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room: Dumb and Dumber, originally a Shakespearean manuscript (we think), offers us fertile ground to explore the NBA. We think.

Fence: 41 The Tryouts, sign-ups, fund-raisers and more!

45 Advertiser’s index 4

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The Urgency of Now

T

Roy Mesiner

hree days before its first official day of practice, the Richmond High basketball team’s 2014-15 season began in tragedy.

Fixing a bike on his grandfather’s front lawn, 16-year-old Rodney Frazier was fatally shot in what has been reported as a gang-related case of mistaken identity. It was another senseless act in all-too-familiar cycle of inner-city violence — and not just in Richmond.

Berkeley High varsity boys basketball coach Mark DeLuca rents out his garage to Richmond coach Rob Collins.

“From inside my house I could hear him screaming and crying,” DeLuca said. “I immediately went to find out what was wrong and he told me ‘My point guard was shot and killed.’ That was Friday, it wasn’t until Sunday that he was really able to talk about it.”

Collins is truly one of the good guys among the East Bay coaching community. He got into coaching to help kids, and left jobs at more affluent suburban schools so that he could work to be a positive force in the lives of students and athletes at Richmond High.

DeLuca has taught, coached and lived in West Contra Costa County for several years. In addition to his Berkeley coaching duties, he’s currently the Student Life Director at El Sobrante Christian. He saw the pain his good friend was in and committed to making it a teachable moment.

“That Sunday night I said, ‘Rob, we’re going to hold a peace rally. Rodney is not going to die in vain,’” DeLuca said.

DeLuca said he fired off an email to Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus at 8 p.m. on Sunday night.

Magnus returned his call in just 20 minutes — on a Veterans Day weekend — and pledged full support for whatever DeLuca and Collins needed. From there, the coaching fraternity and basketball community took over.

A peace rally was set for Wednesday of that week at sunset on the steps of Richmond Auditorium in front of City Hall. And in just two days, the coaches had support and commitments from more than 10 high schools.

“It was amazing what they accomplished in just two days,” said De La Salle-Concord coach Frank Allocco, who was one of three coaches to speak at the rally, along with DeLuca and Collins. “There was more than 500 people there, and it was almost all kids, coaches and parents. That was some amazing and powerful stuff.”

Allocco’s speech touched on the wisdom and words for Anne Frank and Martin Luther King, referencing the latter’s phrase of recognizing the ‘urgency of now.’

“Sometimes we look at these situations and think we can’t make a Watch the video of Frank Allocco’s speech at the Peace Rally for Rodney Frazier at sportstarsonline.com/video/Frazier-Peace-Rally/Allocco difference,” Allocco said. “But we can make a difference, it just has to start with one single act at a time.”

Rob Collins makes a difference.

The outpouring of support at the rally was as much of an act of respect for Collins’ efforts as it was a desire to honor another life which was taken much too soon.

“Every time I have a conversation with Rob, I tell him he’s the real deal,” Allocco said. “Because he is.”

DeLuca, Collins and many of the other coaches who came to the rally are committed to continuing to make a difference. With help from the Contra Costa County Sheriff ’s department and other agencies, they are hoping to develop the Operation Athletics program. It will be a program that will send influential coaches from a variety of different sports to talk to gang members or kids who have been identified by authorities as at-risk youth. The hope is that the coaches can get these kids to put down their guns and pick up a ball.

“It’s not logical for a gang member to respect other people’s lives unless someone has shown them respect and kindness in their life,” DeLuca said. “Someone needs to show them that their life has value also.”

Collins and his team are still grieving obviously, but what happened on the steps of Richmond Auditorium on Nov. 12 certainly helped start the healing process.

“We came together today to remember (Rodney Frazier),” Allocco said in his speech. “Let us leave today to honor him, committed to living the change we want to see.” ✪ 6

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join our team PHONE 925.566.8500 FAX 925.566.8507 Editorial Editor@SportStarsOnline.com Editor Chace Bryson • Chace@SportStarsOnline.com Staff Writer Jim McCue • JimMcCue16@gmail.com Contributors Bill Kolb, Matt Smith, Clay Kallam, Ben Enos, Dave Kiefer, Liz Elliott, Tim Rudd, Trevor Horn Copy Editor Bill Kruissink Photography Bob Larson, Jonathan Hawthorne, James K. Leash, Norbert von der Groeben, Phillip Walton, Doug Guler, Dean Coppola, Berry Evans, III Marketing/Events Ryan Arter Editorial Intern Mike Young Creative Department Art@SportStarsOnline.com Production Manager Mike DeCicco • MikeD@SportStarsOnline.com Publisher/President Mike Calamusa • Mike@SportStarsOnline.com Advertising Sales@SportStarsOnline.com, 925.566.8500 Account Executives Camps & Clinics: Ryan Arter • Camps@SportStarsOnline.com Alameda County: Berry Evans • Berry@foto-pros.com Central Valley, World Events: Anthony Grigsby • Area Director anthony.grigsby@worldeventssports.com Darin Wissner • dwissner@wordeventssports.com Reader Resources/Administration Subscription, Calendar, Credit Services Angela Paradise • Info@SportStarsOnline.com Distribution/Delivery Phillip Walton • Mags@SportStarsOnline.com Information technology John Bonilla CFO Sharon Calamusa • Sharon@SportStarsOnline.com community SportStars™ Magazine A division of Caliente! Communications, LLC 5356 Clayton Rd., Ste. 222 • Concord, CA 94521 • info@SportStarsOnline.com www.SportStarsOnline.com

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kat

klass San Ramon Valley-Danville - Water Polo - Senior With a team-high four goals, Klass closed out her extremely-decorated high school career by leading the Wolves to a 12-6 win over rival Monte Vista-Danville in the North Coast Section Division I championship on Nov. 15. It was the fourth consecutive title for San Ramon Valley, and Klass played a part in all four. There could be plenty more titles on the horizon for the Wolves as the Stanford-bound Klass was the only senior on the roster for a team which went 26-1. San Ramon Valley already owns eight girls water polo titles, the most of any NCS program.

IN HER OWN WORDS: “(Winning NCS) is not something you ever get used to,” Klass told the Bay Area New Group. “My favorite part of it is seeing all the girls who are new to varsity, the looks on their faces when they win it for the first time.”

honorable mention Sean Pinson: The FreedomOakley senior running back filled in for an injured Ronnie Rivers and rushed for 168 yards and 2 TD in a firstround playoff victory.

LaVance Warren: With 268 yards and 3 TD on just 15 carries, the McClymonds-Oakland senior helped his team secure an outright OAL title with a 44-0 win over Oakland Tech.

YoonHee Kim: The Dougherty Valley-San Ramon junior shot a 2-under 70 to tie for top medalist honors and lead the Wildcats to a 2nd-place finish at the CIF NorCal Tourney.

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Rapid Fire

Shaunard Harts Jr. Elk Grove Football

Katie Berriatua San Ramon Valley Tennis

Favorite cartoon growing up Dexter's Laboratory

Trending What’s hot this week in the world of stuff that’s hot Kenny Chesney says country music must change and stop objectifying women. And they probably should stop objectifying pick-up trucks, too. But mainly women.

Favorite rainy-day activity Play video games

Lounging on the couch

musical artist you'd most like to see in concert

Lil' Wayne

A Minnesota man collected food stamps and other forms of public assistance. While living on a yacht.

His three-hour cruise could now be a two-year visit to Club Fed.

Powerpuff Girls

Justin Timberlake

favorite breakfast food Chorizo and eggs

We’re two weeks into baseball free agency and Billy Beane hasn’t traded away half his roster for prospects yet. Which only means that A’s fans are in line for a crummy Christmas.

Eggs Benedict

funniest actor/actress working right now Kevin Hart

Will Ferrell

XBox One had a $50 price cut but Sony says sales of Playstation 4 still dominate, almost 2-1. Reached for comment, a gamer said something terrible about your mother.

Dumb and Dumber To topped the box office as Harry and Lloyd returned to our lives. Is anybody else tired of these Oscar-bait movies?

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count 'em

Top 5 'dumb' nba musings

Globe Photos/Zumapress.com

Ah, Fall-time. When a young sports fan’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of basketball. And the Academy Awards. And the holiday movie season.

Right? Just go with us on this. To honor the season(s), and to pay homage to the most significant comedy film sequel since 1992’s “Army of Darkness” (no, not “22 Jump Street”, you morons) we offer you our top five NBA hoops ruminations, paired to lines from the original “Dumb and Dumber.”

1. “According to the map, we’ve only gone 4 inches” — The landscape of the best teams in the league doesn’t include Los Angeles, Miami, New York, or Boston. Instead, it’s perennial, ahem, powers like Houston, Memphis, and Oakland (go Dubs!). Didn’t see that coming did you?

2. “Big Gulps huh? All right! Well. See ya later.” — We were thoroughly chagrinned by Golden State’s shrivel-up-and-die act when the Spurs jingle-jangled into town. Jeez. Intimidated much? San Antonio has some Madison Bumgarner-vs.-KC-sized ownage on the Warriors.

3. “Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself.” — Did you hear Kevin Love’s explanation of his possibly drug-related signature handshake with Kyrie Irving? Mustache twirling, Kevin? Really? Seems… doobieous.

4. “We got no food, we got no jobs, our pets’ heads are falling off!” — Nothing, really. We just want to sock Benny the Bull right in the nose.

5. “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.” — Just because it will never happen doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. We like the Warriors to win it all.

And Harry and Lloyd to hoist co-best actor trophies.

— Bill “I’m going to hang by the bar. Put out the vibe” Kolb

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The number of seconds controversially added back on the clock at the end of the second overtime during the North Coast Section Div. I boys water polo semifinal between Acalanes-Lafayette and Campolindo-Moraga. Acalanes thought it had won 11-10 when Campolindo claimed it had called timeout with five seconds left but the coach’s air horn didn’t sound.

The time was added back to the clock and the Cougars scored at the horn to force a sudden-death third OT and eventually won 12-11.

say what?

“I think I have more adrenaline going through me right now than I did before the game started.”

Liberty-Brentwood senior safety Kyle Trego following the Lions’ 21-7 win over Freedom-Oakley in the two schools’ “Battle for the Bell” Rivalry game.The win not only clinched a home playoff game for Liberty (a first for the school), but it also marked its first Bell Game victory since 2004.

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9

Perfect Fit The state hoops championships return to the East Bay in a classic case of right place, right time

My first taste of the passion of East Bay basketball fans and the skill of its players came when I was a senior in high school at now closed La Sierra-Carmichael. I was helping my uncle, Nelson Tennis, with his hobby of doing state rankings and decided to go to the 1977 Tournament of Champions at the Oakland Coliseum.

Two teams from the SacramentoStockton area were going to be playing — CIF Sac-Joaquin Section champ Grant-Sacramento and runner-up St. Mary’s-Stockton, plus there were going to be top teams playing from the other CIF sections in the Bay Area.

