Triathlon Troops: Sport Born in Marines Looking for a Few Good Athletes

     Anyone who doesn’t believe the sport of triathlon is the prime measure of athletic excellence should “tell it to the Marines.”

     After all, it was a small group of that enclave which reputedly generated the idea about a dozen years ago.

     “Actually, there were a couple different starts of it,” said Dave Ware, president of Mid-America Triathletes.  “One started when several members of the Marines were sitting around and getting drunk, arguing which among runners, bikers and swimmers made the best athletes.”

     So, they decided to do all three events back-to-back on Oahu in the first triathlon back in 1978.  That challenge, which saw 12 of 15 entrants finish, later grew into 1,000 participants completing the grueling 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run known as the Kona Ironman Triathlon.

     In 1979, Sports Illustrated referred to the event as “lunatic,” but a new breed of American athletes hasn’t viewed it as such.

     “The growth of triathlon is phenomenal!”  Ware said.  It’s taking off faster than any modern-day sport.  Some people got tired of just running, and were looking for a new challenge.  Bikers who developed injuries looked for other methods of keeping in shape.

     “A lot of people saw the Ironman on TV and thought it was a neat idea.  Triathlon gives you a goal to work on, and once you do, you’re hooked”

     Although it’s hardly recommended for the everyday athlete to try an Ironman event, participation in shorter triathlons doesn’t require as much training as most people might think.

     Ware’s first attempt was the completion of a standard triathlon of roughly .75 miles of swimming, 35 miles on the bicycle and 6.2 miles of running.  It took him less than six weeks to train for that event.  But if that sound too ominous, a mini-triathlon encompassing distances of a quarter- to half-mile of swimming, 10 to 15 miles on the bike and 3 to 5 miles of running can be easily found.

     “Obviously, if you haven’t ridden a bike since you were five years old or jumped into the pool for the first time, you’ll have trouble,” Ware said.  “But most three- or four-day-a-week athletes could comfortably finish a triathlon after just a few weeks of training.”

    

     The ultimate challenge of competing in three different sports draws some people into triathlons, while the degree of camaraderie attracts others.  Besides meeting people from throughout the Midwest and the country at triathlons themselves, St. Louisans can make countless appearances while they train.

     “A lot of people out of necessity train alone,” Ware said.  “But the triathlon club, YMCA and other groups feature training events where people can get together.  We have a Wednesday night bike ride with people of all different levels of ability, and a regular club meeting the first Monday of every month.”

     It isn’t hard to find an event in which to participate.  A sample of nearby cities that host triathlons are Belleville, Wood River, Alton, Jefferson City, Mexico and Columbia.

     But the most popular triathlon in the Midwest is the Bud Light-Lake St. Louis Triathlon scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday at Lake St. Louis.  Now in its sixth year, the Lake St. Louis event has had to limit participation to 1,000 entries.  It is equally popular with spectators.

     “Triathlon is an exciting sport to experience,” Ware said.  “You constantly see interesting developments in all three individual events.  There used to be a lot of questions as to which are the better athletes.  But now, none of these is thought of as the top because triathlon is considered a separate sport in itself.”

Plowsharing Crafts Helps the Needy with Innovative Approach

By Jeffry Greenberg (West End Word)

     Excessive attention to individual gain often hinders the welfare of the world at large.  But the ‘family of man’ attitude of people like Rich Howard-Willms is certainly paying big dividends for some of our planet’s less fortunate inhabitants.

     Howard-Willms is manager of Plowsharing Crafts, a not-for-profit store in the University City Loop that helps the world’s needy by selling their craft items.  It is part of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) SELFHELP Crafts network.

     The entire program, which began in 1947, utilizes the services of 700 volunteers and a handful of paid employees to operate 110 shops across Canada and the United States.  The program aids some 30,000 families throughout the world.

     The St. Louis store, which opened in Maplewood, moved to 6301-A Delmar Blvd in 1987.  Howard-Willms has been with Plowsharing Crafts from the outset.

     “Members of the church (St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship) decided to start an outreach program, and this was a natural,” Howard-Willms said.  “I, being Canadian but married in America, couldn’t work for money at the time.  So, I ended up doing volunteer work.  Now, I’m the only paid person (small wages) among about 40 volunteers.”

     Plowsharing Crafts derives its name from Micah 4 in the Old Testament of the Bible: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks…”  According to Howard-Willms, the name was chosen because of the Mennonite Church’s historical peaceful stance.

