CA Issue 17, 02.10.2011

It’s OK to hop on the bandwagon this time

vol. 2. issue 17

FREE

endure | excel | achieve

california

standing tall

Mission San Jose undeterred by lack of height.

Pg. 26

heading on tour

Junior golfers will have a new option this summer.

Pg. 33

Pg. 11

February 10, 2011

head

S R E T S A M state champion d e r o n o h s e h c a o c

rl Hansen, From top left: Joel Allen, Ea ro, Kris Richardson.

Bob Ladouceur, Mark Lourei 14 Coverage begins Pg.

filling it up

Chris SchwartzEdmisten scores at will.

Pg. 20

big man

College Park heavyweight gets final shot.

Pg. 28

all access

After yet another slug-it-out high school football season, five coaches stand out above all the rest.

Page 14 A new tour for junior golfers in california is born.

Page 32

orry elor of College park-pleasant hill gets one last shot at the big prize. Page 28

quiet assassin chris schwartzedmisten is the sacramento area’s top scorer. Page 20

First Pitch.................................................. 4

in the paint

Get Mental................................................ 6 Health Watch........................................... 7

noah springwater is a basketball player. his position doesn’t matter.

Page 24

Locker Room....................................... 8-9 SportStar of the Week.........................10 Wally’s World.........................................11 Behind the Clipboard...........................12 Club Scene..............................................22 Training Time.........................................34 Twenty-four7..........................................35 Impulse....................................................37 Photo Finish............................................38

ON THE COVER Basketball photo: Mission San Jose’s Ilene Tsao by Butch Noble. Football coach photos by EastCountySports.com, Brandon Dukovic/The Viking, Bob Larson, Brian Ramsey/Modesto Bee/Zuma Press, Folsom High School. Main image: Carlos Gonzalez/Minneapolis Star Tribune/Zuma Press

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February 10, 2011

SportStars™

3

Sometimes the coaches can be just as entertaining as the game

C

oaching is in my blood.

Growing up in a household with both parents coaching high school sports, it was probably inevitable that I’d find the coaching profession fascinating.

To this day, when I attend a sporting event — if I’m simply there as a spectator and not a reporter — I will consciously choose to sit in the bleachers across from the team benches. Because, as I learned from attending games with my parents at a young age, watching coaches can sometimes be just as entertaining as watching the game itself.

My job over the past 10 years has allowed me to meet some of the finest coaching talents this state has to offer.

Even better, I’ve had the good fortune of being able to watch them work.

So when SportStars struck a partnership with the Nike Coach of the Year Football Clinic to be the event’s official magazine, I was fired-up that we could devote our cover and several pages to some of the state’s top high school football coaches.

I’ve certainly had some memorable moments dealing with football coaches over the years, but some of my favorite interactions have come from the basketball coaching community.

Following are two of my favorites.

just 3 of 9 foul shots in the game at that point.

I was taking all of this in from the press seating at the end of the scorer’s table. My location put me about three folding chairs away from coaching end of the De La Salle bench. As Joyner approached the line for his first free throw, Spartans coach Frank Allocco was approximately arm’s distance in front of me when he turned around.

“Chace, maybe if I don’t watch, they’ll go in,” he said.

And they did. Allocco may have turned around after the De La Salle faithful reacted to Joyner making the first free throw.

But, I can attest that he did not watch that first one. De La Salle won 43-40. It was Allocco’s third state championship.

Enjoying the moment

This story occurred during the exact same season as the first. In fact, it was just two weeks earlier at another NBA facility — Oracle Arena (which at that time was just Oakland Arena).

The Richmond boys basketball team was playing Montgomery-Santa Rosa for the North Coast Section Division II championship. This was a landmark season for the Oilers, who despite battling the adversity of having just seven players for a good portion of the year, reached the section final. But in the big game, the Certainly more than once we’ve read team battled foul trouble, and a talented Montgomery squad took advantage and about or heard a coach claim how he built a decent lead. “couldn’t watch,” the final seconds of his However, Richmond made a run and team’s victory because of the tension. kept things interesting until a fourthI’m here to tell you they always watch. quarter technical foul and ejection of star Yet, I finally came across one who player Wendell McKines derailed the Oilwouldn’t. At least not on one certain occaChace@ ers’ momentum and led to a 63-40 defeat. sion. It was March of 2006 in the state capiSportStarsMag.com Richmond coach Rob Collins cuts an tal and the De La Salle-Concord basketball imposing figure and can appear intimiteam was playing Clovis West in the Cali(925) 566-8503 dating when he wants to be. However, fornia Interscholastic Federation Division he’s in coaching for all the right reasons.

I boys state final at Arco Arena.

And his time on the Richmond bench has It was an intense, physical, grueling, resulted in a very positive experience for defensive-minded game — as most De La both him and the school.

Salle games tend to play out. That year’s In an Arena hallway outside the team’s Spartans team featured as many as eight locker room, reporters approached Colplayers who would eventually play for a lins a bit delicately considering the end Division-I college. result of the game and the fact that, due to However, as talented as the team was, CIF ejection policy, the Oilers would have it couldn’t shake an equally gritty Clovis to play their first state playoff game withWest squad led by De’Jon Jackson (who out McKines (leaving them with a roster also would go on to play Division-I basof six). Collins wasn’t about to be interketball for San Diego). viewed in the hall, however. “My team Inside the game’s final minute, De La made it to the Arena,” he said. “We’re doSalle had more than a few chances to close ing this right.” out the game at the free throw line. HowSo he led reporters to the interview ever, after the Spartans missed the front end of three one-and-one opportunities, Clovis West closed room, now empty after Montgomery had vacated. Collins climbed up two steps and sat at a table facing the rest of the within one point, 41-40.

Then, with 7.7 seconds left in the game, the Spartans’ Justin room and the two reporters there to talk to him.

And with a grin asked, “First question?”

Joyner was fouled and sent to the line. De La Salle had made

“Couldn’t watch.”

FIRST PITCH Chace Bryson Editor

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PHONE 925.566.8500 FAX 925.566.8507 Editorial Editor@SportStarsMag.com Editor Chace Bryson. Ext. 104 • Chace@SportStarsMag.com Contributors Bill Kolb, Erik Stordahl, Mike Wolcott, Jim Mannion, Mitch Stephens, Dave DeLong, Gary Xavier, Doug Gardner, Matt Smith, Clay Kallam Photography Butch Noble, Bob Larson, Jonathan Hawthorne Creative Department Art@SportStarsMag.com Production Manager Mike DeCicco. Ext. 103 • MikeD@SportStarsMag.com Publisher/President Mike Calamusa. Ext. 106 • Mike@SportStarsMag.com Advertising & Calendar/Classified Sales Sales@SportStarsMag.com Account Executives Mike Wolcott Ext. 109 • MikeW@SportStarsMag.com; Patrick McCormick Ext. 102 • Patrick@SportStarsMag.com; Erik Stordahl • ErikS@Sport StarsMag.com (Special Sections, Calendar, Marketplace sales) Reader Resources/Administration Ad Traffic, Subscription, Calendar & Classified Listings info@SportStarsMag.com • Deb Hollinger. Ext. 101 • Distribution/Delivery Mags@SportStarsMag.com Distribution Manager Butch Noble. Ext. 107 • Butch@SportStarsMag.com Information technology John Bonilla CFO Sharon Calamusa • Sharon@SportStarsMag.com Office Manager/Credit Services Deb Hollinger. Ext. 101 • Deb@SportStarsMag.com Board of Directors Dennis Erokan, CEO, Placemaking Group Roland Roos, CPA, Roland Roos & Co Susan Bonilla, State Assembly Drew Lawler, Managing Director, AJ Lawler Partners community SportStars™ Magazine A division of Caliente! Communications, LLC 5356 Clayton Rd., Ste. 222 • Concord, CA • 94521 info@SportStarsMag.com www.SportStarsMag.com

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Show me a good coach, and I’ll show you a good sports psychologist

I

have always believed that the best coaches are the best sport psychologists.