In the first game that I saw, St. Mary’s (which was 28-4) took on Oakland Section champion Fremont, which I heard from Nelson was one of the best teams in the state. Fremont dunked off the opening tip and was never in trouble. I later watched the Tigers dominate for the rest of the weekend, including a 61-38 win over Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland in the final. They finished 25-1 and Nelson later named them Cal-Hi Sports State Team of the Year.

Since then, I’ve always believed that the East Bay is a great place for basketball — and that it’s the best place the CIF has ever used for its state championships. Unfortunately, the region hasn’t been used since 1995.

That’s why this season’s selection of Cal’s Haas Pavilion as the one-year host for the CIF state finals in March makes a lot of sense, and I hope generates a lot of attendance. It should, especially if Bishop O’Dowd has the type of team many of us in the media think it will have and ends up playing for the CIF Open Division title.

The CIF had to find a different site for its 2015 basketball championships because the event’s usual home, Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena, is hosting NCAA tournament games that same weekend.

One can argue that if it wasn’t for the mobs of fans from the East Bay who swarmed the Oakland Coliseum for the 1975 Tournament of Champions, the CIF may not have ever reconsti-

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tuted its state basketball championships, which began in 1916 before being discontinued from 1927 until 1980.

That year, an average of 10,000 fans per day went to the Coliseum to see Elk Grove’s Bill Cartwright (who later went on to play for 15 years in the NBA) lead the Thundering Herd to the title. Cartwright had 53 points in his first game of the TOC and went for 34 in the final against Berkeley.

The next year, with knowledge of the attention that the 1975 TOC generated, the CIF partnered with the TOC and renamed it the Northern California CIF Regional Championships. Then in 1980, the CIF state championships were brought back.

It still took an extra year to get the CIF Southern Section to get involved, but in 1982 another player brought out hordes of additional East Bay fans to the Coliseum. That was the year 12,000 came to Oakland to see the girl who scored 105 points in one game.

That, of course, was the legendary Cheryl Miller of Riverside Poly, the older sister of NBA great Reggie Miller. Sure, Riverside Poly coach Floyd Evans probably shouldn’t have let Cheryl score that many points in a 179-15 win over Norte Vista-Riverside, but it didn’t matter to the East Bay fans who just wanted to see her play. They were not disappointed. She scored 41 points in a dazzling display as Riverside Poly blew out Los Gatos 77-41.

So why does the CIF not hold state basketball events at the Coliseum anymore and is only now returning to an East Bay venue? It’s simple economics. For many years, the CIF has awarded bids in three-year cycles to host venues for its state championships. ARCO Arena in Sacramento (now known as Sleep Train Arena) has simply given the CIF a deal that’s consistently been too good to pass up.

Still, if the CIF wants more people to actually go to its state finals in basketball, the East Bay has demonstrated it is clearly stronger than anywhere else in the state. Attendance was poor in 1983 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, in 1997 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim and in 2010 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.

The difference is that the East Bay frequently has the best teams in Northern California, and the best players (its all-time

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Dennis Lee/File photo

Archbishop Mitty girls coaching legend Sue Phillips won her first of five state titles in 1995, the last year the state finals were in the East Bay. That team was led by now-famous Summer Olympian, Kerri Walsh. best include Bill Russell, Paul Silas, Jason Kidd, etc.). Furthermore, its fans tend to come out to see great players from outside of their region. In Southern California, the locals see the top players down there all the time and generally are not as interested to see someone from elsewhere. Sacramento fans did come out for Jason Kidd’s final game at St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda, but generally they don’t.

Having this year’s CIF finals at Cal marks the first time since the 1967 TOC final when a postseason prep basketball event will be at Cal. In that year, Fremont beat Berkeley 51-44 despite future NBA player Phil Chenier leading the Yellowjackets. Cal’s gym was also the site in 1947 for the very first TOC. It will all come full circle in March. Will big crowds come and trigger more state finals down the road like they did in 1975? It depends on the matchups, but it could. ✪ Mark Tennis is the co-founder of Cal-Hi Sports, and publisher of CalHiSports.com. Contact him at markjtennis@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter, @CalHiSports.

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California football Rankings Miles Harrison takes the handoff for 22nd-ranked Clayton Valley CharterConcord. Phillip Walton photo

Previous ranking in parentheses; through games Nov. 15 1. (1) — St. John Bosco-Bellflower 10-1 Defending CIF Open Division state champs opened playoff push with 50-0 romp past Cabrillo-Long Beach 2. (2) — De La Salle-Concord 10-0 No NCS teams seem in shouting distance of the Spartans, who should win 23rd straight section title.

3. (3) — Folsom 11-0 Jake Browning has barely played in the second half this season, but still has 64 TD passes and could be on his way to 90 or more.

4. (4) — JSerra-San Juan Capistrano 10-1 There’s a chance the Lions might hop Folsom for one week prior to the CIFSS Pac-5 Div. championship.

5. (5) — Mater Dei-Santa Ana 9-2 Only beat Westlake-Westlake Village by one point earlier this season, but smoked Warriors 28-7 in playoff opener.

6. (6) — Centennial-Corona 9-2 Javon McKinley had 13 catches for 213 yards and 4 TDs in 68-64 win over Serra-Gardena.

7. (7) — Oceanside 10-0 If Folsom does get to the CIF D1 state bowl game, the Pirates could be its opponent.

8. (8) — Long Beach Poly 10-1 The Jackrabbits’ only loss has been to Corona Centennial.

9. (9) — Grant-Sacramento 11-0 Junior RB DeShawn Collins had 242 yards rushing vs. Jesuit and then 270 vs. Patterson.

10. (10) — Crespi-Encino 9-1 Celts’ coach Troy Thomas was previously at Servite-Anaheim when the Friars lost in 2010 CIF Open Div. bowl.

11. (13) ▲ Bishop Amat-La Puente 8-3 Six of the other seven teams still playing in the Pac 5 playoffs are ranked in the top 10, so Lancers face tough work.

12. (14) ▲ Serra-Gardnea 8-3* Season ended in a wild 68-64 loss to No. 6 Centennial, but they actually moved up due to all of their losses coming to higherranked teams.

13. (15) ▲ Milpitas 10-0 Christian Rita was the NorCal Defensive Player of the Week after returning two interceptions for scores in 56-0 win.

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14. (11) ▼ Westlake-Westlake Village 8-3* Two of the three losses are to Mater Dei (one by one point) with the other to Long Beach Poly.

15. (16) ▲ Upland 9-2 Nathan Tilford got into Cal-Hi Sports state record with 99-yard TD run in 42-7 win over San Juan Hills.

16. (12) ▼ Santa Margarita-Rancho Snta Mrgarita 6-5* Eagles own a victory over No. 11 Bishop Amat and defeated the Servite team that just took No. 8 Long Beach Poly to the wire.

17. (18) ▲ Cathedral Catholic-San Diego 9-1 All eight teams in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division bracket didn’t play last week.

18. (20) ▲ Mission Viejo 9-2 Diablos’ nine-game win streak includes win over Norco, which just beat St. Bonventure-Ventura in the CIF Pac-5 playoffs.

19. (23) ▲ St. Francis-La Canada 11-0 With a long way to go, Golden Knights project to be the SoCal team playing in the CIF Division II state bowl game.

20. (22) ▲ Serra-San Mateo 7-3 With several more top CIFSS teams being eliminated, the Padres got a two-spot rise after a big win over Bellarmine.

21. (NR) ▲ Tesoro-San Juan Capitstrano 9-2 Titans were the ones who ended Corona del Mar’s long win streak earlier this season.

22. (24) ▲ Clayton Valley Charter-Concord 11-0 Strength of schedule very poor for Ugly Eagles, but has a chance to go 16-0 with D2 state title.

23. (NR) ▲ Valley Christain-San Jose 8-2 If RB Kirk Johnson and others are all healthy, the Warriors look like a dangerous squad in CCS Open Division.

24. (25) ▲ El Capitan-Lakeside 10-0 This team is not in the San Diego Open Division but knocked off No. 3 Open Division team Helix-La Mesa 24-17 two weeks ago.

25. (NR) ▲ Edison-Fresno 9-1 The Tigers are the No. 1 seed in the CIF Central Section Division I playoffs.

Dropped out: Previous No. 17 Chino Hills; No. 19 AlemanyMission Hills; No. 21 Servite-Anaheim. * —Season completed

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11

Our head coach left, and now the assistant from last year is taking over. I think it’s great because the assistant coach was really easy to get along with, and the head coach could be a jerk sometimes. My dad says I shouldn’t count on the old assistant being just like he was — he says things will be different. Is he right?

P.I., Stockton

F

irst, a Mark Twain story. “When I was 14,” said Twain, “I didn’t think my dad knew anything.

When I was 24, I thought he knew everything. The old guy had really learned a lot in ten years.” So, don’t doubt your dad.

And as to your question, there was a movie that came out recently called “Twenty Feet from Stardom,” and it was about really talented backup singers who worked with big-time rock and roll bands. These singers often had more musical talent than the stars they were supporting, but they stayed off to the side, 20 feet from the spotlight.

Bruce Springsteen was interviewed early in the movie, and when he was asked about the difference between singing backup on the side of the stage and carrying the show at the main microphone, he smiled and said, “It’s a long walk.”

The same is true of the distance between that second seat on the bench to the spot a few feet away where the head coach stands. I’ve done both, and there’s a lot to be said for being an assistant. You can always be the good cop; you can always be sympathetic; you

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can always say you talked to the head coach about an issue. And when a parent wants to know why their budding superstar is only playing five minutes a game, you can always lift your arm, point across the room and say “The head coach is right over there.”

As a head coach, you can’t duck the hard questions, you can’t avoid the problem parents, and you can’t help but being the bad guy some, if not a lot, of the time.

So yes, moving from assistant coach to head coach at the same school is a tough jump, because the relationships have been based on a different dynamic. The assistant doesn’t make the substitutions, or have to make a decision about whether to sit a player who missed a big game because his grandmother was sick, or any of the other daily decisions that can make people unhappy.

Now, suddenly, your buddy the assistant is the guy telling you you got beat out by a sophomore and you’ll be lucky to get 10 minutes a game. It’s one thing to hear that from someone who’s always been the authority figure; it’s another to hear it from someone who has usually been more supportive and sympathetic.

Then again, some coaches make that jump with ease, and they have no trouble with the transition. Others might take a year or two to figure it out (and the players have to figure it out too). But generally, it’s actually easier to go to a different school, where the relationships are new and the lines of authority can be clearly drawn from day one.

Either way, though, it’s a tough adjustment — and a long walk. ✪

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15

I

t’s no more than 20 minutes following just the third organized practice of the season for the Bishop O’Dowd High boys basketball team.

