9:42 AM: First big event up this morning – the pre-parade Float Dodger 5K, third annual edition. Our crew at the starting line at California/Charlestown says that run presenter West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) has 450 people signed up. They’re scheduled to take off at about 9:45, headed north to the spot in our top photo – California/Lander, where the West Seattle Hi-Yu float awaits the “dodgers,” who then head back south along the parade route toward The Junction. The 5K is a fundraiser benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. More to come.

10 AM: The runners have dodged the float – here’s a short clip:

We’ll have more photos/video to add later – but first, it’s on with the parade!

ADDED 4:36 PM: Photos – this is a race you dress up for!

Haven’t seen the results yet (if you see them first, please let us know so we can share the link).

ADDED: One more view of the “dodging” at California/Lander:

And as commenter JRR pointed out earlier, you can look up the results here.

SUNDAY NOTE: Tim from WSR updates the participation in count in comments. We have changed the number in the headline to 350+ as a result.

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
After a string of victories in must-win games, the West Seattle Little League‘s 11-12 All-Stars’ state-tournament run finally ended Thursday night.

Pacific, from Edmonds, beat the WSLL team, 14-4, at Bar-S on Alki Point. Three teams remain in the WSLL-hosted tournament, which continues through Saturday.

Spirit’s running high for West Seattle Little League as its 11-12 (Majors) All-Stars win again in the state tournament WSLL is hosting at Bar-S on Alki Point. This afternoon, it was a 5-3 win over South Spokane.

This means tomorrow at 6 pm, they play the winner of tonight’s Pacific vs. Gig Harbor game.

They are two victories away from Saturday’s final, for which Federal Way already has qualified.

By the way, the game had a flyover of sorts:

Go cheer for the WSLL team at 6 pm tomorrow.

(WSB photo from early in Tuesday night’s game)
The West Seattle Little League 11-12 All-Stars play again at 3 pm today in the state tournament that WSLL is hosting at Bar-S – after a thrilling comeback in their Tuesday night game. It wasn’t looking good going into the bottom of the 8th: As tweeted by Cami MacNamara, the team was down 5-2, three outs away from potential elimination. But they rallied with four runs to beat Eastside 6-5, and will play Spokane South today.

During the early going of the World Cup, our area had its own celebration of soccer and community – the West Seattle Cup. Announced back in January and played over a weekend in June, the West Seattle Cup was dreamed up and brought to reality by local teacher Terry Kegel, who shared the highlight reel above, showing what it was all about – not just family soccer games and international learning (teams represented various countries), but also the importance of “conversations for understanding” – those were as much a part of the “final score” as the soccer goals. We stopped by during the WSC – our story included this photo of Terry:

Terry is now a finalist for the special Community MVP award given out by Major League Soccer – with the prize including a $10,000 charity donation and a trip to the MLS All-Star Game. Voting is under way and continues until July 25th. And you can vote with *no strings attached* – no requirement that you sign up for something or “like”/”follow” something – just go here and click on the Sounders logo on the map, so that Terry’s info and “vote now” button will appear below.

More youth-sports success! West Seattle Baseball president Eric Olson reports that the league’s 9U All Stars won the PONY Northwest Region Championship over the weekend:

The 9U all-stars followed in the footsteps of their 8U counterparts and beat Maltby Pony Baseball to become the PONY Northwest Region Champions. After going down 5-4 in the first, the Niners put on another hit parade, scoring 8 over the last 5 innings to win 13-7. The team really played great team baseball behind a stellar pitching performance by Chase Clifton, who pitched 5 2/3 innings.

The team leaves Thursday to Walnut, California, for the 9U PONY West Zone Championship, with an opportunity to advance to the 9U World Series.

Front: Cooper Hall, Brody Olson
Back: Joel Clark, Brendan Johnson, Jack Cahill, Patrick Galvin, Chase Clifton, Payton Kyle, Kai Perala, Tyler Eisenhut, Wyatt Trujillo, Ethan Wyatt
Coaches: John Cahill, Eric Olson, Vic Hall

Congratulations and good luck!

@westseattleblog photo from today's WSLL game pic.twitter.com/jpzvSP1TcT

— Cami MacNamara (@webcami) July 13, 2014

Thanks again to Cami MacNamara for updates on the West Seattle Little League 11-12 All Stars’ team’s progress in the state tournament WSLL is hosting at Bar-S on Alki Point. After a Saturday victory, the team lost to Federal Way today, 8-4, but gets to play again tomorrow – 3 pm vs. Burlington-Edison. Here’s the updated bracket/schedule.

