Past Issues of the Putnam Town Crier
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Woodstock Academy softball coach Jay Gerum remembered the first time he saw Hannah Burgess play.
It was in Little League about a decade ago.
“I was trying to watch the Little Leagues and trying to figure out what they were doing and get an idea. No one was really playing travel ball around here much and some of the things that you have to do to get really good at softball weren’t happening around here,” Gerum said.
Gerum got into a conversation with Hannah’s father, Paul, about slap hitting.
It’s one of Gerum’s passions about the game, but not every player or parent is amicable toward it.
“It’s a different type of hitting and most dads want their kids to swing the bat right-handed and be a power hitter,” Gerum said.
Judging by what happened this past week at Woodstock Academy, slap hitting should be taken a little more seriously.
Hannah Burgess used that talent to catch the eye of college coaches and Dec. 13, in a dream come true moment for the Centaurs All-State shortstop, she signed a Letter of Commitment to play Division I softball for Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.
“It felt amazing. I’ve been working toward this for the past four years and it’s always been my dream to play Division I softball. It’s just so exciting,” Burgess said.
What caught Gerum’s eye about Hannah Burgess was her athleticism and both her and her father’s willingness to experiment.
“Both Hannah and Paul were willing to try it and our friendship grew from there,” Gerum said.
Gerum recommended travel teams and hitting coaches.
Hannah Burgess played for the Rhode Island Thunder travel team in winter ball where she piqued the interest of Neil Swanchak who coaches the Connecticut Charmers Gold travel team.
She played second base and outfield for the Charmers, traveled to tournaments across the country and began to get collegiate offers.
“You need to understand that if you want to play Division I, you have to sacrifice a lot of things,” Swanchak said. “You have to dedicate yourself to your academics. You have to be willing to give up certain things, maybe your friends, maybe going to the beach. Nobody sacrificed more than Hannah did. This is her dream.”
Colgate University was the first school where she attended a softball clinic and she never forgot it.
“I love the atmosphere of the team and I love (head coach) Marissa (Lamison-Myers) and (assistant coach) Amanda (Fazio), they are really great coaches,” Burgess said of the choice.
She becomes the second player from the Centaurs softball program in the last three years to get a chance to play Division I softball.
Rylee Hehir plays for St. Bonaventure.
“We’re not in a very populated area and you don’t have as many kids willing to put the time and the money and make the sacrifices necessary to play D-I,” Woodstock Academy softball coach Jay Gerum said.
“For us to have two in three years — they played on the same team together — it’s a testament to their hard work. It’s a great choice for Hannah.”
Burgess hit .551 with 23 RBIs and 22 stolen bases for the Centaurs last season.
Now, she gets to look forward to a senior softball season without the pressure of trying to impress at the next level.
“It’s definitely a relief, but now it’s all about getting ready to play at the next level. I have to keep putting in the same hard work, getting stronger, getting faster,” Burgess said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
.
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The Woodstock Academy indoor track team didn’t hunker down for the holidays.
The boys’ and girls’ teams were in action the past two weekends at the Coast Guard Academy in New London.
The Eastern Connecticut Conference held a pair of invitational meets begin the process of getting athletes qualified for state competition.
Centaurs senior Ivy Gelhaus and junior Julia Theriaque performed well on both weekends, flipping places in their events.
Gelhaus finished second in the 600-meter on Dec. 22 with a 1:47.4 time which easily qualified her for state competition and also beat everyone else in attendance by nearly five seconds.
The competition was a bit stiffer last Saturday and Gelhaus didn’t equal her time of the week before. She placed second in 1:50.76.
Theriaque finished second in the high jump, clearing the bar at her personal best of 4-feet, 10-inches on Dec. 22. She equaled that this past Saturday and placed first on a tie breaker.
Pole vaulter Sydney Couture took third when she cleared the bar at 5-feet-6 last Saturday and Iris Bazinet also took home a bronze finish in the 1,600-meter which she finished in 6:19.