These coaches are sensitive to the complexities inherent in the sport they teach and they understand that whatever they focus on, so will their players. Despite being very competitive, these coaches never talk about winning, even though they crave it as much or more than their peers.

These coaches are great teachers, use the athletic environment as their classroom and the lessons they teach extend well beyond the sporting context. These coaches were not always the best player and had to figure out ways to overcome personal limitations and obstacles.

The work ethic they illustrate as a coach, they developed as an athlete. They coach because, as an athlete, they had to or wanted to learn more to be better than their peers. By maximizing their own athletic talent (or not) these coaches coach because they want to impart information and insight to their players, who are experiencing the same things they did when they first played.

At the core of coaching, is this desire to help young athletes learn from the successes and failures of others before them, so that they can avoid some of the common pitfalls that occur within teams and among individual athletes.

In 2011, the role and definition of a coach continues to change and evolve. Aside from being a role-model, substitute parent, support mechanism and authority figure, the average high school varsity coach can easily be consumed by

the year-around nature of their sport and can easily become burned out as a result of the growing number of responsibilities on and off the field.

To add to an already full plate, I believe coaches today also have to be good sport psychologists in order to establish mutual respect and provide constructive feedback in such a way that has staying power, yet does not employ any of the negative coaching methods involved from earlier eras.

No longer can a coach demand respect and instill fear.

Coaches in 2011 cannot make a team run for a poor performance, deny a team water on hot days, or yell and scream at their players when mistakes are made. These methods did not work in the past, nor are they effective in the present.

Yet, at the same time, many coaches I speak with believe that the over-emphasis on being “positive” is creating generations of athletes and performers who are resistant to feedback, constructive criticism and learning.

Should a coach tell an athlete that they did a good job at something when they did not, just so they could say something positive? Does saying something positive preclude a coach from saying anything that can be perceived as being negative?

Where is the middle ground?

Well, I have always viewed the positive coaching movement in, let’s say, a positive light. Yet, when I think of “positive” coaching, I worry that the emphasis on positive coach-

Get Mental

Doug Gardner

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February 10, 2011

ing also creates a false view of what negative coaching is.

Lost in the discussion and debate over positive coaching is the quality of the actual teaching and learning that is going on. Usually, when kids are having fun, they are engaged in learning something new and challenging. Listen closely, and you will hear a child say they had fun somewhere, and that comment will be followed by something that they learned while they were there.

For athletes, the same holds true. The fun in sports participation is learning, especially when learning is fostered by those in charge. Inherent in learning is making mistakes.

Good coaches know the difference between mistakes due to lack of effort or focus, compared to mistakes made out of learning and taking a chance at working on improvement.

At some point in sport, athletes have to be taught and coached. Feedback has to be given and it is not always positive. This, however, does not mean that any other kind of feedback is negative.

In the end, coaches and athletes, alike, have a choice in how they give, take and accept feedback. Coaches have the most control over this, as they are the individuals who create the environment where success will be defined, either through victory, effort or both.

Dr. Doug Gardner is a Sport Psychology Professional who spent six years (1998-2003) as the Sport Psychology Consultant for the Boston Red Sox. He is the owner of ThinkSport Consulting Services, which has locations in Northern and Southern California. You can find more of his “Get Mental” columns at www.SportStarsMag.com. Contact Dr. Gardner by email at dg@thinksport.com.

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Keep spring from being a season of injured pitchers

I

n the Bay Area, some days it feels as if spring is already here. While the breeze still has a chill to it, sunny days are signaling to baseball players of all ages that winter is finally fading away and it will soon be time to line the fields with chalk and oil the leather gloves for baseball season. Soon the crack of bats, slapping of leather gloves and non-stop chatter will be heard from every direction.

Unfortunately, so will the moans of pain as young athletes are hurt in the phenomenon known as “Little League Elbow,” and medically as, medial epicondylitis.

Medial epicondylitis —it can also be referred to as “Golfer’s Elbow,” — is an easily preventable injury caused by overuse of the flexor and/or pronator muscle groups of the forearm.

It is essentially a strain, which is a stretch or small tearing of the muscle fibers, tendon or tendon sheath. In this case, it is the repeated forceful flexion of the wrist and valgus elbow (elbow-in) forces that are causing microtears in the muscles of young arms.

In the bodies of children and young adults who are still growing, the repetitive stress may cause the apophysis, the un-hardened bony attachment of the tendon at the elbow condyle, to become irritated. And in severe cases, it can pull a piece of the bone off. This condition is called apophysitis.

The most common symptoms for little league elbow is localized swelling, point tenderness, and muscle weakness or dysfunction. It may become difficult for you to grip a baseball, bend your elbow or flex your wrist.

It is important to note that this is a chronic trauma injury that occurs from throwing and not by pitch type. Simply overthrowing, throwing too many pitches without proper rest, fatigue or lack of conditioning are contributors to the injury. During play, beware of signs of fatigue such as loss of control or pitch speed, needing more time between

pitches, or poor mechanics like leaning, pulling the head to the side, or dropping your arm angle. These are red flags for a repetitive trauma injury.

Typically, athletic trainers may treat a mild injury with a combination of rest, ice, and a forearm strap and then help you work on more efficient mechanics. However, the best thing you can do is to prevent arm injuries is by adhering to recommendations for pitch counts and rest periods.

While 17- and 18-year olds can throw 105 pitches per day, teenagers 16 and younger should only throw 95 maximum. The 11-12 year old ballplayers can throw 85 daily pitches and 9-10 year olds 75. Kids younger than this should not throw more than 50 pitches in a day.

Little League baseball requires rest periods for pitchers once they reach 20 pitches in a game. Throwing 21-35 balls equals a day of rest, 36-50 pitches equals two days, and so on every 15 pitches.

If you suspect this injury, have your coach or athletic trainer refer you to a qualified sports medicine specialist or orthopedic professional for an evaluation. Overall, conservative treatments are preferred. Rest, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), proper strength and conditioning. Also, flexibility programs are usually prescribed.

You must be fully healed before returning to play or risk making the injury worse, perhaps even season-ending.

For the “Boys of Summer,” that would be as much a tragedy as a long winter. ✪

Health Watch Mikel Jackson

Mikel Jackson is an athletic trainer for the staff of Sports Medicine For Young Athletes, a division of Children’s Hospital Oakland with a facility also located in Walnut Creek.

If you have questions or comments regarding the “Health Watch” column, write the Sports Medicine For Young Athletes staff at Health@SportStarsMag.com.

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February 10, 2011

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2. the Martin Luther King Classic basketball showcase in Berkeley Feb. onred g Day al Signin during Nation on gathe g was s offerin week’

Jared Leaf Alhambra-Martinez

First thing you’ll do if you score a TD in college

Best thing about the school you chose

Home-cooked meal you’ll miss most

Hawaii Endless amounts of food

Hand the ball to Hamburger the ref pie

Boise State The atmosphere of the city

Chicken wings

Run to the sideline

First thing you’ll hang on your dorm wall My socks from my game against El MolinoForestville

o

High school stat of which you’re the most proud

0

Zero fumbles

Our state title

Nothing

Blake Renaud De La Salle-Concord

Washington How motivated it is to get to the Rose Bowl

Give the ball to the ref Mom’s chicken casserole

My big ‘W’ poster My sack total

Travis Feeney Pinole Valley-Pinole

San Diego State - I just felt at home among nice people Darrell Greene Freedom-Oakley

Notre Dame Once you step on campus, you know you’re part of history Josh Atkinson Granada-Livermore

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Celebrate with my team Mom’s Hamburgers

Grandma’s pies at Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato.

