1. sports
2. golf

PGA preparing to live without dominant Tiger
while back I wrote about how the PGA
truly needed Tiger Woods. From the
endorsements, to the attendance, to the
national coverage, to the television contracts and
ratings, most know the PGA must prepare for life
without Tiger.
PGA commissioner Tim Finchem has made
claim after claim the tour will continue to prosper
even though it’s No. 1 hero/villain continues to
struggle and no longer wears the mantle of the
world’s best golfer.
Earlier this year, Woods shot a career worst
82 in the The Waste Management Phoenix Open.
His run at Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors looks to be
more a pipedream than the reality it once
appeared to be. It will still remain a side story if he
should win another major or two.
Yes, some of his peers believe he could easily
return to the No. 1 status if he remains healthy.
However, the consensus feels he will never return
to the form when he dominated in the early 2000s.
I still view him as one of the greatest to ever
play golf.
Fans either rooted for him or against him. You
A
loved it when he dominated; you loved it when the
underdog beat him. That’s what being the best
does in the world of sports.
This year Jordan
Speith has risen to No.
1 as Roy McElroy,
Jimmy Walker, Dustin
Johnson,
Bubba Watson and
a list of others many
haven’t heard of grace
the top 10 in earnings.
Speith, who is only
21 and won the
Masters in April, could
be the next PGA
superstar, but he lacks
the hype and buildup
Woods had during his
initial climb. Maybe it’s
because he is not
flashy. The bottom line
is he does have a long
way to go to be considered the best player. Even then,
I’m not sure the PGA can build
their endorsements around him
and any of the other contenders to
Tiger’s throne.
To be realistic, all sports go
through this transformation.
You always hear comments like
“there will never be another…”
Football had Johnny Unitas, Jim
Brown, Gale Sayers, Terry
Bradshaw, Joe Montana and Brett
Favre. The NBA had Bill Russell,
Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Magic
Johnson and Michael Jordan. Major League
Baseball has a list so long – going back to Ty
Cobb, Babe Ruth, Pie Traynor, Honus Wagner,
Walter Jenkins and
Cy Young -- that this
paper would have to
double its pages to
list half of them.
Tennis also has
endured the great
ones – Rod Laver,
Arthur Ashe, Jimmy
Connors and John
McEnroe -- slowing
down only to survive
decade after decade.
The major concern
I have about the
game of golf is it is
not watched as much
as the other sports.
The one great aspect
about it is that the
heroes can still play
with the best, no matter how old they are.
Watching Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Arnold
Palmer still making appearances at some of the
tournaments rekindle the memories of old and get
us all something to root for.
For Tiger Woods though it may be different.
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
JUNE 2015
Hockey Report
page 15
Steve Fisch, Publisher
11730 W. 135th St., #18, OP, KS 66221
Phone/Fax: (913) 764-2050
Email: [email protected]
www.kcsportspaper.com
Facebook:
Kansas City Sports & Fitness Magazine
Twitter: KCSportsMag
Contributing Photographer/Cover Photo
Scott Thomas
KC Baseball Report
page 11
Youth Soccer
Report
Contributing Writers
Alan Eskew (Editor), James Peuster, Marc Bowman,
Dr. Lynn McIntosh, Danielle Debbrecht,
Greg Pryor, David Smale
Published Monthly
Entire Contents
© Kansas City Sports & Fitness 2015.
The views and opinions of the contributing writers contained
in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views and
page 14
opinions of the editor and/or publisher.
18th straight year - 116
2
JUNE 2015
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
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We didn’t expect him to
decrease this quickly, this soon.
He was so far ahead of the rest
of the pack that we thought it
would be a slow decline. As he
turns 40 this year, we find it
hard to believe that he can go
James
from being No. 1 in 2013 to
Peuster
ranked 201 the next year.
Contributing
He lost not only great game,
Writer
but his smile. Many have emulated his famous fist pump after a long putt, that
we also miss.
The PGA will survive and so will Tiger Woods.
Endorsements and viewership may be down, but
not out. Everyone loves to root for the underdog
and it’s Woods turn to play that role. With a multitude of players having a somewhat equal chance
of winning a tournament, worldwide PGA support
will always remain.
I do know if Tiger is playing there will be amped
up coverage. The media just can’t stay away from
it. And we will watch in greater numbers than if he
was not playing.
James “JP” Peuster can be reached at
www.jpegsports.com. Listen to JPEG Sports
24/7 at www.jpeg247.com or on Wednesdays
3 to 4 p.m. at 1510 AM on the radio dial.
Prairie Band and Firekeeper make a winning hand
t is a combination that is hard to beat.
The Prairie Band Casino & Resort offers
everything you’d want for a Kansas weekend
getaway.
It is 15 minutes north of Topeka on the Prairie
Band Potawatomi Nation reservation. Prairie Band
offers casino gaming, prestigious hotel accommodations, high-quality dining options, a convention
and entertainment venue, and the state’s toprated golf course, Firekeeper.
“It has continued to be ranked the number one
course you can play in Kansas,” said general
manager Randy Towner, head PGA professional.
Golfweek magazine has rated Firekeeper the
best in Kansas every year since it opened in 2010.
It was also ranked as the ninth-best new course in
the country in 2011.
And it has only gotten better.
“Just like a three-year-old kid looks a lot different than a four-year old, it has matured a lot,”
Towner said. “The new areas of grass are filling in
and the course is beautiful.”
Unlike most area courses which are fescue,
Firekeeper has bentgrass tees, greens and fairways, with fescue only in the rough.
