St. Charles North players bring lacrosse to Mooseheart

St. Charles North sophomore Nora Leonard got her introduction to Mooseheart as a "Santa's helper" a couple of years ago during the institution's holiday events. She's since evolved into a "lacrosse helper" - mainly because there wasn't one.

While learning about Mooseheart Child City & School, Leonard discovered its students did not participate in lacrosse, a sport that just happens to be near to her heart.

Friend and fellow St. Charles North student Charlotte O'Sullivan, a junior, helped her change that.

"When the girls said they would like to coach lacrosse, I sent an email to the recreation director and he said they would love to add lacrosse," said Mary Leonard, Nora's mother.

Bryan Miller, the recreation and camping coordinator at Mooseheart, suggested the girls start with a coed group, using an old gymnasium on the property on a weekly basis.

The girls took their skills from previously coaching River City recreational lacrosse and turned it into a volunteer coaching stint at Mooseheart for fourth- and fifth-grade boys and girls who wanted to learn the game. They coach the Mooseheart kids in addition to playing the sport at St. Charles North.

After a few months, they realized they had to come up with new equipment - mainly lacrosse sticks.

Leonard wrote to STX, her favorite lacrosse gear manufacturer, to inquire about donating sticks. The company obliged her earlier this month, sending 20 boys sticks, 20 girls sticks, 20 sets of goggles and 24 lacrosse balls.

"The kids really seem to love it, so it is heartwarming to see their dedication and enthusiasm for lacrosse," Leonard said.

O'Sullivan agrees, making it worth it to go directly to Mooseheart from the St. Charles North practices.

"It is really cool because the kids bring their friends, and the interest just really grows," O'Sullivan said. "It would be fun to eventually play other schools, but even though it is a growing sport, not many elementary schools have it."

When the weather finally becomes more conducive to outdoor practices, the girls will get the Mooseheart kids outside to learn the game in wide open spaces.

Favorite, nonfavorite

My favorite parts of walking along Third Street in Geneva include the "Rain Man" statue near the train station, the outdoor fire pit near the Geneva History Museum, and the various outdoor eating areas at the restaurants.

My least favorite is all of the cigarette butts on the sidewalks and street gutters outside of Even Flow. Banning cigarette smoking inside public places was a great thing for those of us who don't smoke, but it sure has left something to be desired on some public sidewalks.

Favorite, nonfavorite II

My favorite part of driving around Tri-Cities neighborhoods is the landscaping of beautiful homes as well as attractive berms and trees that some schools, parks, commercial or retail locations put in as buffers.

My least favorite part is that these berm areas sometimes collect empty alcohol bottles and other trash, reminding us that our local police still have a big task on their hands with those who are crazy enough to drink and drive - and throw their bottles and cans out of their cars.

Best bargains

They say the best place to find bargains is at a garage sale. Who says that? Not really sure, but it's probably promoters of those prolific sales, meaning it is the general belief of the thousands of area residents who hunt down bargains at these neighborhood events.

You can put the Geneva chamber's citywide garage sale April 24-25 on your calendar. The chamber website will have the location of those folks who will have a sale that weekend, and maps will be available throughout town. Happy bargain hunting!

No chain gang

It may sound silly, but I have been downright giddy over getting a new garage door opener. It is the first time I have had an old one replaced, as the unit lasted 17 years. The old one was making so much noise, it seemed that a chained Spartacus and his fellow slaves were pulling open the door each time it engaged.

Door openers driven by belts rather than chains are so quiet; it is amazing how this technology has advanced during the time we remained in the chain gang age.

Good speller challenge

Spelling was generally one of my best subjects in grade school, and it carried over for much of my journalism career. I've even held my own in a few fundraising spelling bees.

But lately it seems my computer changes the spelling of words automatically, especially when composing emails, as if to say it knows better as a high-powered spell-checker. I'm not sure what started this, but now I have to really watch carefully to make sure a word I know to be spelled correctly doesn't suddenly become something quite different.

The other day, I wrote a story about a company called Openbay, and had to exchange a few emails with that name in it. No matter what, the computer was going to go with "Openly." It simply did not like Openbay. So it came down to a battle of stamina. Who was going to get their way? I forced the spelling of Openbay about 10 times before the computer gave in.

Or, you know what? Could be that I simply don't know how to override a hyperactive spell-checker?

dheun@sbcglobal.net