The main gymnasium has been cleared out in order to set up for a North Coast Section girls volleyball playoff match. Ivan Rabb is sitting two flights of stairs below the gym floor, in a dimly lit locker room, and accommodating the first of potentially five or six dozen interview requests he’ll receive over the course of his senior season.

Rabb, a 6-foot-10 power forward who can stretch the floor, is already a polished interview subject — something that comes with the territory when one has been ranked among the top recruits in the country since his sophomore year. Rabb is patient, gracious and humble. He makes eye contact and answers in full sentences. He occasionally slips into a cliche, but most answers are thought out and genuine.

Only one of the 10 or so questions he answers this evening elicits a different demeanor from him. It’s about the first time he remembers seeing Paris Austin play basketball, and Rabb flashes a noticeable grin.

“I remember him being a quick guard who was really skilled at a young age,” Rabb said of his teammate, who was sitting right next to him as he answered. “He had an older person’s game already. He had good footwork and a good shot. He was really quick. He was killin’. He looked like he was older than he really was. He didn’t look like he belonged in the fourth grade.”

Close to eight years later, Rabb and Austin share an unshakable friendship that clearly transcends the game they will both be playing for at least four more years after this one. Austin has signed a letter to play at Boise State while Rabb has narrowed his abundance of suitors to five: Arizona, Cal, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA. “It’s more than just being friends,” says Austin, a 5-11 point guard with a blistering competitive fire and a smooth jump shot. “We’re family.”

The bond these two share will provide the backbone for a team with a legitimate chance at winning Bishop O’Dowd’s first boys basketball championship since 1981 — while possibly adding a mythical national title in the process. One year after winning 28 games and taking a runner-up finish in the CIF Open Division state final, the Dragons open the season atop the CalHiSports.com state rankings, and are No. 7 in one national rankings list and No. 12 in another.

As seniors, this season naturally feels different for the talented tandem. They will either consciously or subconsciously shoulder a large portion of the burden and pressure created by the program’s lofty expectations. They’ll do that while also taking it upon themselves, as the unquestioned leaders of this team, to help this team ripen fast enough to avoid the fate of eight other Bishop O’Dowd teams which have come before them — teams which have reached state finals, but came home empty.

“I think (Ivan) and Paris are both thinking about their legacy here, short term and long term,” Bishop O’Dowd coach Lou Richie said. “They brought back a sense of excitement to our program and the Bay Area. The competitor in both of them, they want to win. Even as sophomores they wanted to win.”

Story by Chace Bryson | Photos by Berry Evans III 16

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“It’s more than just being friends. We’re family.”

— Paris Austin As sophomores, Rabb and Austin were on a Dragons team which bowed out of the inaugural CIF Open Division tournament after a 57-42 opening-round loss to Modesto Christian.

Last season, they won the Northern Regional bracket of the Open Division field before losing 71-61 to Mater Dei-Santa Ana in the state final. For Mater Dei, the victory secured an undefeated season and a MaxPreps.com mythical national title.

Austin scored 23 points in the state final, and Rabb — facing double-teams which often included National Player of the Year, Stanley Johnson, or 6-foot-10 All-State sophomore M.J. Cage — pulled down 16 rebounds but was held to just 10 points (17 below his season average). And now the two best friends, for the last time as teammates, set a course for redemption.

“I’ve always felt a sense of urgency (to win),” Rabb said. “I felt it last year. I’m feeling it again this year. We expect to win.

We’ve been winning our whole life.”

There’s little question they can win again, especially with the talented roster surrounding them this season. The Dragons return 10 players from last year’s roster, including eight seniors. However, some chemistry will have to be rebuilt after the graduation of seven players.

“We’re just kind of finding ourselves and trying to find out where everybody fits in and what they do best,” Austin said.

“We haven’t developed the great team chemistry we want just

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yet, but if everyone decides to play as a team and embrace their roles, we can do really great things.”

Richie believes this team is deeper and more talented then the 2013-14 team. But he was quick to mention the importance of role players.

“We had some hard-hat kids last year, who knew what their role was and were really good about what they did.”

Among the players who can fill some of those roles are senior post players Isaiah Thomas (6-foot-9) and Arinze Chidom (6-foot-8), the latter of whom is the younger brother of Oderah Chidom, a 2013 McDonald’s All-American for the Bishop O’Dowd girls program now playing at Duke. Jeevin Sandhu will be counted on as a senior swingman, and 7-foot junior Mike Hauser should have an impact as well.

Richie has a good feeling about freshman point guard Elijah Hardy, too.

“He’s one of the most amazing passers I’ve ever seen,” the coach said. “But he’s also freshman.”

Everything will come back to Austin and Rabb, though. As they go, so will the Dragons. And they know it.

“I think our biggest thing this year will be just staying on everybody,” Rabb said. “Whether that’s being vocal and holding everybody accountable, or leading by example, we have to do something so that we all come together and win.”

There will be no time to dawdle as a schedule fit for a na-

tional power commences at the NorCal Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 29 at Newark Memorial High. That night they’ll face off against Bishop Gorman-Las Vegas in a showdown of two Top 10 national teams. And it only ramps up from there. Bishop O’Dowd will play tournaments in Hawaii and Missouri in addition to playing national powers Montverde Academy-Montverde (FL.), Wheeler-Marietta (GA.) and Oak Hill AcademyMouth of Wilson (VA.) in various one-game showcases.

“It should be easy for us to have a focus this year,” Richie said. “Especially with our schedule. We want motivation all year, and if we’re going to be nationally-ranked we need to have a schedule that gets us ready to win that last game.”

Rabb has locked up about every possible honor available to a player of his elite status. He was the State Junior Player of the Year a year ago and is a virtual lock to be a McDonald’s All-American in April. He will certainly go down as one of Northern California’s most dominant players of all time.

But will he be missing a state championship?

“If it happens (we don’t win it all) then it’s part of God’s plan. You just take it and work harder,” Rabb said. “I don’t plan on losing at all this year, but we know there may be a couple losses that we’re going to think about for the rest of our lifetime. We just want to take it a day at a time, continue to praise God for putting us in this position, and do what we do best.

“That’s go out there and play hard and play together.” ✪

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November 20, 2014

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17

Pressure Point Moreau Catholic’s state title window could be wide open

M

By nick hastings | Contributor

oreau Catholic High basketball coach Frank Knight knows pressure.

In 1997, Knight was a sophomore guard for Saint Mary’s College, which was appearing in just its third NCAA Tournament ever. The Gaels’ first round opponent? Wake Forest and star forward Tim Duncan (yes – that Tim Duncan). With the stakes as high as they’d ever been for Knight, SMC battled bravely but ultimately fell to the Demon Deacons, 68-46.

Fast-forward 17 years to March 2014. Knight, then in his fourth year of running the Moreau boys program in Hayward, was again in uncharted waters.

The Mariners were playing in their first-ever CIF state championship game. The young team fought valiantly, but ultimately sets the state record for the biggest loss in a boys state final – 41 points, falling 85-44 to Bishop Montgomery-Torrance.

What can a team do to come back from such a resounding loss?

“We want to try and finish what we couldn’t last year,” Knight said during the first week of practice for the 2014-15 season. “We’re hungry to erase that loss from our memory and try to bring home a state title.

(The guys have) more of a sense of urgency than last year.”

To be fair, the 2013-14 Mariners team wasn’t built to have a sense of urgency.

The roster was remarkably young, featuring just one junior and no seniors. Led by sophomore guard Oscar Frayer, a CalHiSports.com All-State selection, Moreau Catholic surprised everyone — even itself — by finishing 27-7 and reaching the CIF title game.

The Mariners didn’t just impress with their win-loss record, either. The team’s chemistry was apparent “Most of us all played together in elementary and middle school,” said Damari Milstead, a 6-1 guard who led the team in scoring as a freshman a season ago. “We’re brothers.”

Although their youth prevented them from feeling the pressures of graduation, Moreau was able to have an incredibly successful campaign by sharing the ball and having fun.

The stats back up the results, too — four Moreau players scored over eight points per game last year.

Frayer, however, is the unquestioned leader of the team. Despite his status as a rising junior, he’s cemented himself as the centerpiece of this team, both on and off the court.

“Oscar laughs and jokes a lot in the locker room, but when he tells the kids to do things, they listen,” Knight says. “He’s a big-time family guy… His father died 7 or 8 years ago in a car accident, and he’s been very close with his mother and sisters.”

Frayer’s close bond with his family may be a reason why he was the first of Moreau’s talented sophomore trio (Frayer, Brandon Lawrence and Armand Simmons) to commit to a college. Frayer committed to CalBerkeley in August, which Knight says is a perfect fit.

“Cal has always been his dream school, so when they offered, it was an easy choice.” Knight admits that Frayer’s quick choice was a relief, saving the coach from an inevitable landslide of recruiting calls. However, the colleges didn’t give up — they just switched targets. Both Lawrence and Milstead, according to Knight, are also receiving scholarship offers from notable West Coast basketball schools — Pac-12, Big Sky, WCC and so on.

The Mariners, who are hoping to improve upon last season’s performance, play a unique brand of basketball. Frayer, at 6-foot-6, is the team’s tallest player, leading the team in rebounding despite a more guardoriented skill set. “We don’t even talk about positions,” jokes Knight. “Everybody’s a guard.”

Milstead adds, “We try to speed the game up with a lot of pressing and full-court defense — just cause havoc.”

Moreau’s lack of height in the middle, though, can be a hindrance. As it found out against a player like Ben Kone, the 6-foot-8 star of Archbishop Mitty-San Jose. Mitty was one of the few teams to hand the Mariners a loss in 2013, and Moreau must adjust to its new place in the California high school basketball food chain.

“What I’m really worried about is the change [in perception] … Last year, we were hunters,” Knight recalls. “Now we have a target on our backs. Teams are going to come after us like we’re the biggest game of their season.”

Knight, who teaches government, history and business economics at Moreau, has placed a chart of goals on the wall of the locker room. Aside from winning the state title, the Mariners’ number-one aspiration for the upcoming season is to defeat league rival Newark Memorial. Newark, a perennial powerhouse and title contender, “has lost something like one league game in fifteen years,” says Knight. The past two years, Newark defeated the Mariners in Hayward with buzzer beaters — a trend Moreau aims to buck.

Knight has also compiled a challenging nonleague schedule for the Mariners, which includes a rematch with Mitty and a high-level tournament in Arizona.

