By Gary Curreri

Highlands Christian Academy grad Andrew Smith, above, is named to the Class 1A all-state first team. Photo by Gary Curreri

Andrew Smith leaves a legacy at Highlands Christian Academy as he heads off to Liberty University in Lynch-burg, VA.

The Orlando Sentinel and SourceHoops.com recently named the 6’ 8”, 190 lb. guard/forward, who received a full basketball scholarship to Liberty University, to the Class 1A All-State team.

Also named to the first team were Ismaila Dauda, a Grandview Prep senior; Jean Prophete and Farad Cobb (who helped lead Summit Christian to the Class 1A state basketball title) and Jordan Warner, of Florida A and M.

Smith, one of the Knights’ captains and leaders, played basketball since fourth grade at Highlands Christian Academy, where he played elementary, junior high, junior varsity and three years of varsity.

 Deerfield’s Pellitteri headed to FSU for beach volleyball

Deerfield Beach’s Steph-anie Pellitteri will make history this year after signing a national letter of intent to play beach volleyball at Florida State University, the inaugural sport beginning in 2012.

Pellitteri will be joined by former South Lake High School teammates Jeassica McGregor (Groveland) and Aurora Newgard (Groveland) to make up FSU’s first-ever sand volleyball recruiting class. All three heralded recruits possess enormous accolades stemming from their amateur careers at the high school and club levels.

“I’m very excited about this first sand volleyball signing class,” said Florida State University Director of Volleyball and Indoor volleyball head coach Chris Poole. “Aurora, Jeassica and Stephanie are all three exceptional players, but, more importantly, they are exceptional young ladies. They are among the very best in the nation as beach players, and we are fortunate that they have made a commitment to Florida State University.

“They will be the pioneers for not only a new sport at FSU, but a new sport on the college level,” Poole added. “Our U.S.A. Women’s Beach team has won the last two Olympics, and the sport was among the most watched of each of those Olympic Games.”

Pellitteri was a standout performer at Pompano Beach High School, where she was the captain of her indoor volleyball squad. She began playing sand volleyball for Club Beach Dig in the summer of 2007 and continues to excel with the same team.

While playing for Club Beach Dig, Pellitteri has boasted some key victories over the years, including the 18-under Open Division East Coast Beach Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale last August.

Pellitteri also became a Junior 18-under Regional and National Dig the Beach champion. She has been invited to several camps at the sand volleyball Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, which are invitation only. Her two sisters, Kristina and Brittany, are also top junior players.

Well-accomplished beach volleyball player and coach Danalee Corso was recently named the head coach of the squad.

By Deron Peterson, Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach 

After some discussion and searching for the perfect spot, my wife and I laid down the blanket, a beach towel really, and settled in for the evening’s fireworks.  It was a typical 4th –    cookout, parade and now fireworks – all the things that make the 4th so special. As we sat there, Beth asked me what was my favorite 4th of July. We talked about the first time we took the kids to celebrate in Schroon Lake, the small town where I grew up. We talked about the time in Dallas where the fireworks were spectacular and a local radio station had coordinated the music perfectly. Of course, we also talked about the summer we met 19 years ago. In hindsight, this should have easily been my top 4th of July but, unfortunately, it wasn’t. Seeing the error of my ways, I asked if we could talk about our Top 3 Independence Days. It might surprise you to discover that we both settled on a 4th in the most unlikely of places. During our 18 years of marriage, Beth and I have lived more than half of them in Argentina. We both agreed that July 4th, 2008 was probably our favorite.

In 2008, we moved to the city of Corrientes in Northern Argentina. If you are at all familiar with Argentines, you know they absolutely love cookouts, “asados” as they call them, and will accept any excuse to have one. We decided to have our 4th of July Asado. We invited some other American missionaries living in Corrientes and an Argentine family, who had spent many years living in the U.S., over to the house. Samuel, my son, and I went into the city and spent way too much money on fireworks.

