Tag Archives: water polo

Roundup: Run For RTM, Eat At Gruel Britannia, Clean Up Trash …

Posted on July 22, 2025 | 4 comments

Westport residents interested in running for the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) can pick up a petition at the Town Clerk’s office, starting today.

To qualify for the November 4 ballot, candidates must collecct at least 25 signatures from registered voters in their district. Completed petitions must be returned to the town clerk by September 9.

The RTM is a 36-member, nonpartisan legislative body. Four representatives are elected from each of 9 voting districts. Members serve two-year terms.

RTM members play a vital role in town governance. They vote on appropriation requests over $20,000, approve town ordinances, provide final approval of the town budget, and serve on committees that review and make recommendations on budgetary and legislative matters. They may also review certain decisions made by town boards and commissions.

For more information about the petition process or other election questions, contact Town Clerk Jeffrey Dunkerton: 203-341-1105; jdunkerton@westportct.gov.

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Yesterday marked a jolly good opening for Gruel Britannia.

The new Cross Highway restaurant — an outpost of the very popular Southport spot, taking over the vacant Porch @ Christie’s — was packed from the moment the doors opened.

Neighbors, other Westporters from further away, Fairfield fans, construction workers, delivery people — all were impressed with the menu, the interior, and owner Karen Hubrich’s welcoming vibe.

Click here for last week’s preview story, and menus.

Gruel Britannia: ready to serve. (Photo/Dan Woog)

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Today marks the beginning of the Westport Domestic Violence Task Force drive.

They’re collecting household items for clients at their 2 safe houses. Supplies are part of “move-in baskets,” which help recipients transition into apartments.

Items needed include

  • Laundry detergent
  • Laundry baskets
  • Plastic reusable plates
  • Plastic reusable utensils
  • Dish soap
  • Sponges
  • Dish towels
  • Hand towels and washcloths
  • Condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.)
  • Tin foil
  • Plastic wrap
  • Parchment paper
  • Toilet paper
  • Paper towels
  • Disinfecting wipes
  • Brooms and mops
  • Dustpans
  • Paper napkins
  • Hand soap

Donations can be dropped off in the lobby at the Westport Police station, through July 29.

For more information on the Westport Domestic Violence Task Force, click here. For 24-hour assistance with domestic violence, call 888-884-2900, or click here.

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As “06880” and the Compo Beach Improvement Assocation put the final touches on this Sunday’s Soundview Summer Stroll (July 27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), we’re looking for a few teenagers (or parents!) to help run games and fun for little kids, in 1-2 hour shifts.

It’s already organized. We just need helping hands! If interested, please email at kristinemott@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, get ready to enjoy live music, eat, play, stroll, Rollerblade, and otherwise enjoy the Compo Beach exit road — closed to all traffic — on Sunday.

See you there!

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An “06880” reader whose home abuts the Longshore golf course writes: “During the 4 years we have lived here, we have found empty beer cans, candy wrappers and the like on our rear property.

“On Sunday, one of my granddaughters discovered 2 empty Coors cans.

“Of course, there’s a teaching lesson for them: Respect other people’s property, don’t litter, etc.

“However, the real lesson is: Golfers and other Longshore attendees are disrespectful to their neighbors.

“My husband and I are shocked that we live in aqqa community that has no respect for our property. We thought when we moved here Westport was a kind,caring and respectful community. We sadly are finding that that is not the case.

“Everyone should treat their neighbors’ property in the same manner they would like others to treat their property.”

The back of a Longshore-area resident’s property.

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The Westport Police Department says: Connecticut is updating its e-bike laws.

Effective October 1, e-bikes without pedals, and with batteries over 750 watts, will now be classified as motor-driven cycles. A driver’s license will be required to operate them.

E-bikes over 3,500 watts are expected to need registration and insurance — similar to motorcycles.

Class 1–3 e-bikes are not affected. They still will noto require a license.

Police say tell parents: “As you shop for e-bikes, keep these changes in mind –especially for younger riders. If a bike performs like a motorcycle, it may not be the right fit for a child just yet.”

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Speaking of transportation: Spaces in the Westport Weston Family YMCA parking lot closest to the Merritt Parkway are narrower than in other rows.

There are “Compact Cars Only” signs. But not a lot. They’re easy to miss.

What’s not easy to miss is when you have to squeeze into a spot. And come within millimeters of scraping the car next to you. Like this driver:

I’m pretty certain the green car was already there.