Big sports day tomorrow in West Seattle. We’ve already mentioned the big Little League tournament happening tomorrow at Bar-S – and there’s football on the peninsula tomorrow too. From Chief Sealth International High School head coach Luther Carr III:

We are hosting our 2nd annual RIP-IT 7 on 7 Passing League tomorrow July 12, 2014 at SWAC from 8:00AM – 4:00PM. 16 Teams from around Western Washington are competing for the RIP-IT Championship trophy. Teams are guaranteed 6 games. Most of the games will be played from 8 am to 1 pm. Following a break for lunch the games played from 1:30PM till 4:00 PM are loser-out games, culminating with the RIP-IT Championship. Entry is free for fans.

SW Athletic Complex is across from Sealth, at 2801 SW Thistle.

From Keven Ruf:

West Seattle Little League 13-year olds in the Intermediate League competed Thursday afternoon for the State Championship in Mill Creek. They lost to an all-star team drawn from three leagues in the Everett area, but they put up a great battle to finish second in the state.

The team played together all season against several other division teams from Central Seattle, Highline, and White Center. In June they won the District Championship at Pac West field in Burien, and earned the right to contest the State tournament in Mill Creek.

The roster consisted of Chris Frost, Will Douglas, Kelvin Wallace, Henry Ruf, Hunter Hammington, Joe Pare, Nate Pelley, Eli Dever, Noah Oehling, and Nathan Villegas.

The team was managed by Dave Douglas and coaches were Brian Pare and Keven Ruf.

The Intermediate League is sponsored by Little League, but is played on larger fields with a 50-foot pitching distance and 70-foot bases.

Their season was highlighted by consistent pitching, good fielding and strong hitting, with many innings of double-digit scoring.

Many of the players will be cheering on the West Seattle 11- and 12-year olds this weekend at Bar-S fields, where they too will be competing for the State Championship.

That tournament starts tomorrow – here’s the bracket/schedule, with the WSLL team’s first game at 1 pm Saturday. If you’re going to a game, don’t forget the Visitor’s Guide to Bar-S!

It’s a huge summer for West Seattle Little League, with, as previously noted here, teams in the state championship tournaments, and one of those tournaments happening right here at the WSLL’s home fields, Bar-S on Alki Point. Updates on all of the above:

(Photo courtesy WSLL)
9-10 ALL-STARS’ FUNDRAISER: This team is raising money for its travel expenses to get to the state tournament in Richland this weekend, and you have one more chance to buy raffle tickets (and/or make donations), 4-6 pm tomorrow (Thursday) at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) and Admiral Safeway. Some of the items being raffled are listed here.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP WITH THE TOURNAMENT: Current and past WSLL families are being asked to volunteer to help the league with various things during the week of the tournament at Bar-S, July 12th-19th – find out more here about how to get involved.

VISITORS’ GUIDE TO BAR-S: Going to the games during the 11-12 state tournament? Parking, shuttle, and other information that will be helpful whether you’re coming from West Seattle – or from outside the metro area – is in the “Visitors’ Guide to Bar-S“; see it here. At the Bar-S tournament, the WSLL team‘s first game is Saturday at 1 pm vs. Camas (here’s the full bracket/schedule).

Meet another set of district-champion West Seattle Little Leaguers – the Majors, who will take their District 7 title into state play on their home field, Bar-S, where their division’s tournament will be played starting Saturday. We mentioned their win briefly in this story over the weekend; now, thanks to Porter Hammer, we have the victory photo, and the roster:

Manager – Jason Woodward
Coaches – Stan Debiec, Jon Muench
Players – Max Debiec, Konrad Gerhardt, Ulee Hammer, Will Holmes, Paul Johnson, Henry Muench, Justin Murphy, Walker Nelson, Isaac Patchen, Jackson Sullivan, Jack Summers, Kenji Suzuki, Jarek Woodward

The tournament starts Saturday (July 12th) and runs through the following Saturday (July 19th): here’s the bracket/schedule, and you’ll see that the West Seattle team is scheduled to play its first game at 1 pm Saturday vs. the champs of District 4 in southwestern Washington.

Thanks to Refawne Acarregui for the victory photo of the West Seattle Little League 9/10 All-Stars, the latest WSLL team to become District 7 champions, with a Saturday win over Seattle Central. The team managed by Isaiah Brent heads to Richland for the state tournament, opening play next Saturday afternoon – here’s the bracket.

The WSLL Intermediate All-Stars also won their district championship and start state tournament play in Snohomish today vs. Camas. WSLL all-star rosters are here.

And WSLL’s district champs in the Majors will be on the field when the organization hosts that state tournament at Bar-S on Alki Point starting next Saturday (July 12th).

(Photo by Rob Castillo)
July is not only the month for All-Stars to shine in the Major League Baseball world, it’s also time for youth baseball All-Stars too – and we have news of a West Seattle Baseball team on the way to the Pinto World Series. Leah shared the announcement:

Heat Advisory Warning – The West Seattle Baseball 8U All-Stars are on fire!

