Archive for September, 2009

 The State of Our Beaufort County Schools: Part 6

The Hilton Head Christian Academy Junior Varsity Eagles (blue) play the Thomas Heyward Academy Rebels in August, 2009

This is part six in a series “The State of Our Schools” from an event held on August 28, 2008 at the Hilton Oceanfront Hotel.   At this event, sponsored by the Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce, our educators talked about the state of our schools.   In our five previous articles, you can read the comments of: 

1. Fred Washington Jr,  Chairman, Beaufort County School Board.
2. Dr. Valerie Truesdale, Superintendent, Beaufort County Schools.
3. Mike Lindsey, Headmaster, Hilton Head Christian Academy.
4. Peter Cooper, Interim Headmaster, Hilton Head Preparatory School.
5. Questions from the audience and answers from the Panel.

Character and Competition

Director of the Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce Bill Miles introduced the coaches.  ”Each of these gentleman have brought out students to great success on, and even more importantly, off of the playing field.”   The sections that follow quote the comments of these attending coaches:

• Ron Peduzzi, Head Football Coach, Hilton Head Preparatory School
• Jerry Faulkner, Assistant Headmaster for Student Development, Hilton Head Christian Academy
• Jeremy West, Head Football Coach, Bluffton High School
• Tim Singleton, Head Football Coach, Hilton Head High School.  

Coaches teach character with athletics

Ron Peduzzi, Head Football Coach, Hilton Head Preparatory School

Any day that I get to talk about football is a good day!  It’s our passion.  Athletics give our students,and for me personally, the foundations for life, life lessons about how to be successful, not only in business but as a husband, father and as a member of society.  Football is the ultimate team sport.  All of the players need to be working together on every play as one or you will not be successful.  Students learn that just like a bad day, a dropped pass or a missed tackle or a bad call by the referee, – if you can believe that –  you have to get up and put it behind you and move on and keep doing your best every day. 

Athletics Build Decision Making Ability And Responsibility

Athletics also teaches us about decisions.  We are constantly talking to our students about decisions.  The decisions that you make now will affect your life forever so as a coach it’s very important about teaching our young people about making the right decisions to be successful in life. 

The classroom and the football field work together to make an all round student-athlete.  We accept nothing but a 100% effort in the classroom.  Athletics builds responsibility, character and time management.   It is evident that every position has responsibilities.   If they are not carried out, there are consequences.   We expect our student-athletes to study and if they do not, their grades will show the results. 

Sports Build Character and Teach Time Management

When the going gets tough your character will be revealed on the field.  When you do not do well on a test, how will you respond to the next one? 

Time Management is very important.  We have 65% of our boys in the top three grades participating in football.   They are also part of the debate team, the performing arts department, student body officers, math team, the quiz bowl and the list goes on.  They have to learn time management to survive.  The lessons of multi-tasking are very important also.  My wife says that I cannot fold laundry and watch the kids at the same time!  So with 30 kids on a team we tell them that they need to know two positions on offense and two on defense.  Maybe their future wives will come back and thank me!

We like to exceed and excel not only in athletics but in the arts, and the most important area of academics.  It creates a well-rounded individual to meet the challenges of the future.  It’s not getting easier.  Our program has developed pretty well compared to the 13 kids that we had five years ago.  We have 30 on the varsity, 25 each on the JV and the ‘B’ squad.  We’re off to a good start with a victory Friday and we expect to be a very competitive team this year.  I know that  all of my fellow coaches are doing a great job and I wish them the best of luck this season.  Best of luck to all of you in your businesses and I hope that you continue to make Hilton Head and Bluffton a great place to live.  

Jerry Faulkner, Assistant Headmaster for Student Development, Hilton Head Christian Academy

I think that the guys up here are as nervous as they are before a game.  But as the years have gone by went by, I have come to realize that sometimes, it wasn’t quite as important to the kids as it was to us.  I remember coaching a football game in Sumter one night and I was the defensive coordinator and the game was very close and it was getting down to it.  We were up by 6 but the other team is driving.  I thought that the world was on my shoulders.  I thought that this is the most important thing in the world.  As they got closer and closer, it became 4th and 2.  This guy goes “Coach, coach”.  And I go “what?”.  He said, “Coach” and I said “Wait a minute” and he said “Coach!” and I said “What?”.  He said, “Look!  Their bus is the same color as ours!”  And I had to turn around and say, “You’re right!”. 

