Fifteen year old Laura Robson handed Wimbledon wild card

Britain’s 15-year-old junior Wimbledon champion Laura Robson will be the youngest player to appear in the women’s tournament since Martina Hingis in 1995 after the All England Club announced they had given her a wild card.

When the  grass-court grand slam begins on June 22, the Londoner will be 15 years, 152 days old, and she will be the twelfth youngest competitor since the professional era began in 1968. Robson, who was born in Melbourne and moved to Britain when she was six, currently divides her time between training and homework.

Robson is ranked 482nd in the world, well below the Lawn Tennis Association’s wild card cut-off point of 250th, but was given a slot via a clause that allows juniors in under “exceptional circumstances.” Her name was expected among the wild cards, as a reward for winning last summer’s junior tournament.

Jennifer Capriati, Steffi Graf, Tracy Austin, Andrea Jaeger and Hingis are among those on the short list of players to have appeared at Wimbledon at a younger age.  Four girl junior champions have gone on to win the main title in the history of Wimbledon. Martina Hingis – who was the youngest at 13 in 1994 – and Amelie Mauresmo are the only two to have done so since 1960.

The All England Club’s decision to award a wild card to another teen girl may cause controversy during the tournament. Michelle Larcher de Brito, a 16-year-old from Portugual, has arguably the loudest grunt in the history of tennis. When Larcher de Brito played at the French Open, an opponent complained to the umpire about the noise on the other side of the net. Larcher de Brito was later booed by the crowd.

Other women’s wild cards were given to American Alexa Glatch, and Britain’s Elena Baltacha, Katie O’Brien, Mel South and Georgie Stoop. Robson and Stoop have a wild card into the doubles.

Recruiting: College Soccer Showcases

For high school and club soccer players, the arrival of spring signals the beginning of tournament season and, for many, attending the all-important college showcase tournaments. The stakes are high but it’s not bragging rights or a tournament trophy that’s on the line, these athletes are showcasing their soccer talent and skills hoping to attract the attention of the soccer coach from the college of their dreams.

College soccer showcase tournaments have rapidly grown in popularity over the past few years with major sponsorship support from companies like Under Armour, Nike, Puma, Adidas, Toyota, Gatorade, College Soccer Tours and SC Premiere Sports Management. The tournaments are designed to promote the highest levels of competition in youth soccer by drawing from the best state, regional and national level teams from all over the country. They provide college coaches a chance to evaluate young players for possible recruitment to their college teams and, for players, an important opportunity to be seen.

There are many additional benefits for soccer players attending these showcase tournaments: Exposure to top teams and players in the U.S and internationally, and to play at some of the best soccer facilities in the country. A few of the tournaments also feature great college teams playing in “friendly” or round robin games which provide young players and their families an opportunity to view a variety of elite college players and school teams in action.

The first thing to remember about college showcase soccer tournaments is that, no matter how well-run the event is, how well you play, and which coaches are present, simply showing up and playing is not nearly enough to have every division 1, II or III coach in the nation beating a path to your door. It’s important to do your homework, plan ahead and make informed choices.

Most of the top tournaments are invitational so getting accepted into the tournament may be the first obstacle a team must overcome. A little advance planning may be necessary to help your team collect the required tournament experience and points to get accepted into these tournaments. Some showcase tournaments are not truly competitive. That is, although the competition on the field may be top notch, the tournament subscribes to the ‘everyone plays’ approach to allow all the players on a team to get exposure to the college coaches. Often, there are no playoffs or finals and the team coach can choose the number of games the team will play during the tournament. This is especially good for the athletes since no one benefits from playing two games a day throughout the tournament and burning out, or possibly injuring, the athletes.

When choosing college showcase tournaments, it’s important to remember that the best ones are not necessarily the same for boys and girls. Find out which coaches will actually be attending. Coaches, not schools. Will it be the head coach, assistant coach, or a junior assistant at the tournament? Does the person attending have the power to recruit if they like what they see? Some of the top tournaments for women in the U.S. are:

Although the college coaches are not allowed, by NCAA rules, to speak directly with the athletes at these showcases, the athletes can contact the coaches directly by email or phone before the tournament to invite them to watch them play. It’s particularly important to note that college coaches expect to hear from the athletes themselves, not their parents. Contact the coaches early and update them about specifics on playing times and fields. Many of the tournaments also offer, for a fee, a player profile form for participating athletes to fill out and update for attending coaches to view.

