by C. Jemal Horton and Cliff Mehrtens

Cornelius, Hough ready for youth football standouts

On Saturday, June 25, Hough High School will host two of the most respected youth football games in the country, and three local standouts will be on the field.

Davidson Day School’s Ronald Albritton and Mark Fields, and former Lake Norman Charter student Caleb White have been selected to participate in the first North Carolina vs. South Carolina Future Stars All-Star game for players who recently were in the seventh and eighth grades.

The seventh-grade game kicks off at 4 p.m., with the eighth-grade contest expected to start at 6:30 p.m.

Future Stars is one of the top all-star football games for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Recently, Team Kentucky took on Team Tennessee, while Team Florida took on Team Georgia in Atlanta. Team Alabama is slated to meet Team Mississippi this weekend.

The June 25 games at Hough will include the top 45 players from North Carolina against the same number of counterparts from South Carolina. The cost for the games is $10 for adults, $5 for youths ages 6 to 17, and admission is free for kids 5 and under.

Albritton, Fields and White were standout eighth-grade players this past season, with all three earning sports in the U.S. Army all-star game in San Antonio, Texas, in January. While Albritton and Fields are expected to play for the Davidson Day high-school squad this fall, White is slated to attend Hough.





Girls soccer squad wins State Games

The North Meck Mean Machine, a soccer team of 6- and 7-year-old girls, won gold medals in the Under-8 division at the North Carolina State Games on June 18 in Winston-Salem.

North Meck beat the Winston-Salem Lady Twins 6-1 in the championship game, after going 3-0 and scoring 19 goals in preliminary pool play. It was the second consecutive state title for the Mean Machine.

The team included Alexis Hanson, Jessica Brannon, Sydnie Parks, Sammie Johnson, Charley Teckenbrock, Daniela Evans and Gracyn Chaffee, and was coached by Chris Chaffee and Jim Brannon.

The North Carolina State Games are an annual Olympic-style amateur event that includes more than 13,000 athletes in 20 sports.

Lacrosse camp hits Cornelius

The second-annual NC Lacrosse Academy, which features some of the top players and coaches in the country, will be held June 28-30 at Bailey Road Park in Cornelius.

The NC Lacrosse Academy, provided by Top Tier Lacrosse, is for players at a variety of experience levels. For players who were in grades seven and lower this spring, the academy will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. For athletes who were in grades eight to 12, the academy will be from 7 to 10 p.m.

To register, visit www.t2lax.com.

Nationally recognized players such as Marcus Holman, Thomas Wood, Matthew Holman, Jimmy Dunster, Pat Foster, Duncan Hutchins and Greg McBride are expected to attend the academy. Each registered participant will receive an NC Lacrosse jersey.

Davidson Day to host youth lacrosse camps

Davidson Day will host a Rising Stars lacrosse camp July 11-14 for boys in grades 2 through 8, with an emphasis on skills development for beginners and younger players. The camp will last from 1 to 4 p.m. daily.

The school also will host an MVP Shooters Camp July 26-28 for attackmen and midfielders who want to improve their shooting. The camp is for boys in grades 7-12 and will last from 4 to 7 p.m. daily.

For registration information, visit www.davidsonday.org or call coach Trent Brown at 704-237-5229 or tbrown@davidsonday.org.

Davidson golfer flourishes at N.C. Amateur Championship

Richard Fountain, a rising sophomore at Davidson College, finished in a four-way tie for second place in the 51st North Carolina Amateur Golf Championship at Greensboro Country Club’s Farm Course on June 19.

Fountain shot a 3-under-par 69 in the final round and finished the tournament 11 strokes under par. His four-round score of 277 (69-71-68-69) was three strokes behind tournament winner Harold Varner, a rising senior at East Carolina.

Fountain is the reigning Southern Conference individual champion and an NCAA regional qualifier.

Free basketball training at Davidson Day

Davidson Day boys basketball coach Ron Johnson and his staff will host a series of free basketball workouts for rising 5th- through 8th-graders.

The workouts will be Thursday, June 30 (3:30 to 4:30 p.m.), Saturday, July 16 (9 to 10 a.m.), Monday, July 25  (5 to 6 p.m.) and Wednesday, July 27  (5 to 6 p.m.). For more information, call Johnson at 704-886-7340.

Davidson Day hosts football combine

Davidson Day School will be the site of the fourth-annual Lake Norman Youth Football Combine.

The event will be held July 18-21 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. For more information or to register, visit  www.lknyouthfootballcombine.com





Baldwin holds clinic at Birkdale

On June 16, former Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball player Mitchell Baldwin hosted a basketball clinic for athletes 10 to 12 years old at The Fitness Center at Birkdale in Huntersville.

Baldwin was assisted by East Mecklenburg junior varsity coach Andrew Vuncannon, Charlotte 49ers men’s graduate assistant Mike Cruz, and Baldwin’s brother, Desmon.

aldwin will hold his first basketball camp of the summer July 11-15 at Charlotte United Christian Academy. For more information, visit MitchellBaldwinBasketball.com.