We were U.S. citizens, celebrating our country’s Independence Day while living in Argentina; citizens living in a foreign land. Beth and I spent almost 10 years living in Argentina, even earning “permanent residence” status, but at no time did we stop being U.S. citizens. We worked very hard to learn the language, to adapt to their culture and, for the most part, were very successful. In the end, however, we were still foreigners living in a foreign land.

Reminds me of Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  When we put our faith in Christ alone for salvation, we become citizens of Heaven. Sometimes, we allow ourselves to become so wrapped up in the things of this world that we forget who we belong to, and where our home really is.

For however long we are left on Earth, we need to remember our citizenship is in heaven, and that is where our loyalties should lie. Our lifestyles should be based solely on Biblical principles. We need to know our culture, history, language and understand those we live with, but don’t need to worry about fitting in. When we stop trying to fit in, we can live our lives to the fullest, without worry, as God intended.

Since our family, the Eller family, has lived in Deerfield Beach since 1923, I’ve often been asked to put in writing some of the history of the area, either experienced personally, or that I heard from my parents or grandparents. For some of you old timers who might be worried about certain old “scandals” don’t worry. I won’t be writing about those (smile).

— David Eller, Publisher

College life was good, but not always fair

In my last Historical Essay, I shared about my first day in college at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, where I played a guitar with my new friend, Bob Bidwell, learning rock and roll. I then went out and pigged out on green olives the first evening, making myself sick.

My first roommate in that dorm turned out to be a rather difficult fellow named Dale from New Jersey, who did not want to be there and was determined to make both our lives miserable. He succeeded for a few days before I was able to arrange to get a new roommate who was more compatible.

David Eller and Bob Hutson

His name was Bob Hutson from Tampa, Florida, a quiet type fellow engineering student whose family owned an orange grove and who could have been a twin of the movie star Tom Selleck. We soon found out that he could attract the ladies with his tall good looks and I would schmooze them along with personality and guitar. We made a good team and had a great time the rest of our five years together in college as engineering students, 2½ at Stetson University in DeLand and 2½ at University of Florida in Gainesville.

Since I was on a scholastic scholarship, however, I had to make exceptional grades to keep my scholarship. Fortunately, I had had a high school teacher named Joe Calis at Pompano High School who had given me some good advice. He told me, “David, when you get to college, it is very important for you to make really good grades your first semester. If you make mostly A’s your first semester, the professors the second semester will know you are a good student and will ‘carry you’ going forward, giving you the benefit of the doubt and blaming themselves if you’re not doing quite as well in their class. They will grade you up. Meanwhile, most of your freshmen classmates will be partying their first semester, many flunking out. So, their second semester, they will have to study all the time and you can ‘take over’ their first semester girl friends. It’s a win/win for you.”  He was right, and it worked. Life was good.

Wally Smith was another friend I made on our dorm floor. His nickname was “spider” because he was real skinny with long legs and could literally walk up the wall in the hallway by spreading his legs out to each wall and jerking each leg up in spurts until he could touch the ceiling with his hands. He once bragged that he could get us good seats on Saturday night in the normally crowded theatre in downtown DeLand. When we got there, he bought a small bag of popcorn and water which he mixed together and took it up to the balcony of the theatre, telling us to stay below. He then leaned over the balcony, over the best seats in the theatre, and made loud “throw up” noises as he scattered the wet popcorn on the people down below. They started jumping up and running to the rest rooms to remove what they assumed to be nasty stuff. Wally ran down and directed us college boys to assume the great seats, which had just emptied. We tried not to look at them or smile when they came out of the bathroom and went down to find new seats down front.

Life was good, but not always fair.

David Eller

By Gary Curreri

Shortstop Mia Veliz fields a grounder during a recent practice at Deerfield Beach Middle School. The Sharks are the No.1 one USSSA 10-Under girls softball team in the country. Photo by Gary Curreri

Deerfield Sharks girls softball coach Karla Antonio had a feeling her team would be good, just not this good.