Because Knight knows pressure — and he wants his team to be ready for it. ✪

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November 20, 2014

Jonathan Hawthorne

Moreau Catholic swingman Oscar Frayer committed to Cal after a sophomore season of averaging a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

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BOYS

girlS

1. Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland (28-5 in 2013-14)

1. St. Mary’s-Stockton (25-6 in 2013-14)

There truly is no debate on who is the best team in Nothern California. The Dragons open as the No. 1-ranked team in the state by CalHiSports.com, and are Top 15 in a pair of national polls. While last year’s 28-win CIF Open Division runner-up lost a handful of key role players to graduation, the primary engine remains in two nationally-ranked recruits: 6-foot-10 forward, Ivan Rabb (currently weighing offers from Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona and others), and 5-11 point guard Paris Austin (recent Boise State signee). The Dragons will take on a national-caliber schedule with hopes of preparing for another run through the CIF Open Division come March. Bishop O’Dowd reached the Open final a season ago, but fell to Mater Dei-Santa Ana 71-61. Among the new names filling out the cast include senior post players Arinze Chidom (6-foot-8) and Isaiah Thomas (6-9), junior big man Mike Hauser (7-0) and freshman point guard Elijah Hardy (6-0).

2. Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (27-5)

Anchored by 6-foot-8 junior post, Ben Kone, the ever-consistent Monarchs will once again be the favorites in the grueling West Catholic Athletic League.

3. Folsom (32-3)

Led by star PG Jordan Ford, the Bulldogs return every starter from last year’s surprise team that won the Sac-Joaquin Section and NorCal Division II titles.

4. El Cerrito (28-5)

The Gauchos add a gifted out-of-state transfer, Carlos Johnson, to a roster which may have won a CIF Div. III title last season had it not been placed in the Open Division.

5. Modesto Christian (24-9)

Richard Midgley fully takes over the reins from legendary coach Gary Porter, and will have a roster loaded with talent and experience.

6. Moreau Catholic-Hayward (27-7)

Mariners return almost completely intact after a CIF Div. IV state championship appearance a season ago. Cal-bound junior Oscar Frayer leads the way.

2. St. Ignatius-S.F. (26-5)

St. Ignatius has eight seniors coming back from a very good team – which means all the pieces are in place for a run at a state title.

3. Pinewood-Los Altos Hills (30-3)

Doc Scheppler is simply one of the best coaches in the nation, and the irrepressible Marissa Hing leads a feisty lineup that will rain 3s.

4. Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland (23-4)

It all hinges on the knee of Cal-bound Asha Thomas. If she comes back this year, the Dragons could be great; if not, they’ll just bet really good.

5. Vanden-Fairfield (25-7)

Injuries have kept the Vikings from getting the respect they deserve. If healthy, they will be impossible to ignore this year.

6. McClatchy-Sacramento (26-5)

Gigi Garcia & Destiney Lee give McClatchy the most imposing front line in NorCal.

7. Sacramento (23-6)

7. Miramonte-Orinda (30-2)

8. De La Salle-Concord (21-9)

8. Sacramento (23-9)

9. St. Mary’s-Stockton (27-3)

9. Sacred Heart Cathedral-S.F. (21-8)

10. Salesian-Richmond (23-15)

10. Carondelet-Concord (28-4)

11. Jesuit-Carmichael (29-4) 12. San Ramon Valley-Danville (24-6) 13. Sir Francis Drake-San Anselmo (26-8) 14. Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove (13-14) 15. Sacred Heart Prep (21-8)

11. St. Mary’s-Berkeley (27-8) 12. Berkeley (24-9) 13. Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (24-8) 14. Dublin (19-11) 15. Brookside Christian-Stockton (28-5)

The Dragons did not have a single senior on a 2013-14 roster that racked up 23 wins.

Solomon Young, a 6-foot-7 forward, leads a dangerously talented junior class.

Spartans may not have great height, but a young roster from a year ago has the chance to finally come to maturity.

All-State shooting guard Gabe Vincent is now at UC Santa Barbara, but the Rams still have plenty of firepower. Most notable is 6-6 swingman, Lance Coleman.

It was a year of growing pains for a young Pride roster last season — and the team still reached the CIF Div. IV NorCal final.

20

The Rams ended last season bruised and battered, minus injured senior star Charise Holloway (now at Arizona) and junior guard Bri Moore, who transferred to Weston Ranch at the semester break. But don’t cry for coach Tom Gonsalves, because his high-scoring, high-intensity system has been infused with a bright new star in freshman Aquira DeCosta, who’s already being touted as one of the best players in Northern California. Gonsalves also has shooter Kat Tudor and the athletic Mi’Cole Cayton. But as usual, the strength of St. Mary’s is in its depth and ability to keep the pressure on for 32 minutes. The Rams will play in the Nike TOC in Phoenix before Christmas. This year, the top two teams in the country (Blackman of Tennessee and Riverdale Baptist of Maryland) will be there, plus SoCal power Mater Dei-Santa Ana. They come back to play in the West Coast Jamboree against the best in NorCal, plus South Medford (Ore.) and Upper Room Christian (N.Y.) They will be battle-tested and are all but a lock to be in the Open Division come March.

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November 20, 2014

16. Kennedy-Sacramento (21-10) 17. Berkeley (22-5) 18. St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda (31-5) 19. Monte Vista-Danville (32-1) 20. Newark Memorial (23-8)

Sabrina Ionescu may be the best player in Northern California, but she’ll carry a heavy load after five seniors graduated.

Aliceah Hernandez leads a talent-laden roster that will face a tough schedule and even tougher competition in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

The WCAL is the best league in Northern California, and last year’s co-champs still have Ashanti Coleman to build around.

It’s a new day in Concord: Long-time coach Margaret Gartner retired and Natalie Romeo’s playing for Nebraska – but there’s still lots of talent.

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16. Salesian-Richmond (30-7) 17. Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (21-12) 18. Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills (26-6) 19. Eastside Prep-Palo Alto (20-11) 20. Bradshaw Christian-Sacramento (20-7)

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Ivan Rabb, right

Oscar Frayer

Paris Austin

Carlos Johnson

IVAN RABB

BEN KONE

SCHOOL: Bishop O’DowdOakland YEAR: Senior HT./POS.: 6-10/ForwardCenter THE DETAILS: Rabb is among the Top 5 unsigned senior recruits in the country, having narrowed his college choices down to five: Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA and Cal. The versatile post player can dominate the paint or burn opponents with a strong mid-range jumper.

He averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds as a junior.

SCHOOL: Achbishop MittySan Jose YEAR: Junior HT./POS.: 6-8/ForwardCenter THE DETAILS: In his first year with the Monarchs, following a transfer from Salesian, Kone was a dominant presence in the paint.

He averaged 17 points, 14 rebounds and four assists to help lead Mitty to a 27-5 record. He could be an even bigger offensive threat this season after working on his mid-range over the summer.

TYRELL ALCORN

ARMANI COLLINS

SCHOOL: El Cerrito GRADE: Senior HT./POS.: 6-2/Point Guard

SCHOOL: Stuart Hall-S.F. GRADE: Senior HT./POS.: 6-5/Wing

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CARLOS JOHNSON SCHOOL: El Cerrito YEAR: Junior HT./POS.: 6-5/Wing THE DETAILS: Johnson is the new face in the region, but his name will catch on quickly. The talented transfer from Arizona has already picked up an offer from Cal. He averaged just north of 20 points and eight rebounds for Shadow Mountain-Phoenix (AZ.) a year ago. He’ll likely fit right into an athletic Gauchos lineup.

JESSE HUNT SCHOOL: Drake-San Anselmo GRADE: Senior HT./POS.: 6-6/Forward

OSCAR FRAYER

PARIS AUSTIN

SCHOOL: Moreau CatholicHayward YEAR: Junior HT./POS.: 6-5/Wing THE DETAILS: Frayer committed to Cal in August but still has two full seasons of Mariners basketball ahead of him. As a sophomore, he averaged a double-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds and 3.7 blocks to help lead Moreau Catholic to its first CIF Div. IV state finals appearance.

SCHOOL: Bishop O’DowdOakland YEAR: Senior HT./POS.: 5-11 Point Guard THE DETAILS: Playing with Ivan Rabb will always help, but the Boise State-bound point guard can hold his own. He’s a nationallyranked recruit after showcasing supreme quickness, a sharp basketball I.Q., relentless competitive fire and a silky smooth jump shot. He averaged close to 20 points during O’Dowd’s state playoff run a year ago.

JORDAN RATINHO

GREGG POLOSKY

SCHOOL: De La SalleConcord GRADE: Junior HT./POS.: 6-5/Wing

SCHOOL: San Ramon Valley-Danville GRADE: Senior HT./POS.: 6-10/Center

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November 20, 2014

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21

Josie Little

Josie Little and Sydney Raggio lead 8 seniors dedicated to finally getting St. Ignatius to its first state final Story by Clay Kallam Photos by Norbert von der Groeben 22

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November 20, 2014

A

t St. Ignatius High in San Francisco, the expectations surrounding the girls basketball program are as thick as the summer fog on Ocean Beach.

Even coach Mike Mulkerrins, in his eighth year, has to acknowledge the kind of reality coaches would prefer to ignore: “This is probably the best team ever to come through St. Ignatius,” he says — and that’s saying something.

The records tells the story: Mulkerrins is 179-69 during his career in San Francisco, the Wildcats have shared three West Catholic Athletic League titles since 2011, and have won the last two Central Coast Section Open Division titles.

And this year, they return eight seniors, including three Div. I players and two more who will also play in college.

But then there is this litany of late-season disappointment: ›› In 2014, the fabulous Mariya Moore went off in the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Open Division playoffs, and St. Ignatius fell to Salesian 64-55. ›› In 2013, the Wildcats won 21 games, but lost to league-rival Sacred Heart Cathedral-S.F. four times, including in the NorCal Div. III finals. ›› In 2012, St. Ignatius ran into St. Mary’s-Stockton in the second round of the NorCal Division II tournament, in Stockton no less, and the season ended there.

The list could go on, including trying to get past the Sacred Heart Cathedral dynasty of 20072009, but the message is clear: The Wildcats have been knocking on the door for the better part of a decade, but have yet to kick it down.

“We definitely haven’t gotten as far we’ve liked,” says 6-1 senior Sydney Raggio, who will play for Saint Mary’s next year. “But this is our year.”

“This is SI’s chance to be great,” says Mulkerrins. “If we put everything together, we’ll be very good.”

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Sydney Raggio So what are the pieces that haven’t quite yet fit together? Raggio, for one, a strong lefthander who’s ambidextrous around the basket and has been working on her outside shot.

Then there’s Josie Little, 6-1 and headed to Columbia next year, who can handle the ball, shoot 3s and also be a presence in the paint.

Addi Walters has the pedigree — her father Rex played in the NBA and now coaches the men’s program at the University of San Francisco — and the skills and strength (she’ll play for Cal State-Bakersfield in 2015).

Point guard Joleen Yang (UC San Diego) will step up into a full-time starting role after shooting 42.8 percent from 3-point distance as a junior.

Shooting guard Janessa Manzo (Hawaii Pacific) keeps the defense from collapsing on Raggio and Little, as she’s even better from beyond the arc than Yang (49.3%).

