Leading off today: Five hundred and twenty-nine wins after it began, John Volpe is calling an end to his 50-year career as a basketball coach, The Journal News reported today.

   Volpe, 76, started his run at Cohoes Keveny High, won eight sectional championships in 33 seasons at Yonkers Gorton, spent four seasons at Maritime and then finished up back in the high school ranks with a dozen seasons at Sacred Heart.

   "I've given it a lot of thought and realized it was time," Volpe told the paper. "I had been thinking about it a lot during the season. It was a tough decision, but I feel good about it."

   With longtime assistant Charlie Beauford unavailable because he will be moving to North Carolina, it is uncertain who will take over for Volpe.

   Bethlehem updates policy: The Bethlehem school district has revised its policy after three students were forced to choose between a week-long church trip or playing sports this spring. Three players on the softball and lacrosse teams had to decide this between sports or traveling with a church group to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

   The Board of Education adopted a policy Wednesday stating that no athlete will be kept off a team because of a service trip, vacation or other opportunity that would take them away for a period of time during a regular season, The Times Union reported. Previously, coaches set their own policy.

   School board President James Lytle said consistency is the goal. "It doesn't make sense from our perspective to have different policies in different sports," Lytle said.

   Coaches can continue to impose penalties for missed games or practices, but a outright dismissal for an entire season won't be an option.

   Diamond notes: Corning West has forfeited Wednesday's 3-2 baseball victory over Corning East because of the use of an ineligible player. "The decision to allow the player in the game was solely mine," AD Fred Yaple said in a statement. "My initial interpretation of the rule was the player was eligible based on the specific circumstances, but that was not the case. It was clearly the wrong decision and in violation of the rule. I take full responsibility and regret that it has overshadowed what was a great effort by both teams."

   Senior Bri Allen pitched her second straight perfect game and seventh no-hitter of 2008, striking out 15 for Aquinas in a 3-0 win over Geneva. The seven no-hitters tie Chris Stewart (1989) of Avoca for the Section 5 record in one season.

   "I feel like I've accomplished something, but there's no way this would have happened without the team," Allen said. "My defense has been so solid behind me all season. The team is viewing no-hitters as an accomplishment for them, too, now and it's bringing us together."

   Girls lacrosse: Brighton dominated East Rochester, 12-4, in a girls lacrosse battle between highly ranked teams yesterday. Rachel DerCola posted two goals and three assists, and Rachel Ballatori scored a hat trick in the triumph.

   Brigton is ranked No. 2 in Class B and East Rochester No. 2 in Class C by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   Recruiting goes video: University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban used to spend the spring on the road evaluating talent and visiting high school coaches. Now, he does his schmoozing the high-tech way, utilizing live-time online video connections to get around a new NCAA regulation -- dubbed the "Saban Rule" -- that keeps coaches off the road in May.

   Saban, Les Miles of LSU and Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee are regarding as successful early adapters of the video technology. According to The Associated Press, Saban goes online to speak to several recruits a day, replacing the approximately 100 in-person visits he made to schools last spring.

   "I just think it's a better way to communicate," he said. "It's great to communicate over the phone but I'd feel a lot more comfortable with this conversation right now if I could see the person I was talking to. In business meetings, they wouldn't use the technology if it wasn't a more effective way to communicate, would they?"

   NCAA rules count "all electronically transmitted human voice exchange" as phone calls, specifically mentioning videoconferencing and videophones. "Web cams and video conferences are considered telephone calls," NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said. "We don't see it as a violation. It would just be subject to rules we have regarding recruiting and telephone contact."

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