Eric Abidal back in France squad after liver transplant
Eric Abidal and Samir Nasri were both recalled to the France team for the first time in over a year on Thursday as coach Didier Deschamps named a 23-man squad for a friendly match against Belgium in Brussels next week.Abidal, 33, joined Monaco in July after Barcelona opted not to renew his contract and won the last of his 61 caps for Les Bleus in February 2012 before undergoing a liver transplant that sidelined him for just under 12 months.“He joined Monaco and he got through the pre-season quite well. I followed the warm-up matches, where he was very much at ease. He has international experience, he’s been through several competitions,” said Deschamps, explaining his decision to recall the defender.“He’s played 61 times for France. In relation to that and the need for players with international experience, after discussing with him at length his state of mind regarding his selection, I took the decision to recall him.”Nasri, 26, last turned out for France at Euro 2012, after which the Manchester City midfielder was banned from the national team for three matches following a spat with a journalist following the quarter-final defeat to Spain.Sevilla midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia, a member of France’s triumphant under-20 World Cup side this summer, was also called up for the first time. Squad:Goalkeepers: Mickael Landreau (Bastia), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham/ENG), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)Defenders: Eric Abidal (Monaco), Gael Clichy (Manchester City/ENG), Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle/ENG), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ENG), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal/ENG), Eliaquim Mangala (Porto/POR), Adil Rami (Valencia/ESP), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/ENG)Midfielders: Etienne Capoue (Toulouse), Clement Grenier (Lyon), Josuha Guilavogui (Saint-Etienne), Geoffrey Kondogbia (Sevilla/ESP), Rio Mavuba (Lille), Samir Nasri (Manchester City/ENG), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle/ENG), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/ESP), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal/ENG), Dimitri Payet (Marseille), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich/GER)
Japan beat the U.S. in a WBC semifinal at Dodger Stadium in 2009.In a tournament marked by high scores and sunny skies, this game was decided by the pitchers and the weather.Tanner Roark and six relievers combined to limit Japan to one run. Luke Gregerson pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save.Japan’s starter, right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, allowed only one unearned run in six innings. Using a high-spin fastball and curveball, along with an effective cutter and slider, Sugano struck out six batters, walked one and allowed a mere three singles.The U.S. put just enough balls in play in the fourth inning to score its first run. With one out, Christian Yelich hit a routine grounder to slick-fielding second baseman Ryosuke Kikuchi. The ball skipped off the damp turf, off Kikuchi’s glove and into center field. Yelich took second base on the error. Newsroom GuidelinesNews TipsContact UsReport an Error After Nolan Arenado struck out and Eric Hosmer drew a walk, Andrew McCutchen lined a single into left field. Yelich scored easily and the U.S. had the game’s first run.Roark threw four scoreless innings for the U.S. The Washington Nationals’ right-hander allowed only two singles and one walk in his second appearance of the WBC.Japan’s only threat came in the first inning when leadoff man Tetsuto Yamada — his jersey top, really — was hit by a Roark fastball. Yamada went to third on a bunt and a groundout, then Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh lined out to left field to end the inning.As the rain grew more intense, the dirt moistened and the air thickened. Any fly ball that would have reached the warning track on a hot day died a premature death. During a pair of video reviews in the third inning, the grounds crew added fresh dirt to the mound and the batter’s box.But by the sixth inning, the light rain had given way to a more traditional marine layer. Roark was done for the night, replaced on the mound by Nate Jones, a right-hander for the Chicago White Sox. And Kikuchi stood in the batter’s box looking to make amends for his fielding error.With the count 1-and-2, Kikuchi fouled off a 99-mph fastball, Jones’ fastest pitch of the night. The next pitch was clocked at 98 mph and the ball left Kikuchi’s bat at a cool 100, disappearing over the right field wall above McCutchen’s glove. The score was tied at 1.
LOS ANGELES >> Dodger Stadium will host the championship game of the World Baseball Classic for the second time Wednesday. This time, the host country will have a chance to win the tournament on its own turf.Team USA beat Japan 2-1 on Tuesday night before an announced crowd of 33,462. Now an undefeated Puerto Rico squad, which beat the U.S. in San Diego last Friday, awaits.Tied 1-1 in the top of the eighth inning, Brandon Crawford singled and Ian Kinsler doubled against Japanese right-hander Kodai Senga to put runners on second and third. The next batter, Adam Jones, tapped a weak ground ball to third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda. Kinsler took off on contact and scored without a throw when Matsuda momentarily lost his handle on the ball.The RBI groundout wasn’t as photogenic as Jones’ home run-robbing catch in the stands in a semifinal game against the Dominican Republic on Saturday. But it was no less important to Team USA reaching its first WBC championship game.
