Yuma Sun and AWC team up for soccer coverage
Women’s tournament bid leads to unique, short-term partnership
The Arizona Western College women’s soccer team is headed to Foley, Ala., to play in the NJCAA National Tournament.
It’s a terrific achievement for the team, marking the first time in team history that the team has qualified for the tournament.
They’ve worked hard to get there, winning 21 matches in a row before losing the Region I title match.
On Tuesday, the team was ranked fourth in the NJCAA rankings, and also was selected as the fourth seed for the tournament.
This team is a strong, unique one, with a powerful Yuma roster on board.
Of the 25 ladies on the team, eight are from Yuma. Karen Melendrez is a Yuma Catholic graduate, and Valeria Carrera and Yazmin Gonzalez both graduated from Gila Ridge. Arleth Islas, Makayla Zendejas, Kelsey Ramirez, Isabel Coronado and Maesy Ramirez all graduated from Kofa.
Our goal is to cover our community, especially when we have athletes achieving new heights.
Because of that, we’re trying a new approach, and sharing resources with AWC. We want to cover the matches so our readers know what’s going on. AWC happens to need some help on the public relations side due to a staffing shortage, looking for someone who can cover this event for the school as well.
Yuma Sun Sports Reporter Brian Fogg is stepping up to the plate, or, in this case, into the goal. In this unique partnership, Fogg will write for the Sun as well as for AWC, and AWC will pay for Fogg’s travel costs.
We’ve traveled with the team before, but we’ve never shared resources quite to this extent. However, AWC is a small organization, and we’re a small community newspaper – so we’re trying something different, and ultimately, our readers will benefit.
This doesn’t change how we cover AWC, but instead, gives us a chance to go behind the scenes a little more, and follow these ladies on their journey to Nationals, and hopefully, a national championship.
We wish them the best of luck this week – and readers, we hope you enjoy the coverage!
DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?
I was so happy to see the letter to the editor in the Thursday Sun suggesting that the agricultural community and Chamber of Commerce are not doing enough to inform local residents and visitors about our local agriculture.
Crop signs have been used in the past and turned out to be a real pain in the posterior. Where are the signs going to be mounted that will not interfere with farming operations? With as many as 8 to 10 or more crops on a mile section of road, where would they be placed to be accurate? With crops growing from 30 to 150 days, who is going to keep track of all the changes? What roads would they be on? Highways where people are traveling 55 mph or faster could create a real hazard as drivers crane their necks to read the signs. Do it on the ‘slower’ county dirt roads, no that creates too much dust, food safety concerns, accident concerns between looky-loos and farm equipment, tractors, semis, crew buses, hundreds of people in the fields and of course the portipotties on field edges.
With the tremendous food safety concerns that the local growers have to deal with, the last thing needed is more people around the agricultural fields. “Oh, look, they are growing parsley and sweet anise, let’s stop and look at it.” No, no and NO! Is it not enough to marvel at the perfectly level fields; efficient irrigation systems; the beautiful colors of the rainbow that grow in our fields? Marvel at the wondrous dance of people and machines during harvest operations, at a safe distance?
Why not visit farmer’s markets, research crops on the computer or get anyone of numerous publications in the library. Agriculture is the lifeblood of Yuma County and while we are proud of the beautiful patchwork of crops and fields we produce, we do not want you any closer than the nearest road, driving past. There are festivals and events all winter that allow everyone to see examples of crops in a safe environment.
Crop signs are expensive, timeconsuming and unnecessary, this is a working community of talented agriculturists, not a display put on for the entertainment of others. “What the world needs now” is much more than “love, sweet love.” To be the best that we can be we need open eyes, understanding hearts, and empathy. One activity that will help develop these characteristics is to watch a nonHollywood, independent, foreign film such as the ones AWC sponsors the first Thursday of the month at the Historic Yuma Theatre. Film Development prize-winning films are shown at 7 p.m.
The most recent film was about an extended family trapped in an apartment in an active war zone in Syria. Few Americans have directly experienced street-by-street fighting and its effects on civilians and the combatants. Such war is currently going on all over the world, and we Americans are there in the midst of it, and yet we seldom hear about it.
I need knowledge and so I read the New York Times (available at Albertson’s). The Nov. 7 edition had half-page sized articles about Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, et.al. These are places where lots of Americans are engaged in work or military service.
When was the last time you received extensive information about any of these places and our activities there?
Another way to develop understanding is to read a classic book. Reading books by Nobel Prize winners in a good place to start. “The Stranger,” a short book by Albert Camus, is an easy introduction to books that will make a significant impact on your heart and mind. I am currently reading “The House of the Dead” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, which takes you to a prison in Siberia before the Russian Revolution.
All of these sources: films, newspapers and great books will not only make you smarter, kinder and more thoughtful – they will open your eyes to our world. Watch, look, read and listen.