Wilmington Article on Syd’s Verbal

Our local newspaper, the Wilmington News-Journal, does a good job reporting on local sports activities. They have been especially generous in their reporting on Sydney as both a player and as she has gone through the college process.

The following is the article that was published today in the Wilmington News-Journal. I like the fact that they talked about her faith along with everything else. You can read the article on the News-Journal website.

MARK HUBER

mhuber@civitasmedia.com

In the end, the University of Louisville had everything Sydney Brackemyre wanted in a college. So earlier this month, the Clinton-Massie junior gave a verbal commitment to the U of L women’s basketball program.

“In the end I chose Louisville because of its all-around fit,” Brackemyre said. “In the beginning of this process I had five keys I was looking for in a college …. opportunities to build my faith, academics, location, competitive athletics and relations with staff.”

Brackemyre, who plans to major in kinesiology, picked Louisville over Dayton and Michigan.

Brackemyre said all schools in contention were aware of her injury, a season-ending knee injury at the Pepsi Holiday Classic in December.

“My knee injury didn’t play any part in my decision,” she said. “None of the schools I was looking at lost interest because of my injury. I have been very honest with them about my injury and my rehab.”

Brackemyre recently put away the crutches and is hitting “rehab hard,” she said.

“As soon as my surgeon gives me the green light, I will get into Prasco with my trainer, Dante Harlan, and start working on my game,” she said. “I am hoping to get back in time to play AAU with the Cincinnati Angels for part of the season in July, but I am not rushing anything and won’t get on the court until my doctor, coaches and I think I’m ready.”

The Lady Cardinals were ranked No.12 in the nation in the latest poll and will be moving from the Big East Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“The Cardinals are very competitive athletically,” said Brackemyre. “I love that they are going to the ACC next year and I think that is a great conference. I love coach (Jeff) Walz’s style of play and the way he draws the mis-match and pushes the tempo. He has a great history of success, so I wanted to go to a program that has established itself as a team to beat.”

Brackemyre said Louisville’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes program was instrumental in her decision.

“I went on an overnight visit there in December and had the opportunity to attend one of their meetings,” she said. “Over 200 University of Louisville athletes participate, which is huge. My parents and I met with Chris Morgan, the director, and really believe I will fit in well there. I also think I will be able to plug-in to Southeast Christian Church, a mega-church in Louisville, and work with their college aged group. Southeast has a great ministry, as well.”

One More Article on Syd’s Verbal

Hopefully you aren’t getting too bored of the announcement about Syd’s commitment to Louisville. I think once the first wave runs its course, things will return to normal and other news will come to the front.

Last summer, Syd attended the Peach State Basketball Fab 5 Camp in Georgia and got a nice write-up and some cool pics after her showing there.

Peach State Basketball posted the following article on their website regarding her decision to go to U of L. Appreciate these various organizations that promote girls’ basketball and highlight the players who work to get better and play at the next level.

Louisville Adds Brackemyre

Louisville is currently in the top 15 nationally. This weekend, the Cardinals added 2014 forward Sydney Brackemyre of Harveysburg, Ohio. The 6-foot-1 swing player should help them in their quest to stay amongst the elite programs nationwide. Brackemyre can score the basketball at the free throw line or with the trail 3-pointer. Her performance at our Elite Basketball Academy Fab Five Camp in the fall solidified her standing as an ELITE 100 rated recruit. Brackemyre is currently sidelined with an ACL injury suffered before the end of 2012 but should be back on the floor before the summer is out if not sooner. Before choosing Louisville, the four-star forward was considering Dayton and Michigan in her final three.

Effects of Divorce on Kids Involvement in Church

One of the regular emails I receive is HomeWord’s Culture Brief. It is designed to help parents and ministry leaders stay current with youth culture.

In the January 18, 2013 edition they referenced an article from the Chicago-Tribune that highlights research that indicates that kids raised in happy, intact marriages are twice as likely to worship later in life than children whose parents divorce amicably.

I think this speaks to different groups – both the church and to parents. The church continues to struggle to address the issue of students that grow up in the church that don’t return once they hit adulthood.

It speaks to parents as yet another negative effect of divorce. I thought it was interesting that the article used the word “amicable” to describe certain divorces. In my experience, I don’t know if you can really put the words “amicable” and “divorce” together, unless it is simply to make the adults in the dissolving relationship feel better about what is taking place.

I certainly don’t have more answers than anyone else; just found this to be an interesting insight into the impact divorce has on the kids involved. While God is certainly able to work in the lives of divorced parents and kids from divorced homes, I think this research sounds another warning bell for today’s families.

Here is that portion of the article featured in the HomeWord email:

Seeking to highlight a phenomenon that has become so common that it’s often overlooked by clergy, a new analysis of data about children of divorce reveals that kids raised in happy, intact marriages are twice as likely to worship later in life than children whose parents divorce amicably. Researchers say they hope the unprecedented project will awaken pastors to a common oversight contributing to the decline in mainline Christian denominations and religious affiliation in general. “Children of divorce are on the leading edge of the well-documented spiritual-but-not-religious movement,” said Elizabeth Marquardt, the project’s lead author. “These are potential leaders. As we grapple with more and more people growing up without a married mom and dad, the church can make more sense of that.

Mother Makes Girl, 12, Wear Diaper for Bad Grades

It seems recently that more extreme parenting stories are making headlines. There was the guy who posted a video to his daughter about her Facebook post and then shot several bullets into her laptop.

This article is linked on Dayton Daily News website. My wife says she is the meanest mom in the world. This may surpass that.

Your thoughts?

FRIDLEY, Minn. — A mother and her boyfriend shaved the head of her 12-year-old daughter, then forced the girl to wear a diaper and run up and down outside their home near Minneapolis because she wasn’t doing well at school, police said.

Police arrested the 38-year-old woman and her 34-year-old boyfriend Monday night on suspicion of malicious punishment of a child, a gross misdemeanor. Lt. Mike Monsrud said the two adults laughed as they were hauled off in a squad car and apparently didn’t understand why officers had intervened.

A neighbor called police earlier that evening after a crowd of about 50 people gathered to watch the girl, who was wearing only the diaper and a tank top and was begging to be let back inside their townhouse in Fridley about 7 miles north of Minneapolis.

“When the officer found her, she was crying and hysterical,” Monsrud told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.Investigators believe she had been outside for about half an hour before the neighbor alerted police, Monsrud said.

The mother and boyfriend were being held in the Anoka County Jail pending charges. The girl and three younger children were placed in foster care.

The Associated Press is not naming the adults to protect the identities of the children.

The two adults told police they were punishing the girl because she had bad grades and failed to do her homework.

“They told her if she didn’t, they would shave her head and put her on ‘diaper duty,’ which I guess meant running up and down the street and cleaning up trash as a form of public humiliation,” Monsrud said.
The lieutenant added that the couple questioned the police’s decision to intervene.

“Through the whole contact, and even on the way to jail, both were laughing and thinking it was ridiculous police would get involved in what they said was their parental decision,” he said.

Officers had responded to four calls in the past two years at the family’s townhouse. At least one of the calls triggered notification to a county child protection worker, Monsrud said.