     Instead of strength through military action, the church spreads peace by providing on-going financial assistance to communities in foreign lands.

     “The overall aim of the church is to help people help themselves,” Howard-Willms said.  “We do that by getting crafts from developing countries to our warehouses in Akron, PA and Hamburg, Ontario then sell them through stores in the United States and Canada.

     “We’re a small bucket in a large ocean.  But our purpose is sort of like the old adage, ‘To give a person fish for one day is OK, but to teach him how to fish lasts a lifetime.’  Helping people create their own kind of business and develop things on their own is the way to go.  That can effect real change.”

     Howard-Willms has seen the benefit of the program firsthand.  He was one of 18 store managers who visited India and Bangladesh on a three-week trip last winter.

     His group has encouraged people to work together in cooperatives then set up savings accounts for their profits.  Six years ago, there was not a single copying machine in Saipur, a town of 150,000 people in Bangladesh.  Townspeople had to travel 30 miles to use one.  But now, a group of three women runs a thriving business of six copy machines—the only business run by women among hundreds of stalls in this patriarchal society.

     A highlight of Howard-Willms’ trip was observing the soap-stone work performed by many of the descendants of those who built the Taj Majal.  But Howard-Willms also remembers the tremendous dust created by the work, which forced the operation to close for a full year.

     Deforestation is a long-term problem in that region of northern India.  But some of the problems elsewhere are of a more immediate nature.

     “In Calcutta (Kolkata), there are 15 to 20 million people living in a place where there used to be 1 to 1.5 million,” Howard-Willms said.  “It’s so crowded and dirty.  What we consider a slum here is nothing by comparison.

    “In Bangladesh, five months previously, three-fourths of the country had an incredible flood.  We saw incredibly poor and impoverished conditions, but the people accepted their lifestyles and were happy to meet us.  They gave us flowers and coconut juice and even sang to us.”

     The townspeople are extremely grateful for the work that the SELFHELP Crafts program has provided, and for the sales that are generated through stores and offsite locations such as Sunday bazaars.

     In addition to helping those in the poorest nations of the world, SELFHELP assists native American Indian tribes like the Zuni and Navajo as well as people in Appalachia.

     Among the extremely poor of more developed countries are women, who traditionally receive fewer employment opportunities than me.  Also aided are handicapped people and rural dwellers who wish to remain in their home environments instead of seeking work in big cities.

     “We make connections with people in these areas,” Howard-Willms said.  “The way that the process works is that people make things and get paid right on the spot because they need it then.  We ask them to set a price instead of just giving them an amount of money.  Shipping, tariffs and export taxes are tacked onto the price we charge.  If $1 is the price, 50 cents goes to them and 50 cents to us.”

     Some of the Plowsharing Crafts products and prices are a large iron chess set from Cameroon ($295) and a smaller soap-stone version from Kenya ($95), beautiful wooden toys from Sri Lanka (each under $10), spiritual note cards from El Salvador (pack of six for $3) and jute coasters and placemats from Bangladesh (75 cents to $4.25). No taxes are charged.

     Other goods include hand-carved onyx from Pakistan, lovely sweaters from Uruguay and the Philippines, sets of carved wood zebra, elephant and giraffe bookends from Kenya, and rugs from Thailand and India.

     Howard-Willms admitted that, as a history major at the University of Waterloo (Ontario), he, like most SELFHELP managers, has no formal business training.  But that certainly isn’t evident in the program’s progress.

    SELFHELP has been growing at a phenomenal rate, with total sales more than tripling from $1.5 million to $5 million over the past 10 years.  Lack of financial knowledge has indeed been overshadowed by other qualities.

     “My main interest in school and real life are peace and justice issues,” Howard-Willms said.  “I came to St. Louis with the Peace in Justice Ministry.  Since none of us had any business acumen or background, we went into it blindly, and with large steps of faith.  It’s done better than we ever anticipated.

 

     “It’s a very satisfying feeling because you can see definitely that the work helps directly.  We always ask them if there’s anything else we can do, and they just say, ‘Give us more orders.’  Their lives are so different from ours, but until you see it, you can’t appreciate what we have.”

CYSTIC FIBROSIS: MOTHER KNOWS VALUE OF MENTAL OUTLOOK

     Most participants struggled through at least one of the six events of Saturday’s Cystic Fibrosis Corporate Games at John Burroughs School.  But in view of some of the barriers she has had to overcome in the past two decades, not even the obstacle course could be considered overly challenging for Deluxe Printers’ employee Alice Bacon.