And Mulkerrins makes sure to include yet another senior, Tyler Brown, on the list, as she brings athleticism and strength as well as plenty of skill.

So with size, depth, experience and motivation, what’s to worry?

“Our team has a lot of big personalities,” says Yang, “and we need to make sure everything works.”

Mulkerrins, like all good coaches, worries about individual goals superseding team goals. “We need the understanding that there are only five starters and only five kids can finish,” he says. Then again, “We have some depth — we’re going to be versatile.”

And the expectations, call it pressure if you will, have helped bring a close group even closer.

“We’re all best friends,” says Raggio. “We’ve been really close since freshman year, and that gives us chemistry on and off the court.”

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23

“One of our strengths is that we play well together,” says Little, and in music to any coach’s ear, she adds “We’re all really hard workers.”

All of that potential was evident when the group arrived on campus in the fall of 2011, and assistant coach Anne Seppi wasn’t surprised. “We’d seen these kids at camps,” she says, “and it’s a rarity that you get this kind of quality in one class.”

Of course, that kind of quality quickly morphs into hard questions if production doesn’t meet expectation. But Little missed her entire sophomore year with a concussion, removing a key constant from the equation, and then last year, St. Ignatius was far from the only team that had no answer for Moore (35 points, 17 in the third quarter).

But, as the saying goes, the scoreboard doesn’t lie, so Mulkerrins and the Wildcats had to go through another offseason of questions, from within and without.

“Last year, our preseason schedule wasn’t as strong as we had hoped,” says Mulkerrins, and this year he’s added more muscle to the schedule that already includes the WCAL — which is not only the best league in Northern California — but one of the best west of the Mississippi.

St. Ignatius will open at the La Jolla Country Day Sweet 16 tournament, and will play Nevada power Bishop Manogue, SoCal power Lynwood, and East Bay powers Berkeley and Bishop O’Dowd.

In addition, Mulkerrins cancelled the long-running Sand Dune Classic, and opted instead for the Platinum bracket of the West Coast Jamboree, which includes St. Mary’sStockton, defending state champion Chaminade-West Hills,

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November 20, 2014

South Medford of Oregon and Upper Room Christian from New York — plus local stalwarts such as O’Dowd and Sacred Heart Cathedral.

As for tactical tweaks, the versatility will add options to the system and the steady success is proof that the system itself is solid. “We’ll build on what we have,” says Seppi. “We won’t be adding a whole lot.”

But tactics are tactics, preseason is preseason, and the WCAL is the WCAL — for St. Ignatius, postseason is what matters most. “In the end is when it starts to count,” says Raggio, and though Mulkerrins and the players are fully aware that injuries and/or bad luck can derail even the most talented team, they know their best chance is right now.

“There’s definitely pressure,” says Little, “but it’s good pressure.”

Yang shifts the script a little. “I don’t think it’s pressure — I think it’s determination.”

“It’s more motivation,” says Raggio.

Seppi refers to “focus” and “drive.”

But no matter what words are used — let’s opt for “expectations” — there’s no doubt that the time is now. Mulkerrins may caution, and rightfully so, that “a lot of things have to go your way,” but eight seniors, five bound for collegiate careers, a record of success and a school with tremendous athletic tradition combine to create a crucible for this group of coaches and players.

But they’re as ready as they can be. Says Seppi, “They have their eyes on the prize.” ✪

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Joleen Yang

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Sabrina Ionescu

Sydney Raggio Josie Little

Aisia Robertson

SABRINA IONESCU

MaANE’ MOSLEY

SCHOOL: MiramonteOrinda YEAR: Junior HT./POS.: 6-0/Wing THE DETAILS: Ionescu scores, defends and plays a pivotal role in the devastating Miramonte press — and she’ll be called on to do even more this year after graduation subtracted a lot of talent from the Miramonte roster.

SCHOOL: St. Mary’sBerkeley YEAR: Senior HT./POS.: 5-10/Wing THE DETAILS: Despite playing in the shadows of McDonald’s All-Americans Gabby Green and Mikayla Cowling last year, Mosley still averaged 12.1 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.

Now that she’s center stage, expect more.

DESTINY GRAHAM

NINA BESSOLO

SCHOOL: Eastside PrepEast Palo Alto GRADE: Senior HT./POS.: 6-3/Post

SCHOOL: Valley ChristianDublin GRADE: Junior HT./POS.: 6-1/Wing

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SYDNEY RAGGIO

JOSIE LITTLE

AISIA ROBERTSON

SCHOOL: St. IgnatiusSan Francisco YEAR: Senior HT./POS.: 6-1/Post THE DETAILS: Little and Raggio are a potent one-two punch for the Wildcats, who look to be the Bay Area’s best this year. Little has size and skill, and might be even more impressive on a team with a little less all-around talent.

SCHOOL: Bishop O’DowdOakland YEAR: Senior HT./POS.: 5-7 Guard THE DETAILS: With running mate Asha Thomas sidelined with a knee injury, look for Robertson to step up for the Dragons — which means plenty of points, assists, steals and rebounds. She’ll drive the car for coach Malik McCord, and it will be an exciting ride.

MARISSA HING

ASHANTI COLEMAN

MINYON MOORE

SCHOOL: PinewoodLos Altos Hills GRADE: Senior HT./POS.: 5-2/Point Guard

SCHOOL: Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco GRADE: Senior HT./POS.: 6-0/Forward

SCHOOL: SalesianRichmond GRADE: Junior HT./POS.: 5-7/Guard

SCHOOL: St. IgnatiusSan Francisco YEAR: Senior HT./POS.: 6-1/Forward THE DETAILS: Raggio’s skill around the basket and her rapidly improving perimeter game make her a very tough cover. She can finish with either hand in the paint, a skill only underestimated by those who don’t have it.

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November 20, 2014

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27

eremy Russotti is not much different than other basketball junkies who got a taste of college basketball, reflect on the experience and realize it should have been much more.

“I was an okay player at best,” said Russotti, a grad of Analy High in Sebastopol who then played at Sonoma State. “I wasn’t mentally prepared and I never had a trainer. I’m a better player now at 39-years-old than I was in college.”

Russotti has been more successful in the business of basketball than actually playing — and much of his drive stems from not wanting today’s players to repeat his playing experience. He’s developed basketball products and resources that are in high demand across the country and abroad.

Fourteen months ago, Russotti took on the toughest challenge of his basketball career when he decided to begin an after-school basketball academy in Napa County. Teaming up with good friend and former college coach Philippe Doherty, Russotti chose to put his progressive skill training curriculum to work and kick start Prolific Prep.

Josh Jackson, a 17-year-old wunderkind and the 2013-14 National Sophomore of the Year after leading Consortium College Prep (Detroit, Mich.) to a Class C state title, linked up with Russotti to mix some of his innovative training methods with his own sleek 6-foot-7 frame. Where Russotti’s previous high school and college clients had to leave Napa County to return to school, Jackson, with the backing of his strong-willed mother Apples Jones, wouldn’t encounter that problem.

Jackson is remaining in California to train year-round while attending Justin-Siena High School. “(Russotti’s) training focuses more on the mental part of the game,” said Jackson, who averaged 28 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists per game in 10th grade and actually starred on Consortium’s varsity in eighth-grade.

“You can work out 24-7, but new moves won’t work if you don’t know when to use them.

“Training with him (Russotti) is making me a smarter player and I think it will help a lot. Coming here I’m playing a national schedule and against good players almost every game. Back home, the competition level got worse each year and I really didn’t like the snow.”

Doherty readily admits he has a masterpiece-level canvas to work with.

“Josh is really good; he might be the best player in the United States under 19,” said Doherty, who previously coached at Sacred Heart Cathedral-S.F. and the University of San Francisco. “His IQ is so high and he’s so competitive and skilled. He’s really been blessed and his mom is a firm, honest lady who’s not swayed by what people think.”

The grassroots basketball community is small, and rumors persist about how Jackson helped Russotti and Doherty kick start Prolific Prep. Both Russotti and Doherty are more concerned with the results their training initiatives bring for Jackson and the other 11 players on the roster than people’s perceptions of the motives for Prolific Prep’s creation.

There were challenges along the way, including short planning time to build a roster, the expected skepticism from some and a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked the city of Napa on Aug. 24. Doherty said executing the basketball academy wouldn’t have been possible without local sponsors and support of the local commu28

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November 20, 2014

PROLIFIC PrEP roster Name

Ht.

Pos. Year Hometown

Mamoudou Diarra

6’9”

F

So.

Bamako, Mali

Algevon Eichelberger

6’7”

PF

Jr.

Saginaw, MI.

Micah Elan

6’4”

PG

Jr.

San Francisco

Marko Filipovity

6’8”

SF

Sr.

Kaposvar, Hungary

Sasha French

6’10”

C

Sr.

Napa

Josh Jackson

6’8”

SG

Jr.

Detroit, MI.

Baidi Kamagate

6’5”

SG

Jr.

Conakry, Guinea

Kyle Leufroy

6’3”

PG

Sr.

Pasadena

Nick Lombardi

5’9”

PG

So.

Pleasant Hill

Matt O’Reilly

6’3”

SG

Sr.

Moraga

Amadou Sou

6’8”

C

Fr.

Bamako, Mali

Ryan Stewart

6’9”

PF

Sr.

Benicia

see ‘em play Most of Prolific Prep’s games take place out of the Bay Area (and often out of state). Here are some schedule highlights, including home games.

Date Opponent Location Time Dec. 18-20

Tarkanian Classic

Las Vegas

TBA

Jan. 2

Jordan Brand Classic

Los Angeles

TBA

Jan. 30

Planet Athletes (Ariz.)

Napa

7 p.m.

Jan. 31

Balboa City Schools

Napa

6 p.m.

Feb. 1

Simpson Academy

Napa

3 p.m.

Feb. 21

Reno International Prep

Reno

3 p.m.

Feb. 27

Reno International Prep

Napa

7 p.m.

Feb. 28

Future College Prep

Napa

6 p.m.

March 1

Elite Prep Academy

Napa

3 p.m.

For the complete schedule and more information on Prolific Prep, visit www.

ProlificPrep.org

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Story by Ronnie Flores | Photos by Phillip Walton Follow us on Twitter & Instagram, and like us on Facebook!

Josh Jackson

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29

nity. Russotti went a step further to say he isn’t sure he’d do it all over again if he knew the time and work it would take to get Prolific Prep off the ground.

So is there a difference between Prolific Prep and other basketball academy-type programs around the country? Yes, quite a few differences actually, and its founders make no bones about it.

Prolific Prep is a 501(c)(3) program. It is neither a regular high school nor a boarding school such as Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy. Nevada’s Findlay Prep is not a school either, as the players on its roster attend Henderson International School (a school that doesn’t have any 9-12 students), but Findlay Prep is a member of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) and can play other NIAA schools.

