El Camino Hospital night classes shed light on eating disorders.
Holiday fund gives people a new start. COMMUNITY, Page 10
Your Health, Page 29
www.losaltosonline.com Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Community news for Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View since 1947
Vol. 63 No. 46 • 50 cents
Council OKs visioning efforts despite budget concerns
Grand ‘Sam’ of tennis
By Jana Seshadri Town Crier Staff Writer
T
sure are. Courted by colleges throughout the country, Critser last month chose the University of Michigan over UC Berkeley. It probably won’t take long for Michigan students and fans to become aware of Critser; she is expected to start right away for a team perennially ranked in the top 20.
he Los Altos City Council Nov. 10 voted 4-1 to allocate $55,000 to facilitate visioning workshops on downtown development early next year. Councilman David Casas cast the dissenting vote. “My concern is cost, so I cannot support this,” Casas said. “I understand the passion and I’m not opposed to high density, but is this where we put the funding?” The city will contract with Anderson Brulé Architects, Keyser Marston Associates and a third firm to coordinate the workshops, employed early in the process of preparation for major projects to identify shared community values that guide future planning decisions. According to the staff report, two workshops would be scheduled with residents in late January and early
See CRITSER, Page 6
See WORKSHOPS, Page 5
Critser quietly becomes nationally ranked player
ELLIOTT BURR/TOWN CRIER
Mountain View High School senior Samantha Critser is a nationally ranked tennis star who next year plans to play for the University of Michigan, a team perennially ranked in the top 20. Critser had several colleges recruiting her.
By Pete Borello Town Crier Staff Writer
O
ne of the best young tennis players in the area attends Mountain View High School, and most of her classmates don’t even know it. Senior Samantha Critser has never played
on the school tennis team and rarely participates in area tournaments. The nationally ranked player instead trains intensely with a private coach and travels the United States to compete in the most challenging junior tournaments. Critser’s fellow students may not be familiar with her work, but college coaches
New El Camino Hospital receives first patients Town Crier Report
E
l Camino Hospital has completed the move into its new technologically and seismically advanced fa-
COURTESY OF BUSINESSWIRE.COM
El Camino Hospital staff tranport patients to the new facility – completing the move efficiently and safely.
cility. After several practice runs led by the activation team, hospital officials report that all patients were safely transferred to the new facility. The older facility’s emergency department officially closed at 6 a.m. Sunday, with the new Emergency Services open for walk-ins and ambulance traffic at 6:01 a.m. “After tireless planning and preparation, the new hospital activation team suc-
cessfully executed its plan to safely and efficiently transfer all patients,” said Ken Graham, El Camino CEO. “Thanks to their hard work and the efforts of all who touched this new hospital project, we are able to continue to provide the top-quality care our community deserves.” In celebration of the official changeover, Mountain View Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga and Liz Kniss, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, presented the hospital with separate proclamations Monday. They also viewed a demonstration of the hospital’s biometric palm-scanning patient
registration system. Optional enrollment in Fujitsu’s scanning technology is now available for each patient registration point within the new hospital. Key features of the new facility include the latest imaging, surgical and lab technology; information management innovations that include palm-scanning patient registration and computer physician order entry; and technologies that assist staff in delivering care. The 450,000-square-foot hospital is among the few in the state built from the ground up to meet SB 1953, the state’s mandated standard for seismic safety in hospitals.
Cover Story
ABOVE PHOTO BY ELLIOTT BURR/TOWN CRIER; RIGHT, BOTTOM RIGHT PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CRITSER FAMILY
Samantha Critser, above, has had a passion for tennis since she was 8, when her grandfather introduced her to the game. Critser, top right, winds up for a backhand shot during a match. A 9-yearold Critser, below right, proudly poses with her medal after winning a match.