Students Must Maintain Their Grade Point Average

The Hilton Head Christian Academy football team has lost 10 Seniors from last year’s team which went to the State Championship game for the second consecutive year.  With the addition of Northwood Academy and Colleton Prep in our region this year, we feel that our region will be one of the toughest in the State and even making the play-offs will be a real chore.  This is Coach Lewis’ s 5th year at Hilton Head Christian and this is probably his most inexperienced team.   However, the team has 25 members that are working very hard and working hard on fundamentals and I am confident that they are going to represent our school well regardless of the score.  We don’t know what those scores are going to be but at Hilton Head Christian, we are sure that they are going to represent our school well, that they are going to understand that the term student-athlete will be strictly adhered to.  For example, in the South Carolina Independent Athletic Association,  eligibility rules states that to remain eligible you only have to pass four core subjects.  However, at Hilton Head Christian, we go further than that.  We say, you must maintain an overall grade of 77 or above and you can’t fail any course to remain eligible. 

We emphasize to our coaches that they are responsible for keeping close tabs on the grades of our student athletes.  For example, Coach Lewis sends around each Thursday to each teacher – he has the boy go to that teacher – and have that teacher fill it out concerning their academics, their attitude, their behavior and so forth.  If they bring back a negative in any of those areas, then for the next week they have a 7 am study hall – and you know how boys like to sleep.  The students and the faculty understand that all extracurricular activity is exactly that - extracurricular.   And it does not take priority over the academic day.  These activities can teach valuable lessons of life and we understand that and we urge our coaches to take every chance to teach those lessons.  Hilton Head Christian has become very successful not only in the athletic regime but in drama and other areas.  But, we also understand, we will not sacrifice our true mission, assisting Christian families to raise children in the Christian faith.  The emphasis on that is during the day, during extra-curricular activities and even off campus.  It’s what makes Hilton Head Christian special, unique.  It was a special privilege to be with you today.  

 Jeremy West, Head Football Coach, Bluffton High School

I ’m a special ed teacher and a football coach.  I’m used to being on the move all day.  I feel more comfortable on the move than standing at a podium talking to you so don’t get dizzy looking at me.  Also, I’m from the country – a little town called Wagner, South Carolina.  If you can’t understand my Wagnerese, please let me know.   I’ll try to slow it down for you.

Coaches Keep Track of Their Athletes’ Academic Grades

First,  I want to talk about academics.  Every two weeks we send out a grade sheet and we keep track of your grades and determine if you get tutored.  Also, with the NCAA requirements a lot of kids think that taking ceramics and stuff like will help increase your GPA and it does.  But, colleges look at your core GPA: math and science and stuff like that.  So we make sure that they have the math, science and social studies that they need.  We also a web site www.BlufftonBobcatfootball.com.  On that, students sent their highlights out instead of sending tapes.  We have their SAT on there, they can sign up for the NCAA.  It shows the sliding scare that shows what their GPA needs to be and their SATs need to be.  

As far as the team, we have 45 kids on the varsity and JV teams this year. We put a lot of work into it but these days, you have to have success.  Once we have success, then the kids will say that the hard work is worth it.   Out of 45 kids, we had 36 kids this summer that made a list and came and worked out.  We did lifting and used an obstacle course.  We pushed my truck.  Every once in awhile I would tap on the brakes.  We had tires and held them over our heads.  We can push them, throw them – kinda like a Rocky Balboa movie!  The kids bought into it and Thursday was beach day.  We all would go to the beach.  At the beach we would do sand drills – running through the high sand – and we would go out into the water – we made sure that they could swim first – and they had to fight the currents and they had the tires in the water with them there.  When the kids started out scrimmaging, each week got better and better. Last week we got down early but then we saw them getting tired and the next thing you know we were ahead 56-6.  Now they know that all the hard work they put in this summer is worth it.  And hopefully we will keep getting better each week.  We’re still a young team with only 8 Seniors our of 45 players.   We’re going to get to the State Championship level eventually and we’re taking one week at a time.   I hope to see you all out there.  I appreciate your having me here today.      

Tim Singleton, Head Football Coach, Hilton Head High School

Going last, these other gentleman have taken care of a lot of information, so I will try and be brief.  If you know me, you know that I have a hard time being brief but I want to make sure that I covered the points.  I want to thank the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber for having us today.  They have done a magnificent job. 

It’s always hard coming up after all of these guys and being politically correct and saying the right things and being humble and I’m a humble guy too whether you know it or not.   But I want to tell you that these guys are full of it!  Coach West talked about how we are the favorite.  Everybody knows that we are not the favorite but we are going to take care of business one game at a time.   I want to wish Coach West the best, up until October 31.  I want to briefly respond to our School Board Chairman, Mr. Fred Washington who stopped me in the hallway and said, “Coach, I will you well this season but I hate to tell you that you are going to get shellacked come Friday night!”  Just the same, I want to thank you for having me.