On the boys’ side, Jackson Dias and Dylan Ponkala finished tied for first in the high jump at a height of 5-feet 2-inches. Dias won the tiebreaker.
Senior Ken Birlin continues his quest to qualify for state competition and is now just five-tenths of a second off in the 10000-meter. He finished second this past Saturday in a time of 2:52.7.
“Nearly all of our athletes set a new personal record in their events as we continue to grow,” Welch said of the past two weeks of competition. “Our international students were missed as they are home on break, attendance is thinner, and we’re lacking some talent in sprints and throws.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
.
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Legal Notice
Town of Pomfret
Planning & Zoning
Commission
At the December 19, 2018, meeting of the Pomfret Planning & Zoning Commission, the following legal actions were taken:
1. Jonathan Ricciardelli, 469 Taft Pond Road, text amendment regarding a dog boarding and training facility; APPROVED with an effective date of January 7, 2019
2. Allison Britt for Garden Gate Florist, LLC, 30 Putnam Road, special permit application for a florist/retail shop; APPROVED with conditions.
Dated at Pomfret,Connecticut
December 24, 2018
Lynn L. Krajewski,
Clerk
Planning & Zoning
Commission
Jan. 2, 2019
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Legal Notice
Town of Putnam
PUTNAM WPCA
WATER/SEWER
COLLECTIONS
The January 20 18 billing of water and/or sewer taxes for the Town of Putnam WPCA is due and payable January 1, 2019, with the Town Revenue Collector.
Payments made after February 1, 2019, are delinquent and will be subject to an interest charge for both water and sewer at 1.5 percent per month or $2.00 minimum whichever is higher, according to Connecticut State Statute Sec. 12-146.
Mail must be postmarked no later than February, 1, 2019, to avoid interest charges.
On line payments can be made at the Town of Putnam website- www.putnamct.us after January, 1, 2019.
OFFICE HOURS:
Monday through Wednesday, 8:30 AM -4:30 PM Thursday 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Closed Jan. 21, 2019
Dec. 27, 2018
Jan. 3, 2019
Jan. 31, 2019
Legal Notice
Tax Collector’s
Office
Town & Fire District
of Pomfret
Legal Notice is hereby given to the taxpayers of the Town and Fire District of Pomfret that the Supplemental Motor Vehicle and Second Installment of Real Estate and Personal Property tax bills on the Grand List of October 1, 2017, are DUE AND PAYABLE January 1, 2019. The last day to pay without penalty is February 1, 2019. Per State Statute, interest will be charged at 18% annually (1.5% per month), with a minimum charge of $2.00 per each entity (Town and
Fire are separate entities) on all delinquent payments postmarked February 2, 2019, or later.
Make all checks payable to Pomfret Tax Collector and mail to: Pomfret Tax Collector, 5 Haven Road, Pomfret Center, CT 06259. If a receipt is desired, please enclose a stamped, self- addressed envelope. For more information or to pay online, go to www.pomfretct.gov.
Tax Office Hours are: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Wednesday
8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Town Hall is closed on Fridays. If you have any questions, please call 860-974-0394. The Town Hall will be closed January 21, 2019.
Pamela N. Gaumond,
CCMC Tax Collector
Town & Fire District of Pomfret
Dec. 27, 2018
Jan. 3, 2019
Jan. 24, 2019
Legal Notice
Town of Putnam
Putnam Special
Services District
East Putnam Fire
District
West Putnam District
COLLECTOR
OF REVENUE
(860) 963-6800
The second installment of taxes, due to the Town of Putnam, Special Services District, East Putnam Fire District, and West Putnam District on the Grand List of October 1, 2017, is due and payable on January 1, 2019 through February 1, 2019.
Payments postmarked after February 1, 2019, will be subject to an interest charge of 3 percent (1.5 percent per month) or $2 minimum per Town and $2.00 minimum per District (where applicable), whichever is higher, according to Connecticut State Statute, Sec. 12-146.