“I think the bentgrass makes it unique,” superintendent Rob Christie said. “It’s holding up well in
the summer. We’ve had good water. It’s great to
see how nice it looks now with all the rain. It’s
I
been green early in the season and in the fall
weather. It just looks so good. What impresses me
is how smooth it all looks.”
Lincoln, at the time of the course construction. He
was in charge of putting together the crews that
built the course architect Jeff Brauer designed.
Christie was a construction superintendent
working with Landscapes Unlimited, LLC, out of
“The front holes were filled out from an old
cornfield,” he said. “It was terraced, not just flat.
There’s some movement up
front. The back holes were built
out of a wooded area and a
pasture. On those back holes,
we didn’t move a lot of dirt. We
just shaped them to fit into the
land. That was kind of
Marc
(Brauer’s) goal and I think he
Bowman
did a pretty good job. It’s hilly,
Contributing
with a creek that runs through
Writer
the back holes.”
Towner and Christie both
enjoy the Kansas feel that Firekeeper evokes.
“Randy and I agree,” Christie said. “Number
two is our favorite. When you’re looking west, it’s
wide open like the Kansas prairie. You can see
one farmhouse and see some cows next to number four. It does represent Kansas in a way.”
Having a course which isn’t surrounded by
a housing development helps bring out the
prairie feel.
“There are no homes on the course,” he said.
“It’s all native grass and there are no trees on the
front nine. In the back where it’s wooded, it’s more
of a pasture back there. It just really does kind of
remind you of being in Kansas.”
In addition to the rural ambience, the course
provides plenty of challenge for golfers of
all stripes.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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JUNE 2015
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
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FIREKEEPER |FROM PAGE 4
“One of the neat things about the course is you
can bite off as much as you want,” Towner said. “It
can play as short or as long as you want. You get
to pick your poison. It can be
extremely difficult or easy. It
offers a little something for
everyone.”
The course offers challenges for experienced golfers,
playing as long as 7,600 yards
from the back tees, but can
play easier at 4,500 yards from
the forward tees. There’s also
a double fairway on No. 18, for
those who like to gamble on
the golf course as well as at
the casino.
“Hole number 11 is a short
par five which takes you back
east,” Christie said. “It’s kind of
a small green and it’s challenging to go for it in two. It is a little green perched on a hill. If
you miss it right or left you’re in
the woods. Number 13 is another pretty good
hole. It can play as much as 260 yards as a
par three.”
The course has been the host to several tour
stops, including the Adams Tour and the National
Pro Golf Tour. Firekeeper will host the Symetra
Tour again this year, September 11-13. It has
hosted the Midwest PGA championship for three
years running, and will play host to the Kansas
amateur championship in 2018.
Firekeeper features some unique traits, such as
a shared green for holes No. 1 and 6, which also
makes its own geographical imprint. The bunkers
to the left of No. 1 form the shape of the
Firekeeper logo, while the bunkers off No. 6 are in
the shape of a buffalo.
“It’s just a beautiful place to come for the weekend,” Towner said. “It’s close enough to the city
that it’s easy to reach and it’s far enough to feel
like you have gotten away. It’s great food, gambling and golf. It’s a pretty good combination.”
The “Stay and Play” package offered by the
resort is an especially attractive
combination. It includes two
rounds of golf, a cart, range
balls, and an overnight stay at
the casino hotel, with weekday
packages at $199, while weekends are $259.
After hitting the links, guests
can enjoy the casino with more
than a thousand slot games, plus
29 table games, including poker,
blackjack, craps, roulette and
Pai Gow.
There are 297 upscale hotel
rooms surrounding a gorgeous
courtyard with two hot tubs and a
cascading waterfall, and three
great dining options to choose
from. The Longhouse Buffet is
open for breakfast, lunch and
dinner, while the Three Fires
Steakhouse offers an extensive dining menu and
the Buffalo Grill is open daily for breakfast, lunch
and dinner.
Another great feature of the resort is the
12,000-square-foot convention center.
“Whether you are looking for a small boardroom setting or a large meeting space, we can
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accommodate your needs,” said advertising coordinator Annette Wheeler. “Not only does it provide
meeting space but it can be transformed into a
theatre for entertainment. It’s a very intimate setting which will hold 1,000 seats for entertainment,
and there’s not a bad seat in the house.
The resort is attracting some exceptional talent,
including Big Bad VooDoo Daddy featuring special
guests from Dancing with the Stars – Lacey &
Tristan – on June 26, Mary Wilson of the
Supremes & the Four Tops on July 3, Trace
Adkins on July 17, and BJ Thomas on July 30.
Tickets are on sale by visiting PrairieBand.com
or in the Prairie Band Gift Shop.
The resort also includes a 67-station RV park
with full hookups, a nice gift shop and a convenience station. Within the RV park, the Prairie
Meadows Lodge features four bedrooms each
with its own bathroom, a full kitchen and a large
living room complete with fireplace and flat screen
TV, which is available with a golf package that
includes four rounds of golf, a cart and range
balls, with midweek pricing at $799, while weekends are $999 per night.
“It’s a real destination getaway, with hotel
accommodations, dining options, and a golf
course,” Wheeler said. “Everything they need is
right here.”
For more information about Prairie Band
Casino & Resort, visit the website PrairieBand.com - or call 785-966-7777 or
text “Golf” to 70366 for information and contests.
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
JUNE 2015
5
Keep your head in the game!
eep your head down! How many times
have you heard those words right before
attempting to execute an effective and efficient golf swing? Too often, that message translates into an expectation that the head is to be
kept still. Not so. In fact, it is not possible!