The 10-Under girls team added another tournament title to their growing resumé as they hope to close out the season as the top-ranked USSSA (United States Specialty Sports Association) team in the country.

The Sharks won the Swamp Classic in Palm Beach Gardens recently to run their overall record to 64-3. The team is still 56-1 in the USSSA, the organization that hosts the World Series. Deerfield Beach has won 13 out of 15 tournaments since October.

Antonio said they started the team in 2009 and were playing out of a local high school before getting “kicked off their field.”

“So, for six months, we were homeless,” said Antonio, who also has an alliance with Nova Southeastern University softball coach Lesa Bonee, one of the team’s coaches. She has also allowed them to use their Davie facility.

“We were just going to different parks or we would play in the grass. We spoke to [Deerfield Beach Parks and Recreation Manager] Blaise Leone and asked, ‘if he could please, please, please let us practice at [Deerfield Beach] Middle School. He caved in last year and gave us a home and ever since, we have been doing really well.”

And how … The Sharks finished last season 45-17 and in the top half of the USSSA, taking 17th out of 34 teams at the Disney Wide World of Sports venue.

“This year, we hope to win it,” said Antonio, who has a couple of 11-year-olds on the team because their birthdates fell inside the eligibility rules. Players need to be born in 2000 or later. “Last year, we were mainly an Under-9 team, so we are a year more experienced.”

Shortstop Mia Veliz said when she started on the team in the beginning, she wasn’t sure how good they would be.

“I definitely did not think we would be this good,” Veliz said. “We got a lot of new girls and we improved in offense and defense and we’ve gotten better as a team.”

One of Antonio’s twin daughters agreed:

“It is awesome that we are No.1,” said Brooke Antonio, who, along with sister Brandi, is one of two of the key players on the squad. “It means we are the best team in the nation. I didn’t know we’d be this good! After a few tournaments and we didn’t lose, I knew we were pretty good. Some of them were tough and some were pretty easy.”

The team will open its quest for the USSSA World Series title when it plays in the USSSA State tournament in Vero Beach from July 8-10.

By Dave Montalbano

The Bucks Class of ’81 has been reminded of another milestone with the release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. X-Men: First Class featured the Cuban Missile crisis of Oct. ‘62, and now the third Transformers flick reveals the secret reason why President John F. Kennedy insisted that America land on the moon by the end of the decade.

Using planet Earth as the arena, the intergalactic feud between the good guys, Autobots, and the bad guys, Decepticons, continues. In the middle of this mess is Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeof) and U.S. Army Lt. Colonel William Lennox (Josh Duhamel), two characters who save the world in the previous two Transformers movies.

Sam and William are aligned with Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), who awaits the second coming of his mentor, Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy). Feeling snubbed by this reunion, the menacing Megatron (Hugo Weaving) plots mass destruction, beginning in Chicago.

Heeding my criticism about attention deficit disorder editing, this new Transformers movie is easy on the eyes, making the action sequences the most thrilling of the three movies. The characters are less cartoony and there is a sense of danger in the science fiction violence. The humor is situational, with many in-jokes for science fiction aficionados. On a six-story IMAX screen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is Saturday matinee popcorn-eating fun.

For those seeking similar entertainment minus the budget of a Spielberg production, Kurt Donath’s locally-made Lucky Streak and the Crime Fighters will be screened and discussed tomorrow at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 11:15 a.m. at the Florida Supercon (www.
floridasupercon.com). Lucky Streak (Darlene Dinges), teenage daughter of Amazing Grace (Rachel Galvin), joins crime fighters to foil Dr. Dragon’s plot for world domination. If one can get over theatrical acting, the dialog is quite funny. Anthony Espina’s musical score carries the film.

For those seeking to renew the roots of American culture, Boston’s on the Beach will present their 2nd Annual Red, White and Blues Festival on A1A off Atlantic Avenue, from July 1-4. Much like the late Don Cohen’s Riverwalk Blues Festival, Red, White and Blues will host a three-ring circus of musical performers, such as Joey Gilmore, Iko Iko and Matt “Guitar” Murphy.

