Sports

Pickleball, says Erin McHugh, who gave a talk on the popular paddle sport at BookHampton not long ago, “takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master,” favoring strategy and finesse.

“It’s tough,” John Grisch, who coached the East Hampton Little League’s 11-and-12-year-old entry in the District 36 tournament, said following Saturday’s 11-10 loss to Riverhead in the title game played at Riverhead’s Stotzky Park.

From the Hampton Lifeguard Association’s Run-Swim-Run in Amagansett, to I-Tri’s youth triathlon at Noyac’s Long Beach and the Rell Sunn surf contest at Ditch Plain in Montauk, to the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League’s all-star game in Sag Harbor, to the Montauk Lighthouse sprint triathlon.

The popular Montauk Grand Slam charity fishing tournament will be held this weekend at Uihlein’s Marina in Montauk. At 5 p.m. Sunday, the tournament will crown Capt. Frank Braddick as the Fishing Legend of the Year.

The benefit Rell Sunn Surf Contest will be held on Saturday at Ditch Plain Beach in Montauk, with several of Montauk’s top-ranked young surfers competing, among them Chase Lieder and Chloe Coleman, both of whom graduated from East Hampton High School in June, and Tucker Coleman, 20.

East Hampton’s 11-and-12-year-old Little League all-star team shut out the North Shore Nationals 4-0 in Rocky Point Thursday evening to advance to the District 36 final at Riverhead’s Stotzky Park on Saturday at 10 a.m.

John Loeffel bested a field of 250 in 25 minutes and 13.51 seconds, comfortably ahead of Sergey Avrimenko, the runner-up, at Southampton’s Lake Agawam park on Sunday.

East Hampton’s 11-and-12-year-old Little League traveling all-star boys team finished pool play at 4-0 thanks to an 8-2 win over North Shore American at the Stephen Hand’s Path fields here Saturday morning. They’ll play in the District 36 semifinal Thursday night at Rocky Point.

“Definitely, the better fishing has been out at Montauk,” Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle said Monday. “The bass fishing remains solid and there are acres and acres of bluefish between 10 and 18 pounds roaming around.”

“Soldier Ride,” said Peter Honerkamp, an owner of the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, where Soldier Ride was conceived, “became a rehabilitative tool so the wounded could get out of their hospital beds, empowering themselves and their fellow wounded, setting an example for the incoming wounded, and going out into the communities they sacrificed so much for.” This year's ride returns on July 15 with a 24-mile cycle taking participants from the Amagansett Firehouse to East Hampton and Sag Harbor before returning to its starting point.

“These kids, in all shapes and sizes, and from all sorts of backgrounds, coming from all over the world and putting aside their differences to play together on a team for the summer,” Coach Jack Tobin said of the Sag Harbor Whalers collegiate baseball team. “It gives you hope for the future of the planet.”

Earl Hopson, a wide receiver in football, shooting guard in basketball, and all-county long-jumper, Erin Bock Abran, an all-county field hockey and softball player, and Kim Valverde-Solis, a four-time all-county girls volleyballer, are to be inducted into East Hampton High School’s Hall of Fame in the fall.

Things were looking up on the local diamonds last week, from Little Leaguers up to the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League’s Sag Harbor Whalers, who are hosting a number of day camps and clinics this summer.

Lots of bass between 30 and 50 pounds continue to be caught and released off Montauk. Finding fish in the new smaller slot size has been a challenge at times. Plenty of bluefish are mixed in too.

James Bradley, 16, has qualified for the U.S.G.A.’s national junior amateur in South Carolina in late July, and Michael Clifford-Levy, 15, won the Long Island Golf Association’s boys championship in Smithtown on June 21.

East Hampton’s 11-and-12-year-old baseball and softball all-star teams are on quests to win District 36 tournaments, and good things are expected.

On the night of June 14 almost 100 East Hampton High School athletes, which is to say about half the class of 2023, were honored at a senior awards dinner in the school’s cafeteria.

Two natives of Ethiopia now living in the Bronx were the male and female winners of Saturday’s 44th Shelter Island 10K. Earlier that day, a native of Belarus who lives in Southampton topped the men’s field in the Beacon of Hope 5K at the Montauk Lighthouse.

Junior lifeguard training for children 9 to 14 begins this weekend in East Hampton, Amagansett, and Montauk. The programs not only give kids the training they need to become lifeguards in the future, but they also teach them “the skills to be safe in the ocean,” according to the East Hampton Town website.

Given all of the supersize stripers now in Montauk, it’s still not too late to enter the popular Montauk Surf Masters Spring Shootout, which concludes on July 9. Bigger fish are clearly on the feed here.

This is the best time of year to observe chimney swifts locally as they burst through the skies over our villages. You’ll never see a chimney swift land, or even come close to street level. In their daily circuits, they can fly 500 miles a day in pursuit of something like 12,000 flying insects.

The Shelter Island 10K, in its 44th year, and the Beacon of Hope 5K in Montauk, in its second, are to be contested on Saturday. Runners could double-dip if they wanted to.

Recently here, the East Hampton Middle School baseball team enjoyed an undefeated season, the youth lacrosse program continued to have success, and, in Little League play, two no-hitters were pitched.

“A lot of big bass to over 50 pounds are around,” observed Capt. Savio Mizzi of Fishhooker Charters. “Fishing is literally off the hook.”

There were repeats in last weekend’s Montauk races, with William Huffman of New York City’s powerful Full Throttle triathlon team winning Saturday’s Robert J. Aaron memorial triathlon, and with Ryan Fowkes, coming off a great cross-country and track season at George Washington University, winning Sunday’s Montauk Mile.

From the softball diamond to the track, a trip down a sporting memory lane.

Seven Black South Fork basketball coaches, outstanding mentors from Bridgehampton, Southampton, and East Hampton, who, while growing up, were in turn mentored by outstanding coaches of a previous generation, were honored at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center on Saturday for their “many efforts which have changed lives on and off the court.”

Tim Garvin, the South Fork Country Club’s popular director of golf and club administration, was recently honored by the Professional Golfers’ Association’s metropolitan section for having been an outstanding mentor to more than a dozen assistant professionals.

Out in Montauk, anglers for striped bass and bluefish are returning to the docks with sore arms. Porgy fishing has also been consistent, with fish up to three pounds.

Over the objections of Ed Collum, Kate Collum Gibbons, and other members of their family, which has lived next to East Hampton High School since before it was built in 1970, the East Hampton School Board on Tuesday resolved that lights will be installed at the turf athletic field. According to the board’s resolution, Musco LED towers would be installed at the edges of the field, allowing athletes to play games into the evening hours.