Getting in was the easy part. Getting out will be much harder.

It’s always amazed me that people will do anything they can, to park as close to the Y as possible.

So they can then go inside, and work out.

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Westport is home to all kinds of summer camps. Cello, art, computer, SAT prep — you name, there’s something for you.

Including water polo.

Northeast Elite offers an August 4-9 camp for middle and high school students. Experienced and new players are all welcome. It’s non-competitive and focused on fundamentals, with both land and water activities.

It’s the 6th year for this special opportunity — and it certainly is unique. The site is Schlaet’s Point, right off Compo Beach. Click here for more information.

Coach Danilo Sierra-Giraldo, at the Northeast Elite water polo camp.

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Speaking of water sports: Congratulations to Zadie Schatz!

The young Westport swimmer — a rising 8th grader at Pierrepont School — earned 1 gold and 3 silver medals, 4 junior national times (100 breast, 200 breast, 200 IM, 400 IM), and a few national swimming news mentions at the recent Novato Sectionals in California.

Her 100 breaststroke time is 0.7 seconds away from last year’s Olympic trial cut —  very unusual for a 13-year-old, particularly a dual sport athlete (she also plays water polo).

Sectional meets are open age, so she raced against adults and college athletes too.

Congratuations too to Zadie’s Stamford Sailfish teammate and fellow Westporters, Connor Cheung

The 15-year old, who will be a Staples High School sophomore this fall, placed 51st, 97th and 105th in, respectively, the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free.

Zadie Schatz

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Like all reunion classes, they can’t believe it’s been xx years.

But Staples High School’s Class of 1980 celebrates their 45th reunion next month.

They’ll meet Friday, August 15 at the VFW. They’ll spend Saturday afternoon and evening at Compo Beach, with dinner from the Szabo Seafood truck.

As always, they’ll raise money for their beloved classmate Susan Lloyd, and the Susan Fund that for over 50 years has provided more than $2 million in scholarships, to Fairfield County residents with cancer. Funds will come from a raffle of art, by Class of ’80 artists.

For more information on the reunion, and to register, click here. Questions? Email Amy Potts: amy@aapk.com.

Susan Lloyd

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When vocalist/actor/writer Abena Koomson-Davis sat in with her husband at Jazz at the Post, she brought the VFW house down.

This Thursday, the 3-time Tony winner — who has performed with Stevie Wonder and recorded with Natalie Merchant — headlines her own shows (July 24, 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.; dinner at 7 p.m.; $20; $15 veterans and students).

Koomson-Davis will be joined by pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Matt Dworszyk, drummer Jonathan Barber and saxophonist Greg “The Jazz Rabbi” Wall. Click here for reservations.

PS: Even if you’re not a jazz fan, check out the performance below. Spectacular!

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Also this Thursday (July 24): The Fairfield County Dance Festival returns to Westport (6:30 p.m., MoCA CT). The free, outdoor performance features the Amy Marshall Dance Company and New England Ballet Theater.

All are welcome — from longtime dance enthusiasts to families looking for a fun summer evening outside.

Audience members are encouraged to bring blankets, chairs and picnics. For more information, click here.

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There’s a word for “fear of spiders” (arachnophobia).

But even the most arachnophobic “06880” reader must marvel at spiders’ creation.

Pam Kesselman spotted (and snaped) today’s “Westport … Naturally” featured photo — on her deck.

(Photo/Pam Kesselman)

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And finally … “who” knew this was coming?

(From the RTM and Gruel Britannia to e-bikes and water polo, “06880”‘s Roundup has it all. That’s the way we roll. If you enjoy features like this, please click here to support our work. Thanks!)

4 Comments

Posted in Arts, Beach, Local politics, Longshore, Police, Staples HS, Transportation, YMCA

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Westport Writer Stirs “Niche Sports” Hornet’s Nest

Posted on October 20, 2020 | 33 comments
A mother whose daughters are fencers — and who compete in cutthroat tournaments nationally — has an epiphany:

It’s the Fourth of July. (My husband is) in Ohio; I’m in California. What are we doing to our family? We’re torturing our kids ridiculously. They’re not succeeding. We’re using all our resources and emotional bandwidth for a fool’s folly.

Yet she

didn’t know how to make the folly stop. The practices, clinics, and private lessons continued to pile up, pushing everything else off the calendar (except for homework; the woman knew her girls had to be outstanding athletes and outstanding students to get into the right school).

“’We just got caught up in it,” she says. “We thought this is what good parents do. They fight for opportunities for their kids.’”

