• Cross Country
  • For grade 3 through 12 both boys and girls
  • Contact Jim Steffes: Jim@bartohoss.com
• Girls Varsity Soccer
  • Must be 13 by August 15
  • Contact Janell Bontekoe: janell@bontekoes.com
• Girls Volleyball
  • Highschool age
  • Contact Ryan Bolton: rjtmbolt@bellsouth.net

Winter sports (approximately October through early March)

• Basketball
  • For middle and highschool boys and girls
  • Contact Angie Ambrosetti: ambrosetti8@comcast.net

Spring Sports (approximately March through May)

• Boys baseball
  • For middle and highschool age
  • Contact Julie Simmons djsimons@tvn.net
• Boys Varsity Soccer
  • Highschool age
  • Contact Yoli Bell: bellyobell@comcast.net

We are also in the midst of organizing a boys middle school school soccer team — this would be a fall sport. (Contact John Trussel: jtrussel@daltonstate.edu)

Can sign up for any of these at the Homeschool Expo/Curriculum Fair.

Chattanooga-area homeschool students have just completed a stellar season of chess competition at regional, statewide, and national tournaments, with very strong showings at all levels. Considering that this was their first venture into structured team competition, the CSTHEA “Capstone Ragin’ Rooks” demonstrated very good sportsmanship and character, strong chess skills, and excellent team spirit and strategy.

The CSTHEA 7th-9th grade team took first place in the Tennessee Region 2 competition, culminating in a sudden-death timed playoff match against the Crossville homeschool team. Clocks whirred, fists banged, pieces flew and referees punctuated the intense atmosphere with their curt rulings and comments, all while a large huddle of onlookers watched with bated breath until the final announcement “Chattanooga wins!” Who knew that chess could be an exciting spectator sport? The team consisted of Jonathan Warren, Ruth Hinchman, Trevor Sharpe, Seth Huffman and Annabelle Huffman. Justin Lohr came in to pinchhit in the final playoff match and helped push the team over the top. They went on to the state team tournament two weeks later, placing 6th in the field of all the best teams from across Tennessee.

The CSTHEA 4th-6th grade team, including Kyle Sharpe, Samuel Hinchman, Peter Zeglen, Luke Plaisted, Priscilla Huffman, and Adelaide Huffman, tied for second place in its division at the regional competition, and also went on to play well at the state tournament. The 1st-3rd grade A & B teams, comprising Justin Lohr, Nathan Lohr, Bryant Lohr, Joshua Simmons, Joel Huffman, Gideon Lohr, Noah Huffman, and Lillian Sharpe, did extremely well, emerging the undefeated A-team victor at regionals, and continuing on to an outstanding second place finish in statewide competition.

The chess club brought home multiple trophies, wonderful memories, and a wealth of newfound experience. Private and public schools from the Chattanooga area and from all over the state competed in these events, and the Chattanooga homeschool teams held their own quite convincingly.

Many of these team players also played separately in individual competition with very good results. (Were you aware that Chattanooga homeschooler Philip Hinchman is a recurring statewide high school chess champion?)

Alan Kantor of the U.S. Chess Federation, along with many parents, helped coach our group toward these noteworthy achievements. Mr. Kantor commented, “This has been the greatest team that I have coached for in terms of camaraderie or togetherness since I coached a team in New York to take second place in the Nationals. Everyone worked together so well and you all have so much promise.”

It won’t be long until the 2010 competition season begins, so come join us and help us do even better next year! We meet weekly during the school year, and hope to meet at least monthly during the summer also. For more information about the CSTHEA Capstone Chess Club, contact organizer Jeannette Lohr (423-842-6724, capstonechess@yahoo.com) or coach Andrew Huffman (423-227-3590, huffmanhouse@gmail.com), or look for us at the big curriculum fair.

Why play chess? The benefits are too many to fully enumerate here, but many studies and anecdotes show that playing chess improves overall academic performance and skills related to reading, math, critical thinking, problem solving, logic, memory, concentration, imagination, creativity, independence, and confidence. Besides, it’s fun.

When I joined a First Lego League team I was interested in robotics and wanted to get some hands-on experience. First Lego League was a good choice.

It first began when we received the package with the NXT in August. A few of us met and worked on the sample provided. Constructing it gave us a good idea of how the robot worked. At our next meeting an engineer visited from our sponsor, Chattanooga Engineers Club.

He explained the rules of the competition to us and showed us a video of a previous competition. That was also the meeting where we met the people who would be participating; there were 30 people in all and we split up into five teams. Our team, Cyber Thunder, first met in September as soon as the challenges were released.

At our first meeting we built the playing field our robot would run on. We downloaded instructions for building the mission pieces and put them onto two computers so that two groups could work on building at once.