Concentrating on pressing the chin down
toward the chest in an attempt to immobilize your
head severely limits the strength and accuracy of
your stroke. The head is attached to the body, so it
must rotate in a natural fashion to maximize the
thrust and strength of the swing.
Rotating the head naturally, even ever so
slightly, is directly related to the rotation of the
hips, allowing the body to shift weight from side to
side. During the execution of a regular swing, the
chin must move up and away from the chest,
slightly to the right, to allow the left shoulder to
make the turn of a natural, healthy swing. (For
those who golf left-handed, the movement of the
chin is to the left, freeing the right shoulder for
adequate motion.)
It is possible, and desirable, to continue to fix
your eyes on the ball while your head moves with
your body. The key is to fix your eyes on the ball
until the club head collides with it. Even as your
head moves slightly, your chin raises, and your
shoulders and hips swivel, it is possible to maintain this fixed eye position. Soon as your club
head impacts the ball, your head should begin to
turn naturally toward your target.
The head does remain in a more fixed position
while putting. Annika Sorenstam, the world’s best
female golfer, recommends this practice tip. Place
a penny under the ball. Even after your putter
comes in contact with the ball, keep your eyes
fixed on the penny until you hear your ball drop-
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6
JUNE 2015
ping into the cup. While putting, anticipating the
movement of your head will affect the direction
of your putt. Move your head only after the activity
is complete.
If you feel your head
is moving too much during the execution of your
regular swing, it may be
indicative of another
problem – poor posture.
Think of posture as
vertical alignment.
Imagine your body from
feet to head, as a tower
of stacking blocks. Each
block must be accurately
aligned and balanced
on the block below to
insure balance from
bottom to top.
Static posture is the
position from which each
movement of the body
begins and ends.
Dynamic posture is the ability to rotate around
the axis of alignment. In the example of the stacking blocks, dynamic posture would be the rotation
of individual blocks while maintaining the static
posture of the entire vertically aligned structure.
Dynamic posture does not imply sway.
Once again – imagine the stacking blocks.
Sway would be the result of cumulative imbalance. Dynamic posture begins with static posture.
The lower body remains steady, allowing the
upper body to rotate naturally and efficiently.
One of the most common posture problems is
anterior positioning of the head. For many, the
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
head protrudes forward from the vertical alignment
of the body, creating strain on the neck and shoulders and limited rotation of the neck and chin.
Anterior head position is easy to recognize. It is the “push” in
the walk of someone
whose head precedes
his or her body. It is the
strain in the neck or the
headache of tension.
One simple exercise,
even possible to execute repeatedly in your
car, can help remedy
anterior position of the
head. This exercise is
one of posterior translation, eventually moving the position of the
head from protruding
forward to accurate balance over the shoulders and neck.
While sitting in the car and facing forward, slide
the chin back along an imagined plane horizontal
to the plane of your shoulders. Press the back of
your head into the headrest of your car and hold
for 3-5 seconds. Relax. Repeat. Be sure to s-l-i-de your head back. Do not tip your chin or raise
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your forehead.
Repeat this sliding and holding as often as possible, applying resistance to the headrest
each time. This repeated exercise strengthens the neck and
moves the head back, placing it
Dr. Lynn
in a position more closely
McIntosh, DC
aligned in a healthy posture.
Contributing
Correct body alignment,
Writer
healthy static and dynamic posture and exercise will serve to help you develop a
more fluid movement of your shoulders, neck, chin
and head. A professional evaluation of your body
posture is easily available from your chiropractic
professional, often free of charge. Your chiropractor is trained to assess your needs and design
treatment to attain your designed results.
Relax! Feel the freedom of healthy body posture and enjoy the improvement in your game!
Dr. Lynn McIntosh is a board-certified chiropractor licensed in Kansas and Missouri. In
addition to being licensed to provide general
chiropractic care, she is also a certified chiropractic sports physician, working with athletes from
multiple disciplines on specific sports-related
problems. She’s also a certified acupuncturist.
To learn more call 816-753-4600 or visit
KansasCityChiropractic.com.
Are you golf ready?
A comprehensive approach to getting results
o you suffer common faults during your
golf swing? End your frustrations once
and for all. Equipment technology, sport
technique and your body are all opportunities to
change your game.
I often encounter individuals that have invested
a fortune on golf lessons, new clubs, and the latest trend in swing analysis yet failed to achieve
their desired performance results.
Many of these individuals failed to work on the
one piece of the puzzle that they have full control
over, their body.
In sport, movement efficiency goes well beyond
how you look on the outside. Rather it’s how you
move on the inside that separates the best from
the best
How your brain sequences and coordinates
movement is critical to your success. The more
efficient your brain is at accelerating and decelerating movement using ideal muscle recruitment
patterns, the better you perform. In 1927 Bobby
Jones, who won all four major golf championships
in 1930, said, “Golf is a game that is played on a
five-inch course- the distance between your ears.”
It has taken more than eight decades to scientifically prove just how true this is. The brain science behind muscle recruitment is extraordinary
D
and explains why stress, anxiety and pain
(or a history of pain) wreaks havoc on your
performance.
Getting your
body Golf Ready
entails training to
specifically
Change Your
Brain and Change
Your Body. This
type of training
turns your movement faults into
movement
assets. It teaches
your brain to
automatically
coordinate and
control movement to select the most efficient
swing path while also training your muscles to
generate optimal force.
In the years since Tiger Woods made golf
fitness cool, I’ve also encountered many individuals hyper-focused on exercise. They’ve bounced
from trainer to trainer, tried every golf program
available and live by exercises found in the latest
golf magazine.