Mmmmmm.

Point to God and say ‘thank you’

Pictures of my mom and girlfriend

Pictures of my family

22 22 straight starts

No one caught a ball against me all season

Pregame superstition you’ll take with you Wear a Power Balance band Not really superstitious, but I’ll wear the same stuff on game day

Find five songs and play them in the same order before the game Listen to the same rap playlist before the game

Pray to God and ask him to keep me safe

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HE SAID WHAT?!?

How to survive the long sports-deprived month of February The Super Bowl is in the rearview. March Madness and the state basketball playoffs are still far, far ahead in the distance. Even state wrestling doesn’t come until the first weekend of March. How in the world are we going to get through the doldrums of February? Here are the top five ways for sports fans to keep themselves sane for the next month.

1. It’s never too soon to start planning for your fantasy baseball draft.

2. Did you know that you can play ping-pong online? It’s true. You can do that.

3. Winter X-games reruns?

4. We hear tiddlywinks is fun. How about a nice jigsaw puzzle?

5. When do pitchers and catchers report again?

“When I was a freshman, if you had asked me what I knew about wrestling I would have told you it was guys in masks and tights with folding chairs.”

College Park-Pleasant Hill wrestler Orry Elor, who in just four years of training has become one of the top heavyweight wrestlers in the nation.Turn to page 28 to read about his quest to finish off his high school career by winning the state title that has eluded him so far.

HE SAID WHAT?!?

So, this Aaron Rodgers fella is getting quite a bit of press lately. And if you follow football and live in Northern California than you likely already know the following: 1) Rodgers played in all three levels of amateur football right here in Northern California, starting with Chico’s Pleasant Valley High, then Butte College (also in Chico) and finally at CaliforniaBerkeley. And 2), he was just named the Super Bowl MVP. But here are few things you might not know (yet.)

■ Rodgers is actually the third Northern California-born athlete to win a Super Bowl MVP, and the fourth graduate of a Northern California high school to do so.

■ The others include Jim Plunkett (James Lick-San Jose), Tom Brady (Serra-San Mateo) and Lynn Swann (Serra-San Mateo). Swann is the one who was not born in Northern California. His family moved to San Mateo from Tennessee when he was 2-years old.

■ Amazingly, Serra-San Mateo is not the only California high school to boast two Super Bowl MVPs. Lincoln-San Diego’s list of graduates includes Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis.

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Serra-San Mateo (above) and Lincoln-San Diego each have a habit of producing Super Bowl MVPs.

February 10, 2011

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of the week

t

sara irvine maria carillo-santa rosa . basketball . junior The Maria Carrillo girls basketball team was at a crossroads a few weeks ago when star junior guard Taylor Graham went down with a season-ending ACL injury. It’s difficult for most teams to bounce back, but the Pumas have played resiliently.

Junior Sara Irvine is a big reason why Maria Carrillo has won four of its past five games. She nailed the go-ahead three-pointer in a 37-36 overtime victory over Rancho Cotate on Jan. 31.

SportStars: How is your team coping with the loss of Taylor Graham?

Sara Irvine: Mainly, we’ve been trying to focus on what we did with her and try to play our defense like we know we can. We’ve had to have a lot more people play up.

SportStars: Who has stepped up in her absence?

SI: (Sophomore guard) Aaliyah Sowards, my sister (freshman) Sadie — she’s had to take on the role of point guard. I’ve stepped up more. I’ve realized that we need someone to score more points.

SportStars: What was running through your mind when you made that game-winner against Rancho Cotate?

SI: When I shot the three, I just knew it was going in. I had adrenaline going through my body. We had to win for Taylor no matter what.

SportStars: What’s the biggest shot you’ve made in your career?

SI: Last year when we played Santa Rosa, I hit the 3 to (force) overtime. But the Rancho game was the biggest. We just knew we had to come out and win for Taylor.

SARA’S QUICK HITS Most 3’s made in a row: 12 Coolest basketball shoes you’ve owned: Pink Nikes to support breast cancer.

Twitter or Facebook: Facebook

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Jonathan Hawthorn

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February 10, 2011

honorable mention

Madison casten The setter for the 14-Heat team of the Diablo Volleyball Club was named Player of the Tournament on Jan. 29 in a non-league tournament despite being under the weather. Her hustle, serving and setting paced the Heat to a 4-0 day including a straightsets win in the final against the 13-1 San Francisco Tremors.

aaron cameron The Sacramento sophomore enjoyed his coming out party against Bishop O’Dowd at the Martin Luther King Classic on Jan. 17 with eight 3-pointers in an 86-85 win. He has since collected a double-double (10 points, 10 assists) in an 89-47 win over Johnson-Sacramento on Feb. 3.

luke sheridan The De La SalleConcord senior wrestler continued his assault upon the top tournaments in the state. After winning January titles at the Doc Buchanan and the Battle for the Belt, he won the 189-pound division at the Mission San Jose Invitational on Feb. 3.

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Lifting our anti-bandwagon policy for a story worthy of mass support

I

see green people.

I see them everywhere I go. I see them at stores, on the street, on high school campuses and gymnasiums.

Inevitably, the people — OK, jerseys — include gold lettering and a big No. 12 on the back beneath the name “Rodgers.”

It’s just the latest example of the bandwagon mania that circles the Bay Area pretty much once a year, including (but not limited to) the long-ago days when the 49ers and Raiders were winning Super Bowls with an impressive degree of regularity.

Inevitably the bandwagons would fall into one of two categories: 1. Whichever team won the Super Bowl, or 2. Whichever team had knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs. (The Giants, Vikings and Redskins all come to mind — their jerseys were seemingly everywhere following their one-time playoff victories over the 49ers, then they all vanished just as quickly — granted, right around the same time as BETA cassette players.)

This time around, though, we have a bandwagon unlike any to ever circle the area. This time, it’s for all the right reasons — and it includes some incredible life lessons worth repeating to every Northern California high school athlete.

This time, finally, the bandwagon is being led by one of our own — so please, feel free to climb on board, and stay as long as you’d like.

Welcome to Mr. Rodgers’ neighborhood.

This isn’t your typical, “Hey! Drew Brees won the Super Bowl so I’m buying his jersey!” February in these parts. Aaron Rodgers’ triumph is one that absolutely should be enjoyed by not only everyone who calls himself a North State sports fan, but also by anyone, anywhere, who enjoys rooting for the underdog.

Simply put, Rodgers is one of us. He’s the first Cal quarterback to win a Super Bowl, and he’s also the first athlete out of the rural, northern Sacramento Valley to be a Super Bowl champion since Corning’s Jeff Stover won a pair of rings with the 49ers in the 1980s.

(You know, the 49ers. The team that could have, and should have, drafted Rodgers with the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. You know, the year when everyone in Northern California was screaming for Rodgers to be the 49ers’ pick — except the guy who actually made the pick. But enough about Mike Nolan, whose name is heretofore forever banished from any mention in “Wally’s World.”)

Now, back to the man in that green No. 12 jersey — and the lessons every young athlete should take to heart.

WALLY’S WORLD Mike Wolcott MikeW@ SportStarsMag.com (925) 566-8500 Ext. 109

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Rodgers had the kind of career out of Chico’s Pleasant Valley High that, based on statistics alone, should have made him a cream-of-the-crop recruit for any Division I school. But, since he played for a relatively out-of-the-way school — and in those days, was just 5-foot-10, 165 pounds to boot — he didn’t get a single scholarship offer. The only school to show any real interest was Illinois, which told him he could compete as a walk-on.