Prolific Prep is not a member of the California Interscholastic Federation, nor can it play CIF schools. Furthermore, its roster, which hails from five different countries, doesn’t even all attend the same school.

“No, we don’t want to be a school,” Doherty said. “I am not a principal nor a teacher and I have no intention to be. We are an academy; we don’t have the time, energy or resources to be a school.”

After helping the United States win the gold medal at the FIBA U17 World Championships in Dubai in August, Jackson became a regular student at Justin-Siena.

He takes a regular curriculum (according to Doherty seven kids on the team have a 3.8 G.P.A. Founder/trainer Jeremy Russotti or higher) and attends normal school functions. Jackson attends Friday night football games and even served as a mascot. After the final school bell rings, however, his experience is anything but normal.

Jackson now gets the daily basketball instruction normally reserved for that short period of time during the high school off-season when elite players are not traveling to events around the country.

“Justin-Siena has great academics, and yes, I was the mascot a couple of times,” said Jackson, who was born in California while Jones served in the U.S. Navy. “I was an Indian Chief. I always wanted to do it and it was pretty fun. People know me as a basketball player, but I do need to get away from it and take a little break once in a while.”

Russotti and Doherty, who serves as the team’s head coach, will take the team to Las Vegas, twice to Kentucky, to Wheeling, West Virginia, and to Dayton, Ohio for the Flyin’ To The Hoop Showcase MLK weekend, where it will face nationally-ranked La Lumiere (LaPorte, Ind.). The team doesn’t have a gym of its own, so its uses one on a donation basis that belongs to Grace Church of Napa Valley. The players either live in dorms at Justin-Siena or with host families.

The gym situation isn’t ideal and Prolific Prep would love to play competitive games locally to save on costs and travel. Some things won’t change but there are big plans for the future. “Next year we’ll be in a state-of-the art facility and all the players will go to the same school,” Russotti said. “We don’t care where the players come from and we’ll have more top 25-type players. We don’t want 10 top 25-type kids, that won’t work. We want guys who will know their roles and the best cultured kids for our progressive curriculum.”

If this academy model thrives, it could be a tipping point for the way players with pro potential are cultivated in America. It would pattern the established model in many European countries, where the best young players live and train together year-round.

“We’re basically doing a European model, where school and sports are separated,” Doherty said. “There are good and bad high school coaches, but why should it be a kid’s fault that his biology teacher is his basketball coach? There’s only so much time for a young player to get their game right, only so big a window. Consider what we do as advanced placement basketball.

“Our doors are open if people want to see what we’re doing and we actually have high school coaches who come to our workouts and take notes. They like our curriculum. If you’re insecure and think it’s about you, you won’t get it. If you don’t have an ego and see that we’re not trying to audition for college jobs, just trying to train players, you get it.” ✪ 30

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Numbers

GAME

left: Rocco Fitzgerald works off the SmartKage pitching mound as Mike Murphy looks on.

RIGHT: Griffin DeRusso takes a cut in the SmartKage batters box.

(Phillip Walton photos)

Mike Murphy Baseball Academy gives two players from a grassroots travel club the chance to try out the next wave of batting cage technology 32

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H

By Chace Bryson | Editor

ad he not been prepared for it, Rocco Fitzgerald almost certainly would’ve been convinced someone was trying to fool with him. Catch him off guard. Weird him out.

Because this batting cage was really talking to him.

A 10-year-old player in the Roddy Ranch Baseball Organization, Fitzgerald had been in plenty of batting cages before. But none with so many bells and whistles, and certainly none that talked to him.

Fitzgerald was trying out the SmartKage at Mike Murphy Baseball Academy in Concord, a technologically enhanced batting cage which can test, analyze and evaluate players across several measurables — and not just for hitters, but fielders and pitchers as well. Developed by a Boston-based company, SmartSports, the SmartKage has been in a trial stage over the past year — which led to its installation at the Concord baseball school, one of just 100 test sites chosen across the country.

After a year of exhibitions, if you will, the SmartKage plans on fully opening for business and hopes to have as many as 150 operating in full by the end of 2014. Players of any level will be able to go online and purchase a 45-minute testing session. The computer will then provide the player with a code which he or she can use at any SmartKage.

In the meantime, it’s certainly won Murphy over.

“It’s amazing,” said Murphy, who officially opened his baseball school in 2002 after retiring from a 13-year professional baseball Subscribe to the Digital Weekly at SportStarsOnline.com

career. “The hard numbers that you get from the test are invaluable when it comes to seeing where a player is with his physical ability. It’s a huge tool for us. We can take those numbers and we can improve on every one of those numbers. With the amount of data that we get and the type of data we get, we can tailor all of our instruction for that player to precisely what he or she need.”

It’s no surprise Murphy’s facility was hand-picked to host the device, which will be the only one in a 60-mile radius of his location. The Mike Murphy Baseball Academy has drawn a reputation as being one of the most family-friendly, and all-inclusive baseball training centers in the East Bay over the past decade.

“We really strive to make every single player feel like they’re the star when they walk in here,” said Murphy, who has a staff of seven full-time instructors who Murphy trains for up to three months before allowing them to take on their first full-time player. “Everybody gets the same effort, whether it’s the player who is just beginning or the one who is leading his or her league in hitting.”

The results speak for themselves, too. Murphy’s list of alumni who have reached the college level exceeds 300. In fact, in the cage directly adjacent to Fitzgerald and the SmartKage, De La Salle-Concord senior infielder Myles Coston worked on hitting off a tee. One week later, Coston signed his letter of intent to play for Fresno State.

Fitzgerald, and his Roddy Rippers teammate Griffin DeRusso, are put through all the tests by the SmartKage. They do 10-yard sprints, fielding response drills, vertical leaps and of course the basic hitting Follow us on Twitter & Instagram, and like us on Facebook!

and pitching mechanics. Were this a month or so later, the boys would receive a print out at the end of the session showing them their results and how they compare to any other kid their age who has used one of the 150-plus SmartKage’s nationwide.

They could then apply those numbers to their training and work on becoming better players for the Antioch-based travel baseball club which has grown rapidly in just its first full year.

This, despite the fact that some of the club’s first workouts occurred in an open space area near the maintenance sheds among the rolling hills at Roddy Ranch Golf Course.

“It started out in the fall of 2013 with a few of us parents looking for the best opportunity for our children to experience baseball outside of an in-house league,” Roddy Ranch Baseball cofounder Tony DeRusso explained. “We never really found one that quite fit our goals and our expectations for what a travel baseball team should be. So with the support of Roddy Ranch Golf Course and Jack and Donna Roddy, we decided to we’d start our own team and give it a go.”

The club began with a U9 (Rippers) and U11 (Riders) team and they combined to win just one game over their first fall season. By spring, the reputation of the club as an all-inclusive, family-friendly organization allowed for two more teams to be added.

“We’re about developing the character in these young kids,” DeRusso said. “We recognize the numbers that 1 in every 16,000 kids go on and play Major League Baseball, but pretty much everyone of them goes on to be husbands, fathers, employees and business people. We’re very interested in developing that character through the game of baseball.”

And the team’s are winning now, too. The Rippers (now a 10U team) picked up their first tournament title in the spring, and the Rattlers (a new 9U club) brought home a trophy as well.

The Riders (12U now) and Rebels (13U) have been competitive as well.

So far, the clubs have played in tournaments throughout Northern California, and have gone as far as Reno. However, it’s possible Fitzgerald will remember it as the club that brought him to the talking batting cage. ✪ Follow us on Twitter & Instagram, and like us on Facebook!

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Rock Solid TCAL-Rock champion Salesian takes aim at another dominant playoff run

Just a cursory look at the California Interscholastic Federation Division IV bowl rankings would tell you that the Salesian High football team might have a steep hill to climb when it comes to being included in a regional qualifier next month.

But the Pride has confounded the experts before and, should a few dominoes fall the right way, that hill might begin to look more like an ant hill than a mountain.

As it sits right now, Salesian enters the North Coast Section Division V playoffs as the unquestioned No. 1 seed thanks to its Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division Salesian title and a convincing nonleague win over division foe Middletown. Where the Pride’s record sits is a matter of some debate though, and that answer will depend on the CIF’s decision on an appeal of forfeits by Oakland Athletic Salesian’s 8-2 regular season record marked League front-runner McClymonds. the program’s 10th straight season with at least The Warriors defeated Salesian 32-22 on Sept. 12 in eight wins. Here’s a look at the previous nine Oakland, but that result could be reversed if McClymonds seasons, which include four NCS titles. has to forfeit games it won due to an eligibility issue. So, YEAR RECORD POSTSEASON FINISH for now, Salesian enters the postseason with an 8-2 record and a seven-game winning streak.

2005 12-1 NCS Div. V champs No matter the uncertainty over its record, there is no 2006 10-3 NCS Div. V runner-up disputing just how strong a season Salesian has already 2007 10-2 NCS Div. V semifinalist enjoyed.

2008 9-3 NCS Div. IV runner-up The contributions of four key sophomores on offense, in2009 11-2 NCS Div. IV semifinalist cluding quarterback Jaylen Tregle and running back Dalon2010 11-2 NCS Div. IV champs nie Crater, has complemented a great season by senior running back Charles Hillary. On defense, a standout trio 2011 13-0 NCS Div. IV champs of defensive ends — Galuega Toailoa, Kyree Harvey and 2012 9-3 NCS Div. V quarterfinalist Chris Williams — has set the tone for a unit that allowed 2013 8-5 NCS Div. V champs just 12 points per game in league play. The linebacking core of Vegas Shackleford, John Schlit and d’Artagnan Connor has also played well while safety Prentiss Reid has been the ballhawk in the secondary.

“I think the thing about our team that’s been a real pleasant surprise is we’ve won games people have expected us to lose,” Salesian coach Chad Nightingale said. “You look at the St. Mary’s game and the El Cerrito game and those are games on paper that many people thought we’d lose. We won both those games very convincingly.”

Though the TCAL-Rock doesn’t always get the notoriety of some other leagues, consider that Salesian — with an enrollment hovering around 430 students — earned wins over schools in El Cerrito and Pinole Valley that have about triple the student body size. Nightingale credits both his players and his coaches for the achievement, saying that continuity in the staff has helped continue the tradition of one of the East Bay’s most successful programs.

Now in his 19th season as Salesian’s head coach, Nightingale has never been one to dole out hollow praise.

So, when he calls this year’s team “one of the top four teams we’ve had,” it means he knows the potential for a Section title and possibly more exists. Since 2005, the Pride (or the Chieftains, as they were called in that ‘05 title run) owns four NCS titles, and that remains the ultimate goal over the next few weeks.

