Athletes still play games in the summer

Out of Bounds: Kristen Leigh Porter

July 16, 2005

Summer doesn't mean a break from sports for area athletes.

It's not just the Little Leaguers playing in the summer sun. Or the high school athletes pounding the pavement or hitting the weight room in anticipation of the start of fall practice.

Carmel's Bethany Akerhielm and Cathedral graduate Danita Merlau recently earned all-tournament team honors in the girls 18 Open division of the USA Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their Asics Munciana Samurai squad was the runner-up in the club volleyball circuit's crowning event.

Next up is preparing for college competition, with Akerhielm going to the University of Dayton and Merlau attending Purdue University.

Some college-bound athletes, such as former Hamilton Heights standout Dustin Sherer, already have been training. The University of Wisconsin freshman quarterback headed to Madison, Wis., on June 10 and has been in an apartment with other members of his recruiting class.

Before he came back to train with the North team for today's North-South All-Star Classic at North Central High School, Sherer lifted weights with his new team every day and threw with receivers.

The area's possible future Olympians also are keeping busy.

Noblesville diver David Boudia will represent the United States in the FINA World Championships from Sunday through July 24 in Montreal. Boudia, who will be a junior, will compete on the 10-meter platform.

Carmel graduate Cameron Deer will be competing in the junior portion of the Visa Championships, the national championships for gymnastics, Aug. 10-13 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Deer would like the opportunity to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and is putting off college until he knows all of his options.

Junior international elite gymnasts, including McCordsville's Samantha Peszek (DeVeau's School of Gymnastics in Fishers) and Pittsboro's Bridget Sloan (Sharp's Gymnastics Academy in Indianapolis), also qualified.

Still more are making a living at their game, such as Alan Schulte, head pro at The Hawthorns Golf and Country Club in Fishers. Schulte posted a come-from-behind victory Thursday at the 90th Indiana Open Championship at Stonehenge Golf Club in Warsaw, Ind.

One other random thought:

It will be funny to see how many confused volleyball spectators there will be when the season begins in mid-August. It will be perplexing to some that one player will be wearing a different-colored jersey and running on and off the court, never making it to the front court.

What they will be seeing is the libero player in action for the first time at the prep level in Indiana.

Once again, Indiana volleyball is ahead of the curve, just as it was in implementing rally scoring before the National Federation of State High School Associations mandated it. It is something members of the volleyball community who follow the club, college and international scene have known about for several years.