To say that former Pleasant Valley boys basketball coach and current Bears boys and girls tennis coach Mark Allison loves to coach would be an understatement.

Allison retired from coaching the game of basketball 20 years ago, after revitalizing the Bears program. His reasons for giving up the gig were simple. He wanted to spend more time with his family. For any of you that have had the pleasure of coaching high school basketball you know how demanding it is. It's basically a second full time job, so it's easy to see why Allison made his decision.However, that coaching itch really doesn't quite go away does it?So, how did a boys basketball coach then become a tennis coach. It's not something you see everyday.After Allison retired from basketball, he was a strong advocate for the school to build tennis courts. Not necessarily for a team, but basically for the community and pretty much after that the rest was history."We were pretty much the only school in the area that didn't have tennis courts," said Allison. "So after the school built the courts they approached me about coaching the tennis team. I was hesitant at first, but I agreed on the condition I would coach just the first year, just to get the program off the ground and then they would have to find someone else."Fast forward 20 years later and Allison is still coaching the Bears tennis team."I just loved it so much, what can I say," said Allison. "The pressure isn't nearly as much as coaching basketball and it's just great to teach a game like this to the kids. They seem to really enjoy themselves out there."So another question arises in Allison's coaching carousel. How does a former basketball coach and player know so much about the game of tennis?"My college teammate and I wanted to find something else active to do besides just playing basketball," said Allison. "So, there was a country club next to Penn State Aloona where I played and the old guy there that was the tennis pro taught us how to play. We really liked it and we started to play all the time. In fact, the old guy asked us to play in a doubles tournament at the club only a few months after we learned how to play. We did it just to have fun, thinking we had no shot and we ended up getting to the semifinals. So, then I just continued to play the game."Allison took a hobby and tuned it into a pretty successful coaching career.The Bears are almost always competitive, and this season the boys team had one of their most successful seasons of all time. Singles players Jon White and John Walmach both reached the quarterfinal round of the district tournament. The pair also just won the District 11 AAA Doubles Tennis Championship.It just goes to show, a hobby can turn into something more, maybe even a championship.**********BASEBALLFIRST WIN FOR JT - After losing its first 15 games of the season, Jim Thorpe finally got into the win column last Friday when it posted a 4-2 non-league victory over Northern Lehigh.The Olympians, who had lost five times this year by three runs or less, rode a strong pitching performance from Ian Sterling to defeat the Bulldogs.The win also snapped an overall skid of 20 games (dating back to last season) and gave Derick Reis his first victory as head coach.**********TWO GAMES, TWO DINGERS - Last Friday, Tamaqua's Matt Roberts slugged a two-run homer to help his team post a 9-3 victory over North Schuylkill.In the Raiders' next game (this past Monday) Roberts went deep again, drilling another two-run blast against Pottsville.Roberts became the first TIMES NEWS area baseball player this season to hit homers in back-to-back games. Ironically, Roberts was one of only two players to achieve the feat a year ago. The other player to do it was teammate Brett Kosciolek.While Roberts is the only baseball player to hit homers in back-to-back games this year, three softball players have done it this season. They include Lehighton's Joclyn Hunsicker, Northern Lehigh's Taylor Herman and Pleasant Valley's Jordan Meckes.**********TICKET PUNCHED - Marian became the third TIMES NEWS area baseball team to clinch a district playoff berth when it defeated Weatherly last Saturday.The Colts, who also beat Panther Valley later that day, posted a 16-6 win over the Wreckers. That victory gave Marian its 10th win of the season to solidify a spot in the postseason.Marian has now reached the District 11 playoffs nine years in a row.**********ONE-RUN, NO FUN - Palmerton just had a stretch of three games in four days and unfortunately for the Bombers they dropped all three games. Even more disheartening was the fact that all three decisions were one-run games.The Bombers fell to Northern Lehigh, 3-2, on Saturday; lost to Pen Argyl, 2-1, on Monday; and dropped an 8-7 contest to Saucon Valley Tuesday.Palmerton has played in six one-run games this season, but the most belong to Northwestern. The Tigers have participated in 10 one-run games, going 5-5 in those contests.The next most after Northwestern is Tamaqua, which has played seven one-run games.**********WIN STREAK CONTINUES - Marian's baseball team on Wednesday defeated Mahanoy Area to run its winning streak to seven games. That tied Tamaqua's baseball and Marian's softball teams for the longest TIMES NEWS area win streaks this season.Those three teams, along with Northwestern's softball squad, are also the only TN area teams not to be shut out this year. Dating back to last season, the Raiders own the longest string of not being shut out 32 games.