Newsletter
Volume 1, Number 2, August 2004

Springfield Lasers

Highlighting the Lasers' 2004 season is an appearance by USA Olympian Martina Navratilova on July 23. Opening day, July 5, the team will introduce three new Lasers: Kristen Schlukebir, currently ranked No. 226 in singles; Daja Bedanova, ranked No. 95 in doubles and No. 215 in singles; and Jalal Chafai, a former All-American player at Drury University and current graduate assistant with the Panthers and Lady Panthers. Returning for a second season is Andrew Kratzmann. His highest world doubles ranking has been 13. Order season and individual-match tickets online at www.springfieldlasers.com or by calling the Cooper Tennis Complex at (417) 837-5800.


Women's Senior Golf Tour
Return to Springfield

Kathy Whitworth and the Women's Senior Golf Tour (WSGT) Classic Golf Tournament will return to Springfield August 2. The site is the Millwood Golf and Racquet Club. Professional Answering Service, Inc. is the tournament's major sponsor.

WIN has been instrumental in bringing this tournament to Springfield and looks forward to supporting the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks.

Last year, eight women pros played in a pro-am tournament with 120 area golfers. Whitworth, the winningest golfer-male or female-in the world will headline this year's card of 10 women pros that includes Shelley Hamlin, a breast cancer survivor, and Missy McGeorge, whose grandparents live in Springfield.

The tournament format is a two-person scramble with women's, men's, and mixed divisions. The pairings draw and an auction to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks and promote women's athletics in the greater Springfield area will be held at 6 p.m., August 2, there will be a 10 a.m. clinic with the pros. The tournament will begin at 12:30 p.m. with a shotgun start. The awards party will immediately follow the tournament's conclusion.

The cost to play is $250 per person in the two-person scramble format. Interested? Register by sending a check to the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, 330 N. Jefferson, Springfield, MO 65806. Include players' names, addresses, and phone numbers.

Missouri Avengers Debut in July

If anyone thinks football is a sport for men only, a group of area women are set to prove that idea wrong. The inaugural season for the Springfield-based Missouri Avengers opens July 13. The Avengers are members of the Women's Professional Football League (WPFL), which has 15 teams located across the country. The league's rules are similar to the NFL's.

In addition to great rookie talent, the team will have several veterans. Two players, Mary Loofburrow and Mindy Mitchell, have played since women's football came to Springfield.

Mary is a middle linebacker. She has great ability to read the offense and get to the play, her football knowledge overcoming her deafness. Mary is an asset to the team off the field too, rarely missing any event at which the team appears.

One of the nicest people off the field, Mindy Mitchell has been a fierce defender. This season she will move to the other side of the ball and become a receiver. In her time away form football, Mindy is the owner and operator of the Noah's Ark Daycares in Bolivar and Buffalo. After being with the kids all day, she still has the energy to make it to practice.

The Missouri Avengers' first game is the home opener on July 31, when they face the Houston Energy, past champions of the WPFL. The Avengers will also play the defending champs, the Northern Ice (Wisc.), on the road in September.

The Avengers are excited about starting a new sports tradition in Springfield.


Saving High School Girl's Golf

In the spring of 2003, Kickapoo High School girl's golf coach Jim Pearson counted the number of girls coming into the Springfield high school golf programs over the next two years. He needed only one hand. Girl's high school golf was in crisis.

Then Rick Grayson stepped in. A parent, Jeff Akers, had brought to him the idea of starting a LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Club. Rick saw that the program might save girl's golf in the Ozarks. He recruited local golfers to serve as volunteer teachers and mentors for the Heart of the Ozarks Junior Golf program, the first LPGA-USGA Girl's Golf Club in the area.

For a fee of $25, the girls would receive 12 hours of lessons, golf clubs if needed, and free play at Oscar Bloom. More than 70 girls signed up for the first year and at summer's end, over 40 were still active. The 2004 enrollment is close to 50, the majority of whom are returnees.

The club's success is due in large part to the dynamic group of volunteers who unselfishly give their time: Grayson, Joyce Mahoney, Billy Wear, Jr., James Patterson, Rich Gleghorn, Jeff Akers, Kevin Kane, Doral Sweet, and Lisa Tinkler.

A second reason is the club concept. Years ago, the LPGA determined that girls did not gravitate to golf because it lacked a social life. Young girls like team sports and sports that work within a group. Golf is too individual, particularly for girls under the age of ten when golf is easiest to learn. In response, the LPGA began the clubs to make golf more social and acceptable to young women. Today, there are more than 80 clubs across the country, and the Ozarks has one of the most successful.

The future of girl's golf in the Ozarks is bright. Of the 50 girls currently enrolled, 80 percent are 12 years or younger and their enthusiasm for the sport is outstanding. In the next few years, high school girl's golf should be at its best level yet. In turn, local universities will benefit from the local talent. If you know a young woman between 7 and 17, who would be interested in learning a sport of a a lifetime, contact Rick Grayson at 417-823-7888.


Focus on ...WIN

In Brief

Laura Scott, WIN member and author, will highlight local female athletes in 417 Magazine's October cover story. Her subjects include Pat Owens, a kayaker, and Gale Stack, quarterback for the Avengers football team. Laura thanks WIN members for recommending athletes for this feature.

Jackie Stiles will be back on the courts again. She signed to play the 2004-05 season with the Townsville (Australia) Fire. Follow Jackie and her team at www.townsvillebasketball.com/fire/home/html.

May 22, the USA Olympic Softball Team played the Midwest All Stars at Meador Park. The All Stars, organized by Holly Hesse, SMSU women's softball coach, were a group of Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma collegiate softball players who had used their collegiate eligibility.

Dick Pogue, Springfield-Greene County Park Board Chairman and Kay Hunter, coach of SMS' 1974 College World Series National Championship softball team, threw out the first pitch. (Kay threw a strike.)


Join WIN of Springfield and support women's athletics in the Ozarks. (Click "Membership" to join online.)


Calendar and Contacts

Springfield Lasers Tennis
July 5-25
www .springfieldlasers.com

Missouri Avengers Women's Football
July 31-October 16
www.missouriavengers.com

Price Cutter Charity Championship Women's Golf Clinic
August 9
www.mosportshalloffame.com


A Word for Our Sponsors:
ACR Nally
Julie's Chewies
Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Springfield Business Journal
Clarion Hotel
Yocum Silver Mine, Inc.
Debra Wixson Agency, Inc.
Springfield Tennis Association
Springfield Lasers
Springfield-Greene County Park Board

Please show your appreciation to our corporate sponsors by using their services.

Women's Intersport Network
1923 N. Weller
Springfield, MO 65803