Despite their efforts, many still fall short of their
performance goals. Even worse, some become
riddled with injuries. If exercise is a key performance piece, how
can this be? It is
simple, 1) exercises that aren’t
specific enough
to your needs
won’t change
how you move
and 2) exercises
performed poorly simply reinforce your faulty
movement patterns and fail to
achieve the
desired training effect.
To maximize the training effect your exercise
specialist must thoroughly assess how you
move, bias exercises to change how you move
and exhaust your brain with cognitive training just
as much as they exhaust your muscles. Remember, quality over quantity when it comes to your
exercise training; controlled muscle specific
training works.
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A comprehensive golf performance approach requires
collaboration between qualified
providers from many areas of
sport performance. Your club-fitter will help you get the most out
of your swing using the best in
Danielle
equipment technology. Your
Debbrecht
PGA instructor will maximize
your sport technique. Your phys- Contributing
Writer
ical therapist will optimize your
movement efficiency, convert
movement faults into assets, and change how you
move. Utilize a skilled performance team and a
comprehensive approach to take your golf game
to the next level.
Danielle Debbrecht is a physical therapist and
movement specialist at CORE Strategies Physical
Therapy, Sport Performance & Medical Fitness
in Overland Park. The CORE team specializes
in rehabilitation and performance training for
clients of all ages and activity levels. To learn
more about CORE’s sport specific programs
visit www.coreptkc.com. Contact Danielle at
[email protected].
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
JUNE 2015
7
Ironhorse golf course celebrating 20 years
n 1995, the Internet entered mainstream public consciousness. That year, the United
States government stopped funding it with
public money. America Online and Prodigy
released browsers to offer easy access to the
World Wide Web for the general public.
More significantly, on July 1, 1995, Ironhorse
Golf Course opened.
Both entities are still going strong. The Internet
has nearly three billion users worldwide, almost
the same number of people who have played —
or want to play — Ironhorse Golf Course, which
is just south of 151st Street off Mission Road
in Leawood.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. But after
20 years, Ironhorse is going strong, setting a
picturesque standard for public courses in the
metro area.
“It’s a great layout, especially when you play it
from the back tees,” said Ironhorse general manager Jamie West. “Even if you don’t play from the
back tees, as you’re playing the 18 holes, you
might want to step back and admire the views.”
The 20th anniversary celebration is an all-year
party, but on July 1 there will be a great opportunity to join in the fun. Ironhorse will open the course
to anyone who wants to play 18 holes for just $20.
Normal greens fees are $48 weekdays and $58
weekends for Leawood residents with non-resident fees of $58 and $72.
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JUNE 2015
“We’ll have a lot of 20th anniversary merchandise available,” West said. “I’m sure we’ll have a
lot of the original founders of the golf course hang-
“We closed the course for the year,” West said.
“The greens were dying and they wanted to get
that taken care of. When they opened back up,
ing out. We’ll try to make it feel like a party.”
Ironhorse is in its second incarnation after a
major 2007 overhaul.
they decided they wanted to move to a new management company. That’s when Troon Golf came
in and took over the management of the course.”
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The move to Troon has
brought a new commitment to
the esthetics of the course.
“Troon focuses on the playing
surfaces, West said. “We hire
the best golf course superintendents there are. We make
David
sure the fairways, greens and
Smale
tee boxes are in pristine shape.”
Contributing
If you want to improve your
Writer
game before trying Ironhorse,
you can get instruction from
Skip Maiwald, one of the top 400 teachers in
North America, according to Golf Magazine. West
also gives individual lessons. He has worked at
Ironhorse since August 2013 and for Troon Golf
for 15 years.
Ironhorse has the look of a course in the
Southeast, with plenty of rolling hills and lots of
trees to create obstacles.
“You have to be precise,” West said. “It’s more
of a target course. Number 11, for example, has a
split fairway. There’s a creek that goes down the
middle. You can choose either to go up top on the
left of the fairway or go over the creek and get a
shorter path to the green.
“There are about 50 bunkers on the course.
Many of them are around the greens, but there
are some holes where you have to avoid hitting
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
IRONHORSE|FROM PAGE 8
your drive into the fairway bunkers. There are a lot
of trees, even though we cut down approximately
20 trees in the past year that were dead. You have
to be a little more
precise with your
shots. It’s one of
those courses
where you can
come out and play
every day and feel
like it’s a different
course every time.”
West notes it is
much more difficult
from the back tees,
something fairly
common in golf. But
he also says that it
plays like an almost
entirely different
course from the
back than it does
from the front tees.
“It’s still very challenging, because there are creeks, ponds and
bunkers all over the course,” he said. “There’s
plenty of undulation, especially on the greens.”
Ironhorse is not yet old enough to vote, and it’s
still not done maturing. West said there are plans
for more renovations, including clubhouse expansion to accommodate larger groups. Bunker
makeovers are also in the plans.
The Kansas City area gets a lot of spring and
summer rain, and that tends to wash the sand to
the bottom of the bunkers. The bunker revamps
will help with drainage.
“We will install a
new liner that is
being used to save
courses a lot of
money,” West said.
“It’s expensive to
put in, but it’s saving a lot of money
in the long run,
because you don’t
have to do regular
renovations. You
just get out regularly and rake it. You
save a lot on labor.”
West and
Troon Golf are
committed to keeping Ironhorse at the
top of its game.
Ranked in the top
10 golf courses in the metro by GolfAdvisor.com,
Ironhorse is a destination spot for Kansas City
metro golfers. Don’t believe it? You can look it up
on the 20-year-old Internet.
To set up a tee time, or for more information
on Ironhorse, call 913-685-4653 or visit
irohorsegolf.com.
