Displaying items by tag: Saratoga Gymnastics Team

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga High School’s varsity gymnast Sophia Damiano took home 1st place her first time competing in all four events since recovering from a sprained ankle.

In the middle of the Blue Streaks’ exciting season, Damiano took a tumble, off the mat, which kept her from competing in all four events for three weeks.

As she was hurrying down the end of the driveway to make it to school on time, she slipped on the ice coming down on her ankle.

“I heard it pop. I realized (her ankle was sprained) right then and there,” said Damiano. “It was instant pain.”

Upon having x-rays to ensure that it was nothing more than a sprain, the doctors pointed out that she had broken her ankle about a month prior. Damiano had persevered through that undetected ankle break but was now limited in competing.

The all-around contains all four of the major girls’ gymnastics events; vault, bars, beam and Damiano’s personal favorite, floor. Her vault routine was the final routine to get back on Damiano’s schedule, as the vault prioritized the most ankle stability. 

“I really hate falling, but it teaches me to get back up,” said Damiano.

Get back up she did, with the guidance of Coach Deb Smarrow, Damiano religiously worked to get back up to speed in preparation for her competitions. She iced her ankle eight times a day, completed exercise such as toe raises and “ABCS.” After a week she began icing and heating and prepping her ankle for competition with compression braces and tape.

“She (Smarrow) was just very helpful with getting me through it. I really appreciated it – she wanted it (the ankle) to heal just as quick as I wanted it to.”

Damiano not only wanted to get back to the mat for herself, but for her teammates.

“Everyone on my team especially inspires me,” said Damiano. “It’s a team sport at the high school. So, they inspire me to do my best to help the team. “

Winning the gold medal for the team with her score of 36.475 was not the only highlight of the night. Damiano returned without hindrance to the sport that has her whole heart. The love for the sport and the joy it brings is always a reward for Damiano.

“I love being able to show off what I can do because gymnastics is a very hard sport,” said Damiano. “I love just being able to go out there, especially on floor and just show what I can do and really put my personality into it.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Five-time Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci visited the Saratoga Regional YMCA, Wilton Branch to mentor the Saratoga Springs High School gymnastics team. Comaneci was in the region to announce her role as an honorary captain to the inaugural Aurora Games. The introductory event will take place on August 20 in Albany.

Comaneci was greeted by a chorus of cheers coming from the Saratoga Springs High School gymnastics team. She shared with the bright-eyed boys and girls her ongoing passion and gratitude of the sport that made her who she is today both personally and professionally.

“Not too many women’s sports were available in the late sixties. My life shaped because of that,” said Comaneci. “In a way, I don’t think anything else helps you with discipline and responsibilities as sports does.”

Among the Saratoga High School gymnasts was 16-year old Ava Dallas, who holds the sectional record in vault. Dallas, who has never trained with a notable Olympian before today—let alone her idol, demonstrated her vault routine for Comaneci. “I was probably more nervous than at a meet,” said Dallas.

Deb Smarrow, who has coached the Saratoga High School gymnastics team for 13 seasons helped organize this memorable event. Comaneci is the most notable gymnast to speak to these eager gymnasts and coach.

“She’s an idol of mine,” said Smarrow. “I watched her in the ‘76 Olympics when I was six years old.”

The Saratoga High School gymnastics team is striving for their 13th consecutive title. “To have this kind of inspiration before we go into our sectional play in February is unbelievable,” expressed Smarrow.

As a token of gratitude, Comaneci was awarded honorary Saratoga High School varsity letters by Coach Smarrow and her team.

“I’m hoping that the biggest take away is inspiration and validation of their passion,” said Smarrow. “And that they’re not wasting their time, and that this does lead somewhere else. And that it leads to bigger things.”

Comaneci would like to keep the spirit of gymnastics alive and reminded the team to “Keep doing what you love, gymnastics is fun!"

[Photos provided]

Saratoga Gymnastics Hosts All-Around Meet
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs High School gymnastics hosted their annual All-Around Meet on Thursday, Feb. 8 at the Wilton YMCA. Gymnasts from Bethlehem, Shaker and Guilderland also competed in the event. The gymnasts were broken into two groups: (1) gymnasts who had scored greater than 29.0 allaround during the competition season; and (2) gymnasts who had scored less than 29.0 all-around during the competition season. With respect to the higher scoring group, Saratoga took home the top three places led by all-around winner Ava Dallas with a score of 37.1, followed by Sophia Damiano who scored 36.7. Laura Eberlein was third with an allaround score of 34.925. Rounding out the top five were Rachel Drislane (Guilderland) with a score of 34.55 and Kate Dellaratta (Saratoga) with a score of 33.0. Top finishers in the under 29.0 scoring group were: Domenica Hotaling (Shaker) with an all-around score of 27.75, Anna Green (Bethlehem) – 27.55, Savanna Schalberg (Saratoga) – 26.85, Courtney Rafferty (Guilderland) – 26.625 and Kate Sager (Shaker) – 26.50.

Saratoga Blue Streaks Hockey
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Blue Streaks Varsity hockey team played the Guilderland/
Mohonasen/Scotia-Glenville Storm in a league game at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the Weibel Avenue Ice Rink. Saratoga won the game 3-0 with goalie Brad Hipsley recording his third league shut out. Will Detora scored the first goal in the first period with an assist from Sam Jacob; Joe Amodio scored goal two in the first period with assists from Will Detora and Xavier Clark; the final goal was scored in the second period by Will Detora again, with an assist from Sam Jacob. Blue Streaks Goalie Hipsley had 13 saves and Daniel Cooper, from the opposing team, had 45 saves.

Saratoga Regional YMCA Youth Basketball League
ROTARY JUNIOR DIVISION: Saratoga Financial Services 31 - Mexican Connection Restaurant 24 Saratoga Financial had an early lead and took a 31 to 24 victory over Mexican Connection. The winners got eight points apiece from Ryan Boyle, Alex Cutler and Carter Wood while teammate Eric Eckard had two points. Ethan Dinsmore had a game high 10 points in the loss Saratoga PBA 37 -
PJ BAR-B-QSA 18 PBA took a 13-point lead into the second half and never looked back in their 37 to 18 win over a depleted PJ’s BAR-B-QSA. Steve Bebee had 11 points, Emylyn Tineo added another nine points in the victory. PJ’s had only six players because of injuries but they never
gave up, and were led by Jason Bell’s eight points along with five points from Antonio Calderon. SENIOR DIVISION: Saratoga Firefighters 54 - Berkshire Hathaway Blake, Realtors 49 The Firefighters were behind until the last four minutes of the game. They used their “never say never” attitude to pull off a 54 to 49 victory over Berkshire Hathaway Blake Realtors. Firefighters had three players scoring in double figures, led by Noah Rourke with 17 points, Eyner Tineo with 15 points and Robert Orr had 10 points. Rourke hit nine out of nine free throws in the last 90 seconds to seal the win. The Realtors battled right down to the final horn got a game high 19 points from Ian Fisk while teammates Seth Koval and Isaiah Barnes had 13 and two points respectively. Village Photo 51 - Cudney’s Launderers 42 This was also a game that was close until a technical foul in the last two minutes gave Village Photo an eight point lead which helped them get the nine point win over Cudney’s Launderers. Village Photo now goes into the final game of the season leading the division. Village Photo spread the scoring around and were led by Jose Garcia, Donald Steves and Pat Deschaine each scoring 14 points. Cudney’s, as always, fought to the final second, Hunter Regels and Elias Whol each had 13 points and Will Sambrook added four points, Coleman Fignar and Nate Scott scored four and three points each.