Undeterred, Rodgers went to nearby Butte College, throwing 28 touchdowns passes in his one season of junior college ball while leading his team to a 10-1 record and a No. 2 national ranking.

(Call that lesson No. 1 for high school athletes: Don’t be afraid to keep chasing your dream if it doesn’t work out as you’d hoped at first.)

That caught the attention of Cal coach Jeff Tedford. And since Rodgers had a 3.6 GPA and an SAT score of 1,300 in high school, he was able to transfer to Cal right away instead of waiting a year.

(That’s lesson No. 2: Keep your grades up. Not only is it a good practice to begin with, you never know when it might come in handy. And who knows what might have happened to Rodgers if he’d stayed another year at Butte?)

In two years at Cal, Rodgers threw for 43 touchdowns and 5,469 yards while leading the Bears to a No. 4 national ranking late in his junior season. His stock was so high he decided to forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft, where a majority of Mel Kiper Jr.-types figured he would be the first player selected.

Instead, the fellow who coached the 49ers at the time — his name escapes us, and we want to keep it that way — picked Alex Smith with their No. 1 overall pick. Rodgers fell all the way to the Packers at No. 24, then waited his turn behind Brett Favre for more years than he had any right to expect.

Once given the opportunity, he didn’t disappoint.

(Call that lesson No. 3: Be ready, no matter how long it takes. You never know if you’ll get another chance.)

After the Super Bowl victory, Rodgers — the game’s MVP — stayed true to his roots, recalling the athletes that originally inspired him as a boy in Chico.

“It’s what I dreamt about as a little kid watching Joe Montana and Steve Young,” Rodgers said.

Let’s call that lesson No. 1 for the Bay Area’s two NFL teams: Try a little harder to avoid overlooking such an obvious homegrown talent.

Otherwise, someday, you might get flattened by a bandwagon that started rolling right in your own backyard.

February 10, 2011

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Hone your skills, but don’t fear weights My coach wants everyone to lift weights three times a week.

I’d rather spend my time working on skills. What should I do?

B.C., Stockton My volleyball coach says I should lift weights, but I don’t want to be musclebound like a boy. If I lift weights, will I get big, ugly muscles?

D.L., Novato

S

ince both these questions hit on the same topic, I thought I’d address them both at once.

First, though, I have to say I’m in a minority when it comes to weightlifting. Obviously, being stronger helps any athlete, but there’s only so much time in a day, and so I don’t really believe weightlifting is mandatory for success in all sports.

Football players, wrestlers and throwers, however, are three obvious categories of athletes for which weight training is critical.

Anyone who’s serious about any of these three sports needs to learn to love the weight room, because success won’t come without spending some serious time shoving iron around.

No matter the sport, being stronger is always an advantage, if only to help prevent injuries.

(Flexibility, of course, is just as important, but that’s another article.) But is a young basketball player better served by spending his time working on ball handling and shooting or by improving his bench press?

My answer would be to get the skills first, but many coaches would disagree. They would say basketball players should do both, and it’s hard to argue — except for the real-world factors of homework, jobs and friends. Teen-agers don’t have a lot of extra time, especially athletes, and studies have shown that young people don’t get nearly enough sleep.

That impacts both their athletic and academic achievements.

For football players, again, weight-lifting is not an option; it’s a requirement. That’s not open for debate. But what about softball? What about volleyball? What about golf?

Some coaches will say one thing, and some coaches another, but whatever your coach says is, by definition, the right answer. If your coach says you need to lift weights three times a week, then you need to lift weights three times a week. You can discuss this with him if you like, but my guess is that for you to make the team and be as successful as you’d like, you need to do what the coach thinks is important.

If you have to lift weights, then do it. Too many athletes don’t really want to lift, and so they waste time in the weight room. They chat, they complain about the music, they do the minimum on each station and then go home no stronger or fitter. That’s simply dumb. If you’re there, make yourself stronger. Work at lifting weights. It won’t hurt you, and if you have to do it, as with anything in life, do it as best you can.

Finally, girls, don’t worry. Physiologically, it’s almost impossible for you to have muscles like a boy. There are a few girls who will have visible biceps and calf muscles, but they won’t be bulging out like a boy’s. Most of you, though, will get stronger and it will barely show. You’ll just be a better athlete, in better overall condition and less likely to get hurt — and there’s nothing wrong with that. ✪

Behind the Clipboard Clay Kallam

To submit a question for Behind the Clipboard, email Coach Kallam at clayk@fullcourt.com.

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February 10, 2011

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H

ide your clipboards and whistles because the football coaching world will descend upon Concord beginning on Feb. 17 as the Nike Coach of the Year Football Clinic will host its Northern California conference.

High school coaches from as many as 14 states flocked to the East Bay for last year’s conference, and clinic coordinators expect a high turnout once again.

The conference is set to take place from Feb. 17-19 at the Concord Hilton. Among the highlights of this year’s schedule — besides the fact that SportStars will be there as the event’s official magazine — will be guest speakers Jim Tressel (Ohio State head coach), Gary Patterson (TCU), Steve Sarkisian (Washington), Pat Hill (Fresno State) and new Stanford head coach David Shaw.

The conference is also taking the chance to honor the five California high school coaches who won California Interscholastic Federation State Championship bowl games in 2010. Four of those coaches lead Northern California programs. You can read about each one over the next five pages.

In the meantime, if you want information on registering for the clinic, visit the clinic’s website at http://www.nikecoyfootball.com/ northern-california.aspx.

The schedule Thursday, Feb. 17 2-4 p.m. — Registration 4-4:50 p.m. — Coaching sessions with Brett Brennan (WR coach, San Jose St.), Tosh Lupoi (DL coach, Cal) and James Ward (DB coach, Nevada).

5-5:50 p.m. — Coaching sessions with Klayton Adams (OC, Sacramento St.), Ashley Ambrose (DB coach, Cal) and Matt Dimeola (DC, Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa).

7-8:20 p.m. — DAVID SHAW (HC, Stanford), keynote address on offense 8:30-10 p.m. — Coaching sessions with Kenwick Thompson (LB coach, Cal) and Justin Alumbaugh (OL coach, De La Salle-Concord).

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Friday, Feb. 18 7-9 a.m. — Registration 9-9:50 a.m. — Coaching sessions with Latef Grimm (HC, Brookside Christian-Stockton), Hardy Nickerson (HC, Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland) and Peter Lavorato (HC, Sacred Heart Prep-San Francisco) 10-10:50 a.m. — Coaching sessions with Scott Altenberg (HC, Serra-Gardena), Mike Darr (HC, Diablo Valley College) and Aaron Gingery (HC, Shasta-Redding).

11-11:50 a.m. — Coaching sessions with Shannon Lendry (strength/conditioning, Stanford) and Dr. Jeffery Lazurus (pediatrician).

12-1 p.m. — “Chalk Talk” lunch featuring PAT HILL (HC, Fresno St.) 1-1:50 p.m. — Coaching sessions with Joel Allen (HC, Bishop’s School-La Jolla), Anthony Goston (HC, San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno) and Brad Clark (WEBB electronics, football technology).

2-2:50 p.m. — Coaching sessions with Brian Hamilton (HC, Concord), Eric Billeci (HC, California) and Casey Taylor (HC, Del Oro-Loomis).

3-3:50 p.m. — Coaching sessions with Mark Loureiro (HC, Escalon), Troy Thomas (HC, Servite-Anaheim) and Ryan Byrne (OC, Diablo Valley College).

4-4:50 p.m. — Coaching sessions with Earl Hansen (HC, Palo Alto), Joseph Cattalico (HC, Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove) and Tony Franks (HC, St. Mary’s-Stockton).

6:30-7:50 p.m. — PAT HILL (HC, Fresno St.), keynote address on offensive line play.

