Author: Nick Lilja

A year older and a year wiser may be the theme for the Gaston Greyhounds. The 2009-2010 season is looking up for a team that only won two games last season. The program is the most popular it has been […]

Doug Hofmeister, head coach at Forest Grove high school describes his team of four seniors, six juniors and three sophomores succinctly. “We’re awfully young and inexperienced,” he said. The team returns just 57 points and 53 rebounds from last year […]

In Banks, first-year head coach Pat Marlia is about change. “We are trying to make our mark as a defensive team’” Malia said. “We are working on it in practice every day. It’s a big change for the kids to […]

They were nervous. Rightfully so. It’s 2006. The newest members of the Forest Grove varsity soccer team were 14. There were nine of them. All swallowing loudly, biting their nails and re-wrapping their ponytails every five minutes. They were 90 […]

The Gaston Greyhound players aren’t your typical bunch. Greyhound senior Marcos Zamora plays on a team so small that, at times during practice, one coach has to play quarterback and another coach play wide receiver. At a field so dark, […]

Jim Murray, former Los Angeles Times writer, is my inspiration. He has been since my 13th column. And trust me, that column was as unlucky as the number it represented. Jim cleaned my slate. Set me straight. Taught me how […]

On the football field, reacting is the name of the game. Players caught thinking, caught choosing, are toast. Really, it’s not so different than it is in everyday life. Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti once said (apologies for some slight paraphrasing): […]

Humor is often cited as a response to a situation of unexpectedness. Humor is truly the absence of normality. Take five minutes and watch the latest episode of Family Guy. It’s a man stepping lightly over thin ice, only to […]

This just in: The Banks football team likes to score. A lot. It’s in their eyes. In the tone of their voice when they speak. There must be something in the water. The Braves beat the North Marion Huskies, 42-14, […]

The big hand on a clock behind a steel cage ticks toward 3:20 p.m. Nine girls, all in black socks, gather just inside the door at Mista Kaulia’s Gym at Gaston High School. Maddy Anderson, the varsity volleyball coach at […]