It was a long process, but by the end of the day most of the board was completed.

At the secone meeting we were ready to start building the robot. There was a programming team and a building team. I was on the building team. We designed a simple robot that could drive and that had a claw on the front to push balls around.

Meanwhile the programming team had created a simple program to push a ball into a designated area. Although it was a simple program, the robot had trouble; instead of going straight it kept bumping into the wall. We didn’t have time to fix it before we adjourned the second meeting. At the third gathering, we dismantled the robot and started over from the beginning, this time the programming team created a program to push a whole line of balls into the area. We tested it, and· the robot didn’t turn properly. The programming team tinkered on and tried it again. This process was repeated many times until we got it just right. Every meeting we created new features and new programs. Each time we overcame one problem until gradually our robot was perfected.

Through this whole time we had to create our presentation. First we had to decide what our topic would be. This year it had to be related to climate. We decided we would talk about energy efficiency. The next step was research. We all went home to research what we had been assigned, whether it was CFLs or solar panels. I researched some gizmos and gadgets that created energy. Some ideas never came to pass — solar oven or the plasma converting trashcan.

We selected a topic and drafted our speeches. They had to be really short because we were restricted to 5 minutes altogether and each of us only had 30 seconds for our speech. After an introduction by our team captain, we all did our bit. My friend and I were in charge of the lawn mower presentation. It was fun.

After three months of research, building and programming our robot, the Steve 2000, was ready for action. Our robot could execute 7 of the missions for the competition and we felt pretty good about our presentation. We started out for the competition at 6 o’clock in the morning and drove two hours to arrive at our destination, Cookville, Tenn.

We had an hour until the competition so we used that time to practice with the robot on one of the boards they had set out for that purpose. We also went around to meet other team members who gave us goodies such as business cards or candy. (We learned that this is a way for teams to show team spirit. If you are going to do FLL remember to bring things to give away.) We also watched other teams’ robots perform and studied their posters.

Our robot performed its mission three times. On our last run we accidentally accomplished a mission we hadn’t programmed! That gave us a serious boost in points. We also gave our oral presentation. We learned that as soon as you enter the performance room they start the 5-minute time, so be prepared.

The competition ended with an awards ceremony. We were surprised to place third for robot performance. Our team members were overjoyed.

The Soddy-Daisy homeschool team Power Surge placed third in project presentation. Nice going. Signal Mountain fielded two homeschool teams; East Brainerd had one team; and many members of the St. Elmo team were homeschoolers. Watch the Esprit for announcement about the new season in September.

Chattanooga Patriots Baseball Schedule:

Varsity Team

March

• 9th 5:00 @ Christian Heritage School
• 13th 4:30 @ Grace Academy (JV)
• 16th 5:00 @ Baylor (JV)
• 18th 5:00 @ McCallie (JV)
• 24th 2:00 DH Vs. CCA @ Covenant College
• 27th 4:00 Vs. Boyd-Buchanan @ Covenant College
• 31st 4:30 DH @ CCA (Huntsville)

April

• 4th 12:00 DH Vs. Atlanta S. Christian Knights @ Covenant College
• 7th 11:00 DH @ Atlanta S. Christian Knights
• 9th 5:00 @ CSAS
• 15th-18th HWSA West Regional Tournament – Texas
• 28th 5:00 @ Boyd-Buchanan
• 30th 4:00 Vs. Christian Heritage @ Covenant College

May

• 7th-9th Chattanooga Tournament

Middle School Team

March

• 10th 4:30 @ McCallie
• 12th 5:00 Vs. Ooltewah Middle School
• 17th 4:30 Vs. McCallie
• 21st 11:00 DH @ Bagley Middle School
• 31st 4:15 @ Baylor

April

• 6th 4:15 Vs. Chattanooga Christian School
• 14th 5:00 Vs. Bagley Middle School
• 16th 4:15 @ Baylor
• 20th 3:45 Vs. Hunter Middle School
• 21st 4:00 @ McCallie
• 28th 4:00 Vs. McCallie
• 30th 4:15 @ Chattanooga Christian School

For more information please visit our website: http://chattanoogapatriotsbaseball.com/
Baseball contact: Julie Simons (706)398-9372

        Hurst United Methodist Church
        829 Dallas Road
        Chattanooga, TN 37405

Come and meet the coaches for our 2009 middle school and high school teams.

Learn about CSTHEA’s baseball program and get information for this upcoming season. We’ll distribute practice/game schedules, as well as the baseball handbook and paperwork.

Please plan to attend this important meeting; the baseball season is just around the corner.

Questions? Email Julie Simons: djsimons@tvn.net.