Charlie Rennard, a 17-year-old Long Branch beach lifeguard, competed as part of the Monmouth County Lifeguards team in the National Lifeguard Competition earlier this month. And what a time he had.

The team won first place - its fourth national championship - and Rennard ranked in the top 10 out of 226 male competitors. The Monmouth team represents beaches throughout the Jersey Shore.

“All the younger people are just more excited to compete," said Rennard, one of the team's youngest competitors at the Virginia Beach, Virginia, event. "I think the excitement adds to the adrenaline and makes everyone do their best."

He also came in second among the lifeguards for gaining the most points for the team.

“I’m really happy with what I did, but I know that I can do better next year,” Rennard said.

The Jersey Shore's 87-member team took home the first-place award with its highest score ever and with the youngest crew of competitors ever sent to the annual U.S. Lifesaving Association competition.

For a crew of lifeguards who only work the beaches during the summer, this is a great achievement, said team president Dan George.

“We call ourselves seasonal professionals. Californians and Floridians, you know, this is their job all year 'round,” George said. “To see this kind of effort and this kind of performance is truly historic."

The performance of a new breed of younger lifeguards not only surprised the leaders, but it also brought enthusiasm for the team’s future competition, said the team's head coach, Denise Blair, who has been a lifeguard for about 30 years.

“It was a great feeling. It was a great team effort from everyone. We had a lot of first-time competitors, so it’s always exciting to see their enthusiasm,” she said.

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For Mary Kate George, 24, the team’s performance can be inspiring for younger folks who are now venturing into lifeguard duties.

“To do this job, you have to be in shape so that you can be ready at any time to make your rescue. That level of fitness, that level of being your best self and how it translates into competition is what is so fun, why I love it so much,” she said.

“It’s about being the best lifeguard you can be, but also about being the best person you can be, and that’s in itself is inspiring,” added the Long Branch lifeguard who is now pursuing a master's degree in mental health counseling.

Lifesaving sport, a discipline recognized by the International Olympic Committee, consists of physically demanding races in which athletes swim, run, paddle, surf and sail. According to the U.S. Lifesaving Association, it was created to encourage lifesavers to develop and maintain the physical and mental stamina needed to save lives in the water.

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While younger delegates surpassed expectations, veterans didn’t fall behind.

Deal lifeguard Ryan Matthews, 40, was the top performer of the team. He earned the most points for the team and won the American Ironman Open, dubbed as the most physically demanding.

“I never expected to win the team title. It wasn’t really a thing I thought was ever really gonna happen for me. I'm very happy it has. It was really one of the last things I had in my list,” Matthews said.

This is the third time Monmouth County has won the national competition since 2014. The team's first win was in 1983.

“I think we just have realized since we won in 2014, that we have the athletes for it. And the athletes have been training more efficiently. Once you win, or once you come close to winning, it gives you energy, it gives you hope,” Matthews said.

This year, Delaware’s Sussex County team came in second. While the 46-time champion California’s LA county team, placed third.

Matthews, a long-time lifeguard who has represented the U.S. internationally said he hopes the recent championship attracts more people into becoming lifeguards.

“We are in a lifeguard shortage locally, but also nationwide. And I just hope that there are more athletes locally that look to it as a job that’s fulfilling,” he said.

MIDDLETOWN - The Monmouth County Board of Commissioners are in discussions with the township Board of Education to purchase and demolish the old Port Monmouth Elementary School, and replace the building with a recreational center or indoor swimming facility on its grounds.

The school, which served 194 students before it closed in 2020, could become county property by the end of the year if the board agrees to purchase the site, said Andrew J. Spears, director of the Monmouth County Park System.

Opened in 1928, the Middletown Board of Education shuttered the school and transferred its students to the New Monmouth Elementary School about two miles away in what was described as a cost-saving measure four years ago.

Related:Port Monmouth School will close after Middletown school board vote; parents enraged

Residents in the Bayshore region have been asking for either an aquatic facility or a community center, and the commissioners have identified the site as a suitable location, Spears said.

A public discussion on the matter is expected before the summer, he said.

The Patch reported that the county had offered $2.5 million for the site. However, Spears said it was premature to discuss a dollar amount for the proposed purchase.

If the board decides to build a swimming or aquatic center, the facility would host competitive scholastic swimming events as well as provide swimming lessons and adult fitness classes, he said.

Related:Middletown schools to lease Port Monmouth to film producers

If the board decides to build a recreational center instead, it would include a gymnasium and other spaces with fitness components, and serve a role similar to a traditional community center, he said.

