Running to a new beat: A new coach and new philosophy in Jonesville

With their football program teetering on upper echelon status in the Big Eight and drawing closer to another state playoff berth, Jonesville athletic director Kathy Bondsteel looked to a former Hudson Tiger to transform her Comets from boys to young men.

Joshua Lindeman is a self-professed blue-collar kind of guy who loves to bang heads and throw people on the turf (he was a fullback and linebacker after all).

He can hardly contain himself when talking about the challenge that lie ahead at the county's second largest school.

At the first-ever Jonesville football camp for 9th- to 12th-graders, which began Monday, Lindeman has been quick off the line of scrimmage in getting his players to realize that being outstanding, disciplined individuals will go a long way when striving for tangible success. Lindeman said Bondsteel brought him in to develop leadership and create a lasting Friday night tradition and he has been hard at work ever since he was hired in early May.

"When I got hired here I was expected to do some things and one of them was to clean up the leadership and things of that nature," he said. "As a high school player I was a blue-collar player from a blue-collar family who just hit a lot of guys and enjoyed it. That's kind of the intensity and determination I want out of the players in this program. It's going to be our goal to be the toughest team on the field every Friday night."

Soon after taking the job, Lindeman unveiled his first lesson on how football can equate to life. Instead of just taking a vote and picking captains for the 2009 season, he implemented an entire interview process.

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A few more scraps to nibble on

CHARGERS ALUMNI FOOTBALL GAME BEING ORGANIZED
Not only will former Hills­dale College football players gather for an all-class reunion this Homecoming on Oct. 9-­10, but they will also have a chance to demonstrate what skills they may have left.
The first ever alumni flag football game will be played on Oct. 10 at 11 a.m. on the turf at Muddy Waters Stadium.
Those who are interested in participating can register at www.chargerblue.com.
The Chargers host GLIAC powerhouse Grand Valley State at 2 p.m. that day.

LOCAL DIVERS PLACE HIGH AT STATES
Local divers from Victory Athletics took second place out of six teams at the first Future Champions state meet at Western Michigan University's Gable Natato­rium June 27-28. Five divers from levels two to six represented Victory Athletics.
Sisters Kylee (9 years old) and Samantha Vear (7) com­peted against each other in Level 4 with Samantha sneaking winning with a 104.0 and Kylee placing a close second with a 103.
Maya Vanbuskirk (9) and Adrianna Willes (10) were both level 2s who competed in Level 3 against six other divers. First place went to Bri Jones, from West Michi­gan Diving Association, with a 111.0 . Vanbuskirk placed fourth with a 94.0 and Willes took sixth with an 85.0 Issac Giggs (5) was un­challenged as the youngest diver at the state meet, scor­ing an 85.5 and bringing home the youngest state championship gold medal.
Head coach Nancy Vear stated that her divers worked hard and were young and well prepared.
"We had a great time at our first state meet and the kids enjoyed finishing up the season with titles and medals," she said. "The divers are so young, but they can’t wait to start training for the Junior Olympic program in the fall."

JONESVILLE FOOTBALL HOSTING GOLF SCRAMBLE
With a new varsity head football coach in place the Jonesville Comets football program is trying to gener­ate funds for extra training equipment among other things.
Their first effort will be the Jonesville Football Golf Scramble at 10 a.m. on July 11 at Mill Race Golf Club, 200 Adrian Road, Jonesville.
Dalous Kelley organized the event and athletic direc­tor Kathy Bondsteel said she expects a great community turnout with recently hired head coach Joshua Linde­man and most of the Comet players in attendance.
The cost to participate is $50 per person or $200 per team.
Prize money will be awarded to the top three fin­ishing teams as follows: $400 for first, $200 for sec­ond and $100 for third.
Bondsteel said the foot­ball program needs extra fi­nancial support as it attempts to climb to the next level of stability and success.
"Our program is stable right now, but this money can help provide extras such as more equipment and things like tackle dummies," she said. "There are some things our coaches would like to have to help train their players, but we haven't been able to buy."

SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT RAISES MONEY THROUGH GOLF OUTING
The Hillsdale County Sheriff 's Department is ex­hausting every avenue to raise money for it's educa­tional fund and athletics are not being left out.
A little over a week ago Hillsdale County’s high school seniors benefitted from the hard work of Sher­iff 's Office personnel who organized the first-ever Sheriff 's Office Golf Tourna­ment.
The tournament was held in an effort to raise scholar­ship support for Hillsdale County seniors interested in pursuing a college degree in criminal justice.
The tournament was co­ordinated by Deputy Todd Moore with the assistance of over a dozen of Sheriff Office volunteers who put in a full day of service at White Oaks Golf Course on Saturday, June 27.
Undersheriff Jeremiah Hodshire said a golf outing is one way to use corporate sponsors to help maintain the department's education fund despite the poor economy.
The event brought in more than $1,000 to be ap­plied toward scholarships.
The WCSR radio team took home first place hon­ors, leading the tournament all day long.
Each player at the scram­ble was a awarded a door prize, thanks to businesses and individuals throughout the county who generously donated them.
Some of the door prizes included gas cards, certifi­cates for free massages and tool sets, according to Hod­shire.
The event's corporate sponsor was Stewart Avia­tion from Osseo.
The department hopes to continue their fundraising with the ongoing sale of raf­fle tickets for a special event that will culminate at the Hillsdale County Fair in September.
The grand prize is a pair of roundtrip tickets on American Airlines. The sec­ond place prize is a set of Callaway X18R golf clubs that are being donated by Clor's Outpost and third prize is a pair of 14k gold .37 carat diamond earrings from Meyer's Diamond Cen­ter.
Tickets are $5 each and every penny of the proceeds will benefit the education fund.
Hodshire said people don't realize how much money it takes to educate the public through such simple things as brochures, bumper stickers and flyers, which is another use of the fund's money.
'The fair cost us about $2,100 last year. The pen­cils, stickers, bike safety ma­terials — those types of brochures,' he said.
Hodshire emphasized that the messages in that kind of material begins dialogue on important topics.

FORMER RAM CORTRIGHT EARNS ACADEMIC HONORS

[caption id="attachment_801" align="alignleft" width="95" caption="Kelsey Cortright"][/caption]

Kelsey Cortright, a graduate of North Adams Jerome High School, is one of 121 Albion College scholar-athletes who have been named to the Michigan Intercol­legiate Athletic Associ­ation’s (MIAA) Academic Honor Roll for the 2008-2009 year.Cortright, the daugh­ter of Rodney Cortright and Susan Cortright of Jonesville, is a mem­ber of the volleyball team at Albion. She played in one game this season for the 12-16 Britons.
An individual making the MIAA’s Academic Honor Roll must have earned a varsity letter in a sport and main­tained a 3.5 grade point average or better for the entire school year.

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Jonesville hires new varsity football coach

27-year-old Joshua Lindeman is set on bringing what he calls "The Comet Way" to Jonesville, and now he'll get an opportunity, as the Comets varsity football coach.

It was finalized Monday that Lindeman, a Hudson High School graduate, will be the successor to Brian Stroble, who resigned in late March after three seasons at the helms.

Lindeman graduated from Adrian College in 2005, and has coached at various positions for JV and varsity programs at the Class A level ever since. He has garnered experience at Tecumseh, Ann Arbor Pioneer and Ann Arbor Skyline, and he is also finishing up his third year of teaching at Jackson High School.

When he heard the Comet job was opening up he said it felt like the perfect opportunity in an ideal community, where he can do what he loves most — work with kids, change lives, and be around football.

"Jonesville is one of those jobs that just fit. I'm a small town guy, I think I understand both athletes from this size area, as well as from bigger schools, from four years in Class A, and I think I can help build this program up," he said.

Lindeman was married last July and is not yet a father, so he believes he has the time and resources to build something special, starting June 8 when offseason football workouts officially start.

"There are three things in my life. First is my faith and family, second is teaching, because I love it and it pays the bills, and third is football. I told my wife what she was getting into when we got married, she knows I love football, and I'm excited about this chance," he said.

Lindeman said he has a vision for the program, which begins at the seventh grade level with youth football, and focuses on one philosophy from middle school up to the varsity squad —a philosophy he calls"The Comet Way".

"The five things are commitment, optimism, maturity, enthusiasm and teamwork. I think I've learned some 'Dos and Don'ts ' of building programs the last few years and I'll use that knowledge and experience," he said.

Lindeman also said he believes communication between the program and the community, parents, students and the administration is vital. He said the football program is working on setting up a community-wide get together for late May to introduce Lindeman to the community, while also presenting a forum for public comment.

The Comets have gone 10-17 the last three years, including a 5-4 mark in 2008.
The next order of business is for Lindeman to hire his staff, which he said could include some holdovers from Stroble's staff, as well as some new faces.

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