Seven players represented Girard on the JPRD-East 13 year old baseball allstar team.  The JPRD-East Bulldogs played an intense summer schedule, and eventually won the 2009 Dizzy Dean World Series Championship in Southaven, MS over St Petersburg, Florida.

Congratulations to the Vikings who represented Girard:

• Stewart Campbell 
• Gregory Deichmann
• Jonathan Ebersole
• Connor McWilliams
• Cody Morris
• Kaleb Roper
• Stephen Sigle

The Girard Vikings 12 and under Dixie Youth Baseball allstar team, recently were in the Louisiana State Majors South Regionals in Pineville, LA (24-28 JUN), with the Vikings ending up as State Runner Ups to eventual State Champion Tioga.

• 1st Round:  GIRARD  over  Minden Continental, 12-2
• 2nd Round:  GIRARD  over  Osterland, 14-6
• 3rd Round:  GIRARD  over  Tioga, 7-1
• 4th Round:  Oberlin  over  GIRARD

At the end of the 4th Round, there were 3 teams with one loss (GIRARD, Tioga, Oberlin).  Tioga won the bye, and a two game single elimination followed.

• Play-in Game:  GIRARD  over  Oberlin, 9-8
• CHAMPIONSHIP:  Tioga  over  GIRARD, 5-2

It was a tough loss, as our Vikings had already beaten Tioga handily in the opening rounds, however our boys showed lots of heart in those last few tough games.  Congratulations to the 2009 Vikings allstars on a fine season!

2008-09   GIRARD LADY VIKINGS
BIDDY BASKETBALL (Girls 12U)
EAST BANK RUNNER-UPS
	PLAYERS	COACHES
	Emilee Bonura	JOE UZEE
	Maddie Camet	Herman Schroeder
	Brianna Dyess
	Catherine Marziale
	Lexi Ruello
	Katie Schroeder
	Tori Stanton
	Kara Triche
	Sarah Uzee
	Caroline Wade

The 12U Biddy Lady Vikings opened up strong in Pre-District play last weekend with wins against Cleary and Pontiff.

The Lady Vikings advanced to the Final Four Tournament @ Delta Playground, however fell to Owens in the Championship Game.   Congratulations to the Lady Vikings - the East Bank Girls Biddy Runner-ups! 

Girard Playground has a large number of children participating in our many programs. These guys work hard to make that a good experience for your kids. 

Congratulations goes out to Marissa Waguespack and Emily Gillus, who will represent Girard on the 2009 Girls Biddy Allstar 12U team from JPRD-East!

Also representing Girard is Cameron Angelo, who played on the 2009 Girls Biddy Allstar 10U team from JPRD-East (National Biddy 10U Runner-ups)!

2008-09   GIRARD VIKINGS
BIDDY BASKETBALL (12U)
* JPRD-East Runner-ups *
	#	PLAYERS	COACHES
		Joseph Bellott	CHRIS WILLIAMSON
		Mitchell Bourgeois	Marcel Scott
		Sean Finnegan	Ryan Womac
		Austin Gauthreaux
		John Hall
		Paul Kudryashov
		Ryan LeBlanc
		Kaleb Roper
		Stephen Sigle
		Danny Spring
		Brandon Womac

JPRD-East 12U BIDDY BASKETBALL REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE (click here)

Congratulations to Vikings 12U Biddy Team for winning the regular season North Division.  The team entered the Final Five tournament as the North 1 Seed and will receive a bye to the 2nd round.   Final Five action begins this week (26JAN09) with most games being played at St Martin's High School. 

Game 3 on Wednesday featured the Vikings facing the Bright Falcons (Bright advanced to Round 2 by defeating the Miley Cardinals).  In a very hard fought matchup, the Vikings and Falcons traded leads throughout the first 3 quarters, before the Vikings took charge at the end of the game, winning by 10, 34-24.   The win now pits Girard vs the Cleary Rebels on Thursday night, who also received a bye and advanced by defeating the Lemon Raiders.

