European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 14, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 26 b the stars and stripes saturday december 14, 1991wmary vigorous Hub expands Frontier for local athletes Usa eur area rapport Grepps a a by Walt Morrissette staff writer somewhere in Europe service Mem ers have these events coming to a nearby gym or Field a a 64-team, Mcaa style unit level basketball tournament Complete with regional a Sweet 16 and a final four. A a 10-team travelling basketball league with 18-Gamc regular season and playoffs. A an indoor track meet. But Safe Usa eur or v corps Arentt sponsoring these events. They Are All going on in the Frontier area support group where sports officials in Hanau Giessen and Fulda have combined forces to create a new sports world for their communities. Frontiers comprehensive sports program was Pul together by Greg Holzinger Hanau sports director Fulda sports director Doug Hansford and Giessen sports director Tony Lee under the direction of Nathan Scales Hanau Community recreation officer. Military officials have introduced a horde of new titles and acronyms to describe the communities we re familiar with. A a group of two or three communities is now a a Hub Quot or Quot area support  a each Community is now a numbered a base support  a each sub Community is now an Quot area support  a each area support team has battalions or squadrons in Fulda a 11th army Cav regt which have companies and other units. What the folks in the Frontier have done is create local sports championships at each level in what could be the Proton Type army local sports program in Europe one designed to flourish despite the draw Down and the pullout of support from major commands. This kind of local Enterprise is precisely what Usa eur commander Gen. Crosbie e. Saint had in mind when he pulled Usa eur out of the sports championships business two years ago in october 1989. Vii corps is leaving Europe and v corps has followed usar euros Lead and dropped league administration onto the communities or ass area support groups. V corps style travelling leagues have been started on a smaller scale within the Hanau Giessen Fulda area Frontier Hub. Ten sub communities will have menus basketball teams in h Ina s travelling Hub basketball league bad Hersfeldt big Dingen flip terhorst Friedberg Fulda Downs Barrack Geln Hauson Giessen North Rivers and Miller Barracks Hanau North comprising three smaller caverns Hanau South Pioneer and Kirch guns. Bad Kissinger which is also part of the Hanau Hub until it closes in january decided not to Field a team. A a it a a Home and away league so everybody plays in its Home gym Quot said Holzinger a 1981 bad Kreuz Nuch High Grad who was All Bennor in soccer from �?T7981 and played three years As an offensive and defensive lineman for the bearcats. The league kicked off nov. 13 with games on wednesday nights and saturday afternoons through the weekend of March 25. A each team will play the other nine teams Home and away for an 18-game regular season. The top six teams qualify for the playoffs the weekend of March 28-29 at the site of the league Champion Quot Holzinger said. Hanau will have five women s teams in its league. A the commander will give More support to his base team than a Community team because that a his team a Holzinger listed below Are the Usa eur sports area support groups and their subordinate communities. Westpfal and 29th ask Kaiserslautern Pir Masens we Brucken Frankfurt ask Frankfurt Darmstadt Wiesbaden Stuttgart and 6th ask Stuttgart Goppinger Heilbronn Heidelberg and 26th ask 26th support group Heidelberg Mannheim Karlsruhe Bremerhaven and 543 ask Bremerhaven Carlstadt bad Kreuz Nach and 53 ask bad Kreuz Nach Baum older Mainz Nurnberg and 99th ask Nurnberg Ansbach Augsburg Bamberg 7th at and 100th ask Grafen Wuhr Wil Flecken Hohenfels Vilseck Wurzburg and 98th ask Wurzburg Schweinfurt a Schaffenburg Berlin setae he Vicenza Livorno Netherlands and 54th ask a Sig and 80th ask Frontier ask Hanau Giessen Fulda Munich United kingdom bad Albling Neucom he Patch Barracks Berchtesgaden a amps Susan hams said. A this is the Type of league that s going to survive when the cutbacks Start and the communities Start closing Down. A in these local leagues the commuting distances Are Shorter and they pay for themselves by charging $1 a head at the door. That helps cover uniforms and referees. We done to charge for our championship games however just regular  Holzinger is already looking ahead to 1992 with Hansford and Lee Quot we be planned softball volleyball and soccer leagues at that same travelling Type level a he said. Hanau Giessen and Fulda Frontier still plan to participate in v corps league but Holzinger plans to fill any void left by v corps with local leagues and games. A basically the corps will disappear and the ass will have to take Over Quot Holzinger said. A we will continue to conduct Quality level sports programs after the corps go  Hanau