by Mark Smiley | Dec 17, 2017 | Editorials
Mayor Mike Dunafon
The announcement by CBS Sports that it had agreed to a multi-year rights deal with Major League Rugby (MLR) to televise 13 games starting this spring, including a game of the week and two weeks of playoff action for MLB’s inaugural season, is a dream come true for Glendale and its many rugby fans.
MLR was formed earlier this year with seven teams, including the Glendale Raptors and teams from Austin, Houston New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle and Salt Lake City.
Glendale Rugby was the vision of the Chronicle Publisher Chuck Bonniwell, Michael Dunafon and Debbie Matthews, all of whom had played rugby. The team logo of a three-headed raptor represents the three founders.
The concept was to bring a sports team to Glendale which the town could rally around and bring a sense of community. As Chuck Bonniwell remarked, “Glendale wasn’t going to get a National Football League or Major League Baseball team, but rugby worldwide is the second most popular team sport after soccer, and little Glendale could make a mark, not only nationally but even internationally, with rugby.”
Mike Dunafon, now the mayor of Glendale, has been the relentless major driving force behind rugby in Glendale but it has not been an easy task. For its initial team in 2007 Glendale did not want to cannibalize the existing teams in the Denver metropolitan area so they placed ads in The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News for new players and brought in players from across the country.
One of the keys to Glendale’s success was the early addition of Stanford educated Mark Bullock, who is now the Director of Rugby for Glendale. Bullock has coached with great success the men’s team, the women’s team and youth teams. His intelligence, tenacity and broad range of abilities has made him one of the faces of Glendale rugby.
Glendale built a world class stadium specifically for rugby with a seating capacity of 5,000 which can be doubled for special events. The city also built an adjacent venue with artificial turf that is open to the Glendale public for myriad sports in addition to rugby. Dunafon ensured that the Infinity Park Stadium was designed to be a state-of-the-art broadcast facility which now meshes perfectly with the national broadcasting standards of CBS Sports.
The Infinity Park Stadium has won numerous state and national awards relating to its field and turf management thanks to the extraordinary work of Josh Bertrand, Glendale’s Director of Public Works.
It was always envisioned that Glendale would compete at the highest level nationally which proved to be a challenge, not because of the quality of the Glendale team, but the state of rugby in the United States. The top level of American rugby when Glendale rugby started was the Rugby Super League which refused to admit Glendale due to petty jealousies by older more established clubs to a newcomer. By the time the Super League was willing to accept the Raptors, Glendale was no longer interested and the Super League folded in 2012. It was replaced by the Rugby Elite Cup which lasted only one year before closing in 2013, which Glendale also declined to join.
National and international rugby bodies sanctioned America’s first professional rugby competition named PRO Rugby in 2016 which was owned and operated by a single individual, the quixotic Doug Schoninger, and also did not include Glendale. Schoninger was not up to the task and that league also folded after that single season (2016) amid acrimony and threats of lawsuits. Schoninger, in the process, lost millions due to his investment in professional rugby.
In the meantime, during those years, Glendale competed in whatever top competition it could find, including winning USA Rugby’s Division I championship in 2011 and the Pacific Premier Championships in 2015 and 2016. In addition, Glendale’s women’s team, now known as the Merlins, was also excelling, winning back-to-back National Championships in 2014 and 2015.
The CBS Sports television contract elevates the MLR, and American rugby in general, to a level never reached before. It is expected the league will attract traditional power houses on both coasts, and Chicago to join in the near future.
After a decade Glendale is now competing at the highest level nationally with country-wide television exposure thanks to CBS Sports. The Glendale team has some of the best players in the United States with international players from across the globe sprinkled in. It can be expected to compete strongly for the league championship.
The success of Major League Rugby is by no means guaranteed, but Dunafon and Glendale can be justifiably proud of the fact that the dream and vision, over a decade old, has been fulfilled. The future of Glendale rugby is bright and the upcoming season of Major League Rugby in Glendale should be one exciting ride.
by Mark Smiley | Dec 17, 2017 | Feature Story Middle Left
Are You Setting The Wrong New Year’s Resolution?
by Monica Heinrichs
New Year’s Resolutions seem like a good idea, but most people can only stick to them for the first few months of the year! Last year roughly 80% of the resolutions made in January, failed by the end of February. By December 2017, only 8% of resolutions had actually been successful. This is not meant to discourage you in any way, but we need to rethink how we are setting goals. If we want to improve, our goal setting needs to improve too!
For 2018 the top five resolutions are: Improve Fitness; Eat Better; Quit Smoking/ Drinking; Travel More; and Learn Something New. These are all great ideas, but they’re not specific enough! In order to make a resolution and actually stick to it, you need to make it a goal, specifically a SMART Goal.
SMART Goals are goals that we use in the fitness industry to help clients create realistic goals that they can achieve in a specific amount of time. Here is what SMART stands for and some questions you can ask yourself while you’re creating your New Year’s Resolution.
S: Specific — What do I want to accomplish?
M: Measurable — How am I going to keep track of my progress?
