Thursday, February 28, 2019

FCIAC Basketball Championship


The "Z" prior to Ridgefield/Danbury

You always hope for a good game in a championship, especially when you don't have a rooting interest. That's what we got on Thursday night at Wilton High School as Ridgefield came from behind to defeat Danbury 52-49 and win the FCIAC Boys Basketball Championship.

Even though I've been at games with Ludlowe and Warde. It was good to get out and "cover" a game. It was a great time with Rob Adams and Wilton head coach Joel Geriak, who were calling the game for Local Live, along with Scott Ericson of Hearst and Dave Ruden of The Ruden Report. Also, a shout out to Ben Talbot of Bird Eye Sports, who was running the video side for Local Live.

You can read game stories by Scott and Dave and listen to Rob and Joel call the game.

James St. Pierre's basket with 1:18 left gave Ridgefield a 47-46 lead, one they would not relinquish. St. Pierre was named FCIAC tournament MVP.


A few stops later, Ridgefield would be crowned the champion.



Great night. Figured I would put a quick post together. I've been told I should write/blog more by multiple people, so hopefully I do.

Monday, February 25, 2019

CAMP



Fairfield Parks and Recreation Camp has been my summer for the past eight summers, and prior to that as a camper. I have made the decision not to return as a counselor. It was a blast working with awesome kids, amazing co-counselors and working for a great camp/parks and rec staff.

So many people to recognize and I'm sure I'm going to miss some, so I'll apologize in advance.

Thank you to  "camp management," Anthony Calabrese, Michelle D'Onofrio, Michelle Bostley, Matt Narwold, Matt Wendin, Chris Sacco and Laura Struzzi.

Thanks to all the site directors I was fortunate to work for. Mikki Iannacone (two years in a row), the aforementioned Bostley, Jill Eroh, Emily Coombs, Emily Nelson, the previously mentioned Struzzi, and Abby Cerone.

There are so many co-counselors I worked with. Way to many to name to not leave out some. For the most part, the majority of them were great. Sometimes we didn't always agree on a way to do things, but we always compromised and made it work out the best for the campers.

All of the awesome campers that make our jobs as counselors what it is. Cool to have the kids who I know previously as campers. It's also crazy seeing how old some of the campers I had years ago are now. I see a bunch of around the sports at Ludlowe and Warde.

I worked at six sites over the eight years. Riverfield, Fairfield Woods, Stratfield, Mill Hill twice in a row, North Stratfield, back to Riverfield, and finally back to North Stratfield. It was always interesting to see what each site had to offer and what each site lacked. It also kept things fresh year after year by being at different locations. Some sites were set up better than others. A site like Riverfield went under a renovation between the times I was there so it was very different the second time, and I was used to the pre-renovation look as I went there for school and camp.

Great trips that we took. From Lake Compounce and Quazi Amusement Parks, to Nutmeg Bowl, My Three Sons and many, many more. There were also many fun on-site activities like water day, the video game truck, Campardy, and others.

I think I gave my best effort to make my group and sites the best I could, but it always took great teamwork.

Outside of camp, it was always fun to get together with the staff. I think the bonding outside of camp definitely helped us at camp as we got to know each other better and it made working with one another more fun and easier.

There were some great staff bonding at training too. Paintballing (pictured below) and bowling are among the things that come to mind.

Thank you for the memories, camp. I'll continue to support from afar.




No idea why I let them put the snake on me.