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KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
JUNE 2015
9
Is golf more mental or physical?
lthough I played baseball on a professional
level for more than 16 seasons, I sometimes wish I had played professional golf.
Both sports are difficult to master and a very small
percentage of men and women are able to make
their living at either sport.
The cover of the latest Southwest Airlines magazine showed a picture of a man who decided to
put 10,000 hours of practice time into becoming
the best golfer he could be. His goal was to play
professional golf.
Regardless of your athletic goal, your success
will be determined, in large part, by the way you
think during practice time and during competition.
If you want to improve on the golf course, here are
a few simple suggestions:
A
Mental Strength
Having the mental strength to deal with failure
in sports is crucial to improvement. By mental
strength, I mean specifically the ability to focus
and concentrate to allow your muscle memory to
take over your physical actions.
Your brain contains ten billion neurons (brain
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JUNE 2015
cells). Between each neuron are euro-transmitters
that are natural substances that help transmit your
every memory, thought and emotion.
The three most important neurotransmitters
supporting brain function are:
Noradrenaline, which is nature’s “natural
speed” and your “get up and go.” This is what you
want an adequate amount of in your brain as you
compete in sports or when you
head off to work.
Dopamine is a special neurotransmitter that aids with focus and
concentration. If dopamine levels
are low we can have focus issues
such as daydreaming, not remembering where we put our keys or not
being able to stay on a task.
Dopamine is responsible for our
motivation.
Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter that helps you with memory
and organization - the way you
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
order things in your mind, the way you retrieve
them in an orderly manner. It is also involved in
focus and concentration. Your body manufactures
acetylcholine from a
diet that contains the
essential nutrients
B5 and choline.
The ability to think
more clearly and
effectively and the
drive to succeed are
all tied directly to
your brain’s ability to
create adequate neurotransmitters. If you
provide your body
(and brain) with the
proper nutrients to
make neurotransmitters, it could be the determining factor in your level
of persistence and even your success or failure.
Once I made a 50-foot putt in a charity golf
tournament in front of about 200 onlookers. When
I made the putt, I was simply thinking how to make
the proper putt and was able to cleanse my brain
of all unnecessary thoughts.
Physical Support
Golf puts a strain on virtually every major joint
in the body. The shoulders, elbows, hips, knees
and back are in motion during every golf swing. It
is difficult to repeat a good swing if one or more of
those areas are misfiring or are experiencing joint
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pain. Taking dozens of golf
swings can put a stress on the
cartilage, tendons, and muscles
and lead to joint inflammation or
osteoarthritis. Having healthy
cartilage is crucial to all athletic
moves in any sport.
In 1996, I was experiencing
Greg Pryor
severe pain in my right hand.
‘85 World Series Champ
The pain would not let me swing Contributing
my golf clubs. I began using
Writer
glucosamine HCl and after three
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Morales goes from raft to Royals’ slugger
ome take the fast track to the big leagues,
like Yordano “Ace” Ventura and Eric Hosmer,
who make their Kansas City Royals debuts
at age 21.
Others, like Paulo Orlando (nine years) and
Yohan Pino (11 years) trek through the minors for
seemingly a baseball eternity before ever trying on
a major league jersey.
S
Kendrys Morales took a more arduous and
dangerous path to reach the majors. It included a
dozen raft trips and jail time. Morales is from Cuba
and communist dictator Fidel Castro prefers his
baseball players to remain on the island, not
defect to the United States.
In 2002, Morales became the first teenager to
make the Cuban national team in nearly 20 years.
He batted cleanup and in 2003 World Cup hit a
grand slam against Taiwan to beat Taiwan 6-3.
The previous day he homered to drive in the winning runs against Brazil.
But in 2003, Morales went from star to being
banned. He was shipped back to Cubs during the
Olympic qualifying at Panama for supposedly
making a contact with an agent. Morales denied it,
but the Castro-controlled country did not want
their young star player to desert.
After that Morales said he just wanted to flee
Cuba. He tried
several times,
but without success and occasionally would
land in jail for his
efforts. In June
2004, the raft
Morales was
aboard landed
on the south
Florida shores,
his 12th attempt
to get off Cuba.
The Los
Angeles Angels
won a bidding
war for Morales’
rights, signing
him in December
2004. By May
23, 2006 he was
in the majors,
going 3 for 5 with
a home run and two RBIs in his debut.
In 2009, he was a MVP candidate, finishing fifth
in the balloting, after hitting .305 with 34 home
runs, 108 RBIs, 43 doubles, slugging .569 and a
.924 OPS.
He started off 2010 with similar numbers,
Photo by Scott Thomas
By ALAN ESKEW, Editor
11 home runs, 39 RBIs and 94 total bases when
his season ended with one of the strangest baseball injuries on May 29. He hit a walk-off grand
slam against Seattle, but suffered a fractured
lower left leg during the plate celebrations.
He had a second procedure on the leg in 2011
and did not play that season. In 2012, he returned
to hit .273 with 22 HR and 73 RBIs. He was traded
after the season to the Seattle Mariners for lefthander Jason Vargas, who is now a Kansas City
Royals teammate.
After leading the Mariners in batting average,
hits, doubles, RBIs, multi-hit games and extrabase hits, Morales became a free agent after the
2013 season and in no-man’s land. Clubs were
reluctant to forfeit a first-round draft pick for signing Morales.
He had to wait until after the draft before the
Twins signed him on June 8, 2014. With no spring
training, it was a disastrous year for Morales.
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He was traded to Seattle in July and between the
two stops, combined to hit .218 with 20 doubles,
eight home runs and 42 RBIs in 98 games.