**********SOFTBALLBEARS WILL MISS LEHIGHTON - Last Friday, Pleasant Valley cruised to a 12-2 win over Lehighton.The contest marked the last time the two TIMES NEWS area teams will meet as Mountain Valley Conference opponents. Next season, the Bears will be in the Lehigh Valley Conference while the Indians will compete in the Schuylkill League.Based on the results over the years, PV will miss its two matchups every season with Lehighton. The win on Friday was the Bears' 22nd straight over the Indians. And in those 22 victories, Pleasant Valley has mercy-ruled the Tribe 14 times and has outscored them 260-33.The last time Lehighton defeated the Bears was May 6, 2003 when it pulled out a 10-9, 11-inning victory. The Indians that year went 12-0 in the MVC.**********RAIDER EXPLOSION - On Saturday Tamaqua clinched a district playoff berth in grand style, scoring 23 runs in a victory against Panther Valley.The Raiders scored in three innings, plating five runs in the first and nine in each of the second and fourth innings.The 23 runs scored were the most by any team in the TIMES NEWS area, passing the 22 Lehighton scored against Lincoln Leadership Academy on April 17.The last time Tamaqua pushed 23 runs across the plate was a year ago when it defeated Jim Thorpe 23-5 while the last time it had more runs was April 26, 2000 when it rolled past Shamokin, 24-7. Also of note was this was the first 20-plus margin of victory for the Raiders since April 28, 1995 when they knocked off Shamokin 23-2.**********TICKETS PUNCHED - Since last Thursday, four TIMES NEWS area teams have qualified for the upcoming district playoffs. With Pleasant Valley having secured a berth earlier, that brings the number of postseason teams to five.Marian gained a spot in the Class A field last Thursday when it defeated Lourdes. The victory was its 10th of the season.Two squads, Tamaqua and Palmerton, claimed berths on Saturday. The Raiders, as noted above, rolled past Panther Valley to earn their spot. The victory over the Panthers assured Tamaqua of a .500 record in the Schuylkill League. The Bombers, meanwhile, outslugged Northern Lehigh on Saturday for their 10th win of the year and an automatic spot in districts.Lehighton, on Monday, recorded an extra-inning victory against East Stroudsburg North to push its win total to six in the Mountain Valley Conference. That guaranteed the Indians of a .500 mark in the MVC and a berth in the postseason.**********PERFECT AGAIN - Marian's Bethany Shaud pitched a mini-perfect game last Friday when she faced nine Shenandoah Valley batters and retired them all during an 18-0 three-inning rout.Shaud also had a five-inning perfect game back on April 9 when she retired all 15 Weatherly batters in a 12-0 victory.In the recent Shenandoah contest, the Fillies used a 10-run first inning to set the tone. That marked the third time this season Marian has scored at least 10 runs in one frame. Joe DeAngelo's club also did it in their first matchup with Shenandoah and again against Pocono Mountain West.**********TRACKSCHUYLKILL SUCCESS - Tamaqua posted three wins at the Schuylkill County Relays last Friday at Pottsville, while Jim Thorpe also recorded a first at the annual event.The Blue Raiders' tandem of Rebecca Minehan and Paige Demetriades not only captured gold in the pole vault but the duo also set a new meet record. Minehan cleared 10-0 while Demetriades went over at 9-0. The combined 19-0 broke last year's mark of 18-6, which ironically was set by Minehan and Demetriades.Other area winners at the meet included Tamaqua's Tyler Hope and Zach Zucatti in the javelin and Trevor Skripko and Jake Wenzel in the shot put, and Jim Thorpe's Deonte St. Hill and Mike Malatak in the triple jump.The Tamaqua girls also had the highest team finish among the TIMES NEWS area teams, placing third in Class AA.**********THRILLING FINISH - The Pleasant Valley boys gained a dramatic win in their final Mountain Valley Conference dual meet, capturing the day's final event to edge Stroudsburg by a 76-74 score. The victory was extra special since it allowed the Bears to finish tied for the MVC championship.Trailing by three points, the foursome of Brown, Nevarez, Sucic and Samuels won the 1600 relay in a time of 3:29.7. The win not only gave PV a victory and the boys first title in 18 years, but it also set a new TIMES NEWS area best.**********CHAMPIONSHIP CHATTER - In all, the TIMES NEWS area finished with five regular season champions (or co-champs). Besides Pleasant Valley, the Northwestern boys and girls and the Marian boys and girls also gained league crowns. Both Tiger teams went 11-0 to win Colonial League titles outright while the Colts were a perfect 6-0 to finish first in Division II of the Schuylkill League. The Fillies, meanwhile, ended in a three-way tie for first with Pine Grove and Schuylkill Haven. The three teams all posted 5-1 marks in Schuylkill League Division II action.**********TENNISWE ARE THE CHAMPIONS - Pleasant Valley's Jon White and Jon Walmach captured the District 11 Class AAA Doubles championship on Monday, defeating the No. 1 seeded team from Emmaus.The Bears' duo will return to action on Friday, May 23 in the PIAA state tournament. White and Walmach will face the District 8 champs at 1:30 p.m. at the Hershey Racquet Club.