Ty'Neka Addison: 1,000-POINT CLUB

by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer
FPC’s Ty’Neka Addison has helped turn around the Lady Bulldogs in four years, and she’s not finished yet.

After the Flagler Palm Coast Lady Bulldogs basketball team lost in the regional quarterfinals last season to Orange Park, Ty’Neka Addison — a junior then — got right to work.

She continued her daily routine of picking up a basketball and heading to the park to play pick-up games. She shot hoops and reflected on the loss. She realized that she might have been able to push herself, and her team, harder.

Turning things around

Addison first picked up a basketball at the age of 4. She shot hoops with her uncle as often as she could while she lived in Palatka.

In high school, she moved from Palatka to Palm Coast and attended FPC. She was picked for the varsity team as a freshman and started. Though the team went under .500 for the season, things started to look up. Javier Bevacqua taking over the program as head coach in Addison’s sophomore year.

As a freshman, Addison scored 286 points. As a sophomore, it was 408 points. Last season, as a junior, she scored 485 points, averaging 19 points per game, seven rebounds, five assists per game and five steals per game. Through 10 games this season (the Bulldogs are 8-2), Addison is averaging about 19 points per game and, over her career, has averaged 26 points against non-district opponents.

And to put her scoring into perspective, Bevacqua said Addison has racked up 1,384 points in her career, and she will likely surpass the 1,500-point milestone before the end of her senior season.

Scorer and leader

As the point guard, Addison likes being the leader on the court. Despite her calm demeanor, she’s a vocal leader in the locker room and on the hardwood.

“I like (playing point guard) because not only do you help yourself, but you can help others,” she said. “I’m always trying to make something happen. Always being a playmaker.”

Bevacqua said Addison is always calm.

“You’ll never see her nervous … and that helps to settle her teammates and the coaches,” he said.

Last month, Addison got her chance to have revenge against Orange Park. Addison led the Bulldogs to a 63-57 victory Dec. 16, and stayed in line with her season averages, scoring 28 points, grabbing seven rebounds, five assists and five steals.

“I stepped in and did what I had to do,” Addison said after the game. “I just reminded everyone about last year, and I said we’re not losing tonight, and I stuck to my words.”

And come districts, Addison won’t make the same mistake she did last year. She hopes to push herself and her team all the way to the district championship and further. Addison also knows she has to push herself outside of basketball, in her studies, so she can play at the highest collegiate level.

‘She’ll blow by you at will’

Back at the park, Addison still laces up her shoes and plays pick-up games. And she knows that when she goes there, she will be playing mostly against men.

“My uncle always told me to play with guys because they will make me better,” Addison recalls.

In a good way, Bevacqua said Addison plays “like a guy.”

“What separates Ty’Neka from other plays is the fact that she’s the total package,” Bevacqua said. “She has speed, athleticism and she can shoot the ball. If you stay off of her, she’ll nail a jump shot. If you stay on her, she’ll blow right by you at will.”

Lending a Hose

by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer

Margaret Combs, CEO of MH Operations LLC, has started five other businesses, but she said this one isn’t a mom-and-pop business. 

Of all the businesses in Palm Coast, MH Operations LLC may have the biggest impact in 2011 for one reason: jobs.

CEO Margaret Combs said the garden-hose-manufacturing company, located at the Flagler County Airport, will employ 83 people during the first year of manufacturing, which is set to begin in late winter or early spring.

Combs added that the company will employ at least 143 persons over a three-year span in Flagler County.

“We have been impressed with the quality of applicants that we have had,” Combs said, stating that there have been at least a 100 applications submitted. “Frankly, we could fill every one of the jobs right now with a highly qualified person that we have an application from.”

The path to Palm Coast began about five years ago, when Gary Ragner and his partner, Robert deRochemont, were working on creating a vacuum hose that would automatically extend out and then be sucked back in by the pressure. But Ragner realized that if he reversed it all, he’d have a garden hose.

The hose is unique because of how it expands and contracts. The 10-foot-long MicroHose will be able to expand up to 50 feet long, which the company believes makes it more efficient and user-friendly.

Ragner obtained patents for the hose. Meanwhile, deRochemont, on recommendations from a loan officer at a bank, got in touch with Combs, who was consulting with SCORE, a small business mentoring and training program.

“I’ve managed startup companies before,” said Combs, “but this was the first one that I had seen where I’m saying, ‘There’s something really good here.’ Most of them are impossible, but this was clearly remarkable.”

Combs said starting up MicroHose is much different from any of the other five companies she’s started.

“They are all totally different except for one thing: You have to be prepared for a surprise every day,” Combs said. “Just about the time you have your hands totally on everything and nothing else needs to be done, something else will pop up and go, ‘What about me?’”

Combs compared cooking with starting a business.

“It’s like a giant recipe, and if you leave out one ingredient, it doesn’t work,” Combs said.  She added, “I feel like the cook in the apron, covered in flour, and I’m stirring and stirring.”

She’s hopeful that the company will not only add jobs in Flagler County, but make an impact beyond.

“The traditional garden hose is something people have to have, but nobody likes them,” she said. “We’re going to change all of that.”