Story by John Burton – Photos by Tina ColellaFlooding from Tuesday’s nor’easter that hit all the shore communities in Monmouth County was what those who live and travel through the area have come to know all too well: portions of roads were closed and you proceed through the water at your own and your vehicles’ risk.Sea Bright of course, had the most damage.Nearby Rumson, Oceanport, Monmouth Beach and Long Branch also suffered extreme flooding in some areas, re-routing traffic and rescuing drivers in flooded vehicles.Sea Bright Office of Emergency Management Director C. Read Murphy said of this storm, “This was a little bit stronger than a lot of the nor’easters but a short duration.”And during that brief but heavy storm, some of the borough streets prone to flooding, had as much as two-to-four feet of standing water on them for parts of Tuesday and into late Wednesday morning, he said, extending through three high tides.The areas that had the deepest flooding were some side streets on the borough’s very northern and southern end facing the Shrewsbury River and a portion of Ocean Avenue/state Highway 36, according to Murphy.Oceanport – Monmouth Boulevard“We had some significant flooding in low lying areas similar to other municipalities,” said Borough Administrator/Clerk Thomas Rogers. “The low lying areas are in the south of the borough and requires us to close roadways and detour traffic during the high tides.”“When the tides receded, the roads cleared,” he said. “Today (Wednesday) there was some ponding on some properties. It’s a normal occurrence during a soaking rain.”Oceanport had some significant flooding in the marine area and Monmouth Beach had some flooding on both the Shrewsbury River west end of the borough and some along Ocean Avenue as well.“We had some flooding throughout the town but no major catastrophes,” John O. Bennett III, Oceanport Borough Administrator.The borough closed the usual streets that usually flood Oceanport Ave., Arnold St., and Bridgewaters Drive.“The old borough hall was shown to be unacceptable again,” he said referring to the former borough hall that floods just about during every storm.He confirmed again it would be a problem to retain the existing building,Once the waters receded by 11:30 a.m. Tuesday “everything worked out fine,” Bennett said.Susan Howard, mayor of Monmouth Beach, said, “the water was really high especially along Oceanport Avenue.”“The water was almost level with the tops of the bulkheads,” she said. “But all of us who live here know which way to drive out.”No homes were reported flooded, however, she said.A couple of days prior to Monday night’s and Tuesday’s storm had strong northeast winds, which Murphy said, “exacerbated the water situation,” contributing to the flooding.This is a common occurrence during high tides and storms and borough residents have come to adapt to it, he noted. However, “The biggest problem were people driving thorough the water,” he observed, “and cars breaking down.”That happened to four vehicles, requiring borough employees to haul them out in Sea Bright alone.
The Socrates School at Oak Hill Academy willbe “an alternative high school for curious students that uses a personalizedapproach to education,” said Joseph A. Pacelli, headmaster of Oak Hill. “It’s going to be a shift from traditionalschooling as we know it and different than anything else offered in our area,”said Pacelli. “We’ve taken a hard look at where our schools are now and thedirection they should be going.” In its inaugural year the school could featurea class of 10 students. Annual tuition may be priced around $18,000 a year,said Pacelli. Oak Hill’s current enrollment is 292 studentspre-K through eighth grade, with an annual tuition rate of $20,100, accordingto the school’s website. Oak Hill Academy is hosting a May 14 informational meeting with a question-and-answer session at the school’s technology center at 7 p.m. To register for the meeting visit the Socrates School page at oakhillacademy.com. Academic days at the new high school will bedivided into blocks, beginning with the Socratic Block, a humanities-basedcurriculum focusing on social studies and English/language arts that wouldincorporate lesson plans from both the Big History Project and the Great BooksFoundation. The Laurel Springs School offers students aone-on-one relationship with teachers, and allows students, should they chooseto do so, an opportunity to advance as far beyond the mandatory graduationrequirements as they would like. To help aid that progression up the academicladder, Pacelli said each student will be developing an e-portfolio, aneasy-to-navigate and easily digestible online record supplied to admissionsofficers that will display each student’s growth and progression over theirfour years at The Socrates School. “We hope to identify books over a particularperiod of time and integrate them into our Big History Project,” Pacelli said.“Everything will be connected and working toward our ultimate goal.” Oak Hill wants to invest in a program thatwill create passion among its students by not pigeonholing their academic path,but providing structure with room to explore any interest they may have, saidPacelli. “Our world has evolved. Our technology hasevolved. Why hasn’t our education system?” Pacelli asked. “Quite frankly, thesame old methods are boring. Teachers are teaching the same way as it’s alwaysbeen done. Information is being distributed the same way it always has been. Itshouldn’t be. There are new ways, and it’s time for the kids to take morecontrol.” Students would round out their days with anElective Block that focuses on an area of study of their choosing, and a FlexBlock for physical education, community service-based efforts and anapprenticeship during their senior year, for which Pacelli hopes to forgepartnerships with Bell Works, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the Count Basie Centerfor the Arts and countless other organizations in the area.