Ultimately, the board will decide which option based on what it feels is needed the most in that region of the county, Spears said.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

It was one of those season where you can look at the glass being half-full or half-empty for Monmouth football, and both would be about right.

A string of close losses – four by a combined 20 points – appeared to show the Hawks weren’t that far away in the attempt to claw their way up Coastal Athletic Association standings, while running back Jaden Shirden led the nation in rushing and Dymere Miller was the country’s top receiver.

But mistakes, penalties and special teams miscues conspired to turn the season into one big missed opportunity, as the Hawks finished 4-7 overall, and tied for 11th in the CAA.

“It was a difficult season because there was so many close games that we came out on the wrong side of,” said Kevin Callahan, who completed his 31st season as the only head coach the Hawks have ever had.

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“It’s frustrating because we were close. A field goal here, a touchdown there makes a huge difference in our season, maybe takes us from a 4-7 team to playoff team. And the frustrating part is I know we’re close. There are some areas we’re still growing and developing into a top tier CAA team. But we’re closer than our record indicates we are. So that is the positive in it. But there were some games that I thought we should have come away with wins and didn’t, for various reasons.”

Now it’s about using the offseason to rinse the bad taste left by Saturday’s season-ending 41-0 loss at Albany. Here are five questions that must be answered in the coming months for the Hawks to move forward:

1. Who’s coming back, who's not?

Specifically, are Shirden, a junior, and Miller, a senior with one year of eligibility remaining, going to fly the coop?

It’s the most pressing question surrounding every program’s top players this time of year in the age of the transfer portal, which opens on Dec. 4. Because if Shirden, who has already led the FCS in rushing two straight seasons, and Miller, who set program records for receptions and receiving yardage, depart, it creates a vacuum that will be virtually impossible to fill, with the two combining for 2,821 yards and 19 TDs.

“When you have two players of that caliber achieve what they have, I think they are going to be sought after commodities,” Callahan admitted. “I’m sure having thoughts and for all I know people may be reaching out to them, although they are not supposed to.”

If they’re not back, the ability to fill that void, presumably via the transfer portal, looms as the top priority.

2. Who will the defensive coordinator be?

It didn’t help that long-time defensive coordinator Andy Bobik walked away from the program two weeks before the start of the regular season. But the Monmouth defense, which transitioned to more of an attacking style, showed improvement across the board in going from last in the CAA in scoring defense at 34.7 to seventh at 27.5, and going from last in total defense at a whopping 428.6 yards in 2022, to sixth this season at 355.9 yards.

Finding a replacement with that same aggressive mindset would be nice.

“It’s not off the table that we go in-house,” Callahan said. “I didn’t want to do it in August because it would not be fair to anybody on the staff to name without proper time to prepare and thrust them into that situation where then if we had a bad year, they get unfairly labeled with that.

“Our defense showed improvement in a lot of categories over a year ago, so while I’m happy with that result, I’m not with the won-loss record.”

3. Who’s the quarterback?

After Tony Muskett transferred to Virginia last offseason, the Hawks picked up ex-Sacred Heart quarterback Marquez McCray, who ended playing pretty well, throwing for 236 yard-per-game, with 21 TDs and six interceptions.

But McCray’s gone, and the question now is whether or not you throw the keys to the offense to Enzo Arjona, who will be a junior next season and started the final three games in 2022, with Zack Hios, a strong-armed freshman, as the backup, or do you dig into the transfer portal for another experienced quarterback.

“We were just having that discussion as a staff,” Callahan said. “We’re not sure right now. Enzo has shown he has the ability to play. He is comfortable with our system and can operate it at a high level. You are always intrigued by that guy who can come in and maybe even do more for you. We were doing our all-conference ballot recently and it is amazing the level of quarterbacks there are in this league.”

4. Can the young talent help?

Monmouth has a lot of young, relatively untested players who the coaches think are talented, but just haven’t gotten much playing time. And while the transfer portal can provide a quick fix, developing players is still the key to long-term sustainability.

“They guys who are sophomores, we didn’t announce we were moving to the CAA until after they were recruited, so our current freshman class is really our first CAA recruiting class, and this will be our second” Callahan said. “We need to recruit players who can be upper-level CAA players.”

5. Find a kicker

Maybe it’s someone on the current roster, with two of the three kickers who got time this season, the Manalapan due of Michael Calton Jr. and Vincenzo Rea, able to return next season. But searching for a proven Division 1 kicker has to be part of the process.