Still, Nightingale is pragmatic when talking about his team’s NorCal chances. The latest Cal-Hi Sports rankings also have Central Catholic-Modesto and Capital Christian-Sacramento in the top three with McClymonds, and editor Mark Tennis posits that Modesto Christian might also be in the mix should the right confluence of events take place.

For now though, the focus in Salesian’s camp remains on next week, and a matchup against St. Vincent.

Should the Pride reach the NCS final, the bottom of the bracket could produce as its opponent a one-loss team like No. 2 St. Bernard Catholic-Eureka, No. 3 St. Helena or even No. 6 John Swett-Crockett. None of those teams would be pushovers, and there is certainly work to be done before any rankings can even be considered.

“We’re just trying to figure out a way to win next Saturday,” Nightingale said. ✪ —SportStars Staff

DAZZLING DECADE

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Berry Evans III

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Salesian quarterback Jaylen Tregle has been one of a handful of sophomores who have made big contributions to the Pride this season; Salesian safety Prentiss Reid chases down and tackles St. Mary’s-Berkeley receiver Sanjay Kettles; Running back Dalonnie Crater, another sophomore, breaks a tackle and heads for daylight against St. Mary’s-Berkeley.

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Records are through Nov. 15

1. (1)

— De La Salle-Concord

10-0

3. (3)

— Grant-Sacramento

11-0

2. (2) 4. (4) 5. (5) 6. (9)

— Folsom

— Milpitas

10-0

— Valley Christian-San Jose ▲

7. (6)

▼

9. (7)

▼

8. (8)

11-0

8-2

Serra-San Mateo

Clayton Valley Charter-Concord

— Campolindo-Moraga

Bellarmine-San Jose

8-2

12. (12) — Foothill-Pleasanton

13. (13) — Archbishop Mitty-San Jose Pittsburg

15. (15) — Rocklin

16. (16) — St. Francis-Mountain View

17. (17) — Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton 18. (18) — Concord

19. (19) — McClymonds-Oakland 20. (20) — Jesuit-Carmichael

11-0 10-1

11. (11) — Los Gatos

—

11-0 8-2

10. (10) — St. Mary’s-Stockton

14. (14)

7-3

8-2 6-4

8-2 9-2 6-4

10-0 10-1 10-0 9-2

DROPPED OUT

None

BIGGEST MOVER

There was actually very little movement as most ranked teams either had byes or were heavy favorites in playoff openers. The only shakeup occurred inside the Top 10 as former-No. 9 Serra-San Mateo defeated then-No. 7 Bellarmine-San Jose 28-14 in the teams’ regular season finale. Serra jumped three spots to No. 6 with the win, bumping Clayton Valley Charter-Concord down one spot in the process. We gave Serra the nod over the Eagles based on what we believe to be a much stronger strength of schedule.

KNOCKING ON THE DOOR (alphabetically)

Analy-Sebastopol (10-1), California-San Ramon (83), Central Catholic-Modesto (8-3), Elk Grove (9-2), Enterprise-Redding (9-1), Granite Bay (8-3), InderkumSacramento (10-1), Liberty-Brentwood (9-2), Monterey (8-2), Palma-Salinas (9-1), Salesian-Richmond (8-2), Sierra-Manteca (10-1), St. Mary’s-Berkeley (9-1) and Vacaville (9-2).

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November 20, 2014

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35

The Speed of Accessibility

S

By Mike Young | Contributor

anta Rosa residents Steve Goody and Tyler Scaturro believe they’ve found the “best kept secret in all of sports.”

In the development of the Pocket Radar – an easy and accurate speed measurement device the size of a cell phone — they might be right. The device has the potential to be a gamechanger in the many aspects of training for baseball, softball, volleyball, tennis, lacrosse and more.

“If you go to a college program, whether it’s for baseball or volleyball, they’re using our product every day for multiskill,” said Scaturro, the marketing specialist of Pocket Radar.

“In baseball it might be throwing skill, hitting skill or pitching skill. And its not just about speed, it’s about control.”

One of the many fascinating attributes of the Pocket Radar is that it allows athletes of any level to truly and accurately gauge their velocity in a multitude of ways. Not to mention it’s affordable, ranging from $199-299, compared to the traditional radar gun priced from $700-1,500.

Notable Bay Area programs already utilizing the Pocket Radar include the Oakland A’s, Stanford Women’s Volleyball and even The Total Player Center facility in Pleasanton. A traditionally very expensive method of training can now be used in anybody’s backyard.

“The magic thing that happens when you’re training with instant radar and velocity feedback, it doesn’t change the coaching process, it adds on to it,” said Steve Goody, founder of Pocket Radar.

With instant and accurate feedback, suddenly an athlete has a number to work with, and the ability to instantly see what motions in the fundamentals — whether it’s pitching for baseball and softball or a serve in volleyball — are working or not.

Coaches from volleyball to lacrosse have used the Pocket Radar to balance speed and accuracy, the ability to find the perfect speed and to be able to get that perfect shot or pass

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across the court or field.

Besides the obvious ease-of-transport benefit, the size of the radar gun allows it to be discreet and practically out-of-sightout-of-mind. At the same time, it has an impact on an athlete’s motivation. Instant results can lead to new goals.

“There’s an immediate effect in motivating the athlete to find a new personal best,” said Scaturro. “If you couple that with great coaching, on how to break down the numbers and show to an athlete what adjustments to make, it’s automatic.”

Control is one of the most important aspects that the Pocket Radar can help athletes to master. Power versus control is something many youth level athletes struggle to balance. With the Pocket Radar’s instant feedback, that information is now accessible to the athlete.

The device can give athletes a baseline for their maximum velocity for pitching, serving in volleyball or shooting in lacrosse. It allows the athlete to see what is considered out of control, and dial it down to be able to get the most accurate performance with the highest velocity.

“As you know in sports, sometimes athletes view that the more violent the action is, it feels like its powerful, but in reality the opposite in true,” Goody said. “Smooth and easy is usually where the added power is.”

With this product, Goody and Scaturro hope to change sports from how athletes train to keeping them safe.

“For a high school athlete, this is where it’s the most ripe,” Goody said. “We designed this product so that a high school, a family or even an athlete could afford a pro-grade radar gun as a convenience. We really believe in the long run we are going to change these sports by making it accessible to more programs from high school and below. The college programs can afford everything, and sometimes the high schools and families can’t.” ✪ For more information and testimonials of the product, visit their website at www.pocketradar.com.

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training by trucks: anthony trucks

Everyone’s Greatest Obstacle I have spent the last 12 years of my life in the health and fitness industries, whether it was playing professional sports in the NFL, being a professional trainer, owning and operating a gym or consulting for billion dollar companies in health and ergonomics. Although each area has different factors affecting it in the realm of physical demands for the individuals involved, there is one constant: They are all looking to physically improve in some way or another.

Conversely, they all encounter the same obstacle as well — their EGO (Everyone’s Greatest Obstacle). This concept can honestly be applied to anyone’s life, but for this article I want to apply it directly to the weightlifter in all of us.

Have you ever walked into a high school weight room and witnessed some of the poorest form and technique you had ever seen? Or have you gone to the place where it’s even more prevalent: the public gym. These places are breeding grounds for egos that are quite literally standing in the way of someone getting better.

It usually goes like this: A person walks into the weight room and sees everyone around them. He doesn’t want to look weak or incapable of lifting a lot of weight, so he stacks on more plates than a Denny’s sink after Sunday church. He gets ready to lift and boom, he moves the weight through a quarter of the range that he should, and then starts to writhe under the bar like he’s having a seizure.

The weight is so much that they can’t even complete a good rep. This not only hurts their body — because the joints aren’t prepared for it — but it crushes their nervous system. Now they wont even be able to get in a good lift or possibly even have a good workout because their body will begin to shut down early and fatigue quickly.

The problem lies deeper though. In order to really maximize your ability to gain great strength or size, you need to be able to complete clean full-range lifts. When you complete full-range lifts you allow the body to use the entire muscle fiber. It increases the body’s chance to grow the muscle fiber needed to increase the muscular size and strength.

Imagine everyone’s favorite lift, the bench press. I watch people at the gym every day hop on the bench press, load up the weight on the bar and then proceed to bend their elbows and lower the bar as little as 6-8 inches before pressing it back up thinking they’ve completed a quality rep. When I attended the 2006 NFL combine in Indianapolis I was tested on the bench press for reps of 225 pounds. The two most important rules were to lock your arms out and touch your chest, or the rep wouldn’t count. So how did everyone fall so far off track? The EGO. People would rather stack more weight on the bar and look strong instead of lowering the weight to actually get strong.

The better reps you can perform, the better gains you’ll have. So the next time you walk into the weight room, drop the EGO and don’t worry about what everyone else thinks of the weights you put on the bar. Just worry about whether you can successfully move them. ✪ Anthony Trucks is an IYCA-certified trainer who covers weight training for SportStars.

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health watch: robin bousquet

An intro to the nasty Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) & how to treat it Brady was a local goalie on her club soccer team. After an ankle sprain, she noticed that the pain in her foot and lower leg was not resolving, but getting worse. She self-described the pain as, “burning, stabbing, and unbearable”. She rated it as an 11 on a pain scale in which 10 is the most painful and said, “there are thousands of knives digging into my leg and twisting while it is on fire.”

She no longer could walk, touch, or use her leg.

In 1864, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) was first noted in adults in the medical literature, but the first mention of children with the disorder was not until 1971.

There are 2 types of CRPS: Type 1: Usually in girls 8-16 years old (70-90 percent) and mostly in the lower extremity (5:1 ratio) without a definable nerve injury involvement.

Type 2: Can be equal in boys and girls and occurs in cases where an identifiable nerve injury is present.

Both types have similar symptoms: ›› Pain that is out-of-proportion to the initial injury present. ›› Neurovascular changes such as discoloration of the area and even temperature changes. ›› Allodynia, which is pain from a stimuli that is not normally painful. An example would be extreme pain in

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your leg from the pressure of wearing a sock.

Happily, Brady is on her feet again and working towards getting back on the soccer field.

Physical Therapy treatments at our center have included forced-use of her leg, desensitizing techniques with pillowcases, then towels, rice and contrast baths. Having Brady put weight on her foot was one of the most painful days in her life. After persevering, the crutches are now

gone.

Her parents want other parents that may be facing this complex disorder to be pro-active for a diagnosis and immediate treatment. The personal stories they found on the internet about CRPS made them question if their daughter would ever walk on her leg again.

Brady’s dad was surprised by the amount of pain that his daughter could endure, “it is the strangest disorder because you don’t want to hurt your child, but you have to take one step backwards to get two steps forward,” he said. “We had to have her push through excruciating pain to be able to progress.”

Physical therapy with full support of her family through her rehabilitation and adapting her school environment, have been key elements to get their daughter back. ✪ Robin Bousquet is a senior physical therapist for the Sports Medicine For Young Athletes, a division of Children’s Hospital Oakland with a facility also located in Walnut Creek.

