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The Walpole Recreation Department and Walpole High School Rebels Football Coach Barry Grenier are teaming up to offer any children from grades five through eight a program called, Junior Gut Camp, which will run monthly and weekly at the Walpole High School. 

The Junior Gut Camp was a town favorite four years ago and Coach Grenier thought it imperative to bring back to the public. This popular program helps the youth athletes improve flexibility and strengthen major and minor muscle groups. The children will be working on agility and speed improvements, increase endurance through constant movement and, most importantly focus on injury prevention through proper preparation. 

The Walpole High School Rebels Football Team take part in their own gut camp every summer and last year their team had a 98 percent of non-injuries.

“Safety is our main goal,” Said Coach Grenier, when speaking of the junior gut camp. “We work on neck, knees and shoulders – I don’t ever want to see a kid in a cast or a wheel chair and whatever we can do before hand to help prevent that the better.” The philosophy of the junior …

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   It’s been a long time since a Walpole American Legion team has bashed the ball the way Post 104 was last week.
   Despite the fact the guys were in the middle of a stretch of nine games in nine days, they had little trouble swinging for the fences in all four games they played from Friday to Monday.
   In fact the only one of the four games in which they didn’t have a home run, Franklin, outfielder Troy Salvatore was robbed of one by left fielder Jake O’Rourke, who had to crash through the fence in order to keep Sal from hitting one.
   Over the four other games, the locals averaged almost 17 runs a game, beginning with Friday’s 14-0 whitewashing of Canton, in which Tom Ryan pitched one of his best games ever.
   Ryan got all the support he needed in the first as Jonny Kelley belted a homer that gave Walpole a 4-0 lead. The hit followed …

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   American Legion Post 104 literally decimated two opponents in games last weekend en route to grabbing first place in District 6 West, but it was the nail-biter they sandwiched that told the story of how far back the locals have come after a brief swoon the week before.
   That game, played in Franklin Saturday, was pivotal not only to the standings but Walpole’s peace of mind, as the locals built a 4-1 lead, only to have Post 75 tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, sending it into extra innings.
   If Franklin was able to complete the comeback and steal a win it could have done psychological damage to a young team still learning from its mistakes.
   Instead, in an impressive display of base running Pat “Caillou” Falvey was the one who literally stole the game, scoring the game-winner in the top of the eighth without benefit of a hit.
   Falvey started his grand tour of the diamond …

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   Not to say that Coach Gene Levanchy is a prophet, but it is interesting that he and his wife decided their middle son would be christened Jack over 12 years ago.
   Not John, just Jack. As in “Ortiz just jacked another one out of here, giving the Red Sox a walk-off win.”
   While oldest son Matt seemed to have gotten the speed and has made an impressive name for himself with line drive hits, 12-year-old Jack Lavanchy has become Walpole Little League’s premiere power hitter at the Majors level.
   That power certainly has come in handy for the Dodgers, the team coached by Gene, Tom Quinn and John Morris this year.
   Of course Lavanchy’s power numbers are only a part of the story for the Dodgers, who finished first in the regular season with a 16-5 record, and then swept the playoffs to win the 2010 championship.
   The Dodgers combined fearsome hitting up and down the line-up, deep pitching and excellent fielding to gain the title. Even more impressive is that the team is not comprised mainly of 12-year-olds …

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   The Walpole Babe Ruth League includes teams from Norfolk, Wrentham, Millis and Plainville, but after looking at the standings this year, someone from Walpole might not notice it at all.
   Walpole dominated the league so much, that all five local teams finished first through fifth in the final standings, and four of those teams were playing in the playoffs final four.
   How dominant was Walpole? The town’s five teams took five of 13 places in the standings, with a combined record of 48-16-6. Altogether, they outscored their opponents 656-365, including the games in which the last four teams lost to first-place Walpole-1, which went unbeaten.
   The worst run differential of any of the five Walpole teams was posted by fifth-place Walpole-4, which ended the season 8-5-1. Walpole-4 outscored its opponents by 32, while the best run differential outside Walpole was turned in by seventh-place Wrentham-2, which outscored its foes by only eight runs.
   How dominant was Walpole? Eventual playoff champion Walpole-5 beat Walpole-3 in the semifinal only 2-0, and had to play 16 innings before defeating Walpole-1 in the championship …

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   It’s only fitting the very first Ron Black Invitational Tournament, named after the long-time Little League coach who passed away earlier this year, would be won by a Walpole team.
   Also fitting was how it was won, as Coach Brandon Lynch’s son, Joe, crossed home plate with the winning run, and then immediately leaped into his dad’s arms, yelling, “Happy Father’s Day, Dad!”
   Making it an even better Father’s Day for Walpole Little League was the fact that Black’s son Jim, who played on one of Black’s many championship Oriole teams over the years, was on hand for the inaugural event, which was formerly the annual Walpole Little League Invitational.
   “That was certainly a happy father’s day for me,” said Lynch, who actually played against Ron Black and Jim Black, who Lynch grew up with. “We always wanted to beat Ron Black’s team back then, it was always a special thing. But winning the first Ron Black Tournament was also pretty special.”<br …

