, 59, was an assistant coach, and Pacific Lutheran Uni- local programs."
Now that he's been hired by Shelton High versity; golf at Capital High He said he's looking forward to running his
School, Sandberg is taking the reigns of the School and Olympia High own program with his own strategies.
boys' basketball program. School, and fastpitch at Cap- "It's my turn to build my own philosophy
"I've been an assistant coach," Sandberg ital High School. and see if it works," Sandberg said. "We start-
said. "I'm retiring as a teacher and I wanted to Del Sandberg has been a ed practice (for spring basketball) two weeks
be a head coach." Sandberg physical education teacher ago and we have had five games. The kids are
He began his coaching career as the Ameri- in the Olympia School Dis- real coachable. They're listening to me and
can Legion head baseball coach for Mead High trict for 35 years and will of- working hard."
School in 1977. From there, Sandberg has ficially retire at the end of next week. Three
coached junior varsity baseball for Washing- weeks ago, he was hired at Salish Cliffs Golf
See Coach on page C-3
Shelton girl
plays tough
By EMILY HANSON
emily@masoncounty.com
Shelton junior Ivanna
Bell describes herself as
"super girly" but when she's
playing a sport, Bell plays
tough.
For the past two years,
Bell has played on the Shel-
ton girls' rugby team and
this spring she was the only
girl on the Shelton power-
lifting team.
're No. 1!
lournal photo by Kevin Spradlin
Runners in the Goldsborough Creek Junior Jog, a quarter-mile fun run from Seventh Street to the Shelton Post
Office along Railroad Avenue, start off in a sprint wearing grins. All the junior joggers were assigned bib No. 1.
From left to right, that field included Brady Rhoades, 6, of Shelton; Cicily Dodge, 5, of Shelton; Aiden Dodge, 4,
of Shelton; Jace Ferris, 3, of Puyallup; and Cohen Holzgrove, 4, of Shelton. More than 200 runners combined to
participate inthe seven-mile run, the two-mile run and the quarter-mile Junior Jog on June 2 as part of the 68th
annual Forest Festival celebration. See page C-4 for complete coverage of the event.
Bell has
also re-
cently be-
gun spring
practices
with the
SHS foot-
ball team
and plans
to wrestle
Ivanna with the
Bell H i g h -
climbers
next win-
ter.
"I like playing the sports
that normally only boys
play," she said. "It's hard to
explain. I'm super girly, but
when it comes to athletics, I~
am more with the boys."
Bell began playing rugby
as a sophomore and plays
15s and 7s.
"I took (Chris) Nesmith's
law class and he doesn't
stop talking about rugby so
I thought I'd try," Bell said.
"I like 7s a lot more because
there's no specific positions
and it's easier for everyone
to have a big play in the
game."
Though rugby can be
a physical sport, Bell said
she's not afraid.
"You just have to be fear-
less," she said. 'Tou can't be
afraid of going into contact."
Bell said she hasn't offi-
cially tried out for the SHS
football team yet, but she
has been practicing with
the team and learning the
game.
"I don't know much about
football so I'm still learning
but it's going well," she said.
By EMILY HANSON
emily ~masoncouniy,com
When the Salish Cliffs Golf Club course was
being designed, Gone Bates joked that he could
have carved the course out of the Kamilche Val-
ley with a spoon.
"(Bates) used the valley to design the course
and let it flow," Salish Cliffs PGA Head Golf Pro-
fessional David Kass said. "He used the lay of
the land and found the spots where he wanted to
route the holes."
The par-72 course runs over 320 acres with a
600-feet elevation change throughout.
"That's why we require carts on the course,"
Kass said. "Because it's too much walking up
and down hills and the distance between holes
is too great."
He said the average golf course is on between
100 and 120 acres of land.
One feature of the course that Kass said golf-
ers have enjoyed is the T-1 bentgrass used as the
playing surface.
"It's a really nice surface to play on," Kass
said. "We also have pure ryegrass and the tall
grass is fescue."
