VIDEO: ‘Super Teacher’ Asks: Why Are You Cutting My Pay?

February 28, 2010

The video is now available of Joel Block’s February 23 appeal to the Falls Church City School Board. A math teacher at George Mason High School, Block won the “Super Teacher” Award last year, selected from 1,200 teachers nominated from the region. In the video, Block asks the School Board why his salary may be cut, when his fellow teachers in Arlington, Alexandria, and Loudon will receive pay increases and teachers in Fairfax County will have a pay freeze.

From Page 1, click “Read More” to watch the 4-minute video.

See also the May 11, 2009 report in the Falls Church Times on Block’s Super Teacher award.

VIDEO: Fox 5 Reports on Soccer Team Trip to South Africa

February 24, 2010

Last month the Falls Church Times reported that a local U12 girls soccer team had won an international dance competition and an all-expense-paid trip to tour South Africa and see the World Cup. The story continues to be read and generate comments from soccer fans all over the world.

Now Fox 5 television has filmed a nice interview with the team, viewable below. However, Fox didn’t have time to show the full award-winning dance video as performed by the girls of Premier AC’s 97 Fusion. But we do! Click here to see our original story and the fantastic video.

Congratulations again to the girls of Premier AC’s 97 Fusion!

VIDEO: Scenes From the Snowy Little City

February 6, 2010

The second major storm of the 2009-2010 winter season changed life in Falls Church CIty, albeit temporarily. People spent their weekend shoveling snow, left their cars at home, and instead took to major routes on foot or ski. Click the video box to watch.

Soccer Team Wins World Cup Promotion, South Africa Trip

By CHRISTINE KILGORE AND MINA NOWROOZI
Special to the Falls Church Times

This past soccer season was a season unlike any other for a group of Falls Church-area girls—one in which teamwork took on almost unimaginable meaning.

The girls of Premier AC’s 97 Fusion, a U-12 travel soccer team, not only played soccer — they spent hours each week after soccer practices learning the “Diski” dance — a special dance created for the FIFA 2010 World Cup to be held this summer in South Africa. The dance captures both the culture of South Africa and the moves and rhythm of the game.

Their filmed interpretation of the “Diski” won them 1^st place in a Diski Dancing video competition sponsored by South African Tourism –and an 8-day tour of the World Cup’s host nation. The 14 girls will take their trip in late March.

“At the beginning I thought, ‘we won’t win,’ said 11-year-old Rebecca Davis of Falls Church City. The dance moves also “seemed a bit odd at first,” she said. “But as we practiced we got to the point we could even do it without the music.”

When she learned through a text message that her team had won, she screamed. “I then called a teammate,” Davis recalled, “and my teammate was so happy she started crying.”

Stacey King, the team’s coach, learned of the competition in mid-October while perusing the U.S. Youth Soccer Association web site. The contest criteria (to submit about one minute of video, for instance, and to use a specific soundtrack) were simple, and the challenge of working creatively with the dance’s five main moves was enticing.

King’s mind raced.  She envisioned ways of tying together the dance moves to simulate the flow of an international soccer game.  She solicited initial reaction from the girls and their families by email, and then called the team to the Falls Church Community Center to present her ideas in detail.

Together, she and the girls and their parents watched a brief South African video demonstration of the Diski’s five main dance moves, and discussed the hours of teamwork and energy that would be required if they were to stand a chance of winning the competition.

The girls and their families promised their commitment and gave King input about moves and scenes to include and not include in the video.

From then on, through early December, the team practiced for two hours every week, immediately after their team training sessions.  They also practiced for several hours between the games of a fall tournament, in a nearby gym that a parent had arranged to use.

And when it came time to film, they met four times in various locations, including during the snowfall on December 5 and in Washington, D.C., in front of the Lincoln Memorial and in the shadows of the Washington Monument.

“Everybody made it work,” said King. “The parents helped with arranging locations to practice, with filming and editing and other ideas, and with grabbing coats and supplies, and the girls never complained — they were always excited.

“It was a complete and total team effort,” she said.

Evelyn Loeb, Rebecca’s mother and the parent manager of the team, said the girls were so committed to the project that when King came down with the flu before one of the last scheduled soccer/Diski dance practices, “the girls carried it through on their own, directing and going through everything themselves.”

The team’s goal, said King, was for the progression of scenes in the video to represent “the flow and feel” of an international soccer game.

“And I wanted to make sure we represented the feel and culture of South Africa as best we could,” she said.

Viewers hear the South African national anthem at the beginning and see a team photo mimicking the typical “starting 11” photo taken at major games as well as a kick-off.  One scene simulates the often underappreciated role of the goalkeeper, King notes, and almost everything in the dance is done as if each girl has or is about to make contact with a ball.