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   How popular is Walpole softball these days?
   So, popular that parents from towns where there is no program have been calling the organization and pleading with Walpole to let their girls in, which the program has done lately.
   Thus far this year the league has been a smashing success once again, as 254 girls from Walpole and a couple of nearby towns had signed up to play spring ball, the second-highest total ever following the 272 that had participated in 2007.
   The number is up from last year’s 229, quite impressive considering the continued growth and strength of the local girls’ lacrosse program.
   The summer travel program also appears to be on firm footing, especially at the U12 and U14 levels.
   The U14s include those remaining members of Cliff Richardson’s group from last year that stormed through tournaments across the state, some of which rose to varsity level in their first year of Coach Jim Duffy’s high school program.
   The …

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   For three years now, members of the Walpole High swim team and life guard staff at the town’s pools have been involved in raising money to support the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, one of the world’s leading oncological research as well as treatment centers.
   For the last three years members of the varsity swim team have been taking part in the annual Swim Across America program as “Team Sue,” raising funds in the memory of Susan Szum, mother of former Rebels Caroline and Laura Szum, who succumbed to the disease last May.
   “Team Sue” will once again be well represented in this year’s Swim Across America, which will take place on Saturday, July 17, at Nantasket Beach.
   However, there is another fund raising effort in the more immediate future that bears looking into, as the life guard staff of the town pools will be behind the town hall and next to Blackburn Hall conducting a car wash this Saturday (June 26).
   The car wash will begin at 10:00 in the morning and continue until 4:00 in the afternoon, and the …

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   A shirt worn at Eldracher Field said it all.
   In the front was emblazoned “American Legion” and on the back was just one word: “Redemption.”
   The shirt referred to one of Massachusetts’ top programs missing the zone playoffs for the first time in years in 2009.
   If Tuesday’s 8-2 win over Foxboro in the first week of play was any indication, however, then redemption is nigh for the Thomas H. Crowley Post, as it got off to a 4-1 start.
   After breaking out with a 6-1 victory in the season opener over Medfield Post 110, the locals added an 8-3 win over Needham and a 13-5 shellacking of Dedham. The only setback was an 8-4 loss to Norfolk.
   The nicest thing about the skein, in which the usually topflight Walpole defense and pitching was ever-present, is that there was also plenty of hitting.
More than once, the locals broke a game wide open with a huge one-inning outburst of …

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Though the contest is taking place literally half a world away and Americans have been famously apathetic toward the sport, Walpolians are nonetheless catching World Cup fever and local businesses are benefiting from soccer curiosity.

Raucous USA soccer fans and pockets of England supporters packed the British Beer Company for the anticipated USA vs. England match on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

 “Ninety percent of the people here were here for the game,” said BBC bartender Scott Carrara minutes after the game when enough people cleared out to give him time to break for an interview.

People made it to the Rte. 1 pub on Friday for the three opening day soccer games, Carrara said, but bar workers were overwhelmed on Saturday at a time when it would normally be a “ghost town.”

 “Today, they didn’t know what to expect,” he said on Saturday.

Like a doctor on call, Carrara wasn’t scheduled to work during the match but was brought in to help with swell of soccer customers.

The games are bringing in business …

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   This is how rivalries are born.
   Shortly after graduating from Westfield State College as one of their long distance running stars, former Walpole High Rebel Phil Gingras decided to return to the hometown and run in last year’s Village Fair Road Race.
   Gingras ran a great race, winning it in fact, returning the Village Fair crown to the hands of the locals in the process.
   It was no cakewalk, however, thanks to a 20-year-old from Medfield, the next town over.
While Gingras ran he was plagued all the way to the finish by Dan O’Connell, second overall in his first Village Fair.
   This year the tables were turned, however. The start of the race was faster than usual, partly due to the Walpole police closing West Street down to Norfolk Street to all traffic so the race could get off unhitched, and possibly partly due to all the high school runners who Gingras feels …

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   At Amherst College, where she just finished her sophomore year, she’s called Steds, but basketball fans back home in Walpole only know her as Steddy.
   The nickname has always been perfect for Caroline Stedman, not just because of her name, but always the way she played her sports: nothing flashy, just always getting the job done.
   After a freshman year in which she struggled to score and get playing time, Stedman returned to the courts on fire this past winter, and ended up having one of the best seasons in Amherst College history.
   The great season was capped when Stedman was named a Division 3 All-American not only for her steady statistics on a nightly basis, but also for how she helped lead Amherst to the NCAA Final Four.
   It’s no coincidence that Steddy’s best year ever was also Amherst’s best year ever, as the squad was unbeaten all season, right up until the season finale.
   In the end, Steddy was a dominant player on …