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Plenty going on this weekend, it's just not traditional
Fri, Feb 24, 2006
 With most of the local prep basketball teams done for the season or on the road this weekend, and a – let's face it – less-than-exciting Winter Olympics, you may think there's nothing in the sports world worth watching.
But you'd be wrong. Instead of the usual weekend sports routine, try something unique, and with a little local flavor, too. There's plenty going on this weekend in the coastal Georgia area — it just may not be what you're used to.Just up the road in Darien at 10 a.m. Saturday is the Georgia Girls Wrestling State Championships at McIntosh County Academy. Kent Bailo, the founder and director of the United States Girls Wrestling Association, started the national organization in 1998. Last year's national tournament had 622 participants and was the largest girl's wrestling event in the world. Two years ago, women's wrestling was, for the first time, part of the Summer Olympics.Currently, Bailo said, Texas and Hawaii are the only state high school athletic associations with sanctioned girls wrestling, but Washington state and California are expected to follow suit next year.The sport's profile is increasing, and the interest is there. Bailo is now making sure girls have the same opportunities to compete on their own teams as boys would."I'm kind of a big believer that interest follows opportunity, not the other way around," Bailo said.Wrestling is a sport that requires and teaches strategy, self-discipline and self-defense. Very helpful lessons, Bailo said, so if they're important for high school boys to learn, shouldn't they be important and available for high school girls, as well?I couldn't agree more. His efforts to spread the opportunity for girls to have the same chance in the sport is a cause worth applauding.Saturday in Darien is your chance to see some very good athletes compete in a challenging and rewarding sport. Enjoy baseball? Well, tough. The Braves don't have their first spring training exhibition until March 2 and Glynn Academy and Brunswick High aren't playing this weekend.But if you like the strategy and planning involved with baseball, you may want to consider this game: chess.Jekyll Island is hosting a chess tournament for elementary, middle and high school students Saturday at the convention center. It starts at 10 a.m. Top team winners will get to move on to the state tournament in Atlanta March 11. To put it in the nicest way, I'm a novice when it comes to chess. But in talking with Gary Cumby, who's a chess coach at Frederica Academy, I've learned that this game is chock-full of strategy and thinking ahead. Cumby said the game also helps kids in school."Basically, it helps them in logical thinking and making decisions," Cumby said. One of the first-graders participating in Saturday's tournament is Davis Kellogg, who's 6 years old. And he's in algebra. Algebra? Already? Folks, I don't claim to be a math star — that ship sailed away from the port years ago. But I was pretty proud when I took algebra in the eighth grade. And Davis is in first. When Cumby met Davis, he was playing chess in kindergarten. "I could see that he had talent, and he's really blossomed this year," Cumby said.He's 6 years old and playing chess. At that age, I was playing with toy dinosaurs.
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