Best known as Aretha Franklin’s henpecked husband from the two Blues Brothers movies, Murphy brings Blues authenticity to Delray Beach. Support this Blues legend this Saturday
at 4 p.m.

Independence Day is soon upon us. There will be fireworks that light up the night sky as we celebrate the many freedoms we are blessed with here in America that so many others across the globe are denied.

And yet, on the very same day that we will be celebrating our independence, I will be spending time with a number of people who have seen themselves become more and more dependent on others for their most basic of needs. Some of them are dependent on a dialysis machine to do some of the work that their kidneys used to do. Some are dependent on oxygen to ensure they get enough air to breathe. Some are dependent on others to change them, feed them, clean them and get them up into a chair. The truth is, we are all more dependent on others than we would like to believe.

And sometimes, even a temporary loss of some of our independence reminds us of that very fact. Take, for instance, one beautiful young woman who recently felt what it was like to lose a blessing many of us take for granted — the freedom to walk without pain. She suddenly had a lot of pain … it was in her foot, her heel, and it took away some of the joy in her life. Tennis, which she has an incredible passion for, became almost impossible to participate in. Dancing, which she has a knack for, became another activity she had to stop. And, as the pain got worse, she wound up in one of those special boots to take all the pressure off a specific area of her foot. On top of that, she needed crutches for a while. (Yes, I do have a bit of a ‘crutch’ on her)

So how do we help someone who is dealing with such a loss of independence, even though that loss may only be temporary? Well, in this case, I decided to use humor, albeit sick humor, humor that had her groaning and probably shaking her head, but humor that helped ease her burden. She was stuck in the house and spending a lot of time on the computer, so I sent her the following e-mail:

“I just BOOTED up my computer so let me see what I can come up with on the SPUR of the moment…”

“It’s Aboot time, its aboot space about two men in the strangest place…”

“Tell her aboot it…..”

“There’s a hole in the bootom of the sea…”

“Let me tell you all a story ‘boot a man named Jed…”

“One hundred bootles of beer on the wall, one hundred bootles of beer, take one down and pass it around, ninety-nine bootles of beer on the wall. (If you think I’m going to type out the whole song then you are more than a little bit wobbly)…”

“I’ve looked at life from boot sides now…”

“Wasn’t Abe Lincoln killed by a boot? John Wilkes Boot…”

“What do you call it when you kick a guy in the ear? A bootinear!”

“Everybody loves some booty sometime…”

“Booterflies are free and so are we…”

“Have you seen the greatest movie of all time? Mutiny on the Booty…”

“If you put your cell phone down on your foot, does that make you a phone boot?”

“Shake, shake, shake your booty…”

“If you come over to see me, are you making a booty call?”

“Oh what a bootiful morning, oh what a bootiful day … I got a bootiful feeling, everything’s going my way …”

“Have you heard the good news? If not, be sure and read the Good Boot…”

I hope some of you reading this will be able to come up with better ones to cheer up someone you know who is going through a loss of independence. In the meantime, hope you have a bootiful day…

Shalom My Friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a Hospice Chaplain and Member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains. He also provides Professional Pastoral Care Services to a number of health centers in Broward County.

By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach Middle School 8th grader Denise Spann (left) finishes second in both the 400-meter and 200-meter dashes at the Broward County Middle School Track and Field Championships at Cooper City High School recently. Photo by Gary Curreri

Denise Spann took the loss hard in the Broward County Middle School Track and Field Championships.

The Pompano Middle School 8th grader hoped to win the title in the girls’ 400-meter dash after placing second last year. She was the top seed in the event having qualified with a time of 59 seconds flat.

The Margate 14-year-old gave it her all; however, rival Shankeise Shivers, from William Dandy Middle School, was a little better and handed Spann her first defeat of the season in the event. Shivers, also an 8th grader, clocked a 57.30, while Spann was right behind at 58.87. It was one second off her career best AAU time of 57.77.