starts off �?T92 with a big bang. First comes Hanau s second annual indoor track and Field meet Jan. 5. Hanau is the Only Community to run an indoor meet. Quot we had world class athletes last year. German athletes from the Seoul olympics Quot said Holzinger. Then comes the Frontier unit level super cup basketball tournament a a 64-Tcam Mcaa style tournament. Quot on the Jan. 13 cutoff ill seed the top 24 unit teams in Hanau Giessen will seed its top 24 and Fulda will Send me their top 16 teams Quot Holzinger said. A Well put them in a 64-team single elimination bracket. Well Start the weekend of Jan. 18-19 in four fitness centers. A we re also running commanders cup at unit level battalion level and ast level travel league a Holzinger said. Quot the team that gathers the most Points for each sport they win gets the big cup. Teams Are earning Points already for Flag football and combat Cross  Hanau also hosted the dec softball championships and Europe a first triple elimination softball tournament this summer. Holzinger Best summed up the sports efforts in Hanau Giessen Fulda by saying a other people Are complaining but we re working in  manages to have its own Way by Rob Staggenborg staff writer in a military sports world dominated by the a big Guy Quot the Darmstadt military Community is chalking one up for the Little Guy. Nestled in Between the major military communities of Heidelberg Frankfurt and Wiesbaden Darmstadt is the Only Usa eur Community that offers something no other army base in Europe docs a tackle football league Complete with the pads the jerseys and Large Cavern based followings. Quot they have to provide the shoes and the game jerseys Quot sports director Gene Sigler said. Quot we provide everything else. Even the tape to wrap the  while the level of play is suspect at times the existence of the league alone is an Eye opener. L1sareur Cut its tackle football program in 1972. What s More the program relics solely on Community Money with no Cost to the athlete for equipment except shoes and jerseys. Neither v corps nor Usa eur provides financial support. The program is Cavern level with Darmstadt s Cambrai Fritsch Munster and Babenhausen caverns offering four 35-Man teams that play a 15-game schedule including a championship game. The air Force program far exceeds Darmstadt s. The Safe sports budget allows for a league consisting of eight teams a seven in Germany and one in the Netherlands a and a six team league in the United kingdom. Though Sigler declined to say just How big a slice of Darmstadt a morale welfare and recreation pie the football program had taken he did say the $1 admission charge goes Back into the Overall Community recreation division budget and the equipment is reconditioned within the parameters of safely codes rather than replaced. A Quot sometimes Well get 300 people out there and they All have their Star players. Its really an exciting Lime. The youth services people come Over to run the Concession stand. Each team has its Little cheering Section like the Munster Mustangs or whatever. And its not had  you done to see a whole lot of mistakes. A it s not glamorous really Quot he said. A when 1 first came Here two months ago the commander said we need to keep the soldiers off the Street and get them involved in programs like  Esprit de corps the leagues got a lot of it. The players on the respective teams either work together or see each other on the Cavern or in the Barracks during the course of the Day. And the Competition Between sub communities like Munster and Babenhausen gives each team something to shoot for that a far More valuable than a plastic trophy a bragging rights. A the thunderbolts and the Grid mushers two Babenhausen entries Are bitter enemies Quot said Homer Robinson who coaches the Cyk raiders. Quot and that a Good for the  Quot of yeah we get these rivalries going a Sigler said. Quot we be got these units going at it. And the stands Aren t Rowdy. The fans Are loud but Well behaved. It s really a Good  and having the Community sergeant major. Command sgt. Maj. Ray Voisine As a Man in Zebra stripes helps keep discipline. Despite the charges of it being a just a Little Community football league a Robinson Sticks by his men. A they we be got some of the hardest hitting players in the league. I honestly think my Guys can play with the Rhein Mains the  this season the Community a ninth year of tackle football the league was scaled Down to four teams Down from its usual seven. The draw Down closed the doors of a few orderly rooms in the Community and several units were deployed to the persian Gulf. Like other communities Darmstadt will wait and see what the draw Down will bring. Inevitably a troop or two will be sent stateside another orderly room will close and the Torce will be gradually reduced. But the league will live on As Long As there is enough interest from the soldiers. A it s a program for the soldiers really a Sigler said. A was Long As we can keep it going we sure