All three types of grass are native to Wash-
ington state, Kass said. This helps make the
course more natural for the area it's in.
Having a natural and environmentally safe
course was always in the plan for Salish Cliffs,
Kass said. Thanks to this planning, the course
received the first Salmon Safe Certification for a
golf course in the world last month.
"We use reclaimed water from the casino that
we treat before it gets to the course," he said.
"We collect runoff so any water we've used on
the course doesn't affect the wetlands and the
waterways."
Kass said the Squaxin Island Tribe is known
as the people of the water so the waterways
around and through the tribal lands are very
important as is the salmon.
"We're even tighter than the (Environmen-
Salish Cliffs Golf Club maintenance
17 as seen from the tee.
Journa photo by Emi,y Hanson
workers mow the putting green of hole
tal Protection Agency) asks us to be," Kass said. first three to five years, something new is always
"We're trying to stay ahead of the curve to make added whether it be better drainage, more sig-
the water as pure as possible so the salmon can nage or whatnot."
survive." In less than one year of the course's opening,
Since the course opened on Sept. 16, 2011, it has received three rankings Kass mentioned.
Kass said its had pretty steady golfing traffic. GolfWeek ranked Salish Cliffs as eighth among
"We are the only tribally owned course with its best courses. The top seven courses opened
the casino and course on the same land," Kass in 2010, so Salish Cliffs was the best course that
said. "You can come here for one-stop shopping, opened in 2011. The course was also ranked as
We're truly a destination resort." fourth best in Washington state for places you
Along with Kass as head golf professional., can golf, or public golf courses. Finally, it has
Chris Koch is the first PGA assistant profes- been ranked llth in the nation among casino
sional and Jacob Lippold is the second PGA as- golf courses.
sistant professional. "Some rankings we simply weren't open long
"We do lessons, we teach and started a trib- enough when the rankings were done," Kass
al youth golf program," Kass said. '`we'll have said.
an adult tribal golf program soon. The tribe's Finally, Kass named his personal favorite
embraced the sport and it's getting expanded, spots on the course.
That's what it's all about: growing the sport, "On hole 17, you can see Mt. Rainier," he
teaching it and providing a course." said. "I like standing up on the sixth tee because
Kass said the course is so unique that it you can see down into the valley. I also like the
caught his eye from 4.000 miles away. Prior to double green of holes nine and 18. There's a nice
working at Salish Cliffs, Kass was a head golf peaceful feeling out there. You get away from
professional in Florida. the world and can't see other teams."
"It's a :challenging course," Kass said. '`well EditoFs note: This is the first of six articles
always add little tweaks to it also. During the touring each of the golf courses in Mason County.
Shelton-Mason County Journal
"At first, the boys were like:
'Oh, my GOd, there's a girl
out here,' but they're being
really nice."
Bell said she wants to try
out to be either a receiver or
a cornerback.
"I have no idea (if I'll play
varsity)," she said. "There
are a lot of great players
who've been out there for a
while so I'm just playing for
the experience. Me being a
girl, if I just made the team
it'd be fine."
When Bell's not playing
sports, she is busy being in-
volved with her school and
her community. She has
been voted by her peers as
Associated Student Body
president for next year,
she's a member of the Key
Club, she takes all honors
courses and is a member
of Honors Society, she tu-
tors geometry students, is
a camp counselor at three
camps per year, is a member
of Climber Crew and said
she does a lot of community
service.
"This summer, I'm going
to Florida with the Renais-
sance Club for a leadership
conference," Bell said. "Re-
naissance Club's main focus
is to recognize students who
aren't usually recognized."
As far as free time, Bell
laughed at the concept.
"I have free time from
about 4:30-6:30 a.m.," she
said. "I like being busy. I
like being involved in ev-
erything. It becomes over-
whelming but I like being a
part of as much as I can be."
When she ,.gets over-
whelmed, Bell said she just
.... 'See Athlete Or1, page C-3
- Thursday, June 14, 2012 - Page C-1