7:50-8 p.m. — CIF Bowl-winning coaches awards presentation 8-9:20 p.m. — GARY PATTERSON (HC, TCU), keynote address on building a defense with the 4-2-5.

Saturday, Feb. 19 9:30-11 a.m. — STEVE SARKISIAN (HC, Washington), keynote address on the Washington offense.

11:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m. — JIM TRESSEL (HC, Ohio State), keynote address on building a comprehensive offensive game plan.

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■ AGE: 60 (18 at Palo Alto) ■ TENURE: 23 seasons 0 14: RD ■ 2010 RECO 174-85-3 ■ CAREER RECORD: ■ SECTION TITLES: 4 : 1-1 ■ CIF BOWL RECORD NKING: 3 RA TE STA 0 201 ■ FINAL (1 first-team) 4 ■ 2010 ALL-STATERS: VICTORY TO H PAT 0 201 Regular season .............................W 21-9 9-10 @Burlingame.........

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Brandon Dukevic/The Viking

E

arl Hansen doesn’t like to talk about himself. It’s all about the team, he says. And his coaching staff.

“The head coach gets entirely too much credit,” he said. “But he probably deserves a lot of the blame.”

There was no blame needed for Palo Alto’s dream 2010 season which featured the 99-year-old school’s first 14-0 season, first state title — a CIF Division I Bowl championship — and a No. 13 ranking nationally by MaxPreps. com.

It was the first time Palo Alto has ever been nationally ranked, Hansen said.

“What stands out about this team is just how much they improved since the first day of practice and the first game,” Hansen said. “If you were charting a team on a graph, it would go up and down and up and down. This team just steadily climbed and climbed and climbed.”

Behind Hansen’s steady and no-nonsense direction, the Vikings pulled off one mild upset after another in the Central Coast Section playoffs — including three straight victories over vaunted West Catholic Athletic League foes — before pulling off an absolute shocker in the state bowl game.

Centennial-Corona entered its game against the Vikings as the No. 5 team in the nation. The Huskies featured what many believed was the most potent offense in

“Coach Hansen is awesome. He’s like the father of the entire program and he pushes all the right pieces.”

Palo Alto quarterback Christoph Bono the state, and the attitude of an angry squad with something to prove.

Centennial thought it belonged in the game’s premier Open Division bowl game and entered the contest with the proverbial chip on its shoulder.

But Hansen convinced his team they were battle-tested, smart and talented enough to hang with Centennial. And then — led by a superior defensive effort along with two spectacular touchdown passes from second-team AllState quarterback Christoph Bono — the Vikings pulled out the improbable 15-13 victory.

“We made the plays for sure, but our coaches put us in perfect position to beat that team,” said Bono, the son of

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former 49ers quarterback Steve Bono. “Coach Hansen is awesome. He’s like the father of the entire program and he pushes all the right pieces.”

Though the state bowl title was glorious, Hansen’s biggest claim to fame is coaching current 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh at Palo Alto for two seasons starting in 1981.

“Taught him everything he knew,” Hansen joked.

Harbaugh certainly was influenced by Hansen and paid him a huge compliment after leading Stanford to a 12-1 season, an Orange Bowl victory and final No. 4 national rankings.

“You talk about coaching jobs — there’s the best coach on the Peninsula, the best coach in the Bay Area,” said Harbaugh of Hansen. “This is his finest hour, his finest season.”

Keith Peters, who has covered prep sports in Palo Alto for more than three decades, said Hansen’s success has been earned.

“He does love what he does and commands respect without demanding it,” Peters said. “I think the players respond to that better than an old-fashion screamer. I think all the other athletes on Paly’s other teams really like him as a person.

“He’s just a good, old-fashion humble kind of guy.”

— Mitch Stephens February 10, 2011

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■ AGE: 41 ■ TENURE: 6 seasons ■ 2010 RECORD: 14-1 51-18-1 ■ CAREER RECORD: 1 : ES TITL ON CTI ■ SE : 1-0 ■ CIF BOWL RECORD NKING: 2 RA TE STA 0 ■ FINAL 201 (1 first-team) 4 ■ 2010 ALL-STATERS: VICTORY TO H PAT 0 201 Regular season ......................... L 49-14 8-27 Grant-Sacramento.... ..........................W 55-7 9-10 @Roseville................ ...........................W 62-15 9-17 Sacramento............

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K

ris Richardson looked neither defeated, angry or unapproachable.

His Folsom High School football team opened the season with a resounding 49-14 loss to Grant-Sacramento before about 8,000 fans jammed into its own home stadium and a nationally-televised audience.

“We didn’t play our best,” he said quite clearly. “We would have liked to play better. We will play better and our goal is to see Grant again here for the (Sac-Joaquin) Section title.”

Richardson’s words came with conviction and sure enough, the Bulldogs fought all the way back, won 12 straight games by an average score of 56-12, and then avenged its earlier defeat with a 41-20 jackstomping of Grant, then ranked fourth in the country, before more than 20,000 fans at Sacramento State University. “That (victory) was probably the highlight (of my career),” Richardson said. “There was something quite satisfying about that win. We righted a lot of wrongs that night.”

The 56-point turnaround was sweet. But it was just the cake. Two weeks later, the Bulldogs added the icing with a 49-14 trouncing of the defending CIF Division III bowl champion Serra-Gardena. The CIF State Division II bowl championship victory on a rain-drenched field washed away not only the season-opening loss but a heartbreak-

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Folsom High School

“Coach Richardson gets his points across without being a yeller and screamer. We just all respect and care for him because he’s a great coach and person.”

Folsom quarterback Dano Graves ing 43-42 season-ending loss to Del Oro-Loomis the season before.

In that game, Folsom squandered a 35-7 halftime lead.

“We’ve learned a lot about ourselves over the last two seasons,” Richardson said. “We have some very determined young men who are very good football players.”

And they are led by a superb and towering coach.

The 6-foot-7 Richardson was a former offensive lineman at Pleasant Hill’s College Park High and Diablo Valley College. He loved to run the ball, but, like most of America, Richardson evolved into a spread-the-field guru.

“You look at Richardson, his towering, wide left-tackle

frame, and you think the man would live to run the football,” said Joe Davidson, a high school writer for the Sacramento Bee for more than two decades.

“Early in his Folsom coaching career, he tried to run the ball but didn’t have the big bubbas on the line to do it.

So he went with the spread offense, opened the playbook and the Bulldogs have been prolific and superb, and the kids love this offense.”

And they love Richardson. Especially quarterback Dano Graves, the MaxPreps National Player of the Year after accounting for a state-record 85 touchdowns.

“Coach Richardson gets his points across without being a yeller and screamer,” Graves said. “We just all respect and care for him because he’s a great coach and person.”

According to Davidson, Richardson is a player’s coach.

“He’s firm, but friendly, Demanding, yet compassionate.

And he’s a brilliant play-caller. He had opponents gassed and guessing.”

Unlike most head football coaches, Richardson has little ego, which paid dividends for the team’s title run. He hired his coaching mentor, regional coaching legend Max Miller, to be his defensive coordinator for the 2010 season.

“It was one of the great coaching jobs in Northern California history,” Davidson said. “Without a doubt.”

— Mitch Stephens Upload photos and team stats! www.SportStarsMag.com

■ AGE: 54 ■ TENURE: 22 seasons ■ 2010 RECORD: 14-1 226-40 ■ CAREER RECORD: 8 ES: TITL ■ SECTION RD: 1-0 ■ CIF B OWL RECO NKING: NR RA TE ■ FINAL 2010 STA (2 first-team, small school) 4 RS: ATE -ST ALL 0 ■ 201 VICTORY TO H 2010 PAT Regular season 0 ............................... W 379-3 @Lathrop....................