Outside of Catholic schools, Ranney School inTinton Falls is the only other independent, co-educational high school inMonmouth County. Now more than ever, creative secondary education offerings arein demand by local families, said Erin Avery, founder of Avery EducationalResources in Fair Haven, a school consulting and test prep firm. The writing intensive program will feature at least one-quarter of instruction time in an online setting and tap into state-of-the-art educational tools like the The Big History Project, an ongoing, unified global initiative founded by Bill Gates and David Christian to gain a better understanding about the history of the cosmos, Earth, life and humanity. The course covers history from the Big Bang through present day with interdisciplinary methods. Next would be the Academic Block, a math,science and foreign language curriculum provided by the Laurel Springs School,an accredited online private school that would allow educators to hone in oneach individual student’s learning level and instruct that student at anappropriate pace. “This is something we’ve been considering foryears, but we wanted to do it right and not duplicate what’s already outthere,” Pacelli said. “It eats at us when we hear from our graduates that whenthey left Oak Hill, they were hoping to find something more to bridge the gapbetween high school and college. We want to use the resources we have to offerthat to them.” Pacelli also pointed to the Great BooksFoundation, another potential program for The Socrates School that publishesgreat literary works in an online database and uses them to promote reading anddiscussion programs as a means for critical and reflective thinking activities,as well as social engagement between students. Pacelli said that goal is to provide afour-year educational experience that leads to better prepared students as theytake the next step in their academic careers, whether it be a four-yearuniversity, a community college or a trade school. This article was first published in the April 11-17, 2019 print edition of The Two River Times. The Socrates School will begin with an initialfreshman class, and offer an additional higher grade of study each year throughthe 2023 school year, establishing a four-year high school program. “I applaud Oak Hill’s courage to move into the secondary school space and offer a hybrid model that allows students the flexibility to enjoy both in-person and virtual learning options, which is already taking place at the college level.” MIDDLETOWN – Oak Hill Academy, currently aprivate school in Lincroft educating students through eighth grade, is hopingto launch a new high school in the fall of 2020. 
Staff at Mallard’s Source for Sports are pleased to announce the Reps as Team of the Week.The team includes, back row, L-R, John Katountas, Nathan Pereverzoff, Erik Craft, Simon Zwick and Colton Steeds. Middle, Tyler Maida, Coleton Dawson, Trevor Rigby, head coach Tony Maida, Mitch Klein and Casey Kirk. Front, Grant Matthews, team captain Joseph Gauthier, James Tucker, assistant captain Nick Maida and assistant captain Tyler Chernenkoff.Missing, assistant coaches, Scott MacDonald and Gerry Gauthier and Matthew MacDonald, Garrett Steeds and Jesse Yanke. After a slow start to the season, the Castlegar/Nelson Rebels have turned it around in the B.C. Minor Hockey Midget Rep scene.
ARCADIA, Calif. (Feb. 27, 2015)–Due to a high probability of rain, Santa Anita Park has cancelled a special screening of the 2003 hit movie Seabiscuit this Saturday, which had been scheduled to start following the races at 6:30 p.m. in the track’s Paddock Gardens Area.The screening, which was planned to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the legendary Seabiscuit winning the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, will be rescheduled at some point later this spring or summer, according to track officials.Directed by Gary Ross, “Seabiscuit” was nominated for seven Academy Awards and it marked the big screen debut of jockey Gary Stevens, who portrayed jockey George “The Ice Man” Woolf. Stevens, who returned to riding following a seven-year retirement in January, 2013, has won four Santa Anita Handicaps dating back to 1990, and he is scheduled to ride Chilean-bred Catch a Flight in this year’s $1 million Big ‘Cap on Saturday, March 7.Stevens will be available to media in the lead-up to America’s longest continually run “Hundred Grander,” as will other prominent horsemen, including Jerry Hollendorfer, who conditions the early Big ‘Cap favorite, Shared Belief.In addition to the Grade I, $1 million Santa Anita Handicap, Santa Anita will also present a blockbuster 11-race card that includes the Grade I, $400,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile (turf), the Grade II, $400,000 San Felipe Stakes and the Grade II, $250,000 San Carlos Stakes on March 7.Special early first post time on Santa Anita Handicap Day, March 7, is at 12 noon. Admission gates will open at 10 a.m.