Won 'N Done

They swarmed one another on the approach, a celebration equal to any seen on a playing field or hardwood court.

The Nature Coast Technical boys bowling team accomplished a rare feat for Hernando County, regardless of the sport, collecting a state championship last November at Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando.

In their two years of existence, the Sharks won two district titles in addition to that state crown, while the Nature Coast girls won a district championship of their own last year and finished third in the state.

But when the top bowling programs again converge on Boardwalk Bowl for the Florida High School Athletic Association Finals starting Nov. 11, the Sharks won't have the opportunity to defend their title.

The school has decided not to field a bowling team this year because it cannot pay, and has thus not found, a suitable coach.

"I think it's sad because the kids want to do it, not just because we were successful last year but the kids are genuinely interested in bowling, the parents are genuinely interested in it," Nature Coast Athletic Director Travis Lamle said. "But we can't find anyone to coach it."

No supplement

The problem stems from the lack of a supplement to pay the bowling coach. Shaizey Beach, a Nature Coast teacher who has coached the team the past two years, was paid internally last season.

The school attempted to get funds to pay for a coach through a gender equity supplement, but was denied. Beach also wrote a letter to the school board asking for bowling to be considered for a supplement, yet never received a response.

Nature Coast is the only county school that has had a bowling program in recent years. Bowling only became sanctioned by the FHSAA in 2003.

According to Hernando Classroom Teachers' Association President Joe Vitalo, the union has tried for years to make it so that any FHSAA sport would be supplemented.

"The school board has been adamant about not adding additional supplements," Vitalo said.

A call to the superintendent, Dr. Wayne Alexander, seeking comment for this story was not returned.

Without assurance of receiving pay for the position, Beach felt she could not continue to coach. That led the school on an ultimately unsuccessful search for a new coach.

Valerie Palermo, a United States Bowing Congress certified coach who has had two daughters on the team, said she would have stepped up to fill the coaching void, or that the parents of the team could have found a way to raise money to pay a coach if given more notice.

"We were blindsided," Palermo said. "They didn't give anybody the opportunity to look for a coach or work things out. The thing is they just didn't want it. That's the bottom line."

Lamle said he began looking for a replacement for Beach when she informed him she wouldn't return just prior to the school year.

However, the school would only accept a full-time school system employee because the sport takes place off campus. Lamle indicated he did not want to create a situation he couldn't monitor properly.

Nature Coast does have coaches for off-campus sports who do not work at the school. However, they are teachers in Hernando County.

Those interviewed did not blame Beach for her decision, crediting her for sticking it out the past two years.

Beach, whose husband and daughter bowl but does not bowl herself, took over at midseason in 2006 after the original coach, Rich McDermott, was fired by the school for unrelated reasons.

"If I was a parent I'd be very disappointed," Beach said. "How can the state champion not be coming back? To me, if I was a parent I'd be heartbroken."

Negative reactions

Though Beach noted that Principal Tizzy Schoelles had picked up the tab for travel expenses via school funds and that she had no problems with the school, parents and bowlers seem less understanding.

"I'm really upset about it," said Toni Palermo, who bowled on the team the past two years before graduating. "They took a state championship for the boys' team and a third-place team for the girls and completely shafted them.

"To think the Hernando County School Board gave us plaques and pins and all those things, you'd think they'd fight for us but they didn't.

"It's a team full of kids that don't get in trouble, don't have their names show up in the paper every few weeks. All we do is hang out at the bowling alley. All we want to do is bowl and they're taking that away from us."

"I thought (winning the state title) was freaking awesome," said Chris Polizzi, the captain and anchor of the boys' team the past two years. "I figured since we won the state we'd get a little more respect, but obviously not.

"...It's not right. We're the only team Nature Coast had that won states and they didn't do anything to keep it."

Some pointed to the fact that for most bowlers, this provided an opportunity to participate in prep sports that was otherwise unavailable.

"With bowling it was a chance for other kids with heart conditions who can't play any other sports, that are not that athletically inclined, it gave them a chance to do a school sport," said Dawn Kuirino, mother of bowler Alex Serra and president of Nature Coast's School Advisory Council.

Count junior Eric Millican, a key member of the boys' championship run, as one of those physically unable to participate in other sports. A heart condition leaves bowling as his only option.

"It's really disappointing because I thought we had something to lean back on, winning the state championship," Millican said. "I thought we'd defend that and have people behind us and obviously we have no one behind us.

"...When I sit there in school and hear (over the public address system) 'please release the football players', 'please release the volleyball players', I can't say I'm part of that. I can't listen to 'please release the bowlers.'"