Archive: Sports

dAN cHEATHAMLansing HS Class of 2005 graduate Daniel Cheatham has earned the award of New York State West Young Male Referee of the Year for 2006. Daniel Cheatham, is studying at Syracuse University where he is currently a sophomore maintaining a 3.25 GPA. With his studies focusing on the Middle East, he is looking to study there before he graduates. Yet even with good grades and lots of time spent in the library and in classes, Dan still finds time for soccer and other worthwhile activities.

He volunteered his time to construct both a middle school and an elementary school playground. He has worked for the March of Dimes and other charities through the Syracuse University athletic department. He has acted as a volunteer coach in his hometown recreational program working with kindersoccer through Under 10 players. In high school, he also gave many hours to the CASS program in its first year acting as a mentor for middle school students in his school district. With his strong GPA in high school, and his other extracurricular activities, he was also named to the National Honor Society. He was also awarded a Dean's Academic  Scholarship to Syracuse University as an entering freshman.

As a high school athlete, Dan ran track and played baseball, however his greatest success came in the game he truly loves. As a soccer player, Dan was a captain of his high school team in both his junior and senior years, leading his senior team to the Class B State Championship game in New York State.  During those years he was also involved with his TC United club team, which made two visits to the New York State West Final Four - once in 2003 and once in 2005. In college he was a member of the 2005-2006 Syracuse Men's Soccer team and yet still made the university's dean's list during his involvement with the team which everyone can recognize as being no small achievement.

In the last few years though, Dan has been increasingly dedicated to becoming the best soccer referee that he can become. In the local Ithaca Soccer Referee district, he has centered matches up to Under 17 Boys and Under 19 Girls premier. He has tirelessly worked many in and out of state tournaments including Brockport NY, Gettysburg PA, Newark Valley NY and Booth/Elmira NY. He has always strived to give his best on the field, which is why he was also assigned to referee in the 2006 New York State West final four in the first year in which he was no longer playing in it as a youth player. In his local district, he also spends much time helping newer, younger referees master the art of refereeing and is a popular choice amongst his colleagues to act as an assistant referee on their upgrade assessments.

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