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There’s a scene in the movie “Hoosiers” where the bus carrying the Hickory High basketball team is being followed by a caravan of cars as the small-town community follows its team to the big game.

Maybe it didn’t look quite look like that when the Escalon High (enrollment: 963) football team traveled south to Carson to play in the CIF Division III bowl championship game last December.

But make no mistake, just about the entire town came along.

Seeing that support as he took the field will remain one of coach Mark Loureiro’s lasting memories from a season which was full of them.

“When I looked up and saw how much of the community was there to support us, it was pretty special,” Loureiro said.

“This was more than one season. This was a cumulation of something we’ve been working on for several years, and there were many people involved. This wasn’t just about the school of Escalon. It was about the town of Escalon. It meant something to everyone.”

So it goes without saying that Escalon’s 30-14 win over Madison-San Diego started a party back home that has yet to truly fizzle out.

And for Loureiro, the win was another feather in

Brian Ramsey/Modesto Bee/Zuma Press

“I was on the committee that founded the (bowl games) when it started, and never did I imagine in my wildest dreams that I’d be there with my own team.”

Mark Loureiro what has become an extremely decorated hat during his 22-years as coach of the Cougars. The bowl game victory was his 226th career win at the school, which came one game after he won his eighth section title.

But even a championship season such as this didn’t come without bumps.

On the third game of the season, Escalon suffered a 22-15 loss to Patterson. But it wasn’t that they lost to the larger program, it was how they lost.

“Usually we’re a little more physical than our oppo-

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nent,” Loureiro said. “But on that night we got pushed around a bit. And when that happened, it woke us all up.”

That game would stand as the team’s only loss.

The Cougars went on to win 12 straight to finish the season.

Loureiro’s team entered the championship bowl game as a heavy underdog against a Madison team that was averaging more than 38 points per game. Escalon, which hadn’t played a game in two weeks, never blinked. The Cougars built a 23-7 lead by the end of the first half and never let the high-powered Madison offense gain any traction on the rain-soddened field at the Home Depot Center.

“I was on the committee that founded the (bowl games) when it started, and never did I imagine in my wildest dreams that I’d be there with my own team,” Loureiro said.

“It was hard to beat the feeling afterward while standing on the awards podium with the kids all around us. I remember how good it felt to look into their faces and see the sense of satisfaction they felt as a result of all their hard work and dedication during the season.”

And meanwhile, the town of Escalon beamed on.

— Chace Bryson February 10, 2011

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■ AGE: 26 ■ TENURE: 2 seasons ■ 2010 RECORD: 14-0 22-5 ■ CAREER RECORD: 1 ES: TITL N ■ SECTIO : 1-0 ■ CIF BOWL RECORD NKING: NR RA TE STA 0 ■ FINAL 201 ool) 2 (2 first-team, small sch RS: ATE -ST ALL 0 201 ■ Y TOR VIC TO H PAT 0 201 Regular season ............................ W 26-21 9-3 @El Capitan-Lakeside.

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t’s hard to imagine Joel Allen could ever get tired of this.

What’s not to like?

The job: Head high school football coach at The Bishop’s School — a perennial small-school powerhouse in the San Diego Section since the mid-90s.

The location: La Jolla, San Diego’s picturesque suburb of rolling hills and beautiful golf courses.

It’s also hard to imagine that The Bishop’s School could ever get tired of Allen.

The results: In two seasons, he’s notched 22 wins against just five losses. He’s reached the section final in both years — winning it in 2010, and then going on to win CIF Division IV championship bowl game 40-14 over Brookside Christian-Stockton on Dec. 17.

Allen knows it’s not supposed to be as easy as he’s making it look.

“Mike David, the coach I replaced, had really laid the groundwork for this,” Allen said. “Sometimes when you take over a program, it’s in shambles and you’re trying to flip it around. That wasn’t the case here. The groundwork had already been laid down and it was just a matter of how do I put my tweak on it and make it successful.”

Allen found right away that he would need to tone down the gambler’s mentality that he carried as an offen-

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Phil Dailey/La Jolla Light

“I’ve had good teams and I’ve had special teams.

Good teams have a lot of talent. ... Special teams develop when it’s more than just a game to them.

It meant more to this year’s team.”

Joel Allen sive coordinator in previous seasons.

“As an offensive coordinator, you constantly want to go for it on fourth down. You always believe you have the play that’s going to get your team the first down,” Allen said. “That first year, I had to start caring about things I hadn’t before. Things like a (special teams) snap and hold were suddenly important to me.”

But that was the first year.

His 2010 squad seemed to keep Allen’s concerns to a minimum. And it took just one game for him to see the type of team the Knights were capable of being.

Playing at the larger school El Capitan-Lakeside in its season-opener, Bishop’s faced a five-point deficit with the ball at midfield and approximately 35 seconds to go. The Knights managed to score a game-winning touchdown with eight seconds left. It was the first of 14 straight wins.

Allen said that drive was just a glimpse into the type of team the Knights would evolve into.

“These guys were gamers,” the coach said. “If you wanted to go play in a pick-up beach volleyball game, we were going to beat you. We were going to be competitive in everything we did. This group just found a way to flip the switch and get to that extra level where suddenly losing wasn’t an option.”

Bishop’s found that gear in the fourth quarter of the state bowl game, scoring touchdowns in each of its last three possesions to turn a 20-14 game into a laugher.

“I’ve had good teams and I’ve had special teams,” Allen said. “Good teams have a lot of talent, understand the game of football and how it should be played. Special teams develop when it’s more than just a game to them. It meant more to this year’s team.”

— Chace Bryson Upload photos and team stats! www.SportStarsMag.com

■ AGE: 56 ■ TENURE: 32 seasons ■ 2010 RECORD: 14-0 371-24-3 ■ CAREER RECORD: 26 ES: ■ SECTION TITL : 3-2 ■ CIF BOWL RECORD NKING: 1 ■ FINAL 2010 STATE RA 7 (2 first-team) ■ 2010 ALL-STATERS: Y 2010 PATH TO VICTOR son sea lar Regu 7 .................................. W 459-4 @Serra-San Mateo.. ...... W 40-14 ...... ...... ...... ...... . n. ckto 9-17 St. Mary’s-Sto 14 Vegas................... W 289-25 Bishop Gorman-Las ................ W 49-7 ...... ...... ...... nton asa -Ple 10-1 Foothill 0 leasanton.................. W 5610-8 @Amador Valley-P 14 62W .. ...... ...... ille..............

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n the world’s long list of quandaries and stumpers, one might come across this question: What do you get for the guy who has everything?

But when it comes to the high school football coaching career of Bob Ladouceur, the question needs to be slightly tweaked.

How do you assess the coach who wins everything?

We’re hardly in danger of hyperbole with that question.

In 32 years at De La Salle-Concord, Ladouceur has accomplished the following: ■ 26 North Coast Section titles.

■ 14 State Team of the Year selections (season-ending No. 1 rankings).

■ 5 USA Today national championships.

■ 3 CIF state bowl championship victories.

■ 1 national-record 151-game win streak.

So we ask again: How do you assess the coach who wins everything?

We would suggest one look at three things. How consistent his team is. How well it executes. And how it performs on the biggest stages.

Consistency? Well, Ladouceur’s 2010 Spartans averaged more than 430 yards of offense per game, and the defense surrendered 17 points or more just three times in 14 games.

Bob Larson

“They will definitely go down as one of my best teams.

I just thought they were solid in every game.

There just was never really a down game for them.”

Bob Ladouceur Execution? We point to an offensive line that paved the way for an average of 303 rushing yards per game, and freed up tailback Lucas Dunne to score a school-record 40 touchdowns. We might also suggest a defense which finished the year with a plus-16 turnover ratio.