Mail must be postmarked no later than February 1, 2019, to avoid interest charges. Current bills may be paid online at www.putnamct.us
Supplemental Motor Vehicle bills will be due in full during January. Motor Vehicle bills are for vehicles registered between October 2, 2017, and July 31, 2018.
If anyone is having financial problems, please contact our office anytime. We will be glad to work with you on a payment arrangement.
Have a happy and healthy holiday season.
Office hours:
8:30 am- 4:30 PM Monday through Wednesday
8 am - 6 PM Thursday
8 am-1 PM Friday
Closed Jan. 21, 2019.
Dec. 27, 2018
Jan. 3, 2019
Jan. 31, 2019
.
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Directions
Luis Miranda takes direction from an instructor of “The Program” before beginning a jumping jack drill. Photo by Marc Allard.
Woodstock Academy junior Luis Miranda was doing everything that was being dictated by instructors of “The Program” correctly.
But he was still catching flak for his performance during the opening drills.
That’s because his fellow Woodstock Academy student-athletes on either side of him were not following instructions.
“Even if I’m doing my job right, it doesn’t matter if someone to my right or left is not doing theirs. It means we’re all not doing our job right. Being called out for that made me realize I had to communicate with the people around me to make everybody better,” Miranda said.
About 40 Woodstock Academy student-athletes took part in The Program last week.
“It’s a team-building and leadership development company with one single mission; to develop better leaders and create a more cohesive team. We’re not a strength and conditioning company, just strictly leadership development,” said part owner and Program instructor Sam Cila.
The company was founded by Eric Kapitulik of Thompson and consists, for the most part, of former military personnel, most with special operations backgrounds and each with their own story to tell.
Kapitulik was a survivor of a helicopter incident in training off the coast of California in 1999 when the copter tumbled off the Pecos, a Navy oiler. Six fellow Marines were killed in the incident.
Cila, from West Palm Beach, Fla., who has been with The Program since it started a decade ago, was a member of the 1st Cavalry Army Division out of Ft. Hood, Texas and later with the 5th group Special Operations. He was injured in 2005 in an ambush in Baghdad.
“I lost most of my left arm, had shrapnel wounds in my left side. I have undergone under 50 surgeries and in 2008 elected to have my left hand amputated. Since then, I have continued to be an Elite level endurance athlete,” Cila said.
While athletics is not what The Program teaches, physical exertion is part of the whole exercise.
“The way we create the adversity is with the physicality piece of it. Anyone can teach leadership in an air-conditioned classroom, but we believe that you develop it when the first bead of sweat runs down your forehead. The only way to do that is raise the level of physicality. That is how we create the environment that most people find challenging; to lead when they are uncomfortable,” Cila said.
The Program instructors were in the area for their annual company meeting and an internal team training session.
The Program will work with approximately 150 collegiate teams, a handful of professional teams and corporate teams over the course of a year.
The internal team training included working with student-athletes from both Woodstock Academy and Shepherd Hill Regional in Massachusetts.
“It was a wonderful opportunity,” said Woodstock Academy interim athletic director Sean Saucier. “I think the students rallied and really got into it, gave it a lot of effort, both physically and mentally. I think everybody walked away feeling pretty satisfied with the experience.”
In addition to the student-athletes, a half-dozen of The Woodstock Academy coaching staff also took part.
“I have got feedback from a couple of coaches who were there that kids have reached out to them with ideas and goals for themselves as to how they will lead in the future and techniques that they will try that they learned (Tuesday). That’s exciting. The kids are internalizing what they went through,” Saucier said. “It was also a great affirmation of some things that our coaches try to teach here.”
Miranda said, overall, he was pleased with the three-hour session.
“What I got most out of it was to just take my time when talking to my teammates or someone else when I’m telling them to do something and to also be more supportive as a leader and as a teammate,” Miranda said. “If one person gets better, we all get better. I want everyone to be involved and get better together.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
.