Congratulations to the West Seattle Super 8’s All Star team for winning the 8U PONY Regional Tournament at the Pee Wee Fields over the weekend. The championship results in the chance for these kids to go show their stuff at the Pinto World Series in San Jose on July 17-20. This is the third 8U Regional Championship that West Seattle has won since the tournament started in 2009, but the first time it has been sanctioned by PONY and resulted in a trip to the World Series.

The team will be doing a fundraiser to help cover some of their travel expenses. Look for more information to come on that. Congratulations, boys!

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Here’s the GoFundMe site where you can chip in to help.

That’s a quick promo for a CBS TV show that airs nationally this Saturday (June 21st) – featuring a West Seattle Soccer Club team, the GU13 WS Valkyries. Their proud coach Stefan Persson, who’s also on the WSSC board, explains:

We had the great privilege of being selected to participate in a CBS Game Changers episode featuring Seattle Reign FC and U.S. Women’s National Team player Megan Rapinoe. The filming of the episode took place at Madison Middle School and at Memorial Stadium.

What started as a day of practice for the girls, culminated in them being surprised by Megan at Memorial Stadium, where they got to meet her and then practice and play soccer. It was a fantastic day, with one of our most prominent female professional athletes giving back to kids, creating a wonderful connection between our local community and Seattle Reign FC.

CBS Game Changers is a nationally televised show featuring youth sports, focusing on sportsmanship and passion for the game.

The show airs at different times on different CBS stations around the country; we found it on the official schedule for KIRO (Channel 7) at 3:30 pm this Saturday.

Thanks to proud mom Regina Arceo-Schulz for sharing big news about her sons’ latest rowing achievement:

The Schulz brothers, Spencer (18) and J.T. (16), both from West Seattle, won the 2014 US Youth National Men’s Lightweight Doubles in Lake Natoma, California last Sunday, June 15.

Congratulations! You can see the full results here.

Go play! Family Friendly Tennis has hit the court in West Seattle, thanks to the United States Tennis Association, which has joined the WSB sponsor team to get the word out.

Solstice Park, across from north end Lincoln Park, is one of three locations in Seattle where Family Friendly Tennis is getting under way.

Family Friendly Tennis is a program designed for the entire family to enjoy the sport of tennis together. The program takes place in a high-energy, music-filled environment that provides families with a fun setting in which to learn foundational tennis skills from USTA-trained instructors. When families arrive at the designated location, a greeter will send each parent and child to the tennis court that matches his or her age and skill level and guarantees the most fun. At the end of the session, families play a friendly match on the same court together to show off their improved skills. No tennis experience is necessary; children (ages 10 and under) will be fitted with appropriately sized racquets.

“The USTA/PNW is excited to add Seattle to our roster of communities offering fun and affordable tennis programs this summer,” says Matthew Warren, USTA/PNW executive director. “We’re happy to expand our partnerships with local parks and recreation departments to provide healthy activities and make tennis more accessible to all ages.”

It’s for adults and kids 6+ of any skill level, beginners to experienced players, and you can come for one session or for all of them – there’s no minimum obligation – Wednesday nights 6-7:30 pm through August 13th, Saturday mornings 9-10:30 am through August 16th. Pricing and other info is on this one-sheet; registration info can be found here. And when it’s time to go play, Solstice Park is at Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Webster (map).

We thank USTA Family Friendly Tennis for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; see our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

Right about now, the second and final day of the first-ever West Seattle Cup is wrapping up. Thanks to Steph for sharing this photo, which she captioned: “Seattle Sounder Zach Scott with superfan Zach Arthur. A tale of two Zachs.” He also visited the WS Cup on Saturday, as did Micheal Azira (seen in our Saturday story). If you have a photo to share from this weekend’s event – a celebration of soccer and community – we’d love to include it: editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks! Just as we finished writing this, we note that organizer Terry Kegel posted the “final score” on Facebook:

485 conversations for understanding and 453 goals scored together! A huge thank you to all the players, families, captains, volunteers and sponsors who made this amazing and memorable weekend possible!

Almost five months after Alki Elementary teacher Terry Kegel announced the plan for the West Seattle Cup – a communitywide celebration of soccer at the same time as the global attention for the World Cup – it’s days away! His latest update (including the video above):

The West Seattle Cup is finally here this weekend! In addition to the 420 child and parent participants, we are hoping to get as many fans there as possible. Games are played 8:45 am to 6:15 pm and there will be a special midday ceremony 11:45 am-12:15 pm on both days. We also need a few more volunteers to sign up. The event is all about community-building, so let’s get everyone out there to celebrate soccer, culture, and community!

List of teams and schedule information – here
Sign up to volunteer – here
Make a monetary donation to support purchase of uniforms – here
Facebook page for the most up-to-date information – here

The games are at High Point’s Walt Hundley Playfield – 34th/Myrtle.