“I was just trying to come in and do my best, and my great opponent, Shankeise, had the better race today,” Spann said. “It is good to get the competition here because during the year you are used to winning a lot. This will make you work harder for it.”

Following the race, she dropped to her knees and sobbed and then had to prepare for her second race of the night – the 200-meter dash. Spann said she’s been running track since she was 9.

“It is fun when you win and you have to have a lot of dedication for the sport,” said Spann, who runs every day of the week with meets on the weekend. “Sometimes, you are going to lose. You learn how to be humble and not be cocky going into a race. If you go in cocky, you are not going to win.”

Spann placed second in the girls’ 400-meter dash with her second best time of the year at 58.87. She was third in the girls’ 200-meter dash (26.70) and was also a member of the fifth place 4×400 relay that clocked a time of 4:39.31.

Spann’s best finish in AAU track came at last year’s nationals for 13-year-olds when she placed seventh overall in the 800 as she clocked 2:21.69.

“On a scale from 1-10, it’s a 10 because I don’t do anything else, and I am really good at it,” Spann said. “I want to go to at least the Olympics.”

Deerfield Beach Middle School’s Cadeebra Calecote took fifth in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.98, and teammate Ariyan Herring was seventh in the girls’ 100-meter dash as she clocked a 13.61.

Deerfield Beach Middle School’s Luis Ayala won the boys shot-put championship with a toss of 45-03.00, while teammate Malik Flemming placed third in the boys 100-meter dash with a clocking of 11.75.

By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

With the Buck’s 30-year Class Reunion on the horizon on Aug. 19*, this columnist has been contemplating the crossroads of middle age. This is why a movie titled How to Live Forever takes on additional meaning.

Opening tomorrow, How to Live Forever is an upbeat documentary about sucking the marrow out of life, even when the opening segment features the Funeral Director’s Convention in Las Vegas.

The son of Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler, writer/director/host Mark Wexler, has created a quirky documentary about the meaning of life. From nursing homes in rural America to the peaceful gardens of Okinawa, Wexler discovers that the meaning of life is to enjoy life.

Wexler learns many life lessons, samples exotic low calorie food and is given a lesson in “Laughing Yoga,” which is worth the price of admission.

The Today Show’s Willard Scott is involved, Phyllis Diller delivers some zingers about senior citizen birth control and writer Ray Bradbury discusses the importance of passion. While this documentary wraps up on a somber note (dealing with Mark Wexler’s grief over the loss of his artist/mother), the closing credits conclude on an upbeat, optimistic note.

If How to Live Forever is a pep rally for life, then Buck is about quiet confidence needed to live an authentic life. Buck Brannaman served as a technical advisor to Robert Redford’s last western The Horse Whisperer. Brannaman is a traveling cowboy who “helps horses with people problems.”

Brannaman should know about “people problems.” A roping rodeo prodigy by age 8, Brannaman was also a victim of child abuse from his backstage drunken father.  Through self-discipline and hard work, Brannaman broke the circle of domestic violence and raised a well-adjusted daughter who is following in his footsteps.

The reviews for Buck have been mixed, divided between urban and rural critics. The rural reviews grasp the concept of cowboy stoicism, while urban critics find Buck superficial. Being conscious of one’s perspective is the key to understanding the true drama of this great documentary that focuses on the importance of the quiet moments of one’s authentic life.

*DBHS Reunion – Class of ‘81: Special rate of $79 available at Hilton Deerfield Beach (free shuttle service to and from Deer Creek Country Club). Call 1-800-624-3606, ask for group rate, make reservations before July 20, 2011)

If you are tired, can’t deal with the pressure any longer, and sick of the direction your life has taken, the Lord is speaking to you today.  Just picture the prodigal son who was at the very lowest depths of despair, yet somehow he heard the voice that told him “go home.”  When the son arrived, he found a father not ready to punish him, but to love him. A father not ready to reprimand him,  but to reinstate him. God is waiting for you today with outstretched arms of love, simply saying to you this day…”come home.”