Student Athletics and Education is Three-Pronged

Our season is going to be a bit different this year because we are so used to being the under-dog.  The one thing that I promised our parents when I had the privilege to take over the job as Head Football Coach is that we are going to build character.  That’s all that I am going to promise you, that your young men will leave our program better young men.  After the first three seasons, I’m glad that I made that statement!.  But I’m proud to say that in the last 2 years we have won 17 out of 23 games so our kids are really fighting and preparing themselves mentally, physically but more importantly – academically.  I’ve heard everybody talk about the numbers and the academics and what not but at the end of the day, you have to have certain traits to be a successful student-athlete, but I believe that student-athletetics and education is three-pronged:  You must have the academics; you must have the arts and athletics plays a huge part.  

The Four ‘D’s’: Dedication, Discipline, Desire, Defense

There are things that we really instill in our kids, the 4 “D’s as I call it and during football season we add the 5th ‘D’: dedication.  You must be dedicated to your academics, to your work, to your homework – anything that you’re doing in life.  Anything that we teach our young men, we like that to translate over to life. 

Dedication is huge for us because if you are dedicated to the cause it means that you are going to work hard enough to make it happen.  Obviously, the biggest ‘D’ is discipline.  When our kids are taught discipline, kids jump offside the whole team runs.  One kid gets in trouble in school and the whole team runs.  We have our kids probably praying to go to the Principal rather than coming to me!   The other ‘D’ is desire. You must have some type of desire in order to be successful.  That burning feeling inside your stomach is not always hunger!  Most of the time, you have to teach these kids how to want something.  It’s very important.  So you have dedication, determination, you have discipline, you have desire.  The 5th  ‘D’ in our season is defense.  We make sure that our kids are doing the right things and have that hunger. 

The Coach’s Goal Is To Educate

Our goal is to get these kids into post secondary education and we are doing a good job with that.  They are not going to play division one football but there are 600 plus division one football teams.  There are hundreds and hundreds of division two and division three schools.  There is no reason why our kids should not be somewhere in post secondary education regardless of who they are and what their backgrounds are.  I hear a lot of people talk about our socioeconomic numbers and what not; a lot of kids in poverty are on our team.  A lot of them are in school because of athletics.  So please don’t get that twisted and think that it’s all about academics.  Let’ s all keep it in perspective what is motivating that young man to be a productive young citizen.  Not everyone is going to go to Harvard or Yale or Carolina but they can go to the Technical College of the Lowcountry and get a great trade and come back and fix your air conditioning unit, I promise you that. 

Sports Help Teach Us About Expectations

Last but not least is setting expectations.  The community sets the expectations on us to carry ourselves in an upright manner and to go the right things and we set the expectations for our kids.  Without doubt, we don’t ask those kids in a football game to go fumble or to throw an interception or miss a tackle.  We prepare them properly and we ask them to do the same thing with their behavior in the community.  We don’t ask them to go and drink a beer or use drugs.  We are working very diligently to teach them the right way to live.  So, please be patient with us with these student-athletes as we are trying to prepare them to be very young men. 

This season is going to be very, very, very interesting.  I just want you to know that we expect all of you folks to come out.  Don’t miss this train this year because we are going all the way!  Thank you for having me today.

Richard Kadesch, Owner and Broker-in-Charge The Gated Community Specialist ® Go Gated Realty ® Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Rich@gogated.com www.GoGated.com 1-800-333-5025 Read Some of My Clients’ Success Stories

Children play in the new interactive fountain at the Coligny Beach Park

The Coligny Beach Park Redevelopment Project was completed this summer on Hilton Head Island’s most popular public beach access, the 1.5 acre beach park at the Coligny Circle in Forest Beach.  

The wide and beautiful public beach access in Forest Beach

The highlight of the beach park renovation is the new interactive fountain with 26 synchronized water jets at grade level that squirt to varying heights at varying times.  Little children love them!

Foot showers and benches at the beach access

The renovated park is beautiful with a wide, new promenade from the entrance where the fountain is located to the beach.  The promenade has patterned wood and concrete with embedded plaques of sea animals along the way.  Along the promenade are new large restrooms, new showers, a picnic shelter and pergolas with swings on two elevated platforms for viewing across the dunes to the ocean. 

A new restroom at the Coligny Beach Park and in front, an embedded plaque

The 1.43 million dollar renovation is part of the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Bridge to the Beach Redevelopment plan, a strategy of Town-built projects, policies and programs meant to stimulate private redevelopment in the area. 

A family enjoys the Coligny Beach Park

Hilton Head Town Manager Steve Riley wrote about the park  in Our Town, A Newsletter of the Town of Hilton Head Island this summer, “We hope that projects like this will spur or revitalize businesses and pedestrian use.  If you look at the widely successful Pope Avenue pathway improvements, the significantly utilized new Compass Rose Park, Coligny Circle roundabout improvements, coupled with Coligny Beach Park’s re-birth, you will begin to understand that we mean business when if comes to redevelopment.”

