Spectators watch the conclusion of the 15th annual Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace on Saturday night at the Saratoga Casino Hotel. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Coaches Corner, driven by Jason Bartlett, won the $250,000 15th annual Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace at the Saratoga Casino Hotel on Saturday night. It was the fourth-fastest mile in the venue’s history.
Backstreet Shadow finished second, Pleaseletmeknow was third, and Desperate Man placed fourth in the Gerrity. The field of eight also included back-to-back 2023/2024 MGM-Borgata winner Hellabalou, as well as local favorite Rocknroll Runa A.
Jewish War Veterans Post 36 had a community outreach booth at Saratoga Race Course’s opening day on July 11. Pictured here are Post Commander Dr. Sam Gottesman, left, Post 36 member Allan Kasin, center, and Capital District Council Commander Richard Goldenberg, right. Post 36 regularly meets at Congregation Shaara Tfille in Saratoga Springs. Photo provided by JWV Post 36.
Anna Venditti clings to a steel beam as she navigates her way through the Ninja obstacles.
The Ninja Labs (Saratoga & Albany) recently traveled to Greensboro, NC for the World Ninja League World Championships. The World Ninja League is the premiere obstacle league in the sport of Ninja. The event took place June 21-24th at the Greensboro Coliseum and hosted over 2300 athletes from 11 different countries and across 7 different age and skill divisions.
Much like the finals of the hit TV show American Ninja Warrior, the main event at the WNL World Championships features a 3 stage obstacle course. Athletes who clear each stage (or finish in the top percentages of their division) move on to the next stage, but only those who clear each stage are still in contention for the World Championship title.
There is also a “World’s Strongest Ninja” title that is up for grabs during the event. In order to be crowned the World’s Strongest Ninja, athletes must do well not only on the obstacle course runs, but also perform well in the skills challenges that also take place during the Championships. A ninja’s speed, technical skills and endurance are challenged during these skills events.
Sixteen local athletes competed at Worlds and 4 finished in the Top 10 of their Divisions:
Coach Geoff Snyder finished 7th in the World in the Masters Division (40+)
Coach Nicole Van Oort finished 4th in the World’s Strongest Ninja category in the Adult Female Division.
Coach Anna Venditti finished 4th in the World and 3rd in the World’s Strongest Ninja category in the Young Adult Division (15-17).
Adelena Messier earned the title of World Champion by clearing Stage 1 and Stage 2, as well as going the furthest the fastest on Stage 3. She beat out 112 other top teen females (13-14) to take the title. Adelena also finished 3rd in the World’s Strongest Ninja category.
“I’m incredibly proud of Adelena & Anna, but I’m also equally proud of all of our Ninja Lab athletes and coaches.” said head coach Geoff Snyder. “We have built a quality program that has produced some of the best ninjas in the World Ninja League. Our athletes work incredibly hard year around and it’s been amazing to see the fruits of their labor this past season.”
Graphic via the Saratoga Central Catholic Athletics X account.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Central Catholic School announced last week that it will merge with Stillwater to create a new football program. 17 Spa Catholic students will participate in the inaugural season beginning this fall at the modified and junior varsity levels. Varsity will start in the 2025-2026 school year.
Stillwater’s team is the defending Class D Sectional Champions.
2024 Ethos Awards recipient Patricia Kelly. Photo via the Ethos Awards website.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The 2024 Ethos Awards, which recognize individuals who advance the engagement of black and brown people in the world of equestrian sports, will be presented at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs on August 31.
This year’s recipients include:
• Mayisha Akbar, founder of the Compton Jr Posse (CJP) in 1988, which offers youth hope, connection, and success by teaming them with horses
• Dr. George & Ann Blair, who started the New York Riding Academy in 1970 in Manhattan’s Randall Island Park, making horseback riding more inclusive for everyone
• Anastasia Curwood, co-founder of Strides for Equality, an organization working in numerous ways to create equitable opportunities for BIPOC equestrians
• Caitlin Gooch, founder of Saddle Up and Read, a program that connects horses, kids, and libraries to increase literacy rates in North Carolina
• Lezlie Hiner, founder of Work to Ride, a community-based prevention program in Philadelphia that engages and empowers under-resourced urban youth through interactions with horses
• Patricia Kelly, President and CEO of Ebony Horsewomen, Inc., created in 1984 as a way to introduce the joys of riding to women in the Hartford, Connecticut area
The Ethos Award is a bi-annual event that partners with unique equine venues across the country who share the organization’s mission to change the narrative of equestrian sports.
For more information about this year’s gala, visit ethosawardequestrian.com/gala.