This year Morales is a leading candidate to be
the Comeback Player of the Year. Entering June,
Morales is among the American League leaders in
RBIs, runs scored, doubles and hitting with runners in scoring position, while hitting north of .300.
The Royals signed Morales to a two-year contract last December for $17 million -- $6.5 million
this year and $9 million in 2016 with a $1.5 million
buyout after next season if an $11 million option is
not picked up.
Morales shed 12 pounds when he reported to
spring training, in shape and out to prove 2014
was a fluke with no time to get his timing down
before playing.
“Eat less,” Morales said and laughed was his
key to losing weight.
The Royals signed Morales, a run-producing
switch-hitter who turns 32 on June 20, after longtime designated hitter Billy Butler bolted to sign a
three year contract with the Oakland Athletics.
“God gave Billy Butler the ability to hit,” Morales
said through an interpreter. “That’s his forte. I’m
going to do whatever I’m capable of doing.”
Manager Ned Yost loves writing Morales’ name
in the middle of his lineup, primarily in the fifth slot.
“He was just about as good as they come in the
American League before he broke his leg,” Yost
said. “And coming back from the rehab and a
short season last year, no spring training, he was
put right into the fire.”
With a full spring training and no injuries,
Morales has been a boost to the Royals’ lineup.
“He’s almost Billy-esque,” Yost said. “He steps
up to the plate and you feel like he’s going to drive
the ball somewhere.”
There are no lingering effects from the broken
leg.
“I feel great because it’s been almost four years
since the operation,” Morales said. “Losing the
weight is helpful, but I don’t want to lose too much
weight because of my body structure. It makes a
big difference coming into spring training than
waiting halfway through the year to play ball.”
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
JUNE 2015
11
Yost getting smarter with better players
avid Smale, a superb writer and a contributor to this magazine, arrived at the
Kauffman Stadium press box about an hour
before the May 24 game and asked jokingly if it
was too early to apply for Kansas City Royals
postseason media credentials.
D
At the time, the Royals were 28-14, the best
start after 42 games in franchise history. The
Royals were on pace to win 108 games at the
quarter pole. They looked like they would run
away with the division, like Hillary Clinton for the
Democratic nomination for president.
The Royals owned a three-game lead in the
American League Central. They were the only
team in the majors with their longest losing streak
two games. Every other club had at least a threegame skid.
In late May, the starting pitchers threw 27
scoreless innings, one shy of the club record
set in 1974. The offense was clutch with runners
in scoring position. The defense was airtight.
The bullpen was impeccable. All cylinders were
clicking.
This promised to be a stress-free fun-filled
12
JUNE 2015
summer, a Royals’ lovefest before adoring fans.
But that was before Sports Illustrated put Eric
Hosmer and the Royals on its June 1 edition
Wrigley Field (while one was rained out). That’s
five losses in six games.
In that span, the Royals dropped from the best
cover, which hit the newsstands in late May. That,
my friend, is known as the kiss of death. Might as
well pucker up and lip lock with a cobra.
One does not have to be Nostradamus to know
what would happen next.
Then a not-so-funny thing occurred. The
Royals promptly went on a four-game losing
streak. They lost the final game of the series to
the St. Louis Cardinals and were swept three
games at Yankee Stadium, a longtime house of
horrors for the Royals. Then they split two in
record in the American League into second
place in their division. They entered June a halfgame behind the Minnesota Twins. The perennial
division champion Detroit Tigers were three
games in arrears of the Royals, certainly within
striking range.
Alright, I’m not worried about the Twins remaining in the race until Labor Day. I don’t believe the
Tigers are nearly as formidable as they have been
in recent seasons, especially without Justin
Verlander being a key rotation component.
And while the Royals, who have the most talent
in the division, may yet win the AL Central by a
half dozen or more games, be prepared for some
potholes, detours and rough patches. Don’t jump
off the bandwagon when those occur. Or scream,
“The sky is falling.” Few teams lead from start to
finish. It is a 162-game season and pratfalls and
pitfalls should be anticipated.
This is not a flawless club by any means, but
solid enough that if the Royals failed to return to
the playoffs it would be a major disappointment to
Kansas City.
“They’re going the way they’re going for a reason,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of the
Royals’ record. “We have a really good team. With
the experience and the confidence we gained last
year, (which) makes my job three times easier
Photo by Scott Thomas
By ALAN ESKEW, Editor
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
Interact with our new website: www.kcsportspaper.com
than it ever has been in the past.”
Even after winning the American League championship last year and taking the San Francisco
Giants to the seventh game of the World Series,
many so-called experts thought it was a fluke. The
projected the Royals would be a sub-.500 club
this year, that 72 to 78 victories was more their
2015 range.
Yost knew otherwise.
“You write the lineup up, you know they are
prepared,” Yost said. “You know they are focused.
You know they are going to go out with a bit of a
chip of their shoulder every single day. I have not
seen one single day where the energy is dropped,
where the focus is dropped.
“So you write out the lineup and you sit back.
Normally I would be right there at the top of the
rail and now I can sit on the bench and watch
them go. When I need to make a change, I’ll
make a change.”
It is more comfortable to write a daily lineup
starting with a staple six of Salvador Perez, Alex
Gordon, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides
Escobar and Cain, who have been together for
the most part the past three years.
Second baseman Omar Infante joined the lineup last year, while right fielder Alex Rios, who just
returned from a six-week span on the disabled list
with a fractured left hand, and designated hitter
Kendrys Morales, were additions this season, and
that provides Yost with a set lineup.
