At age 8, Christian Hender-son has been making serious waves in the pool.
The Pompano Beach boy recorded three personal best times and tied for first in high points with two teammates in older age groups to help the Deerfield Beach Dolphins Swim Team win its third consecutive summer championship.
The Dolphins, boasting more than 200 swimmers in the program, easily captured its third straight South Florida Recreational Swim League team title at Coral Springs Aquatics Complex recently. The Dolphins amassed 3,397 points, which was nearly double any other team in the meet.
Deerfield Beach topped the female entrants with 1,761.50 points, while its male swimmers also topped the field with 1,635.50 points.
Henderson, Benjamin Teu-chert, 17, and Andrew Coffey, 12, all tied for first in the boys’ high points with 30 points. Joey Cusmano, 16, was just two points back with 28 points.
Henderson got started in swimming after a swimming family, the Schulte’s, who lived next door, inspired him when they came to a barbecue at his home.
Henderson shattered his personal best time in the 25-yard butterfly event for 7-8- year-olds and, in the process, also eclipsed an 18-year-old league record in the event when he clocked a time of 17.05. His previous best time was 18.64.
“I swam my fastest,” said Henderson, who has been swimming for 2½ years. He won his first ever event, the butterfly, and knew swimming was in his future. “It’s all in the wrists and kicks. I got really, really happy when I broke the record. It was awesome.”
Henderson won all of his individual events (freestyle, butterfly and IM) and set personal bests in all of them. Henderson started swimming with the Pompano Beach swim team and then moved over to Deerfield Beach. He hopes to swim for a long time.
“I want to swim until I die,” Henderson said with a laugh. “I want to swim in the Olympics badly … very, very badly. As soon as I started swimming, I wanted to swim in the Olympics.”
The South Florida Recreational Swim League (SFRSL) has more than 750 swimmers during the summer and 17 teams. This is the 21st year of the league, which has teams from North Miami Beach to Vero Beach. There
are three “seasons” for the league; however, summer is the largest.
Henderson’s coach, Rafael Pereira da Silva, came away impressed.
“Christian just blew everybody out of the water today,” said Pereira da Silva, who has coach-ed the Deerfield Beach team for the past four years. “He has been working hard throughout the year. Christian came to this meet close to the record and we knew we could make this happen. He has a competitive edge and likes to be challenged all of the time. He is motivated all of the time. It is very impressive.”
Pereira da Silva was also pleased with the team’s performance. Deerfield Beach brought 188 of its 220 swimmers to the summer meet.
“The thing about the recreational is that we want the kids to enjoy the sport first of all,” Pereira da
Silva added. “We want them to come to a practice and to a meet and have fun.”
Labor Day weekend releases are typically tepid. This past weekend, The American, Takers and Machete opened with less-than-stellar box office numbers for a national release — an average of $11.9 million per film. Given the expenditures on television marketing and promotion, one wonders why such films did not perform better. Perhaps both films presented a subtext for anti-American propaganda and entrepreneurship?
Given how poorly these national releases are performing, one wonders if we will be returning to the glory days of independent barnstorming for a motion picture, as inspired by producer/director Roger Corman, who wrote the book, How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime. Such is the case for The Incubus, which opens tomorrow in selected theatres in Broward, Palm Beach and Dade Counties.
Written and directed by teen prodigy Shayne Leighton (who plays a lead role), The Incubus concerns itself with the town of Spoon River, which suspiciously looks like Boca Raton. 500 people have disappeared – caused by an ancient soul-sucking cult known as the Incubus.
A victim of domestic violence, Marni (Leighton) finds herself attracted to Raphael (Frank Mach), a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Raphael is an under minion of Bianca (Alexandra San-tanna), the leader of the Incubus cult. As the Incubus pandemic expands, a love triangle develops between Bianca, Raphael and Miami.
One of the successful spin-offs of The Incubus will be the soundtrack, created by another local prodigy, Anthony Espina, who also scored Kurt Donath’s Lucky Streak and the Crime Fighters, another locally-produced independent film. After the first public screening last December at Cinema Paradiso, Espina said of The Incubus:
“It helped to work with people who are musically motivated and have promoted the soundtrack. The music gives the movie its pulse.”
Fortunately for the young crew and cast of The Incubus, this film has been a labor of love for Producer Marcie Gorman, a self-made entrepreneur who volunteers at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts, backers of the project.
“I did this for self-fulfillment, to mentor and give a leg up to the youth, and I thought Shayne was worth investing in,” said Gorman.
If Hollywood executives could develop stronger mentor/student programs, perhaps better movies will be developed for the big screen, generating stronger box office revenue.
“Beraishit Bara Elohim Et HaShamayim, V’Et Ha’aretz (In the Beginning G-d Created The Heavens and The Earth.)” A New Year is about to begin and each and every year, we go back to the beginning; we start anew. It’s a New Year and we are looking for something new.
There is a wonderful adage that says: “Everything old is new again.” Is it? When we read the incredible words, the stories found in the Bible this year, will they simply be the same stories from the year before, or will we find a new meaning for our lives within them?