For most college coaches, the trend for evaluating young soccer athletes has evolved from an emphasis on recruitment through high schools to club and tournament recruitment. Since most recruitment is based on play, the almost year-long club and tournament season provides coaches more time to see players in action and the showcases allow the coaches to cover more players in a shorter period of time. It’s far easier to make determinations of a player’s athleticism, size, speed, movement, technical skills, team and personal attitude at a showcase than by watching a video. But don’t forget to follow up after the tournament by providing the coaches with a well-produced highlights video, too!

Welcome Nintendo DSI

Hitting stores today is the latest incarnation of the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system. Highly anticipated by the gaming world for months the DSi’s new interface bears a close resemblance to the popular home console, making it instantly familiar to Wii converts.

When Nintendo released the DS (short for dual screen) Lite in June 2006, it was a drastic upgrade over the previous model. The new DSi, which has been available in Japan since last fall, has more entertainment features than the older model and could prove to be a competitor of Apple’s iPod Touch.

Nintendo has already sold 100 million DS and DS Lites so obviously there continues to be an appetite for the device.

The three biggest improvements are the addition of two cameras, an audio reader and a new operating system that adds the ability to purchase and download games wirelessly in a way similar to the WiiShop, Nintendo’s online store for its successful Wii platform.

One of the most talked about features is the dual camera system: With two tiny lenses attached to the unit — one on the front pointing to the person holding the DSi and one on the back pointing away — users can snap photos and use the creative photo editing software that’s included to manipulate the pictures.

The 11 different options produce a lot of fun results. (A favorite is the “merge” function that morphs two pictures into one) You can also stretch faces, add graffiti, tweak the color, and apply silly frames. You can do most of the effects after the fact through an editor. This is the kind of fun that never gets old.

The cameras not only let users take and share photos with each other, but they also give developers the opportunity to create games that incorporate users’ images and motions.

Rhythm Heaven and a new version of Zelda are available for the DSi as well as dozens of other titles. Is Nintendo’s new toy destined to become the standard for handheld gaming? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Nintendo DSi

Mayflower Girls

November 13, 2008 – Ever wonder what life was like for the first girls to sail to America?

Well we’re not historians by any stretch of the imagination but with Thanksgiving right around the corner, we got to thinking about the first females to arrive in the New World. With a little help from Google, old textbooks, and friendly teachers we cobbled together the following:

In 1620, nearly 100 passengers boarded the Mayflower for one of the most important journeys in history. As with all great adventures, the journey was fraught with hardship and danger. The ship carried about 51 men, 22 boys, 20 women, and 11 girls.

By any definition, the girls onboard the Mayflower were Pretty Tough. Some of the passengers included:

Mary Chilton
At the age of 13, Mary came with her parents on the Mayflower. Legend has it that Mary Chilton was the first female ashore at Plymouth. There is no contemporary recording of the event, but there are also no competing claims. Mary Chilton’s landing on Plymouth Rock is celebrated in Bacon’s The Landing of the Pilgrims, painted in 1877 on exhibit at Pilgrim Hall Museum.

Her father was one of the first who died after the ship had anchored off Provincetown Harbor. Her mother also died sometime later the first winter, orphaning her in the New World.

Mary Chilton went on to marry John Winslow around 1627 and they had 10 children.

Constance Hopkins
Constance, also 13, came with her father Stephen, step-mother Elizabeth, brother Giles, and step-sister Damaris on the Mayflower. Her younger brother, Oceanus, was born while the Mayflower was at sea, so she probably spent a lot of time taking care of her mother’s needs. Oceanus did not survive long, however, and apparently died by 1623. Constance’s future husband, Nicholas Snow, arrived on the ship Anne in 1623.

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