     The west county woman not only has a 20-year-old son with cystic fibrosis, but she also gave birth to a second son who died of that affliction at the age of six months.

     “I was pretty uneducated as far as the disease was concerned, so it wasn’t a shock or devastating situation at first,” Bacon recalled.  “I didn’t even learn that my son Charlie had the disease until I visited with the doctors and had him tested after my first son (Stephen) died.”

     Bacon has learned a great deal since that time.  In addition to becoming familiar with postular drainage (where the chest is continually pounded on to help clear the lungs) and other medical treatments, Bacon is more aware of the role played by exercise and a high protein and high carbohydrate diet.

     But as important as the physical aspects are in attempts to keep the disease in check, Bacon believes that the mental outlook is equally significant.

     “It takes a total positive attitude from the whole family,” Bacon said.  “I’ve seen kids close to my son’s age who have abused themselves and given up.  You either accept it (cystic fibrosis) or don’t accept it.

   “A lot of it is how the child is diagnosed.  You have to look at CF as a normal part of life.  It doesn’t mean that your child will have a full life, but it usually helps if he continues to do therapy and you push him to the ultimate limits.  My attitude and my husband’s (Charles, Sr.) made the difference to where my son is today.”

     The Bacons have every reason to be proud of their son.  He just completed his sophomore year as a business major at Northeast Missouri State University.  In addition to performing all his necessary medical functions, Charlie runs every day and plays tennis in warm weather.

     The basic knowledge of both physical and mental health is probably more important to CF patients than to the general public.  But even if all the considerations are followed slavishly, there are still no guarantees of long life.  Few CF victims live past their 20’s.  That’s just one item in which Bacon believes the general public must become educated.

     “People shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions about CF,” Bacon said.  “We’re not going to hide in the closet.  We’re very willing to let people know about the disease so they can be educated.

     “It’s important that people are educated about all these things so they’re treated like normal human beings and not just people to feel sorry for.  Some certainly can’t do what my son is capable of, but almost all are capable of making something of themselves.”

Bush Gets Up Early for a Worthy Charity

(Here is a brief, charitable article I wrote long ago to go with articles I posted on 3/4/19...and several others I have had published.  More to come, and this is one of my favorite areas in which to write!)

     In some respects, Saturday morning was like any weekday morning for Mike Bush.  The KDSK-TV and KSD-FM "Breakfast Club" sportscaster had to get up very early, and give his brief, comical spiel.  But instead of delivering the "Sports in My Shorts" report from his basement, Bush was allowed to venture into the public eye.

     Bush, serving as emcee and honorary chairman, addressed a throng of some 600 shorts-clad participants in the opening ceremonies of the third annual Cystic Fibrosis Corporate Sports Challenge at John Burroughs School.

     "They asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said, 'Why would I bypass a chance to get up at 7 o'clock? Sure, I'll do it," Bush said in his soothing, baritone voice.  "But seriously, I was involved in a lot of charity work when I was in Kansas City and New Orleans.  Like those, this is a well-organized, worthwhile event, and I like to do things to give back to the community."

     The community itself responded well to this year's fundraiser.  The group of entries increased from 33 corporations last year to 47 this time.  While the $500 team entry fee and other donations totaled some $25,000 last year, this year's goal of $30,000 was nearly achieved.

     "I think the response was just great, but this is a most worthwhile charity," said Lu Ann Pate, Cystic Fibrosis' director of special event fundraisers. "It's a frightening thing for parents of healthy children when they try to understand what these kids go through.  The only way to raise money is to get the message out, and this is a fun way to do it."

     The fun consisted of an eight-person, one-mile relay, and 10-team action in the basketball shoot, obstacle course, rubber raft relay, standing long jump and tug-of-war.

     Besides money raised for participation, generosity was also displayed in the area of refreshments by sponsors National Super Markets and Vess, as well as Eagle Brand Snacks and Alderton Brokerage.

     The St. Louis Business Journal was the third major sponsor of the event which benefits those who are afflicted with America's No. 1 genetic killer of children and young adults.  Youngsters with cystic fibrosis not only suffer through a series of lung and digestive disorders, but rarely live beyond their 20s.

A Prince of a Man

(This is for all of my fellow big-time baseball fans who are missing the sport right now. This is from The Sports Journal of Calgary, Alberta back in August 1985.)



     One of the most colorful announcers in sports history, long-time radio voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bob Prince, died on June 10 of complications following cancer surgery on his tongue.