“Dealing with all the stuff you had to deal with
in the past is gone. It’s just a lot easier,” Yost said.
Yost’s IQ has skyrocketed, approaching an
Einstein level since October.
“I’m so much smarter now,” Yost said. “It’s
funny how that works. I’ve got really good players
and all of a sudden you get so much smarter.”
Brilliant as Yost has become, he insists he
does not know the Royals’ record.
“I’m a day-to-day guy,” Yost said. “I know we’re
going good, but I can’t tell you what our record is.”
When told the record, Yost replied, “That’s pretty good.”
“I don’t sit there and dwell on that,” he said.
“I just stay focused on today.”
Gateway Village will feature 15 synthetic-turf
soccer fields in Grandview
he Kansas City area continues to grow its
reputation as a soccer hotbed with the May
announcement of the Gateway Village
development project.
The 230-acre, $300 million project off 150
Highway in southern Grandview is centered on
soccer fields and will include 42 homes and 300
upscale apartments, along with restaurants, retail,
recreation and two hotels.
T
The 15 soccer fields will be lighted and with
synthetic turf, making Gateway Village the largest
all-turf soccer complex in the world.
“These fields are very playable,” said Heartland
Soccer Association executive director Shane
Hackett, who is a member of the development
team along with former Chiefs All-Pro defensive
back Deron Cherry and commercial developer
Kurt Pycior.
Heartland will manage leagues, tournaments
and scheduling for the fields, as it does for the
Overland Park Soccer Complex and the new,
state-of-the-art soccer complex at Swope Village.
With the addition of Gateway Village, Heartland
14
JUNE 2015
Soccer will become the largest youth soccer
organization in the country.
Hackett was especially proud of the opportunity
to bring a world
class facility to
Missouri.
“They say if
you build it, they
will come,” he
said. “Heartland
has been committed to this from
day one. As a
Missourian, I can’t
tell you how excited I am. I’m proud
that we as a soccer community are involved.”
Gateway Village will have immediate appeal
and accessibility for kids.
“That’s one of the great things about soccer,”
Hackett said. “Everybody can play.”
While soccer fields serve as an anchor, the new
facility is intended for use by everyone. The nearly
400,000 square feet of retail space will consist of
several restaurants and shopping opportunities,
well as 450 hotel rooms. There are also plans
for park land, trails and open space, plus a recre-
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
ational water park.
Cherry’s wife, Hope, germinated the Gateway
Village idea.
“My wife is
the one who
really came up
with the idea
and got me sold
on this opportunity,” Cherry
said. “With four
kids travelling all
over town to
play soccer,
I ended up building two soccer
fields in my backyard.”
All of Cherry’s children play soccer; getting
them to and from their games and practices was
wearing on Deron and Hope.
“I think she got kind of tired of listening to me
complain,” he said. “We were taking the kids in different directions. Then I got together with Kurt and
got this started.”
When deciding whether to be involved in the
project, Cherry recalled a turning point in his own
professional football career.
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“When I first came to Kansas
City, I signed as a free agent
punter,” he said. “No one gave
me a chance to make it. I called
Coach Marv Levy and asked
‘would you give me a chance to
come back as a defensive
Marc
back?’ I remember that I was
Bowman
sitting in my mom’s bedroom
when I made the call. Had I not Contributing
Writer
made that call my whole life
would have been different.
“Making this decision will change a lot of kids’
lives. Hey, this is the right decision at the right
time. We do have a vision, a dream. I want to
bring our kids back to Missouri. Bringing them
back home, that is special. We want all the kids to
have an opportunity. It’s just kids having a place to
come and play, and learn lessons.”
The development team has a vision of a sportscentered village that offers a great deal more than
just youth sports.
“I want to show you something that is going to
revolutionize the way we spend time together,”
said Pycior when introducing the plans. “And not
only the way we recreate. Most importantly, to
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
KC Ice Center hosting clinics, camps this summer
eginning July 6, the Kansas City Ice Center
will be swarming with kids learning how
to develop hockey skills. Every aspect of
the game will be refined in the four-day clinics
that have two hours of ice time with an hour of
off-ice training.
B
The off-ice training is a combination of cardio
and strength training geared toward the focus of
the clinic. Doug Dorley, a former Bowling Green
lineman who was in camp with the Cincinnati
Bengals in 2000, runs the off-ice training.
If the clinic is focused on skating, the off-ice
training will involve leg exercises and other exercises that build stamina. The shooting clinics will
have wrist curls and other exercises to build
strength in the hands, wrists and arms.
The first clinic is the Power Skating clinic. The
most basic skill in hockey is the central focus of
the KCIC. And for good reason.
“In the NHL, the highest level of hockey in
the world, the guys got there because of their
skating,” said Dean Nelson, general manager
of the KCIC.
“We teach everything from basic strides,
to edge work to top-speed-to-stopping skill. They
don’t even see nets or pucks until the third day.
This is one clinic that’s very much focused
on skating.”
The next week the focus switches to shooting
with the Sniper Shooting clinic. “We go through
everything from
wrist shots to
snap shots to
slap shots (if
they’re old
enough) to onetimers to backhands to dekes,
every scenario
of shooting,”
Nelson said.
“We have six
nets on the ice
with six goalies.
They go from
station to station to try the different types of shots.”
Nelson noted the younger kids don’t need to
work on slap shots, because they don’t get an
opportunity to use them in games. “You don’t get
to do slap shots until you’re in the Pee-Wees,” he
said, “probably because of the skill set. It’s dangerous to bring your stick up that high and swing it
when you’re at a young age, because you don’t
have the balance.
“They want to do it, but they don’t realize that
very seldom is the slap shot used in the game.