The beach is wheelchair accessible at the Coligny Beach Park

The renovation of the Coligny Beach park is a great success and the high quality and beauty of the new park will bring pleasure to both townspeople and visitors for many years.  When you are here to see Hilton Head homes and villas for sale, check it out.

Richard Kadesch, Owner and Broker-in-Charge The Gated Community Specialist ® Go Gated Realty ® Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Rich@gogated.com www.GoGated.com 1-800-333-5025 Read Some of My Clients’ Success Stories

Sold Unfurnished Near The Beach For $72,500

Bargains seem to be everywhere today and at all prices.  Of course, we all want a luxury bargain on Hilton Head Island and to get one, why not buy an inexpensive property and fix it up to be as luxurious as you want?  You can buy a one-bedroom ocean view condo on Hilton Head Island today from about $100,000 and a two-bedroom ocean view condo from about $140,000.  Others near the beach and without ocean views cost less than $100,000.

I have fixed up an inexpensive condo myself and this is one reason that I can recommend it to you.  Years ago, I bought a bargain ocean view condo at the Hilton Head Resort, fixed it up, rented it out and even moved into it for awhile.   When I built the house where I live now, I sold the villa and made a good profit.  I made and saved money on that inexpensive villa and when I lived there beneath my means and invested the money that I saved elsewhere.   You may not want to rule out this option because it is there if you want it:  small but good, inexpensive, practical, comfortable - and fun!  

Use The Go Gated Buyer’s Advantage™ 

One of my buyer-clients went this economy route recently and bought a super-bargain at the Hilton Head Resort with the help of The Go Gated Buyer’s Advantage™ system.  I highly recommend this system to any serious buyer and to get it, please contact me.  There’s no cost or obligation and it can be worth thousands of dollars to you. 

After my client visited Hilton Head Island and saw the villas that he wanted to see, he went home and monitored the market – for months.  He wanted an economy villa near the beach with two bedrooms.  While he was here, he saw one at the Hilton Head Resort for $99,000 that he liked a lot, a short sale that had been purchased for about $155,000 by the seller at the top of the market in 2006. 

Then one day my buyer called to say that the villa that he saw when he was here had been re-listed as a foreclosure @ $65,000.  We agreed that it was priced very low and we immediately made an offer.  My client out-bid five other buyers and he got the villa for $72,500, cash.   The buyer used funds from his retirement account to make this purchase and the villa is now in his retirement account.  Very cool!

Three Reasons Why This Villa Was Under-Priced

• The location within the Hilton Head Resort is close to the beach.
• The floor plan has a private balcony that some other villas at the Hilton Head Resort do not have.
• The villa had many expensive upgrades like a tiled floors, tiled showers, new bathroom cabinets and fixtures, new kitchen cabinets, stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops and a clothes washer and dryer.  

 Teamwork With Buyer And Agent Means Success

My buyer did his homework and took the time to get a focus on what he wanted.  His determination and my help combined for our success.  This is an example of another super-bargain that will be hard to beat anytime soon and maybe never, despite the fact that the market continues sideways to down and even as other foreclosures come available – and others are still available.  Some deals are just this good. 

Have Fun and Save Money: Fix Up An Inexpensive Condo Near The Beach

At closing, the buyer came to Hilton Head Island, bought great rental furniture locally and made this  economy villa into a comfortable second home.  I don’t know what they paid for the furniture but it was surely less than $5,000 total and so their total cost including furniture must be less than $80,000! 

I took pictures of the newly furnished villa just a few days ago.  This is clearly a super-bargain.  It’s not in Sea Pines but it is next to Palmetto Dunes and with direct walking access to the beach.  The recreational amenities at the Hilton Head Resort where this villa is located include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, racketball courts, spa, exercise center and indoor track.  There is under-building parking, a wi-fi zone in indoor building three and a 24-hour manned security gate. 

For A Super-Bargain, Call Go Gated Realty® 

You don’t have to break the bank to have a second home or vacation villa on Hilton Head Island.   Good ones are for sale for less than $100,000 right now and am happy to show them to you by email or in person at any time.  For more information about the Hilton Head lifestyle on a economy budget and to discuss your real estate plans for Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, please call me, the Hilton Head Gated Communities Specialist® today!  My cell number is 843-684-2933.

Richard Kadesch, Owner and Broker-in-Charge The Gated Community Specialist ® Go Gated Realty ® Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Rich@gogated.com www.GoGated.com 1-800-333-5025 Read Some of My Clients’ Success Stories