Performance on the big stage? That’s primarily the reason you’re reading about him right now. De La Salle made a mockery of the CIF Open Division championship bowl game with a 48-8 drubbing of Servite-Anaheim — which had entered the game ranked No. 4 in the nation by USA Today.

“I really did feel confident going in that we could beat them,” Ladouceur said. “I didn’t think it was going to be

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by that score, of course, but I thought we could do well against them.

Looking back on the film of it, I do feel we played our best game of the year. Everybody was in the right spots.

Everybody was doing the right thing. Our offensive line had its best game, and so on.”

The victory gave De La Salle back-to-back Open Division titles and pushed its modest winning streak (in De La Salle terms) to 26 games.

In 14 games in 2010, the Spartans were really pushed only two times. The first was a 28-14 nonleague win over eventual Nevada state champion Bishop Gorman-Las Vegas on Sept. 25. The second was a 31-17 win over California-San Ramon in a league-championship-deciding regular season finale between two unbeaten teams on Nov. 12.

The Bishop Gorman game was the only time all season De La Salle trailed at halftime (14-7). And the Spartans never trailed in the fourth quarter of any game throughout the season.

“They will definitely go down as one of my best teams,” Ladouceur concluded. “I just thought they were solid in every game. There just was never really a down game for them.”

— Chace Bryson February 10, 2011

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King

of the

stage

Chris Schwartz-Edmisten’s home court doubles as an auditorium, which is why you may not know he’s the Sacramento area’s top scorer By jim mccue | Contributor

When scanning the layup line before the game starts, Sacramento Waldorf ’s Chris Schwartz-Edmisten does not stand out to the casual observer.

Standing at 6-foot-3, the soft-spoken junior guard blends into the crowd on the basketball court.

That is, until the action starts.

With an unassuming nature and a business-like court demeanor, it’s easy to understand why some people don’t know that the Waves’ co-captain and floor leader is the Sacramento region’s leading scorer with an average of 30.5 points per game average over his team’s first 21 contests. It doesn’t take long, though, for opponents and spectators to learn he is a force to be reckoned with come game time.

“Every team we face plans their game around trying to slow down Chris,” said Waves’ coach Dean Stark, whose team boasted a 16-5 overall record through Feb. 4. “We’ve seen every defense there is against various levels of competition, and he still gets his points.”

In a recent 69-47 win over Forest Lake Christian, SchwartzEdmisten poured in a season-high 49 points to outscore the opposition all on his own. But, it’s not been a matter of just beating up on league foes. He posted 41 points against Mira Loma-Sacramento in an earlier contest that the Waves lost 6660. His lowest point total this season has been 15 points. ◆◆◆ While Schwartz-Edmisten gets plenty of attention from opposing players on the court, he enjoys relative anonymity playing at Sacramento Waldorf.

The small private school located on the bluffs of the Ameri20

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Chris Austria

Sacramento Waldorf guard Chris Schwartz-Edmisten drives to the basket during a win over Woodland Christian. The 6-foot-3 guard, averaging over 30 points per game, has a proven ability to score inside and outside.

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can River has a small gymnasium that doubles as the school’s auditorium with the basketball court sitting just below a theater stage. And while he takes center stage when the game starts, Schwartz-Edmisten has no desire to bolt the school he has called home since the second grade for a bigger basketball spotlight at another area school.

“I’ve never considered going elsewhere,” he says. “I can get exposure basketball-wise playing for the Davis Wildcats in AAU. I have friends here that I have been with since second grade and I like the school and its arts programs.”

Sacramento Waldorf emphasizes the arts in general, but Schwartz-Edmisten has become interested in the school’s digital arts classes in particular. Just a junior, the school’s digital arts class has sparked early thoughts of filmmaking and graphic art.

While he does not have firm plans for a college major, Schwartz-Edmisten is firm in his belief that he can play at the next level— with another year of hard work and practice.

“I’m definitely looking to play in college,” he said, “But I know that I have work to do. I have to be in the gym lifting weights to play a more physical game and improve my conditioning. I also think I need to get quicker and get better with my (ball control).”

Stark agrees with the areas needed for improvement, but believes his star guard has the tools and work ethic to get to the next level.

“The question is not so much if he wants to play in college, but what level he wants to play at,” says Stark. “The next step in his progression as a player is to get stronger and put on about 15 pounds, so that he can handle the physical aspect.” ◆◆◆ Schwartz-Edmisten’s basketball progression is a continuing evolution that had very early roots. He was so obsessed with hoops, even as a toddler, that he had a basketball-themed party and cake for his second birthday.

Eventually, his talent and passion for the game landed him a spot on the Waves’ varsity roster as a freshman, where he played primarily as a shooting guard.

“He was purely a shooter when he first made the team,” Stark said. “He could spot up and make shots, but he didn’t have the ability to create off the dribble. His dribble penetration has improved greatly, and he attacks the basket much more.”

By necessity, Schwartz-Edmisten moved from shooting guard to point guard, where creating shots off the dribble has helped earn him the area’s scoring lead. The makeup of the Sacramento Waldorf team dictates that Schwartz-Edmisten brings the ball up the court each possession, keeping it in his hands for a large portion of the offensive set.

In a recent home win over Cristo Rey, Chris took the team’s first seven shots and scored 12 of the Waves’ 15 first-quarter points. But the humble junior hardly takes on the appearance of a ball hog.

“We don’t have all of the pieces now to allow

Chris to play at (shooting guard),” Stark said.

“It’s a very young team and it takes time for others to have the confidence in their shot.”

The Waves have just one senior on their 11-player roster. Stark is hopeful that others like juniors Brennan Peterson Wood and Cody McElligott continue to gain a belief in their scoring abilities and assume some of the shooting responsibility from SchwartzEdmisten. His improved dribble penetration skills have allowed other players to get better looks as defenders often collapse on Schwartz-Edmisten, who is not averse to giving up a contested shot for an easy lay-in by one of his teammates.

Of course, opponents who take the risk of allowing Schwartz-Edmisten to get open looks do so at their own peril.

In the Forest Lake Christian game in which he recorded his season-high 49 points, Schwartz-Edmisten shot 19-of-27, including 2-of-3 from beyond the 3-point line. In many games, especially Central Valley California League contests, Waldorf builds such a large lead that Schwartz-Edmisten sits for much of the fourth quarter. ◆◆◆ One upcoming game that is not likely to allow Schwartz-Edmisten to do much watching is a Feb. 15 rematch with Victory ChristianCarmichael.

The Vikings (16-7, 8-1 CVCL through Feb. 4) dealt the Waves their only league loss at home back on Jan. 18. This time, Sacramento Waldorf travels to nearby Carmichael for a showdown that is likely to determine the CVCL title. If Schwartz-Edmisten can hold off Darrell Polee Jr. of Global Youth CharterAntelope for the section scoring crown.

“The rematch and the shot at the league title means a lot to us as a team,” Schwartz Edmisten said. “I try and take the games one at a time and not to get too wrapped up in the future, but I’ve had my eye on the rematch.”

Should he hold off Polee Jr., he would be following in the footsteps of an unlikely influence — Robbie Lemons, a 2010 graduate of Sacramento Country Day School who led the area in scoring last year and finished second in the nation with a 36.4 ppg average and now plays at Stanford. “I like that he was also from a small school like me,” Schwartz-Edmisten said. “He is a great player and scorer and I really admired the way he handled himself on and off the court.”

There may be some inner drive for Schwartz-Edmisten to follow in Lemons’ footsteps with an area scoring title, but it would fit right into his unassuming nature for the junior to prefer that the Waves capture their first league championship since 2007 — the season before he joined the team as a freshman.

Then he could blend in with the rest of his teammates, in celebration on the court.