You have to have the time to load up to get off a
GATEWAY VILLAGE |FROM PAGE 14
have a place that is ours.”
In addition to the soccer fields, there will be
extensive retail facilities and a 150,000-square
foot fieldhouse to house basketball, volleyball,
Futsal courts and physical therapy.
“If you plop a Zona Rosa in the middle of a
sports facility, that’s our dream,” he said. “This is
the next big thing. It’s a ‘Main Street’ concept that
will get people in and out to play sports and for
shopping. You can get some things done here:
laundry, work out, shopping. We have the goal
that once you get out of your car, you never get
back in it until you go home.”
Plans call for a grocery store, a bank, a bowling
alley, and other neighborhood services, while the
water park and recreation opportunities will attract
family vacations.
“This will be a destination location for recreation,” Pycior said. “This is Disney. People who
come for soccer will come a couple of days early
and stay a couple of days late and make a real
vacation out of it.”
Pycior and the development team are targeting
the players’ families that attend the multiple
soccer tournaments throughout the year. These
tourneys, hosted by Heartland Soccer Association,
have made Kansas City a regional soccer destination, attracting thousands of people to the area
each weekend.
Until recently tournaments have been exclusively in Johnson County, at the OPSC. Swope
Village and Gateway Village will help bring some
of that growing soccer interest to the Missouri side
of the state line, a distinction that is not lost on
Missouri civic leaders.
“This is a new day, a new opportunity before us,
not only for Grandview and Jackson County, not
only for the state of Missouri and Midwestern
states, but for the U.S. and beyond,” Grandview
mayor Leonard Jones said. “We will benefit from it
for decades to come.”
Said Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, “The
mayor is absolutely right. This is going to be a
regional component. This is one of the biggest
projects anywhere we’d find across the state
of Missouri. This will be one of the biggest
projects that your children and grandchildren
will talk about.”
Gateway Village plans have been presented to
city and county officials for approval, and to begin
the arduous task of finding financial support,
which may include TIF funds. If approved, soccer
fields and some retail shopping will open in
autumn 2016.
“I’ve learned a lot of lessons through sports,”
Cherry said. “This is something that will stand the
test of time. We will know that we did the right
thing for the right purpose at the right time. That
time is today.”
For more Gateway Village information, visit its
website: gatewaysportsvillage.com.
slap shot. We want them to focus on things they’ll
use in game situations.”
After Sniper Shooting, the scope broadens to a
Five Skills clinic. The five hockey skills are skating, shooting, stick handling, passing and battles.
Just like with baseball, the best hockey players
are “five tool” players. This clinic helps young
skaters develop all five areas.
Stick handling really is a misnomer, as handling
the stick is pretty basic; you just hold on to the
stick. It is really puck-handling.
“It’s handling the puck, using the stick, keeping
it under control,” Nelson said. “We’ll work on
things like front-to-back, back-to-front, side-to-side
or toe-drags. We’ll work on handling the puck with
their head up. It’s like dribbling a basketball without looking at the ball. You have to train your eyes
to do that.”
Passing is more complicated than it sounds as
well. It can involve stationery passing or passing
while flying down the ice. The pass can come from
- or to - the backhand or the front side. The training involves “catching” passes with the stick, or a
touch-pass, which is more of a redirection than
anything else.
The fifth skill is winning battles. Hockey is a
series of continuous battles, and not just face-offs.
“It’s out of the corner. It’s two-on-ones,” Nelson
said. “If you win the 50/50 pucks you win the
game. We do drills where we have a guy bring the
puck out of his zone. He’ll get pinched and
checked, but he’s got to find a way out. There are
all kinds of drills that relate to battles.”
After the Five Skills clinic, the KCIC will host
another Power Skating clinic July 27-30.
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The Power Skating clinic is popular enough that it requires a
second session.
And then the fun really starts.
Beginning August 3, the
fourth annual Battle Camp takes
over the KCIC. It’s the only allDavid
day camp of the summer, and
Smale
it’s the highlight of the summer.
Contributing
Nelson’s childhood friend,
Writer
Sean Podein, a 13-year NHL
player who won a Stanley Cup
with the Colorado Avalanche, helps out.
“The first year I did a battle camp, I asked him
to help. He’s been here every year, because he
knows the importance of winning battles,” Nelson
said. “He was the epitome of a battler during his
NHL career, a third-line grinder, a penalty killer.
He was always the hardest worker.
“When I approached Sean with the idea, he
said he was in. Little did I know that he would
keep coming back year after year. He texted me
the other day and told me that he couldn’t wait
until Battle Camp. Nobody runs a camp like it.
We change things up to keep it lively for the kids.
We call it ‘controlled chaos,’ because that’s what
hockey is at times.
“Kids learn best through playing the game,
not a bunch of drills. It’s pond hockey. It’s the
excitement of the game. At Battle Camp, we
have a series of battles going on at various spots
on the ice. At the end of the hour, they want to
keep going.”
The final clinic is the New Skater. While all the
other clinics and camps require at least one year’s
worth of hockey experience, the final clinic is for
the newbies.
“We give you three days to learn as many skills
as you can,” Nelson said.
All camps are for kids born between 1998 and
2006. The kids are broken down within the camps
and clinics. They take the first 30 kids at each age
level. The only exception is Battle Camp, which is
broken down by skill level, more than age level,
because they want the kids to compete against
someone at the same level.
The one certainty is there will be plenty of kids
to go around.
Call 913-441-3033 or visit KCIceCenter.com to
register for the camps or clinics or for information
on other programs available at KCIC.
KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
JUNE 2015
15