Photo of pitcher Greg Farone via the University of Alabama website.
SAN FRANCISCO — Greg Farone, a Schenectady native, was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the seventh round of the 2024 MLB Draft on Monday. Farone is a left-handed pitcher who played for the University of Alabama in 2024.
With the Crimson Tide, Farone pitched 71.2 innings, earning a 5.02 ERA, which was the lowest among all of the team’s starting pitchers. In April, he pitched a complete game shutout against Ole Miss.
Farone previously played for the University of Louisville and Herkimer College in New York before transferring to Alabama. He attended Schenectady High School.
Thousands of runners participated in the 18th annual Firecracker4 race on Independence Day morning in downtown Saratoga Springs. Photos by Super Source Media.
WILTON — Saratoga Bridges will host its 21st annual J. Michael Fitzgibbons Memorial Golf Classic at McGregor Links Country Club on Monday, July 29 at 10 a.m. The event includes 18 holes of golf, lunch, contests, dinner, complimentary beverages on the course, and golf apparel. A small award ceremony will also be held.
Tickets will not be sold at the event. Spots must be reserved by July 17. To purchase tickets, go to www.saratogabridges.org and click on fundraising events, then click on The J. Michael Fitzgibbons Memorial Golf Classic. Tickets are $225 per golfer or $900 for a foursome.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Battle by Saratoga, a Memorial Day weekend baseball tournament, will return for its fifth iteration on May 24-26, 2025, AAU Baseball announced last week.
Since its inception in 2021, the tournament has experienced significant growth. Starting with just 40 teams, the 2024 event saw participation from 114 teams across the Northeast United States.
Michael Scialdone Sharkey broadcasts from the United States Bocce Federation National Championships at the Highwood Bocce Club in Highwood, Illinois in June 2023. Photo provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — From ancient Rome to Saratoga Springs, the sport of bocce has a long and storied history that is still being celebrated by local players such as Michael Scialdone Sharkey, whose passion for the sport has resulted in tens of millions of hits on social media platforms.
Sharkey’s family hailed from Vitulazio, Italy, a small town about 22 miles north of Naples, where they would play bocce in their vineyard every Sunday. When they came to America, the family started hosting tournaments in central New York and the Finger Lakes. Growing up in Saratoga Springs, Sharkey even had a bocce court in his backyard. Today, he is both a gold-medal-winning national tournament player, and the owner of the Bocce Broadcast Network (BBN), which livestreams games on YouTube.
“I just spent all my money on all this camera equipment and switchers and all this stuff that I had no idea how it worked at first,” Sharkey said. He lugged his gear to the Italian Community Center in Troy and recorded some league games that he then uploaded to YouTube. To Sharkey’s surprise, the videos quickly generated hundreds of views.
Encouraged, Sharkey began broadcasting tournaments from around the country, including the Las Vegas Bocce National Open Championship in Nevada, and the United States Bocce Federation National Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.
“There’s this whole kind of underground tournament circuit that the sport operates on, and until recently, nobody really was aware of it, outside of the players and their families,” Sharkey said.
The BBN made those tournaments accessible to a wider audience, allowing new generations of fans to become engrossed in the ancient sport.
“I see the excitement in people when they see the sport for the first time,” Sharkey said. “A lot of people played growing up in the backyard or wherever, but when you see the next level, the professional level of this sport, people get excited about it.”
While the network broadcasts bocce to the world, Sharkey is also working to increase the sport’s popularity here at home. In January, Saratoga Springs approved plans to build a $13,000 bocce court in Veteran’s Memorial Park. Sharkey’s father, who has built many of his own courts, reached out to the city to offer his assistance.
“Saratoga has the money to do nice things, so we’re hoping they’ll build some nice courts out there and maybe in the future we can have some leagues there,” Sharkey said. “We can introduce people to the sport, but then also introduce them to this competitive style if they want to take it further.”
Last year, local high schools piloted a unified bocce program run by Special Olympics New York. The league provided an opportunity for students with limitations in adaptive areas to play bocce. The pilot program was a success, and in October 2023, the BBN broadcast the unified championship tournament live from the Italian American Community Center in Albany.
As the sport grows in popularity both nationally and locally, Sharkey noted that bocce has survived for generations thanks to the hard work of countless volunteers. “There’s just this real generational passion for the sport that I think is really unique,” Sharkey said.
The BBN’s next broadcast will be the World Series of Bocce at the Toccolana Club in Rome, New York on July 18-21. The network is also scheduled to cover the ABC Open at the Palazzo di Bocce in Lake Orion, Michigan in September.
