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Park Ridge Flash retrospective
(by Erin Patricia Griffiths - August 19, 2008)
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Photo Courtesy Of Bob Howell
Tom McDermott and Greg Mathis started the Park Ridge Flash in the fall of 2000, never anticipating the team would stay together for eight years. The team is pictured in the spring of 2001 when the players were in fourth grade. Seven of the players have stayed together on the team for all eight seasons. Pictured front row from left: Billy Moylan, Kevin Herget, Max Brewer, Trace McDermott, Paul Albanese, Chris Entrup. Second row: Matt Moreno, Chris Picyk, John Duffy, Ryan Howell, Matt Walsh, Kyle Mathis, Dane McDermott. Third row: Coaches Tom McDermott, Greg Mathis, Brian Walsh, Bob Howell, John Picyk.
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On the fields at Sulak Lane, in the setting sun of the summer sky, a team joins together in the dugout to set the tone for the game. Huddled together, with hands joined in a symbol of unity, they yell, “One, two, three, Flash!” And with that, the team, which has played together for eight years, runs onto the field to begin another game.
Greg Mathis and Tom McDermott, fondly nicknamed “Father Flash” established the Park Ridge Flash in the fall of 2000. But the two men never anticipated that the team would stay together for eight years. Bob Howell, a Flash Coach since its inception, says of the initial desire to begin the team, “I think it’s wanting to spend time with your son. And feeling that we have a skill that we can share with others, giving back to the community.”
Howell and McDermott have worked with the team, specifically seven of the players who have played together since its formation, just hoping that each year as one summer season ended the team would have the opportunity to play another year together. And each year as the summer arrives, this team of Park Ridge students, many of whom are now entering their senior year in high school, come back for another season, despite having the opportunity to participate with other travel and showcase teams.
“I just notice, looking from afar, that when they get back together every summer, after playing at different high schools, it’s just like they snap back into the routine. It’s like they were never apart,” said Howell.
The 10 Park Ridge players on the Flash attend four different high schools during the year, including Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco Preparatory, St. Joseph’s Regional, and Park Ridge High School. According to Coach McDermott, despite being apart for team sports during the year, the boys return with the same comradeship they have had since they were young. “For a small town we have a lot of good players. We are a good team and it is just fun hanging out with your friends,” said Trace McDermott, Coach Tom McDermott’s son.
When talking about their desire to return each year to the Flash, Kevin Herget, Ryan Howell and Trace McDermott, all of whom will be seniors in high school this year, agree that friends, fun, and coaching that cannot be matched all contribute to their decision to return. “Playing for the Flash for the last couple years, I think they [Flash coaches] really get to know our personality and more about us that is just better to communicate with and play with,” said Ryan Howell.
“They have coached us in every single sport. They know our strengths, weaknesses, they know everything, pretty much, about us,” added Kevin Herget. “They know how we should be playing. They know how the best we can play is.”
But the coaches have ensured that although there is much fun to be had with the team, there is a great deal of work and challenge involved each year. “Going back to when they were in fourth grade, because this group was athletically exceptional, the bar was always raised,” said Coach Howell. “So if you wanted to play with your friends, you had to keep at a certain level to be out there with them,” he continued.
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Photo Courtesy Of Maria Moreno
The Flash welcomed students from Emerson, River Edge, and Woodcliff Lake to their team for the 2008 summer league, sponsored by American Legion Post 153 of Park Ridge. Pictured front row from left: Trace McDermott, Nick Ramagli, Dane McDermott, Steve Montalto, Kevin Herget, Ryan Mino, David Wood, Paul Albanese. Back Row: Coach Bob Howell, Coach Steve Ramagli, Blake Crouch, Coach Doug Mino, Brian Crimmins, Jim Aramanda, Matt Moreno, Coach Howie Brody, Manger Tom McDermott, Chris Picyk, Joe Antenucci, Marc Sommerhalter, Royal Howell. Not pictured: Mike Griffin, John Maughan.
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Each year, as the team raised the bar, it has been met with new challenges. In their second season as a team, with the players competing as 9-year-old fifth grade students against 10-year-old teams, the Flash won the Hackensack Memorial Day Tournament 8-3. “We knew we had something good,” said Coach McDermott. “I think we recognized early what we had and we just wanted to enhance it as much as we could.”
The coaches did enhance the team, and dedicated their time to the boys, sacrificing work to be there for the Flash. “Tom [McDermott] has been a great teacher. He has really been the one spearheading the teaching and the training,” said Coach Howell.
The dedication of the coaches is recognized and appreciated by the team. “They are always there, they always show up,” said Herget. “It shows a lot that they want to be there. They don’t have to volunteer their time to do this. They could do whatever they want. It shows a lot that they are there all the time,” continued Herget.
But it hasn’t been all work and no play for the coaches, who have enjoyed the opportunity to work with the players as fathers and coaches and see their growth throughout the years. “We all kind of grew up with the experience,” said Howell. “It’s been a real fun ride for the parents as well as the kids.”
The successes have only continued as the years passed, with the team competing as semi-finalists in a league that traveled to SUNY College in Oneonta, N.Y. for a fourth place finish in the Cooperstown World Baseball Tournament in 2004, then reaching the New Jersey State Finals in the Sandy Koufax Tournament in 2005. In 2006, the Flash won the Triple Crown National Qualifier Tournament in North Branford, Conn. The following year the team placed first in the Central Bergen Division of the Connie Mack League 16 and under, playing in an 18 and under league.
The team’s latest challenge of competing in the American Legion League was undertaken with immense enthusiasm, dedication, and a great deal of success, despite competing at a higher level, facing teams composed of players 19 and under, with most of the Flash players still in high school. The team welcomed students from Emerson, River Edge, and Woodcliff Lake to their team for the summer league, sponsored by American Legion Post 153 of Park Ridge. They competed in the district finals in Union, losing 11-10 to Flemington to end their season. “I think they all know they left one on the table that they really should have won. But they will all probably learn from it,” said Coach McDermott.
Even with the disappointment of the loss, the team members continue to uphold their positive attitudes and look forward to every opportunity they have to play. “If you are lucky you are going to have 500 competitions in your life. If you win 251 of them, you are doing great, you are ahead of the game,” said Coach McDermott. “Because you are going to lose. That is life. You have to learn to cope with both ends of it,” he continued.
Despite the loss that ended their season, the team finished as district semi-finalists, and even beat Lyndhurst, the team that won that state championship, during the regular season. “I always find that every season, particularly this one when we lost that game to Flemington, what hurts more than the loss itself and getting knocked out of the playoffs, is the realization that it’s over,” said Howell.
While the 2008 season is now over, the Park Ridge Flash look forward to new challenges in the summer of 2009. Just as they’ve hoped at the end of each season for the last eight years, Father Flash and Coach Howell will hope that they can play together just one more time, one more year, one more inning in a nine-year game.
Erin Patricia Griffiths' e-mail address is GriffithsE@northjersey.com.
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