Neighbor Sports
Basketball
Corsairs tryouts: The Junior Corsairs Basketball Program offers an opportunity for sixth- to eighth-grade boys to compete against various teams from Lake and Cook counties. The final tryout date is 7:15 to 9:15 p.m. Thursday. Practices and home games will be held at Carmel High School.
The teams will play approximately 40 games between November and March. Anyone interested, call Jon Baffico at (847) 388-3402 or e-mail jbaffico@carmelhs.org.
Hooked on Hoops: Hooked on Hoops, a youth basketball club, will hold its fall sessions from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 5, 12 and 19 at Fremont Middle School on Fremont Center Road west of Mundelein. Boys and girls of all ages and school districts are welcome to attend. The emphasis of this camp is skills development. Players will learn the fundamental and advanced skills of ball-handling, passing, dribbling and shooting.
The fee for the Wednesday sessions is $65. Sign-up is on the first day of camp. Players should bring their own basketball. For details, call the hotline at (847) 566-8562.
Skills lessons: All the basics in speed and agility, such as ball handling, shooting, post moves and advanced guard skills, are covered in private lessons with an ex-European professional. For more information or to sign up, call Toron Clark at (847) 791-5033.
Hockey
Icecats victory: The Libertyville Icecats Varsity played Latin and came away with a 5-3 victory.
Latin scored the first 3 goals on some nice plays. In the final 10 seconds of the first period, P.J. Marsek scored the first Icecat goal on a backhand from close range. This sparked the Icecats, to go on to score 5 unanswered goals. J.T. Hayden had a strong night in goal with 23 saves. The defense played a strong game on both sides of the ice, and was led by Dale Moore, Mike Baldino, Brendan Collins, Tyler Wonderlic, Tom Tambourine and Joe Vandermey.
The Icecats outshot Latin 28 to 22. Leading the way was the trio of P.J. Marsek, Justin Schwechter and Ryan Tambourine. Marsek had 2 goals/2 assists, Schwechter had 2 goals/1 assist; and Ryan Tambourine, 1 goal/ 1 assist. Tom Tambourine also chipped in with an assist.
Miscellaneous
Clinics/performances: The Vernon Hills High School Varsity Poms Squad will conduct its Junior Cougar Poms Clinic on Dec. 8 for first- through sixth-grade girls, with the showcase performances taking place later that evening at the boys basketball games.
The Junior Cougars will learn and perform routines choreographed by members of the Vernon Hills High School Poms Squad. First- through third-graders will participate in an 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. clinic and perform during halftime of the sophomore game. Fourth- through sixth-graders will participate in a 1 to 3 p.m. clinic and perform during halftime of the varsity game.
Each Junior Cougar will receive instruction, a T-shirt and a ribbon for a registration fee of $25. Registration is due by Nov. 30. Registration information and forms can be obtained from a pom squad member or the poms page on the athletics pages of the Vernon Hills High School Web site at www.vhhscougars.org.
For details, call Judy Barack at (847) 951-3733 or e-mail barackjm@comcast.net, or call Coach Henley (847) 932-2000, ext. 8084.
Softball
One-day clinic: Fastball USA will hold a one-day softball clinic Nov. 17 for coaches and players at 137 Diversey, Elmhurst. The UIC Flames coaching staff of Tom Grey, Sarah O'Malley and Allison Aguilar, along with UIC Flames players will be on hand. The division I softball program will hold a coaches clinic from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and a players clinic from noon to 3 p.m. The clinic will cover the fundamentals of softball in several skill areas including infield and outfield defensive, plus offensive skills of hitting, bunting and slapping.
Register at (630) 532-5107 or fastballusa@hotmail.com. For more information, go to www.fastballusa.com.
Swimming
Swim meet: The CATS Aquatics team will participate in the "W.T.S.C. Holiday Championship" swim meet Friday to Sunday at the Indiana University Natatorium at IUPUI in Indianapolis. This is a prelims/finals competition with teams from several states.
This venue has hosted USA Swimming Junior Nationals, Masters Nationals and the United States Olympic trials. To date, there have been 90 American records and 11 world records set in the pool.
Cats Aquatics is a U.S.A. Swimming chartered team with both developmental and competitive tracks. The team is under the direction of Jeff Arce, American Swimming Coaches Association Level 3 and Brian Brown, A.S.C.A. Level 4. Practices are held at Libertyville High School and Vernon Hills High School in cooperation with District 128.
The next registration will be in April for the Spring/Summer Long Course season. For more information, go to the team's Web site at www.cats-aquatics.com.