A great summer of events

Congratulations to Don Listwin, Dale Jantzen and Bob Singleton, the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix general manager, for the extraordinary success the Grand Prix achieved in its inaugural year. The race was not only the biggest sports event in the city’s history but one newspaper called it the most exciting event ever held in downtown San Jose. Not a bad beginning.

In addition this summer we hosted the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics, the Men’s Hardball Roller Hockey World Championships and the SBC San José Golf Classic, which is our fundraiser for The First Tee of San Jose, our program of golf instruction with life skills education. Thanks very much to the volunteers and the Sports Authority board members and staff who worked so hard to make all these events successful. I appreciate your time and effort.

Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 8-11, we are hosting another terrific event, the Dew Action Sports Tour at HP Pavilion, which features the best action sports (skateboards, BMX and motocross) athletes in the world. San Jose is the fourth stop on the five-city tour, which culminates next month in Orlando. Please read the story that follows.

Hope you enjoy this issue of SportLines.

Dean Munro
Executive Director

With our partners at the Dew Action Sports Tour, the Sports Authority has put together a grass roots marketing team for the Toyota Challenge, the tour’s Sept. 8-11 stop in San Jose.

The first-of-its-kind tour for the action sports of skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross will bring thousands of young sports fans to HP Pavilion for cutting-edge competition and musical concerts.

Tickets for the event are available here, and they’re going fast.

The Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San José packed a lot of excitement, speed and spectators into one weekend. San Jose’s first taste of downtown auto racing July 29-31 produced speeds of 180 mph and more than 150,000 fans turned out to see the spectacle.

“We had a great first event,” said Dick Eidswick, Champ Car president, who has reoriented the open-wheel racing series toward three-day racing festivals in international cities. “We look forward next year to coming back to an even better event. This is the very image of the kind of events we’re trying to spawn all over the world.”

It began as a small program in 2001, funded by a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Golf Association and a contribution from SBC, designed to introduce youngsters to the game of golf and the valuable life lessons it teaches. The Sports Authority’s Eagles at Rancho del Pueblo attracted more interest than it could accommodate from the very start.

Now it’s an official chapter of The First Tee, a national program begun by the World Golf Foundation, which will expand the outreach of the Sports Authority supported by the city’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services department to include more youngsters and more places for them to play. At a news conference announcing the change, Joyce Taylor, SBC’s regional president for external affairs presented the new chapter a $75,000 check from the SBC San José Golf Classic in June, which benefits The First Tee of San Jose.

The First Tee of San Jose offers a wider range of instructional programs and uses a national curriculum at its permanent facility at Rancho del Pueblo Golf Course. Check online for this fall’s schedule and registration forms.

BAWSI, the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, will be participating in the Oct. 30 Metro Silicon Valley Marathon in a big way. One of BAWSI’s programs for involving more women in sports – Women Running the Country – provides women leaders with an eight-week fitness program mentored by top female athletes, which culminates with participating in the race’s 5K run/walk. Registration is available online at www.bawsi.org. Other race entries are at www.svmarathon.com/index2005a.html?registration.html.

Even without the Grand Prix, San Jose was a busy sports venue this summer.

Nearly 2,500 athletes plus coaches and families were in the city over two weekends, July 30-Aug. 7, for the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics, which splashed in pools across the area.

Then Aug. 6-13, 16 national roller hockey teams descended on the city for the Men’s Hardball Roller Hockey World Championship at the San Jose State Event Center. Spain defeated Argentina 2-1 for the championship.

“All the international visitors and competitors were delighted to be in San Jose,” said Anne Cribbs of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee. “They loved the venue, the food service and the level of competition was terrific.”

The journalism department at San Jose State produced a daily newspaper during the event, which also received front page coverage by the San Jose Mercury News.

Board member Linda J. LeZotte played stick-ball and softball growing up on Long Island, N.Y., and has become an avid golfer since moving to San Jose shortly after her high school graduation.

After first earning degrees from San Jose State in business and behavorial science, she earned two law degrees while working full time. Her 17 years of law practice focused on estate planning and advocating for families with special needs and adults. After six years as a planning commissioner, LeZotte was elected to San Jose City Council in 1998, where she has been an advocate for neighborhoods, the disabled and seniors. She was recently named Legislative Person of the Year by the San Andreas Regional Center for her advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities.

LeZotte will leave the City Council at the end of her current term and will run for the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors in the fall of 2006. She and her husband Ken Kelly live in West San Jose.