Game 6 is the "Driver's Seat Game", for which the winner will advance to the Championship on Saturday.  In the double elimination format, the winner of Game 6 will only have to win once on Saturday to win the title. 

In the Biddy 12's "Driver's Seat Game", it was the game everyone expected, with the two District winners battling it out down to the very end.

Earlier, in an elimination game, the Bright Falcons defeated the Lemon Raiders, 49-25.  On Friday, Cleary and Bright met in an elimination game at Cleary, with the Rebels winning to advance to the Championship.

The Championship was on Saturday at St Martin's with Cleary-Girard rematch from the Driver's Seat Game.   A repeat of Wednesday's game was not to be, as the Rebels came up from the loser's bracket and won both Championship Games.   It was still a very successful season for the Vikings, ending as JPRD-East 12U Runner-ups.

* Congratulations to Austin Gauthreaux, John (JT) Hall, and Brandon Womac, who will represent Girard on the JPRD-East 12U Biddy Allstars.

The Dizzy Dean 13 team will participate in the JPRD-East Preseason tournament this weekend at Pontiff (25-26 Apr 2009).

The JPRD-East Dizzy Dean 13 League's official website is:

http://www.jprdbaseball.com

THREE-PEAT !!!

The Vikings will now advance to the Eastbank Final Four (@ Lakeshore), as the North 1 seed, joining the Pontiff Blue Devils (South 1).   Girard will face the Little Farms Pirates (S2), and Pontiff will face the Miley Cardinals (N2)

The Vikings went undefeated in the Final Four, earning wins over Little Farms, Pontiff and Miley in the Championship Game, 48-38.

Click on the links above, and you will be able to see the info for only that specific league.  This will greatly reduce the amount of information displayed (as opposed to the entire Baseball page).

   Mobile users:  bookmark your league links for faster access.

On August 29, 2005,  Hurricane Katrina slammed into the New Orleans-Gulf Coast area, with devastating results.  The Girard community was also severely affected.

Our athletic fields and gymnasium were covered by several feet of water during the storm.  The gym roof also sustained severe damage and the entire basketball season was held at John Quincy Adams Middle School for the 2005-2006 season. 

We lost many of our shade trees in the spectator areas, along with several light standards for the baseball/football fields, and several baseball fences were blown down.  The concession stands were a complete loss, with all equipment and inventory destroyed. 

However, the biggest loss was to our families' homes.  Many of our families live in the area closest to Lake Pontchartrain, and suffered roof damage and flooding from the storm.  For months after Katrina, many families took up temporary residence in other towns and states all over the country.  For a while, things looked very, very bleak....

....then late in October 2005, the recreation district playgrounds pooled their players and began playing football games again.  Then came basketball at the middle schools, and in the spring of 2006, Girard came back fully back to life with the Soccer and Track season.  Many of our children and coaches were still living in FEMA trailers while their homes were being rebuilt, and our park provided them with the activities and normalcy they needed so badly.

It has been a long, hard road back for our community and our park, and it all culminated in some recent big events:  our 2007 Dixie Youth (12YO) Baseball Team went to Virginia and ended up being the World Series runner-ups, and one of our former players, LSU Safety Craig Steltz, became our most decorated alumni ever, winning the 2008 BCS National Football Championship, earning First Team All American honors, and being drafted by the NFL Chicago Bears.  Ironically, the other Girard alumnus to participate on a BCS National Championship football team was Craig's older brother Kevin Steltz, who was the fullback for LSU in the 2003 title game.

Now, most of our families have returned and are back in their homes.  The park looks good again, and the kids are back in droves.  However, this did not happen out of the blue.  It took a lot of hard work by everyone:  our local dedicated playground staff, the Girard Boosters, and finally our parents (and coaches).   Without their help, the return of Girard would not be possible.

Watch for your Girard Vikings in the National News!