     Prince was the Bucs' play-by-play announcer for KDKA-Pittsburgh for 28 years before he and his partner, Nelli King, were fired following the 1975 season.  Born July 1, 1916, Prince was let go because of personality conflicts with station management.

     Some of the popular lingo of the Pirates broadcaster was 'kiss it goodbye' after a Buc roundtripper, 'he lit up the lights on Broadway' after a called third strike, and 'We had 'em all the way,' which was said after a huge Pirates lead was nearly squandered in the ninth inning.

     In the early 1970s, Prince devised a whammy for Pirate opponents.  He would dangle a 'green weanie' from the press box as an enemy batter stepped to the plate in a crucial situation.

     Prince attended 15 different colleges in the '30s and '40s and finally earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford and the University of Pittsburgh and Oklahoma.  He also spent one year in Harvard Law School before entering broadcasting in 1941.

     While in school, Prince earned great acclaim as a championship swimmer.  Years later, he went overboard in accepting a dare.  He successfully (he survived) dove into a swimming pool from an open window of one of the higher floors at the Chase Park-Plaza Hotel in St. Louis.

     The eccentric sportscaster was also known to agitate ballplayers.  After the Pirates were finally able to knock out old nemesis Don Drysdale in a home contest with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Prince leaned out from his broadcast booth and shouted, "We got you, you big donkey!  We finally beat you!"  Drysdale countered by grabbing some gravel from the warning track and fired it up at Prince.

     While Prince was always fired up for his Pirates, whether on or off the field, his awards speak for themselves.  He was selected sportscaster of the year 14 consecutive times and is a good bet to be voted into the broadcasters' wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

     

   

Songkran Festival All Wet…just in time for spring mating season!

(This article was published in International Travel News way back in Feb. 1981.)

     Thanks to modern technology, travelers whiz around the globe via jumbo jets with the world seeming to shrink as previously remote corners become quickly and easily assessable. Yet, cultures from hemisphere to hemisphere remain as diverse as ever.

     If you visit Thailand; especially the northern village of Chiang Mai from April 13-15, you will agree that even a rocket ship could do little to narrow the culture gap between that country and ours!

     This is the time of the Songkran Festival.  Southeast Asians know it as the lunar New Year, but visitors recognize Songkran as the ‘water-throwing’ festival. 

     The first day of this event is a public holiday.  Tens of thousands of local residents and Thais from the south country join to literally drench one another.

     Originally, Songkran was a highly religious time of ‘bathing the Buddha.’ Although the festival probably derives from ancient fertility rites, there is another reason water is so important.  Mid-April is the peak of Thailand’s dry season, and all of Buddha’s creatures and creations thirst for the cooling waters that are unleashed.

     The festival starts out slowly, as people march to their temples, or wats, in colorful native costumes.  They sprinkle a little water here and there as they await the grand procession.  Leading the group is a handful of monks clad in bright yellow robes.

     The costumes of parade participants are simply stunning as is the entertainment.  Music consists of young men playing Java pipes, gongs, cymbals and conical, 12-foot-long drums.  Other men take part in the ramwong folk dance, while young women in burgundy costumes perform the sensuous fawn leap.

     Foreigners hardly notice the passing out of silver bowls and squirt guns, but after the chant of “Sawadee Pimai,” meaning “Happy New Year,” all hell breaks loose!

     Most youngsters set out to dump water on members of the opposite sex, for Songkran has long been known to bring a boy and girl together.  In fact, this type of courting activity is encouraged by their parents.  No wonder most Thai weddings occur prior to the June monsoon season!

     I guess it would be trite to say that the Songkran Festival is good clean fun!  But when you go, remember not to take along your good clothes, any important papers, a camera or wristwatch.  Maybe bring a washrag and a bar of soap!

Home Schooling is a Viable Option: Don’t Assume You Can’t Do It

***Here's an article I had published online for pay through the Yahoo Contributor's Network in 2013.  The main reason I am posting it now is because within a couple months, I will be doing a very lengthy article with several people interviewed regarding comparisons of all forms of schooling in West St. Louis County and St. Charles County. 

Jeffry Greenberg, Yahoo! Contributor Network

About five years ago, I went to a Mensa monthly meeting at the Washington University (where the final Obama-McCain presidential debate was recently held) extension in suburban St. Louis. The topic was different methods of schooling.

