Brain McLellan
Published: March 30 2005
The latest craze around the Lou Ross Center is the newest championship-caliber team.
The PJC crochet team has started the season with a 4-2 record, and is scheduled to begin conference play on April 20 against Chipola at 4:20 p.m in the Lou Ross Center.
“It’s definitely doing much better than we were expecting for a first year program,” said Head Coach Kyan Felicia, a former world champion crocheter in 1969.
The team is comprised mostly of walk-ons due to the limited number of scholarships available for the team. There are currently three players on the co-ed 10 person team that are on scholarships. There is a starting line up of five players, with a designated bench player for each position.
“(Crochet is) definitely one of the most challenging things anyone can do,” Right-holder Jamaica St. Croix said .
The Knitting Pirates will play a full conference schedule, as well as several non-conference games against national powerhouse teams such as Akron on April 9th, Yale on April 17th, and # 1 ranked Vanderbilt on April 27.
“It’s great to be able for us as a first year team, to go out and play against these teams that have been a staple in the sport for years,” said Coach Felicia, “because it gives us valuable experience that could come in handy.”
The team started the season 4-0 with dominating performances against North Minnesota Military Agriculture & Technical Community College and Fordham University. But a recent injury to a key player has the Pirates finding themselves on a two-game losing streak, and going into a match-up with 11th-ranked Central Michigan Tech.
Late in the match against Compton Junior College, team captain Armand Goldman suffered a stigmatic injury when his hand was completely pierced by one of the needles being used in the competition.
“I know that (the injury) is hurting the team,” Goldman said, “but I hope that I can fully recover from this and come back better and stronger than ever and help my team any way I can.”
Goldman is expected to miss up to three weeks because of the injury, meaning he will miss most of conference play. Goldman should return by May 3, just one week before the National Tournament is scheduled to begin.
The top two teams from each conference will advance to the National Tournament, with the NJCAA and NCAA combining to hold one national champion. The NJCAAANCAA Crochet Final Four is scheduled for May 29 and 30 in San Francisco, Cal.
Because of the small number of junior college teams in Florida, the Panhandle Conference, PJC’s usual athletic conference, has merged with the other junior college conferences in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia to form the Southern Atlantic Gulf Junior and Community College Athletic Organization. The SAGJACCAO is comprised of 14 Junior Colleges, including PJC, Faulkner State, and Mississippi Gulf Coast.
“I’m really excited about this upcoming season and hopefully we can do some great things,” Coach Felicia said.