Reading the Torah is a holy thing to do, but what is your goal in reading those words? So many people I know read the Bible to find peace, but sadly, they continue to be at war with their family, their spouse, their neighbor and, yes, even with themselves.
So many people I know read the Bible hoping for a healing, yet they continue to smoke like a chimney; they continue to eat foods they know to be injurious to one’s health, and they continue to put off starting that exercise program they have been saying they were going to go on.
Okay, I have no doubt that some of you reading this are saying, “Right on Rabbi! I know someone who is doing just that and what they are doing is not going to work. What they are doing is wrong. In fact, what they are doing is downright sinful.”
Well, that’s great. We have now agreed that others are doing things wrong and that others are behaving in a sinful manner. But the Yomim Noraim, the High Holy Day season is a time to look not at others, but inside your own heart and soul. What are you doing that is contradicated by the Torah? What are you doing to make this world a better place?
I have been making a list for myself this year. Sadly, when I read the Al Chets … when I read the list of the sins I am guilty of committing in the past year, I will see myself guilty of far too many of them. I have a long way to go and, G-d willing, instead of some of those old sins being new to me this year, some of them will be gone from me.
But the choice lies within me. The choice comes from the decisions I will make with that most miraculous of gifts given to me by the Father of us all. The gift of free will is something we all share. The question for the New Year is what will we do with that most precious of gifts? Like it or not, the choice is up to you.
In the Year ahead, may you use that gift wisely and may it be for a blessing!
Shalom My Friends and a Very Happy New Year 5771,
Rabbi Craig H. Ezring
Rabbi Ezring is dedicated to supplying professional chaplaincy, pastoral care, and counseling to the aged and infirm. He contracts with a number of health centers in the area and also works with families on an individual basis. He is a member of the The National Association of Jewish Chaplains and spends a good deal of his time writing and lecturing.
The 2010 GMC Terrain is a mid-size crossover SUV positioned to shake up that segment of the market that Honda and Toyota have long dominated. It is a boldly-styled, five-passenger crossover SUV engineered with excellent fuel economy in mind.
The new addition to the GM stable shares a great deal with its fraternal twin, the Chevrolet Equinox, which comes equipped with the same platform, features and powertrains. This pairing would normally mean business is continuing as usual at GM and that they have learned nothing from recently plummeting SUV sales, not to mention that the Terrain seemed an unnecessary addition to an already full SUV lineup.
Then, Joe and I got a chance to get behind the wheel of the 2010 GMC Terrain. We knew from our first drive that this just might be the most modern SUV we’ve seen and our confidence in GM’s judgment was restored.
Under the hood, every GMC Terrain comes standard with a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine producing 182 horsepower and 172 lb.-ft. of torque. Optional on all but the SLE-1 edition is a 3.0-liter V6 good for 264 hp and 222 lb.-ft. of torque. Both engines come standard with a six-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel-drive. All-wheel drive is optional across the board.
Its fuel economy is impressive with both engine set-ups. The four-cylinder 2010 Terrain with front-wheel drive achieves an EPA-estimated 22 miles-per-gallon (mpg) city/32 mpg highway and 26 mpg combined. The V6 with front-wheel drive gets 17 mpg city/25 mpg highway and 20 mpg combined, with all-wheel-drive versions dropping slightly.
I like the looks of the 2010 GMC Terrain. I know a lot of people won’t. It looks chunky, boxy and tough, and that works for me.
Despite its big, square fenders and typical five-passenger, high-riding style, inside the 2010 GMC Terrain is a new generation of cabin tech for GM. It is remarkably stylish, with a dashboard design that reminds Joe of the related Cadillac SRX. The Terrain’s high-tech navigation and entertainment options only heighten its appeal. Especially intriguing is the hard-drive-based navigation system showing traffic and weather, along with a full-featured audio system. There’s also good legroom here and a lot of cargo room.
The 2010 GMC Terrain is available in four trim levels: SLE-1, SLE-2, SLT-1 and SLT-2. Standard equipment for the SLE-1 includes 17-inch alloy wheels, heated side mirrors, a trip computer, cruise control, air-conditioning, full power accessories, power front seat height and lumbar adjustments, a sliding and reclining backseat, a tilt-and-telescoping steering column, a back-up camera integrated into the rearview mirror, OnStar and a six-speaker CD stereo with satellite radio and an auxiliary audio jack. The SLE-2 adds roof rails, 18-inch alloy wheels on V6 models, an eight-way power drive seat, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, Bluetooth, automatic climate control and an eight-speaker Pioneer sound system.
There’s a lot to love in the 2010 GMC Terrain. As I said, I like its funky boxy looks and I like the room inside. It has good acceleration, and a very steady and quiet ride. Then, there is the base price of $25, 850 — our test car was $28,850. That is a fine ride from the new GM.
The 2010 GMC Terrain is a mid-size crossover SUV positioned to shake up that segment of the market that Honda and Toyota have long dominated. It is a boldly-styled, five-passenger crossover SUV engineered with excellent fuel economy in mind.