The video includes a photo of a red “vuvuzela,” a stadium horn commonly blown by fans at South African matches, and shots of the girls sporting the colors of the South African national team (as well as the pattern of the South African flag on their faces).

Almost all of the girls on ’97 Fusion have played together under King’s direction for 2 ½ years.  In addition to Davis, three of the players — Clara Frost, Ella Howard and Annie Washa — are students at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church City. The other girls attend schools in the greater Falls Church area and nearby areas.

“We’re all from different schools, so [by spending all the extra time together] we all felt so close,” said Caroline Stricker, an 11-year-old Falls Church City resident.

Stricker said she’s looking forward to going on the safari that is part of their South African itinerary, as well as trying new foods and seeing other sights.

She and her teammates, who have continued to meet for indoor training this winter, are learning about South Africa by studying different topics each week, from South Africa’s geography and ethnic makeup to its political history and variety of languages.  They are also working on collecting soccer supplies to distribute to young players who need them.

The girls will visit Cape Town and Johannesburg (including Soweto township, where they will visit a school), and will play a game against a South African youth soccer team. As part of their prize, each girl will be accompanied by one parent.  In several cases, King said, entire families have decided to come along.

South African Tourism partnered for the competition with the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, South African Airways, and Coca-Cola, a World Cup sponsor. The competition garnered entries from all over the United States.

Perhaps ironically for the winning girls, the nickname of the South African national soccer team —“Bafana, Bafana,” which the girls printed on their shirt backs for filming — means “the boys, the boys.”

Indeed, the FIFA 2010 World Cup features only men’s soccer. But the world’s best female soccer players will soon shine in the 6th Women’s World Cup to be played in 2011 in Germany. And in the meantime, the girls of 97 Fusion will travel to South Africa with exposure to and experience in soccer that not too long ago was hard to come by for girls.

Watch the winning video! It is wonderful!

VIDEO: You Say You Want a Referendum?

January 13, 2010

The agenda for the January 11 Falls Church City Council meeting included resolutions to submit and endorse a referendum to be held by voters to determine whether local elections should be moved from May to November.

However, these agenda items were not scheduled to be considered until after Council had voted on moving the elections.

When Council member Nader Baroukh asked City Attorney John Foster if the referendum questions could be discussed at the same time as the issue of moving elections, he was told that it was up to the Mayor.

Mayor Gardner denied Baroukh’s request, saying it would not be fair to the Council and not be fair to the citizens. The referendum questions, Mayor Gardner said, could be discussed later “when we get to it on the agenda.”

Watch the three-minute video:
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Three and a half hours later, Council worked down to the referendum agenda items.

Watch the 90-second video:
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VIDEO: Property Owner Decries Seniors Housing Plan

January 6, 2010

During the Jan. 4 Falls Church City Council/Planning Commission joint work session, Mayor Gardner stated that “for the reasons of time,” property owner Thomas Sawner should not be allowed to speak. Planning Commission Chairman John Lawrence replied, “I don’t understand how not listening to someone who’s a serious investor in Falls Church is going to help anything. I don’t understand how giving him two minutes is such a burden.” The discussion over whether Sawner should be allowed to speak went on for three minutes, after which Sawner spoke for two minutes. Watch the five-minute video below. (Related story: City Gets Questions, Complaints on Affordable Housing Plan)

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VIDEO: Marty Meserve’s Plea: Don’t Rush Election Change

December 26, 2009

Falls Church City Council will vote Jan. 11 on a final reading to move City elections from May to November.

During public comment time at Council’s previous meeting Dec. 14, Marty Meserve, formerly the City’s Vice Mayor, urged Council not to make a decision during the holiday season, pointing out that since the earliest date an election change would take effect is 2011, there is no compelling reason to rush a decision now.

In her comment, Meserve summarized the findings of a 2001 study by the Falls Church League of Women Voters on the pros and cons of moving local elections to November. Mayor Robin Gardner subsequently asked Meserve questions about the League’s study.

The League’s paper found that while moving the election to November could increase voter participation and save the cost of a separate City election, it would bring new members of the Council and School Board to office in the middle of budget cycles, and could result in more complex ballots and an end of the City’s nonpartisan elections.

To view Meserve’s remarks, and the Mayor’s questions about the study, click on the “start” triangle below.

VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK: ‘Cut Budget Fat, Not Services’

Several City leaders, including members of the City Council, have noted that few Falls Church residents have come forward to speak about the current budget crisis. But at the Dec. 14 City Council meeting, 30-year resident Richard LaVelle did just that. Videos featured by the Falls Church Times do not imply any endorsement of the views contained therein, but rather are intended to share with a larger audience the opinions expressed by residents on City issues. To view the video, click on the “Play” symbol below.

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