CRITSER From Page 1
Staying grounded At Mountain View, however, few people know she plays tennis at all. Some of her friends only recently found out, tipped off by the Michigan sweatshirt she wore to school one day. “They asked me, ‘Why are you wearing that?’” Critser recalled. “When I told them it was because I got a scholarship, they asked, ‘For what?’” That exchange doesn’t surprise Richard Tompkins, her coach. Critser’s humble nature is as impressive to Tompkins as her tennis talents. “A lot of players become cocky and arrogant, especially in an individual sport like tennis, but not Sam,” he said. “If you’re talking to her outside of tennis, she probably wouldn’t even bring it up.” Critser doesn’t see the need for it. She lacks the urge to boast about the 40-some trophies cluttering her room or the shoebox stuffed with college recruiting letters that have been coming since freshman year. “That’s just how I am,” said Critser, who turned 17 last month. “I feel like I’m bragging if I talk about my tennis. If you’re good enough, you don’t need to talk about it with people – just show it.” Coach takes a ‘Shine’ to her Critser has shown plenty with her play. Her admirers include Bill Shine, the most successful high
school tennis coach in Northern California. “She’s one of the best female players to ever come out of this area,” said Shine, who has guided Menlo School to 15 Central Coast Section titles and nine NorCal crowns since 1995. “She’s aggressive, volleys real well and likes to attack the net. She’s pretty special.” Shine has followed Critser’s career since she was in middle school. Both live near Cuesta Park, where Critser often hits tennis balls with Shine’s assistant coach, David Wermuth. “My first impression of her was how tough she was,” said Shine, a Los Altos High School graduate. “She worked so hard in practice. She’s very strong and fast, and she’s always focused.” While strength and speed surely have a lot to do with her success – last year she ranked as high as eighth in the nation among girls 16 and under – Critser’s focus and determination factor into it as well. “You can teach an athlete to be more disciplined but not more competitive – either you have that or you don’t,” Tompkins said. “Sam is as competitive as you get. She’s really driven.” Court commitment Tompkins, in his 15th year running the Mission Hills Tennis Club in Fremont, can’t recall working with a junior player more committed to tennis than Critser. “In the four years I’ve coached her, I’ve never had to tell her to
Page 6 / Los Altos Town Crier / November 18, 2009
“I feel like I’m bragging if I talk about my tennis. If you’re good enough, you don’t need to talk about it with people – just show it.” – Samantha Critser work harder,” Tompkins said. “At times, I’ve had to tell her to maybe cut back her schedule. But she’s so driven – she wants to train as hard as she can. If Sam has a weakness, it’s overtraining.” Critser trains six days a week, at least three hours each day. She spends most of this time on the court with Tompkins or Wermuth, while the rest of it is split between running the streets near her home and lifting weights at the gym. “She has had an incredible training, school and travel schedule from the time she was 12,” said father Tom Critser. “She’s worked very hard and has made a lot of sacrifices.” Critser hasn’t sacrificed her schoolwork, however, despite missing almost a month of classes each year to attend national tournaments. She maintains a 4.2 grade-point average “I’ve learned to balance and manage my time really well,” said Critser, whose favorite subject is English. “I have to get it all done to hang out with my friends.”
Separating social, tennis lives Those are precious hours for Critser, whose friends provide a much-needed escape. “I love to spend time with them,” she said. “The stress of tennis and school goes away, and it’s really cool.” Critser’s closest friends are at school – not on the court. Critser prefers “to keep my tennis life completely separate from the rest of my life,” she said, and ap-
proaches the former “like a business.” It’s a thriving business for Critser, who has won six national tournaments in doubles, reached the singles final of another national and the singles quarterfinals of a supernational. “I go in and play my match and leave,” said Critser, scheduled to play tournaments in Georgia, Florida and Arizona before the year is over. “I have my friends See CRITSER, Page 7
Cover Story
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Samantha Critser, above and below left, practices Friday at Cuesta Park. Menlo School coach Bill Shine, below right, said Critser is one of the best female tennis players to ever come out of this area.
“My first impression of her was how tough she was... She worked so hard in practice. She’s very strong and fast, and she’s always focused.” – Bill Shine, Menlo tennis coach
CRITSER From Page 6
at home. I think it’s because I’m real competitive, and it’s hard to be friends with someone and want to beat them.” The drive to thrive Critser showed a will to win soon after her grandfather introduced her to the game at age 8, but that desire grew stronger after a long bout with mononucleosis. The viral infection was so severe that Critser missed a year of school and two years of tennis, forcing her to essentially start over at 12. “At 10, I was really good and expected to be really good, like No. 1, when I came back, but people were better than me. It was really hard and my confidence dropped,” she said. “But looking back on it now, being sick was almost a good thing. It taught me to appreciate tennis and never take it for granted. I knew I had to make up for lost time to be good again,
and I trained really hard.” Critser said it took almost a year to get her tennis career back on track. She still climbed atop the singles rankings for under-12 girls in Northern California and has since ranked No. 1 in the region’s under-14, under-16 and under-18 divisions. Nationally, Critser said she ranks “somewhere in the 20s for under 18s” – which she only recently moved up to – “but I should be in the top 10 by next year.” The support system Critser believes she gets her competitive streak from her father, who played football at the University of Oregon. Tom and wife Kimberlee also have a daughter in middle school, Emma, who just gave up soccer to concentrate on tennis. “The true gift working with Sam is dealing with the whole family,” Tompkins said. “Her parents are some of the nicest parents I’ve come across. The drive is from Sam 100 percent, and they support her unconditionally.”
Critser added that her parents “are so supportive of my tennis – my goals and my dreams – and they help make them happen.” Pro potential Perhaps one day they will watch their daughter play on the pro tour, which is Critser’s ultimate dream. “I want to get my degree, then go on the tour,” Critser said. “I think I have the athletic ability; I just need more experience and work on my mental skills more.” The 5-foot-5 Critser may lack the imposing size of the Williams sisters, but Shine sees pro potential in her. “She definitely stands out, even though she’s not the tallest person in the world. She picked the right sport – you don’t have to be real tall to play tennis,” he said. “It’s a huge leap (to play professionally), but she’s well on her way. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she becomes a pro.” That’s one way Critser can raise her profile – whether she wants to or not. Contact Pete Borello at peteb@latc.com. November 18, 2009 / Los Altos Town Crier / Page 7