The Phoenixville Area Police Athletic League (PAL)

The Phoenixville Area Police Athletic League (PAL) celebrated its 10-year anniversary of sponsoring activities for young people during a banquet Sunday afternoon at the Phoenixville Country Club.
More than 100 people attended the celebration with numerous awards in the form of plaques were being handed out. People were recognized for their hard work and volunteer efforts to assist the program.
Boxing and wrestling are two particular sports that have received a lot of publicity in The Phoenix during the last 10 years.
James Deoria Jr. , a Schuylkill Township police officer as well as a former professional boxer, is PAL’s executive director. Jim Lombardi is the organization’s president. Local boxer Max Stine was the first recipent of the James L. Deoria Sr. Spirit Award, in memory of Jimmy’s late father, who was a strong proponent of the boxing game. Mr. Deoria’s wife, Donna, was on hand to present Stine with his award.
Mr. Deoria started training young Jimmy in boxing at age 12 and brought him up through the ranks, including the Golden Gloves program. Mr. Deoria drove his son to Philadelphia to train at the Front Street Gym under John Mulvenna for a number of years to nurture his son’s boxing career.
PAL also provides a Babysitting Club and Golf Clinics. Toni Stuetz was honored for babysitting, Steve LaPort and Brian Martz for wrestling and Bobby Boher and Joy Thompson for golf.
Financial and service support have come from Devlin-Rosmos-Kepp, Michael Weinstein, John Lazarich Foundation, Phoenixville Civic Center and Phoenixville Community Health Foundation. The Civic Center is the home base for the Phoenixville Area Recreation Department (PARD) and the boxers, both amateur and professional, train in the basement of the building.
Willis “Skeebe” Foreman is another longtime trainer of the boxers, and Carlos Mendez, Mike Niemeyer and Dave Molina have joined the group to help with increasing numbers and a heavier work load. Mendez’s daughter, Sharlene, is a a standout PAL boxer. She received the Dedication Award since she travels from Reading each day to participate in the Phoenixville program.
The PAL program continues to do excellent work in keeping kids off the streets and out of trouble. Instead, they are involved in sports and other positive activities that can help them become better people.

Liz Jones, Phoenixville Girls Lacrosse

Phoenixville Area High School has had numerous outstanding girls lacrosse players throughout the years in the old Ches-Mont League and current Pioneer Athletic Conference.
This year’s Phantom big star is senior attack/midfielder Liz Jones, who scored her 200th career goal in a 17-14 setback to Methacton April 17 on the Phoenixville field.
Jones has been a four-year varsity player for Phoenixville and head coach Jen Foresta. She tallied six goals in the game against the Warriors after starting the day needing just two to reach the coveted milestone.
The game was stopped and Jones received congratulations from her teammates as well as the game ball for a keepsake of the special feat.
Jones credited her teammates with making good passes to her throughout her career that allowed her to become such a prolific scorer. She also acknowledged the coaching of Phoenixville graduates Foresta and assistant coach Aamina Thornton for advice on how to best utilize her skills on the field.
Jones’ most productive season came during her sophomore year when she tallied 87 goals.

Tennis Stars Continue Winning Ways

Two former Phoenixville Area High School boys tennis stars are continuing their winning ways at the collegiate level.
Kyle MacLelland and Tom McAvoy, who teamed up to capture the PIAA Class AA state doubles championship in 2007, are now sophomores in college. MacLelland is playing at Lafayette College while McAvoy is playing at Philadelphia University.
MacLelland played first singles and McAvoy second singles for the Pioneer Athletic Conference champion Phantoms, who are coached by Leo Scoda. MacLelland also won the PAC-10 singles title as a senior.
MacLelland is playing No. 6 singles for the Leopards and has a 6-9 singles record as well as a 5-8 doubles mark at the No. 2 position on the ladder.
McAvoy has an 13-7 record at No. 4 singles and a 10-4 log at No. 2 doubles for the Rams.
MacLelland was also a starting forward on the Phoenixville boys basketball team that captured the PAC-10 title in 2006-07. That team also finished third in District 1 Class AAA competition and advanced to the second round of the state tournament under head coach Bill Detweiler.

High School Spring Sports Schedule

The scholastic spring sports season is a busy one with a host of sports which play multiple times each week.
It is a compact schedule that is required to be finished by a certain early time so youngsters can compete in league, district and state playoffs in most sports before it is time for seniors to graduate and other kids to end the scholastic year.
The rainy weather of the past week is an indication of how even more compact the schedule becomes with bad weather. That forces postsponements and some cancellations except in the cases of some turf fields and all-weather tracks that can still have events go on as scheduled.
There are not many open dates in the spring. So athletic directors have to fit in rescheduled games wherever possible, including Saturdays. There is not much room to rest or to even practice, for that matter.
The scheduling is just one of the obstacles spring sports personnel must deal with, like it or not.

boys tennis team saw its incredible

The Phoenixville Area High School boys tennis team saw its incredible 196-match Pioneer Athletic Conference (PAC-10) winning streak end Thursday in a 6-1 loss to league newcomer Methacton during a showdown match for first place at the Fairview Village courts.
Methacton also defeated Phoenixville, 6-1, in a non-league match last year for the first time ever, also at the Warriors’ courts. Both teams have most of the same players returning to the lineup.
The Phantoms are coached by Leo Scoda, who is in his 46th year at the helm and is also the mayor of the borough of Phoenixville. Methacton is coached by Cara DeCicco, who is in her ninth season.
Methacton is led by senior Kyle Colliluori, senior David Goldenberg, junior Evan Lord, sophomore Nish Ravichandran and sophomore Keenan McAuliffe. Colliluori placed second in the Suburban One League singles tournament last year, and he and Lord combined to capture the loop doubles crown.
Phoenixville’s regular lineup includes junior Steve Tassone at first singles, senior John Reading at second singles and junior Mike Potts at third singles. The Phantoms blanked Boyertown, 7-0, in their last match at the Leo J. Scoda Tennis Courts Tuesday afternoon. Tassone was sidelined with a sprained ankle in that one so the players moved up and sophomore John McInally played third singles instead of his normal fourth doubles spot.
The Phantoms doubles teams include seniors Steve Ng and Yusuf Brown at first doubles, seniors Mike Reeves and Adam Leggieri at second doubles, seniors Kyle Taylor and James Churgai at third doubles and McInally andsenior Kyle Eldridge at fourth doubles. Another doubles player who has seen time in the lineup is freshman Doug Reeves.
In the Methacton-Phoenixville match, Methacton won the three singles matches in straight sets. Phoenixville won at first doubles and the Warriors took the other three matches. Methacton won three-set matches at third and fourth doubles.