A missed game-tying field goal in the final seconds at nationally-ranked William & Mary really hurt, while five missed extra points and 4-of-9 on field goal tries just isn’t good enough.

EATONTOWN, NJ — Fort Monmouth will need to tear down at least 95 — and likely more —abandoned U.S. Army buildings in order to build the highly-anticipated Netflix studios at Fort Monmouth.

This is according to a report Thursday in the Asbury Park Press. There are five million square feet of buildings at the old U.S. Army base, 70 percent of which are targeted for demolition.

Last December, Netflix announced they will pay $55 million to buy 292 acres at Fort Monmouth. Netflix plans to construct one of their biggest film studios in the world there, including 12 soundstages, rivaling their current 300-acre production facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

But a Netflix film studio at Fort Monmouth is still several years away:

Their purchase of the 292 acres has still not been finalized yet: On Oct. 31, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority was required by law to begin a 45-day public comment period to allow the Netflix deal to go through.

Should Netflix’s plans go through, they will build their massive film studio complex in two phases over the next several years: The first phase will be building 12 soundstages, ranging in size from 15,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet.

After those are built, Netflix said they "may" then build office space, production services buildings and studio backlots, "with the potential for consumer-facing components, such as retail and consumer experiences." This will likely include a Netflix retail store/restaurant, which is a new concept from Netflix just launched this October; it's called Netflix Bites. Imagine a store or restaurant decorated in the theme of "Stranger Things," where you can buy all the swag from your favorite TV show.

The 292-acre lot purchased by Netflix spans the towns of Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls. Netflix says it will open blocks and blocks of studio spaces, similar to old Hollywood, and say they will bring 1,500 permanent production jobs and more than 3,500 construction jobs.

It was Gov. Murphy who first wooed Netflix to come to New Jersey two years ago. The Murphy administration is giving many tax breaks to movies/TV shows filmed in the Garden State; that's why you are going to see a lot of movies being filmed in New Jersey, in case you haven't already noticed.

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority is trying to rebuild Fort Monmouth into a live-work-leisure development. To date, 86 percent of Fort Monmouth's 1,126 acres are sold, under contract or in negotiations.

It was late last December when Netflix confirmed months of rumors they were moving to New Jersey: Netflix Approved To Open Massive NJ Film Studio: How It Will Look (Dec. 21, 2022)

About a year after Netflix was selected as top bidder to redevelop roughly 300 acres in Monmouth County, the project has taken another step toward reality.

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority has announced that the FMERA Board approved sending the proposed "Plan Amendment #20" to Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls for a 45-day public comment period.

Municipal-level clearance is needed for the plans that Netflix unveiled last December at Fort Monmouth, which was decommissioned over a decade ago.

It amounts to the next major milestone for redevelopment of the mega parcel, currently under contract with Netflix,” according to FMERA.

What does Netflix have planned in NJ?

Last winter, the Netflix vision involved 12 sound stages at an East Coast production facility offering more than 1,500 permanent jobs

Additional improvements on the roughly 328 acres could include office space, production services buildings, mill space and studio backlots, “among other film industry needs,” the original plans added.

Read More: Netflix unveils NJ plan for $848M studio on Fort Monmouth land

Proposed changes would allow the building of affordable housing residential units for low- and moderate-income households as required by the state Fair Housing Act.

If the film studio does not get built, those residential units could be part of a larger residential development at the "Mega Parcel" or elsewhere in the former Fort Monmouth areas in both Eatontown and Oceanport under the amended plan.

Latest in a long line of changes at Fort Monmouth

Fort Monmouth’s Reuse and Redevelopment Plan has already been formally amended 19 times since it was first adopted in 2008.

It serves as the master plan for the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth.

An additional Plan Amendment might also be required once developers are identified for affordable housing projects in Eatontown and Oceanport.

Following the 45-day public comment period, FMERA staff must review and respond to all comments before moving the plan amendment forward for final adoption by the board.

Board action also remains subject to the governor’s veto period.

Once that happens, Netflix would move into a 36-month approval period, which would involve extensive reviews by a significant number of local, county, and state agencies and authorities.

FMERA has estimated those next major steps to start sometime in the first quarter of 2024.

The Fort had 5 million square feet of building area, 70% of which is targeted for demolition.

To date, FMERA has sold 34 parcels, with 86% percent of the Fort’s 1,126 acres either sold, under contract, in negotiations or entering the request for proposals process.