Glenbard South's Sims acting like a true captain

It's fashionable to take potshots at social ills or individuals from a keyboard or keypad.

Instead, Glenbard South senior Allie Sims got off her keister and took action.

A libero on the girls volleyball team and infielder on the Raiders softball team, Sims is part of Glenbard South's Captain's Council, a group she estimated at around 30 mostly juniors and seniors who are captains in their respective sports.

Glenbard South athletic director Tim Carlson, who started the group in February 2015, said these student leaders are "tasked" with finding ways to improve their programs, increase leadership and "make their programs part of the larger community."

Sims took that last part to heart.

"I was reading about Flint (Michigan) and I realized that they don't have the option to even cook or bathe with clean water," she said.

Having done research about lead contamination in the water there, before winter break she approached Carlson and assistant athletic director Julie Fonda - also Raiders softball coach - with an idea for a fundraiser to purchase clean drinking water for Flint residents.

After break she brought a fleshed-out proposal to the Captain's Council, and the culmination will be seen Friday at Glenbard South's "Pack the Place" night. The Raiders wrestling, girls gymnastics and boys and girls basketball teams all host competitions Jan. 20.

"Really, we're just trying to reach out to as many people in our community as we can," Sims said. "In terms of how much money we're going to raise, I'm really looking forward to a community effort instead of just a high school effort."

With proceeds targeted to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint - and deserving Glenbard South-area families, Carlson said - Sims and the Captain's Council beat a path to businesses for gift cards and raffle items. Sims even hit up her own grandmother for baking supplies and items such as a panini maker and a crockpot.

A split the pot, kids' games and, fittingly, water jugs to deposit loose change also is part of the action.

Sims, who hopes to double major in political science and Spanish at a Big Ten university, obviously keeps tabs on current events and talks about them with family and friends, she said.

"I have a 3-year-old sister, so I want to make sure she'll be taken care of," she said.

Even with necessities that no longer appear basic.

"I think a reason people should care about this issue is because water is a basic human right, and you should take action because you care and are a good human being," Sims said.

Another turnaround required

St. Francis seeks a new football coach for the second time in eight months.

On Jan. 9 Joe Lepsche resigned his positions, effective immediately, as varsity football coach as well as in the Wheaton school's physical education and admissions departments. By Jan. 10 the coaching job was posted on St. Francis' athletic website.

"Ultimately, it was just not the place for me," Lepsche said last week.

An 11-year coach in his first head job, Lepsche relocated to St. Charles with a new baby and his wife, Megan, from Minneapolis, where he'd been an offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Division III power St. Thomas. Megan is a St. Charles East graduate.

In May 2016 Spartans former coach Mike Fitzgerald announced he'd accepted a teaching position at Naperville North, where he's also the football team's offensive coordinator. Scrambling, a month later St. Francis hired Lepsche.

"The take-home message for me is (Lepsche) coming in and basically bailing us out," St. Francis athletic director Dan Hardwick said last week. "I thought he did a fantastic job."

Lepsche, who led St. Francis to a 1-8 record, was mulling over college coaching opportunities.

"I wish them nothing but the best," he said of St. Francis, specifically noting his appreciation for Hardwick.

Hardwick looks to hire a new coach by mid-February. Last week the athletic director said he'd received "quite a few" resumes.

"I think I had more applications now than in the entire (previous) process, and it's been two days," Hardwick said.

Football diplomacy

For the first time since Nov. 5 when East St. Louis beat Glenbard North in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs, Panthers junior Joe Vazquez played in a football game, Sunday in Arlington, Texas.

The 6-foot-3, 295-pound offensive guard was among 50 players on the United States Under-17 National Team that routed Japan 44-7 in the eighth International Bowl at AT & T Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys.

"It was a great time," said Vazquez, who started at right guard for the home team, same as he did for the Panthers.

Selected for Team USA following a two-part process that began last summer in a USA Football camp at Andrew High School, Vazquez rejoined the group Jan. 12 for a crash course in play design. Doubles sessions interspersed by meetings had the boys occupied from dawn to dark.

An extensive playbook was unnecessary. In the five series Vazquez said he played the U.S. team scored 4 touchdowns and kicked a field goal.

"Every one of them was fast," he said of the Japanese all-stars. "Not a lot of them were big."

Both teams stayed in the same Fort Worth hotel, and though the days were tightly scheduled Vazquez said the players enjoyed each other's company when they could.

"It was kind of cool off the field, being able to interact with them," he said.

Vazquez said he appreciated the support of family, friends and the Carol Stream Youth Football Association Panthers to get him to this point, which includes interest by Northwestern, Kansas State, Miami of Ohio and South Dakota State.

"It was an awesome deal to represent your country and meet people from every state," he said. "To be able to interact with them and be able to play with the kids here but be able to play another country, it was pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It was awesome."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

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