A panel was set up with one representative apiece from public, private, Montessori, magnate and charter schools. There was no home schooling member. But as one of some 50 Mensans in the crowd, I was happy to tell of my opinions and experiences...especially in regard to that time-worn generalization about a home-schooled child's lack of socialization.

What I did, in a nutshell, was stand up and tell the entire crowd why home schooling my son David was not only the best decision I have ever made in my life, but the most rewarding one.

How did I find out about home schooling? I had interviewed a young, soon-to-be state diving champion who was home schooled for about five years prior to middle school. Once there, she was in the top five in her class academically for three years straight. So, I thought...why not my son David?

I started back in September 1994, when David was four years and four months old. In Missouri, the calendar year for home schooling was July through June. I simply chose to start when regular schools were in session. But after that initial Sept-June 30 year, I did adhere to the July-June schedule.

The regulations for Missouri were to have 1,000 units in a calendar year, 600 of which had to be core units. Non-core units were art, music, physical education, religion and the like. I learned that units were different than hours. Many of the units I taught took far less than an hour. Nearly every calendar year, we did some 1,750 units...about 1,300 of which were core units.

Other home school requirements...in case one was ever challenged...were being able to show proof of regular lesson plans, grading assessments, and work samples.

Home schooling worked for me because I had a three-times-a-week part-time job, plus I covered high school sports and did other freelance writing...when print journalism was still in vogue. However, one can home school no matter what hours he or she has available. Unlike "regular" school, there is absolutely no need to conform to a 9-to-4 schedule.

Actually, the beauty of home schooling is LACK of conforming! I took that to an extreme regarding curriculum. Unlike most teachers, I did not use any pre-packaged one. From the outset, I went to Target, Kmart, Venture and other stores, and bought a variety of pre-school through third grade workbooks, miniature text books and other things to help teach...like a variety of flash cards.

I also went to the annual St. Louis County Book Fair and always got a shopping cart full of textbooks, workbooks, reading books, and other items at greatly reduced prices. These were all donated by the general public, with proceeds going to charity.

How did I do it? By pure logic, starting with the most basic in every subject, then moving on when I knew my son had developed a great understanding and proficiency. Also, I somewhat combined teaching him reading with phonics, spelling, English and writing. In fact, I had him write at least two very lengthy papers every week before he was six. He had to write each misspelled word from those 100 times. When he got older, it was 500 times. After awhile, he was careful NOT to misspell anything.

Through all this, David won two or three Home School Spelling Bees, including a championship against all the private school kids. He was also a high finisher in the Science Fair, had read more than 3,000 books...all well beyond his age level...by the time he was 10. David was also telling time before he was five, writing cursive before the age of six, and doing complicated high school algebra when he was seven.

In social studies, David could take a blank map of the United States, and name every state, name and location of its capital city, plus other major cities, major rivers, and national parks. He also knew the capitals of all 230-plus countries in the world...including their spellings. We also had contests where we would name every president in order from start to finish...and time each other to see who was fastest. These are just some of the things I remember off the top of my head!

There was a lot of work...some in the morning, some in the afternoon, some in the evening and some very late at night when children well older than David were already in bed. But I also made things really fun.

Every year, we went on at least 50 field trips...obviously more in the warm weather months. That included nearly every tourist type and educational type attraction in the entire St. Louis area, including Illinois and St. Charles County in Missouri.

David also adopted a tree, we did great autumn leaf collecting and matting, lots of hiking, learning and playing a variety of sports. I also made sure he had a good deal of socialization. Not only did David play with neighborhood kids, but we also did picnics, roller and ice skating, bowling and a variety of activities with both the North County and West County Christian Home School Groups. I also got him involved in Cub Scouts and a bowling team.

The result of all this? In June 2008, David was one of 33 in his high school class of 429 to graduate Summa Cum Laude. He just completed a perfect 4.0 in his first semester of college...of which he will attend the first two years totally free except for books. David has also worked at the same place some 24-32 hours per week for well over two years, and also has several dozen friends.

It is just David and me living here since late October 2001. We have an incredible bond between us, have never had any real argument, he has never been in any major trouble beyond a couple traffic tickets, and has a great sense of self, including self-esteem, self-reliance and self-control.

Obviously, David is just one example of a home-schooled person, but in the years I home schooled, I learned that the average home-schooled child is in the 93rd percentile if and when they go to a regular school. That is a major result of one-on-one instruction.

Is home schooling worth a try? That is an option you may want to check out in your state. And please, do not automatically use the excuse that you are not smart enough or don't have enough patience. Just like with me, it just may turn out to be a labor of love.