The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
New spring sports ready at Milan
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 29, 2007
Milan sports fans will have two new Milan High School varsity teams to root for this spring.
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Starting in April, Milan students will take the field for the first time as part of the new girls' golf and boys' tennis teams.
The teams will be coached by Milan's Claire Neff and Jeff Davis, respectively.
"Any time you have the opportunity to offer kids this kind of experience, you should," Milan Athletic Director Chris Gill said of the new programs. "(Principal) Ron (Reed) has always been up front about giving as many opportunities to our students as we can. It's great that we will now have some students participating in sports that normally wouldn't be."
To judge by the numbers of students that have come out for the two new sports, these are opportunities whose time has come. Gill said 20 boys have joined the tennis program.
"We're pretty happy," he said. "We've gotten more response than we expected."
For the girls' golf team, the numbers aren't quite as high, but they are still above Neff's initial estimate. And, perhaps more importantly, Neff said in an interview this week that the girls who have come out have been "amazing" in their interest in the sport and willingness to get better.
"We've had an outstanding response," she said. "They're bummed out if it's raining and they can't practice. If I'm sick, they want to practice anyway ... I've never seen this kind of enthusiasm."
Neff has expressed an interest in coaching a Milan girls' golf team since she began teaching at Milan High School four years ago, after previously coaching the girls' team at Ypsilanti. She also credits Reed for the program's getting under way, calling him a "big supporter" of the push.
In this first season for both teams, wins and losses will be less important than developing a firm foundation for seasons to come, both in terms of numbers and in developing the skills of budding players.
To that end, Gill says both teams will be playing less than a "full schedule."
"This season, in some ways, we're just trying to get some experience and see how things go," he said.
Neff admits that her team won't quite challenge for a state title this season, but that she does have a handful of talented golfers and that even those that aren't as experienced have potential.
And in the long run, that potential will get the fledgling program where it needs to go.
"We're establishing a program of success," she said. "Most of them are beginners, but they all look like athletes. I'm very optimistic."
The girls' golf team's inaugural season will begin April 20 at St. Mary Catholic Central. The boys' tennis season beings April 17 at home against Airport.
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