A: Attainable — Is this goal realistic? Am I setting myself up for failure?
R: Relevant — Why is this goal important to you? What is motivating you to accomplish this?
T: Time-Bound — When do you want to accomplish this goal?
All of these areas are vital to consider, but in my experience attainable and relevant are the areas in which clients lack focus. It is important to create a “big picture” goal for yourself, but you may not be able to accomplish that right away. SMART goals help you create small, realistic goals that build up toward your big picture. For example, if your goal is to lose 25 pounds, when do you want to achieve this by? Healthy, sustainable, weight loss comes at 1-2 pounds per week. So, realistically, the quickest timeframe would be 14-16 weeks. Why do you want to lose 25 pounds? Would your health improve? Do you want to look better? Do you want to feel better? Decide what your motivation is and really hold on to it. Finding out what motivates you can be difficult, but it is essential to making sure your goal is something you actually want!
After you’ve created your SMART New Year’s Resolution, consider who is going to be your support system. Do you have someone in your life that is trying to accomplish the same thing? Having a support system not only keeps you accountable to your goal, but it may challenge you to create more goals along the way! If your goal is fitness related, ask a friend to join you for some workouts, or look into working with a Personal Trainer. If your goal is nutrition based, consider looking for a Nutritionist that can help you with meal plans and grocery shopping lists. Want to learn something new? Look into classes offered in the area. Regardless of what your resolution is, you must put in work to get there. If you are not planning on taking that first step toward your goal, I guarantee someone else is not going to do it for you.
Take ownership, and be excited about what you are working toward! There can be a great deal of stress built up when you choose your goal. Try your best to let that go, enjoy the process and reward yourself along the way! Change is hard work and hard work should be celebrated. Congratulations on your new goal, it’s going to be a great New Year!
Monica Henrichs is the Health and Wellness Director at the Glendale Sports Center. She is originally from Wisconsin and is a Green Bay Packers fan. She is a certified Personal Trainer, Health Coach, and Group Fitness Instructor with eight years of experience working with all types of people toward their health and fitness goals.
Monica Heinrichs
by Mark Smiley | Nov 21, 2017 | Feature Story Middle Left
by Lisa Marlin
David Ellis
A coffee shop in Cherry Creek North has earned bragging rights thanks to a determined employee and a perfect blend of Wisconsin maples and coffee beans. David Ellis recently won the top prize in the Peet’s Coffee Barista Competition, beating out several hundred other baristas from the company who competed nationwide.
A plaque commemorating the win is now on display in Peet’s Coffee & Tea on 2nd Avenue in Cherry Creek North where Ellis has been making and serving beverages for the past two years. “Our team at Cherry Creek has done so much to help with the competition as well, so having the plaque in our store this year is awesome,” he said.
Now in its 10th year, the competition is a chance for Peet’s baristas to enrich their handcrafted beverage skills through preparing and serving espresso, cappuccinos, and developing a personally designed specialty beverage; all while being appraised by judges on their overall preparation abilities, including latte art.
Following months of district and regional competitions, Ellis was among three baristas who were invited to company headquarters in Alameda, California, in October to present their personal beverages to company Roastmaster Doug Welsh and the coffee department.
“My signature beverage was a blend of maples that I sourced directly from a Viroqua, Wisconsin, farm,” said Ellis, who has worked as a barista since 2007 and doesn’t plan on stopping. “I absolutely love coffee, so being able to perfect my craft and passion is great. My barista skills really are just my passion for coffee and craft mixed with my passion for customer service.”
This year’s win is especially sweet because although Ellis had progressed to the finals in 2016, he didn’t bring home the prize. “After getting so far and so close last year, I put a lot of work into practice this year, so it means a great amount to take the win home to Colorado,” Ellis said.
His win also means a corporate donation to the charity of his choice. “I chose to honor Pikes Peak Suicide Prevention because of a personal connection to the topic and the organization,” he said, adding that he has participated in training there to learn more about suicide and crisis intervention.
Finally, his prize includes a trip to Costa Rica in 2018. “Traveling to or
igin with Peet’s Coffee is such an exciting opportunity,” he said. Origin is a single farm or a specific collection of beans from a single country. In this case, it applies to the farmer communities in Peet’s People and Planet initiative. Los Cafeteros Blend, which is a part of this line, is sourced from Costa Rica as well as Nicaragua. Ellis said he is looking forward to the chance to learn more about how Peet’s Coffee delivers social and environmental benefits while there.
A bonus to that trip will be the opportunity he’ll have to explore another passion. “I’m hoping for the chance to take some amazing pictures and broaden my experience as a professional photographer,” he said.
Asked how his passion for coffee and cameras might compare, Ellis had this to say, “Like my role as a barista with the Cherry Creek coffee bar team, as a portrait and wedding photographer I’m often interacting with people from all walks of life. As such, it’s really important to know how to talk to people and make them comfortable. You really have to hone that skill and build it over time.”
The same could be said for the patience he put into crafting the winning cup of coffee out of a shop in Cherry Creek. And there is a plaque there to prove it.
