No shoes, no problem

From: Half Moon Bay Review
By Mark Foyer [ markf@hmbreview.com ]
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 12:12 PM PST

It was a simple gesture.

John Carey didn’t wear shoes while teaching English at Half Moon Bay High School Thursday, or while coaching in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division game against San Mateo that night. By game time, he wasn’t alone.

Assistant coach Johnelle Parsons was shoeless, as was scorekeeper Deanna Rocha.

Former player Erin Dahl took in the game without her shoes, as did Half Moon Bay assistant principal Allison Silvestri.

A former teacher at San Mateo, Silvestri asked Carey if she could ask San Mateo coach Nancy Dinges to go the night without the shoes. Consequently, Dinges and her staff went shoeless for the night as well.

It was all calculated to bring awareness to Samaritan’s Feet, a nonprofit trying to give shoes to children around the world. The charity hopes to give away 10 million pairs of shoes in the next 10 years.

The players wanted to go without wearing their shoes, too, but their coach had other ideas.

“Coach was afraid that we might get hurt,” said Miranda Reimche. “He allowed us to bring in some shoes.”

“I had some students that I had never seen before that came to my classroom to drop off some shoes,” Carey said. “We had one student who asked other students to make small donations for the cause. I had another student ask if she could make a small donation. She gave me $2.”

Coaching without shoes is an idea forwarded by Ron Hunter, the men’s basketball coach at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. A spokesman for Samaritan’s Feet said more than 3,000 basketball coaches, ranging from youth leagues to NCAA Division I, have coached at least one game sans shoes since Hunter dreamed up the idea two years ago.

“It went for a good cause,” said Half Moon Bay center Kelsey Moore. “I was shocked that coach would do this.”

Carey might not have picked the best day to be barefoot as it was cold and damp on Thursday.

“He brought that up with us,” Reimche said. “He told us that there are kids that don’t have the option of wearing shoes. Those kids have to go through muddy and rocky fields without shoes. We are all very fortunate to have shoes and shouldn’t take it for granted.”

As the day progressed, everyone started to wonder how cold his feet were getting.

“His feet started to get dark,” Reimche said. “I’m sure they were getting cold. But I was very proud of him.”

Girls lose both league games

Half Moon Bay High School dropped both of its Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division girls’ basketball games last week.

The Cougars fell to San Mateo, 59-50 on Jan. 26. Three nights later, Half Moon Bay lost to Westmoor, 59-57.

The Cougars are 2-4 in the league, 10-9 overall.

Half Moon Bay was scheduled to host South San Francisco in its final regular home season game Tuesday. Results of the game were not available at press time. The Cougars play at 6:15 p.m. Friday at Jefferson.