That’s the opening anecdote in a long, harrowing Atlantic story about youth sports.

Titled “The Mad Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League Obsessed Parents,” it focuses on fencers, rowers, and squash, water polo and lacrosse players — “niche athletes” — in Fairfield County.

None of the examples specifically mentions Westport. But the writer — Ruth S. Barrett — lives here. Her stories are not far from home.

The Atlantic illustrated Ruth Barrett’s story with this time-lapse photo by Pelle Cass.

There’s the Darien parent who says, “There’s no more church. No more friends. We gave it all up for squash.”

Barrett writes about the “excessively ornate … circular logic” college sports ecosystem that rewards athletes in once-less-popular sports whose families can pay their own way at private colleges.

The pool of those athletes has grown. But the number of spots on teams has not.

As Barrett notes bitingly:

Alpha sports parents followed the rules — at least those of the meritocracy — only to discover that they’d built the 80th- or 90th-best lacrosse midfielder in the country. Which, it turns out, barely qualifies you for a spot at the bottom of the roster at Bates.

When COVID hit college athletics hard, the rat race seemed over. Inside Lacrosse CEO Terry Foy told Barrett:

The kid who would have gone to Yale now goes to Georgetown. The kid who would have gone to Georgetown now goes to Loyola. On and on. And then eventually you get down to Wentworth. And then you just don’t play college sports.

But it was only a temporary pause. Parents are as determined as ever to have their children — in whom they have invested untold amounts of money, and incalculable hours of driving, cross-country travel and competition-watching — find a spot on a college team.

And — it goes without saying — an elite one.

“What parent wants to have a child who’s going to be playing for a bottom-tier school with bottom-tier academics in the armpit of the United States?” the mother of a water polo player in Stamford asks. “I want to be polite. But there’s no way in hell.”

Barrett is unsparing. She writes:

Amid the shifting norms, there’s a growing sense of unease among suburban parents in niche-sport hubs—a dread that they went too far, failed to read the room. And they’re not wrong.

“It’s easy to stereotype the Fairfield County player,” says Lars Tiffany, the men’s varsity-lacrosse coach at the University of Virginia. “The Fairfield County player is the rich kid who still has his umbilical cord connected: the kid who doesn’t really have to take ownership of his mistakes or actions.”

Tiffany insists he doesn’t buy in to such broad-brush stereotypes. “We try not to care where they’re from,” he says. And yet, “if they’re from a hotbed, there’s an expectation level.”

He elaborates: “Do I hold the Fairfield County lacrosse player to a higher standard? Of course. You just know he’s been coached up. So flash-forward to me watching a [high school] junior on the lacrosse field. The thought is going through my brain that I like his skill set but there’s room for growth.

“But then I think, Wait. He’s already had a lot of people working on these things. He’s a little tapped out. Maybe I’ll take a player from Northern California or Texas. Someone who hasn’t been exposed to such elite coaching. Someone whose best lacrosse could be ahead of him. You try to tell yourself not to overanalyze, but you do.”

There’s much more in Barrett’s Atlantic piece, including a harrowing scene with 2 squash players at Stamford’s Chelsea Piers.

“The vibe was primal and strange,” Barrett writes.

“I was half-expecting Grace to chop off Emma’s ponytail and hold it aloft. This was the junior-squash world at its pre-pandemic apogee—the Hunger Games for the ruling class.”

There’s the example too of squash parents who “install pros off tour in their guest homes or in-law suites, to be available for private instruction on demand.”

How do young athletes cope? Some burn out. Barrett cites an NCAA survey that mentions “off-the-charts” binge drinking and drug use by lacrosse players.

Remember that fencing family in the opening anecdote? Barrett goes back to them. During the pandemic, the mother says:

The girls were lying on the trampoline, finding shapes in the maple trees. I realized that I’d never seen them doing that — just lying down on the trampoline together, giggling about different things. I think they’re going to look back on this period as one of the happiest times of their youth. It feels so good to get off that hamster wheel.

But that did not last. The next month, she took her daughters to a “secret bunker court” no one else knew about.

Barrett writes:

It’s a haunting vision: the ponytailed girls in hidden glass boxes training harder and harder, hitting straight rails along the line, faster and faster, even as the college spots melt away and the cultural sands shift beneath their feet.

(To read Ruth S. Barrett’s full Atlantic story, click here. Hat tip: Fred Cantor)

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Posted in Media, Sports, Teenagers

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