Recognizing Talent – Hometown View

Just a little of this and a little of that on the final day of November:

We have had unusually warm weather over the last couple of weeks and I think many of us are wondering when we are going to start paying for it. While temperatures in the 60’s may be gone for a while The Weather Channel’s 10-day forecast does not seem to have any real cause for concern. Most days it looks like we will be in the upper 40’s to low 50’s although by the middle of next week temps could dip a bit. So far no mention of that filthy four letter word that starts with the letter “s.”

CONGRATULATIONS TROOP 30

Boy Scout Troop 30 of the Pleasant Plains Volunteer Fire Department was honored at last night’s Toms River Township Council Meeting for their participation in Red Ribbon Week during October, which is a national anti-drug community awareness program. Mayor Tom Kelaher recognized the scouts and their leaders as well as police officers from the Toms River Police Department who spent time discussing the dangers of drugs and interacted with the boys during the course of the week.

Mike Davenport is the Scoutmaster for Troop 30 while Joe Cocco coordinated the Red Ribbon Week program.

RECOGNIZING TALENT

When my daughter first began playing field hockey at Toms River High School South I knew little about the sport but I could recognize talent and Alex Okuniewicz had plenty of that. She clearly was an outstanding player and I would marvel at her exploits on the field.

After graduating from South she took those talents to The College of New Jersey where as a senior this fall she led the Lions to their 10th NCAA Division III National Championship which came after a win over Middlebury College last weekend.

Even more impressively Okuniewicz was named the National Coaches Association Division III Player of the Year. She becomes just the third player in the storied history of the program to earn that national award and it caps a week in which she was also named All-American First Team and All-South Atlantic Region First Team. A defensive stalwart, Okuniewicz she finished the season with 33 points on 13 goals and 7 assists and the Toms River resident started every game during her four-year career at TCNJ.