Europe Athletes of the Week: Sept. 20, 2012
Shawn Peebles
Vilseck football
Last week - Peebles, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior who made the 2011 All-Europe team as a linebacker, put in his claim to make the 2012 squad on both sides of the ball Saturday at Kaiserslautern.
All Peebles contributed to Vilseck’s 48-14 victory opening-day road victory were 246 yards on 22 carries, five of which carried into the end zone, according to Vilseck coach Jim Hall. Peebles broke two scoring runs that measured 76 yards each.
Peebles, the reigning European 200-meter champion in track, performed up to his All-Europe standards on defense, too. Hall credited his senior who carries a 3.2 grade-point average with seven tackles, two pass knockdowns, one caused fumble and one fumble recovery.
“He’s a tremendous leader for us, on and off the field,” Hall said by telephone on Tuesday.
Eugenia Srodowski
Patch tennis
Last week - Srodowski, a junior, made her debut for Patch a memorable one Saturday at Hohenfels, downing Carolina Bourgeois, half of the 2011 bronze-medal doubles team.
“She has a very strong baseline game and great court coverage,” Patch coach Walter Fritz emailed about his home-schooled No. 1 who had planned to play last year before schedule conflicts intervened. “Eugenia is very mentally tough on the court.”
Srodowski, who plays a lot of club tennis – “I try to play every day,” she said by telephone on Tuesday – credits that experience and playing against her brother, Patch freshman Alex, for the strength of her game.
Srodowski cited her ground strokes as the strength of her game, but despite her 6-0, 6-0 victory Saturday, agreed with Fritz there’s room for advancement in her game.
“She will be developing a more aggressive second serve,” Fritz predicted, “and more accurate volleys.”