2 THESSALONIANS 3:13

13 And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.

NIV

Don’t grow weary doing good, just do what God tells you to do. Do not waste time worrying about what someone else thinks, because if you do, eventually they will wear you down. When you are tired and worn out, you are more likely to slip and stumble, give in to temptation, and make mistakes. Do not grow weary or lose heart.

GALATIANS 6:9

9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

NLT

Are you tired of running, tired of hurting, and just plain tired of being tired? There is an answer!  There is a way!  God is calling you right now to simply “come home to Him.”  The problems don’t go away and the consequences of your actions don’t magically disappear. But by coming home, you start to deal with the issues, put them behind you and become restored into fellowship with your God who loves you. Then, slowly, you will see the joy, the peace and the happiness return to your life.  Do not ever quit, do not ever give up, and do not ever give in.  I am reminded of a story I once heard, and I want to share it with you.

THE DONKEY

One day, a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well.  The animal cried piteously for hours, as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. So, he invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.

Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down.  A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.  Each of our troubles is a stepping-stone. We can get out of the deepest well, just by not stopping, and by never giving up!  Shake it off and take a step up!  Always remember you WIN!

Pastor Tony Guadagnino

Christian Love Fellowship Church

Pastor Tony Guadagnino is the senior pastor of Christian Love Fellowship Church.

By Gary Curreri

Pompano’s Lara Annunziata skates in Sunshine State Games. Photo by Gary Curreri

Three local ice skaters fared well in the recent Sunshine State Games figure skating competition at the Saveology.com Ice Plex in Coral Springs.

Lighthouse Point’s Netanya Kaufman and Pompano Beach’s Jhazmin Calderon and Lara Annunziata were among the record number of 400 skaters from around the state who took part in the recent competition.

“Skating is fun,” said Annunziata, 8, who has been skating for three years. The North Andrews Elementary 2nd grader won the Preliminary Spins and placed fourth in the Preliminary Compulsory Moves Group. She also took third in the Pre-Preliminary Girls Free Skate.

“It is hard to be in a competition,” Annunziata added. “It is exciting to be on the ice and I like when the crowd cheers for me. It is important to win a medal and it shows that I worked hard. I want to be in the Olympics.”

Kaufman, 12, a North Broward Prep 6th grader, has been skating for the past four years. She also plays tennis, but likes skating more.

“You learn to be good in front of judges and an audience,” Kaufman said. “You learn what you have to work on. If you didn’t do good on an element, you have to go back and work on it.”

Kaufman admits that practicing can be hard. It helps her prepare for the competition, however.

“I fall a lot in practice and you keep practicing it and hope you land it in the competition,” said Kaufman, who finished second in the Pre-Bronze Solo Dance. “It’s a good feeling when you think you are going to mess up in a routine and then you do well.”

Kaufman said she tries to focus on the next element of her routine and blocks everything else out.

“You can’t think if
the people are clapping,” Kaufman said. “I am hoping to be more confident in front of the judges and the audience. It doesn’t matter if I win. It is more important to know that you did well and you tried your best. It is really cool if I win a medal. I want to go to the Olympics.”

Calderon, 14, a Coral Springs Charter School 8th grader, earned two silvers (Free Style Open Juvenile and Compulsory Open Juvenile), and a bronze (Intermediate Jumps). She also placed fourth in the (Intermediate Spins).

She practices 14 hours a week on the ice and eight hours off the ice.

“My goals are to compete in the regionals this year for intermediate and then qualify for the junior nationals,” Calderon said. “I also have to finish all my moves and compete in a senior level in the future. I want to go as far as the Olympics.”

Calderon also competed in the recent South Florida Challenger Figure Skating competition where she won four medals, including two gold, a silver and a bronze medal and at the Florida Open where she won a gold and silver medal.