Slowik to hold baseball clinic
Tad Slowik has spent a quarter century in professional baseball. He pitched for five years in the Cubs organization but has also been a coach and scout and worked for the Astros the last 19 years.
But working with kids has always been a source of joy for Slowik. He had stints as a football and girls basketball assistant coach at Deerfield.
And in the past year Slowik opened "Dream Big Athletics" to inject some of his passion and knowledge for baseball and softball into younger kids.
"I love coaching and it's kind of a real passion of mine," Slowik said. "Scouting is nice but you're mostly an evaluator and I missed the interaction with the kids.
"As I went up the ladder with the Astros and ran their draft for a couple of years there was really no time to do that. Now I can get back to what I love to do and that's coach kids.
"A lot of people have helped me along the way and showed me the way to do things and that's how I feel about kids. I want to give them every opportunity to succeed."
Slowik is giving kids ages 8 through 14 an opportunity when Dream Big Athletics hosts a Major League Baseball Instructional Clinic on Sunday from 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
One of the guest instructors is Buffalo Grove grad Tim Bogar, who had a nine-year major-league career as an infielder, was a scout/coach this past year with the Tampa Bay Rays and will be the Red Sox first-base coach this season.
The other guest instructor is Jim Hickey, the Rays pitching coach who also held that position with the Astros when they lost to the White Sox in the World Series.
"Those two guys love to teach good players but they weren't the over-the-top superstar types," Slowik said. "They had to make their way by being smarter than everybody."
They'll offer some of their knowledge at Homerun Sports and Fitness in Lake Zurich. The cost is $85 and registration can be done at dreambigathletics.com or by calling Homerun Sports and Fitness at (847) 540-5544.
Gymnastics
Holly Reichard (Fremd) started off her sophomore season at Northern Illinois in style after making the NCAA regionals in the all-around last year.
Reichard was named Mid-American Conference gymnast of the week on Jan. 13 after scoring a career-best 39.125 to win the all-around and lead NIU past Bowling Green.
"To go 39 points out of the gate is huge," said NIU coach Mark Sontag. "That's competing with anyone in the country."
Reichard's score was one of the top 20 totals in the nation. She won the floor exercise (career-best 9.8) and the uneven bars (9.75) and was second on vault (tied career-best 9.85) and balance beam (9.725).
Basketball
Luke Fabrizius (Hersey) has made a smooth transition from three-time Daily Herald All-Area pick to helping Dayton to a 16-2 record.
The freshman has played in all 18 games, leads the team in 3-pointers (23), is second in 3-point percentage (34.8) and is averaging 4.4 points a game.
Track and field
Indoor competition is in full swing and Augustana's Keli Coleman (Carmel) and St. Ambrose's Mandy Streu (Rolling Meadows) are already set up to battle the nation's best.
Coleman won the 55 meters in 7.27 seconds at the University of Chicago Invite to qualify for the NCAA Division III indoor national championships in Evansville, Ind. Coleman also took second in the 200 (26.89).
Streu threw a lifetime-best and St. Ambrose record 41-10 to finish second in the shot put at the Knox College Petagular. Streu qualified for the NAIA Indoor national championships.
Coleman's teammate, Paula Neiweem (Warren), took third in the 20-pound weight throw (48-21/4) at the University of Chicago.
•Hersey graduates Rachel Riske and Chrissy Diers set Concordia University indoor records Jan. 17 in the Private College Meet at Carthage College.
Riske ran her first collegiate 5,000 meters in 21:38.15 and Diers hit 32-43/4 in the weight throw.
•Carthage got second-place finishes in its Private College Meet from Brad Fortney (Antioch) in the shot put (46-4), Julia Hiett (Warren) in the 400 (1:03.6) and Shacuana Gaines (Warren) in the triple jump (34-43/4).
Fortney won the shot put (46-11/2) and Hiett won the 800 (2:32.0) in the Carthage Opener on Jan. 10.
Soccer
Moving from wing midfielder to striker paid huge dividends for sophomore Cody Callender (Lake Zurich) at Carroll University. Callender set single-seaon school records for goals (20) and points (44 with 4 assists) to earn first-team all-conference and all-academic honors.
Callender and former Lake Zurich teammate Kate Tarquino, Alyssa Low and Kelley Moran (Stevenson) and Liana Foreman (Vernon Hills) helped Carroll to a second straight NCAA Division III tournament berth.
Cheerleading
Christina Schweinebraten (Conant) took part with the Illinois State co-ed team for its men's home basketball game against Missouri State on Sunday at Redbird Arena.
You can e-mail information for Sports Notes to mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com or FAX to (847) 427-1173.