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››››››››››

get mental: erika carlson

READY?

While attending a recent sport psychology conference, I had the pleasure of hearing WNBA basketball great, Sheryl Swoopes, talk about what drives excellence.

She talked all about her journey to the top of her sport, which included Olympic gold medals and being a three-time WNBA MVP. Despite all of her success, Sheryl, like every great athlete, had many “failures” along the way. The most profound failure, in her eyes, was being cut from Team USA —TWICE! Despite being a physical powerhouse, a technical phenom, Swoopes was cut. Why? According to Stanford coach Tara Vandeveer, the national team coach at the time, Swoopes wasn’t “ready.”

In her bid for a spot on the national team, Sheryl found herself in new territory. For the first time in her career, she wasn’t a starter and got very few minutes on the court. Sheryl got frustrated with this new and unwelcome experience — mentally, emotionally and physically frustrated. She paced up and down the court, got on her teammates and made it clear how she felt.

Sheryl thought it was important that everyone know, especially her coach, how important this was to her and it wasn’t acceptable to sit on the sidelines and not be allowed to help her team. What Sheryl didn’t know was that it was a test; a readiness test. Vande-

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ARE YOU

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veer needed Sheryl to be a team player during her minutes on both the court and the sidelines. The behavior that Sheryl thought of as “caring” about the team and it’s success, was viewed by her coach as a selfish response, one that valued her own minutes over the whole team. Sheryl wasn’t ready.

After a heart-to-heart with her coach about developing the mental toughness needed for the next level, Sheryl went back to work. She worked on developing her mental game and redefining what it meant to be a team player. With her new found approach, Sheryl went on to not only make the team, but helped three gold medal-winning teams.

Every athlete reaches a threshold where their physical skills only take them so far. It’s at that point, the mental game is what separates success and failure. Sheryl is a fantastic example of how hard work on every aspect of the game (physical, technical and mental) are required to push through to the next level. It took time, but she was finally ready. Are you? ✪

Erika Carlson is a certified mental trainer and owner of Excellence in Sports Performance in Pleasanton.

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training time: tim rudd for iyca Warming up is a critical starting point for an optimal workout. If an athlete’s goal is to improve his or her performance, they need to use proven warm-up principles.

An effective warm-up provides numerous benefits: ›› Improves alignment and posture, ›› Decreases viscosity (i.e. it makes your joints feel good!) ›› Increases muscle temperature, and therefore flexibility/extensibility, ›› Releases epinephrine, norepinephrine, etc. ›› Increases nervous system conductivity.

An intelligent and comprehensive warm-up covers three primary areas:

THE RESET

A reset is a specific breathing exercise used to restore optimal posture or alignment. This is a very specific exercise that is highly dependent on a trainer’s assessments.

For example a 90/90 wall hip bridge exercise can help reset the ribcage and push some air into the right side of an athlete’s chest, realigning the rib cage and pelvis and increasing the athlete’s mobility. If athletes are immobile and unstable, they will struggle demonstrating strength, power and endurance.

THE RELEASE

This is where we utilize tools like foam rollers, softballs, lacrosse balls, golf balls and The Stick. This is commonly know as Self Myofascial Release and is used to increase blood flow and reduce stiffness throughout all the muscles and joints of the body. This helps to increase

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the effectiveness of the warm-up and get them squared up. Once the athlete is optimally aligned, released and squared up, it’s time to focus on actually warming up.

THE READINESS

The goal here is to cement posture to improve functional movements and ramping up to prepare for athletic movement in preparation for lifting or performance. This is where we take a joint-by-joint approach to our warm-up by targeting each joint of the body. Here’s an example checklist: ■ Hip Stretch/Mobilization: Spider-man T-Reach ■ Hip Stability (sagittal plane): Glute Bridge ■ Hip Stability (multi-planar): 4-Way Band Walk ■ Thoracic Spine Mobility: Side-Lying Diagonal Reach ■ Ankle Mobility: Board Ankle Breaks ■ Scapular Stabilizer Activation: Back-To-Wall Shoulder Flexion ■ Squat Patterning/Mobility: Squat-To-Stand ■ Hip-Separation Exercise: Walking Knee Hugs ■ Sagittal Plane Lunge: Split Squat ■ Frontal or Transverse Plane Lunge: Alternating Lateral Squat A smart warm-up gets an athlete loose and primed to run fast, jump high and lift heavy things. ✪ Tim Rudd is an IYCA specialist in youth conditioning and owner of Fit2TheCore.

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snow safety: hunter greene

Surviving the Slopes

As winter approaches, many families are eagerly anticipating the start of skiing and snowboarding season. And while hitting the slopes is a great way to stay active and have some family fun, skiing and snowboarding do have their risks.

These winter sports are the second leading cause of sports-related injury and responsible for many trips to the emergency department. Common skiing and snowboarding injuries include leg, wrist, head and neck injuries.

By following a few simple tips, you can help the whole family stay safe: ›› Wear a helmet — Helmets significantly reduce the risk of head injury. They should fit snug on the head with the chin strap in place. ›› Wear wrist guards — Wrist guards help reduce the rate of wrist injuries, which are common among snowboarders. ›› Sun protection — Even on cloudy days, UV intensity can be very high because of the sun’s reflection off snow and the high altitude. Apply sunscreen in the morning and stash a

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small bottle in your coat to reapply during the day. ›› Follow the rules — The Alpine Responsibility Code is part of snow sport injury prevention across the world. It includes the following: ■ Beginners should take a lesson from a certified instructor ■ Never ski or snowboard alone ■ Maintain and check all equipment and make sure it is fitted appropriately ■ Warm-up prior to hitting the slopes each day ■ Stay on marked trails — avoid “out-of-bounds” skiing and snowboarding ■ Be alert to you and your friend’s or child’s surroundings ■ Wear appropriate protective gear (i.e. helmets, wrist guards and sunscreen) ■ Ski and snowboard on runs that are appropriate for your skill level and the skill levels of those you are with.

■ Stop skiing or snowboarding before you or those your with are worn out. Injuries always seem to happen on that last run of the day Keep these tips in mind when you hit the slopes for a fun and safe season! ✪ Hunter Greene, M.D., is a board certified orthopedic surgeon with Summit Orthopedic Specialists in Carmichael. He specializes in adult and pediatric sports medicine.

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NorCal plays major role on national rugby stage On Saturday, Nov. 1, the USA Men’s Rugby Team took on the New Zealand All-Blacks in a historic event at Soldier Field in Chicago. The sell-out crowd of over 60,000 was witness to an impressive showing from the world’s best team — and although the USA suffered a heavy defeat, the game showcased just how far the sport has come in the USA since the early 2000’s.

Having a premier event at a premier facility was an extremely important stepping stone in Rugby’s growth and development. Seven of the USA team players have ties to Northern California, either playing at the high school, college or club level here. This simply reinforces the history and impact that Northern carney’s California has on the sport in the corner: Mark Carney U.S..

With preseason practices and training getting underway here in Northern California at the youth level, we have a lot to be excited about. The season begins with U8-U12 leagues beginning in early January. The annual Sacramento Kick-Off Tournament (KOT) held at Rancho Cordova High School marks the beginning of the middle and high school season the third weekend of January. With over 42 high schoolaged boys and girls being selected to All-American camps

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and touring teams last year, Northern California was the most represented region in the country at the highest level of competition for that age group.

Earlier this month, the Northern California Youth Rugby

Association (NCYRA) hosted two free college seminars for high school rugby players, walking our athletes through the college admissions process and highlighting what rugbyplaying colleges and universities are looking for. The college game has really exploded over the last few years, with many programs now offering financial or admissions assistance to qualified student athletes.

This in itself is a vital step to legitimizing the sport in the U.S., and with two of the best college programs in the country right in our backyard (Cal-Berkeley and Saint Mary’s College), our youth rugby players in Northern California can feel confident that the sport will continue to offer them opportunities to play at a higher level.

The sport of rugby continues to gain momentum as we move forward into a new season. Clubs are reporting higher registration numbers at this time over last season, an encouraging sign of things to come. With a further influx of interested parties to the sport, we can be confident that the sport will only continue to flourish in Northern California and across the rest of the country.

If you are one of those interested parties and would like to know how to get involved, or who your local clubs are, please contact the NCYRA office at 707-693-8803 or email staff@ncyrugby.org for more details. ✪ Mark Carney is the executive director of the Northern California Youth Rugby Association. He writes for SportStars as part of the magazine’s partnership with the NCYRA.

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A Higher Perspective........................................................................................................45 All Out Sports League.......................................................................................................42 Antioch Sports Legends....................................................................................................30 Bay Area Rhino Court.......................................................................................................23 Big O Tires Northern California/ Nevada.............................................................................2 Bigfoot Hoops......................................................................................................19, 31, 48 California Family Fitness.....................................................................................................5 Catchflame.Com...............................................................................................................45 Championship Athletic Fundraising.................................................................................12 Cheergyms.Com...............................................................................................................36 Core Performance.......................................................................................................41, 43 Core Volleyball Club..........................................................................................................43 Diablo Futbol Club............................................................................................................44 Diablo Rock Gym..............................................................................................................41 Diablo Trophies & Awards.................................................................................................41 Diablo Valley Federal Credit Union....................................................................................29 East Bay Parks..................................................................................................................45 East Bay Sports Academy.................................................................................................24 Excellence In Sport Performance......................................................................................40 Foundry Sport..................................................................................................................47 Halo Headband................................................................................................................45 Home Team Sports Photography......................................................................................30 Jr. Optimist Baseball / Softball League ( J O B L)...............................................................42 Lone Tree Golf Course.......................................................................................................45 Modesto Magic................................................................................................................43 Mountain Mike’s Pizza........................................................................................................5 Muir Orthopaedic Specialists............................................................................................38 Northern California Youth Rugby Association...................................................................23 Northgate High School.....................................................................................................45 Oakland Police Department Recruiting............................................................................16 Oakland Warthogs Youth Rugby.......................................................................................16 Prepstarsonline.Com........................................................................................................29 Renaissance Club Sport....................................................................................................40 Rocco’s Pizza.....................................................................................................................41 Sacramento Lacrosse Association.....................................................................................41 San Ramon Slammers Baseball........................................................................................43 Sport Clips........................................................................................................................17 Sports Gallery Authenticated...........................................................................................42 Stevens Creek Toyota........................................................................................................25 Sutter Health East Bay........................................................................................................3 The First Tee Of The Tri Valley............................................................................................42 The Golf Club At Roddy Ranch..........................................................................................33 Tpc / The Pitching Center..................................................................................................33 U C S F Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland......................................................................39 United States Youth Volleyball League.............................................................................46 West Coast Jamboree.......................................................................................................26 Wingstop.........................................................................................................................13

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