“I view leading the section in scoring as a big achievement, but I don’t place more value on it than our team goals,” he said. “It’s just an extra achievement on top of the success we’ve had as a team.” ✪

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club scene

Diablo Valley VB Club brings the Heat, and takes the title De La Salle rugby kicks off its season in style By erik stordahl | SportStars The 14-Heat girls team of the Diablo Valley Volleyball Club was rather busy in the month of January. They kicked things off in a non-league tournament on Jan. 9. They finished 3-1 on the day, finishing third out of 12 teams.

“The Player of the tournament was Molly Dalziel,” said Heat coach Willie Marchesano. “(Basically) for her all around good play and leadership.”

Dalziel and the Heat battled in the California Kickoff, which featured 86 teams, on Jan. 15-16. Marchesano’s girls finished the tournament 5-1 with their only loss coming to eventual champion 14-1 Carmel Beach (26-28, 23-25).

“Players of the tournament were Jessica Stratton and Kenzie Brown,” Marchesano said. “Jessica was chosen for her great overall play. She was really solid all week. Kenzie was singled out for her setting and serving, which were both amazing all weekend.”

Their road to Carmel Beach featured victories against the 14-2 San Francisco Juniors (25-11, 25-16), 13-2 First String Blue (25-11, 25-12), 14-1 Tandem Navy (25-12, 25-6) and 13-1 Empire (25-21, 26-24).

Another non-league tournament followed Jan. 29 when the Heat took home first place.

They faced the San Francisco Tremors in the final where they topped them in straight sets capping off a perfect 4-0 day. In their first match of the day, the Heat obliterated a Club Stockton area league team in pool play 25-0, 25-5.

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Upcoming for the Diablo Valley Volleyball Club is league play on Feb. 12-13, followed by the President’s Day Tournament held at the San Jose Convention Center on Feb. 19-21.

Check www.diablovbc.com for more information on tournaments and results.

De La Salle rugby opens strong Poised for another successful season, the De La Salle rugby club attended the Sacramento Kick Off Tournament on Jan. 29 at Granite Park in Rancho Cordova. The Spartans took three teams to the KOT and went a combined 6-2.

Both varsity squads went unbeaten with the the Varsity Green going 3-0 and the Varsity Silver going 2-0.

The two teams then returned home to host Elsie AllenSanta Rosa on Feb. 4 and each picked up the victory.

CYC cheer team excels The Community Youth Center’s Senior Level 1 Black team took first place at the Spirit Spectacular Competition held at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on Jan. 29. The Senior Level 2 Golf squad finished fourth out of 12 teams.

The Spirit Spectacular is a cheer competition series that features over 200 cheer squads.

Go to www.communityyouthcenter.org for more information on CYC’s cheer squads and other sports including wrestling, judo and boxing.

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club scene

Bob Larson

A little more than one month after scoring a school-record 40 touchdowns, De La Salle-Concord football star Lucas Dunne has turned his attention to rugby where the Spartans have opened the season with a varsity sweep at the Sacramento Kickoff Tournament and a home victory over Elsie Allen-Santa Rosa.

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in the paint

Noah Springwater has the Red Devils eyeing the Division V state title By mitch stephens | Contributor San Francisco University High School boys basketball coach Randy Bessolo isn’t much into labels or positions.

Point guard-shooting guard, small forwardpower forward, post-five, one, two, three, four — whatever — Bessolo says it’s all just semantics.

Especially when trying to define his star 6-foot-3 Noah Springwater, a do-everything senior southpaw who will play next season at Bessolo’s alma-mater Columbia and whom the seventh-year Red Devils’ coach calls the best player in San Francisco.

“He’s a baller,” Bessolo said. “That’s what position he plays.”

Through 15 games, Springwater averaged 20.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.9 steals a game, all team bests.

He also was shooting 48.6 percent from the field, 44.9 percent on 3-pointers and 82.5 percent from the line.

In every respect, Springwater — likely a point guard in college — is efficient.

“He can play whatever Kyle Smith (former St. Mary’s assistant and now Columbia head

inside look: University-San Francisco coach) wants him to play,” Bessolo said.

And no matter where he plays, said University senior and co-captain Zio Enriquez, Springwater makes every teammate better.

“He has such a high basketball IQ, it rubs off on everyone,” Enriquez said. “He’s a total team guy. He picks his spots. When teams match up against us even-up, he’ll take over.

When they key on him, he distributes. He’s the perfect teammate.”

Chicago toughness and swagger He’s certainly the perfect teammate for University, 19-5 after the first 24 games.

The Red Devils aren’t very big — no one is listed taller than 6-3 — and not terribly athletic, but they thrive on guts, guile, skill and a high confidence level that are all reflections of their 46-year-old coach.

“Randy is calm on the court, but when you talk to him there is underlying feeling of confi-

Jordan Lebrecht

Through 15 games, University-San Francisco guard Noah Springwater led his team in points (20.7), rebounds (7.4), assists (4.1) and steals (3.9). dence, almost cockiness,” said sanfranpreps. com editor Jeremy Balan, who has covered about a dozen University games over the last two seasons. “I believe some call it a swagger.”

Bessolo’s background is a dichotomy — raised in Marin, prepped at the Thatcher School in Ojai near Santa Barbara and Ventura, he was an All-CIF point guard at the small school where he averaged more than 16 points per game.

He then played a couple seasons at Columbia where he learned and came to loathe the Princeton offense.

“It was much too slow for me,” he said. “I’m just not that patient.”

He taught little of it — on the court anyway — at the AAU level while coaching for 15

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years in Chicago, where he started his career in financial real estate.

The Harvard Business School graduate coached more than 25 Division I players there, including recent NBA and college stars Evan Turner (76ers), Jon Scheyer (Duke), Jacob Pullen (Kansas State) and Will Walker (DePaul).

“In Chicago, it’s all about toughness,” Bessolo said. “I suppose I’ve brought some of that. But we constantly preach about playing with joy.”

When he returned to the Bay Area in 2004, he immediately jumped into the AAU circuit — a virtual death sentence when trying to land a high school job.

“Scholastic institutions are suspicious, even hostile with the AAU scene,” he said.

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in the paint Noah Springwater brings the ball up the floor in a Jan. 19 home game against Stuart Hall-S.F. The Red Devils won that game 64-41, the first of eight straight wins following a 65-61 loss to St. ElizabethOakland. University is expected to be a top seed when the North Coast Section Division V tournament opens on Feb. 22.

“I just love to coach and teach and the game of basketball.

The AAU season forces you to teach what is important very quickly.”

Back on track He networked with coaching veterans such as Don Lippi (St. Joseph Notre Dame) and Doug Vierra (Bishop O’Dowd) who alerted him to the opening at University, which had a rich small-school history with eight Bay Counties League, three NCS and three NorCal crowns, the last in 2002 when Springwater’s only brother, Ben, was a sophomore.

University lost in the state finals that year to perennial state power Price-Los Angeles, 72-65, and Ben Springwater had 11 points and teammate John Casnocha had 28 points including five 3-pointers.

The Red Devils had a couple rough seasons after that and then opened up the head coaching job.

“They had great history before I came,” Bessolo said. “This was a great opportunity for me to help them get things back on track.”

The first year was tough at 6-16, but that was followed with an 18-11 campaign. The Red Devils have won at least 21 games the last four seasons, topped off with a 28-8 in 200910, a bittersweet season to be sure.

University lost in both the NCS and NorCal finals to Branson-Ross (41-40 and 62-44), which has only fueled the team’s drive this season.

“We set high goals for ourselves and to win NCS and NorCals are definitely a part of it,” Springwater said. “We fell just short last year and we definitely don’t want to feel that again.”

To prepare the Red Devils, Bessolo backs off from no one while making his schedule. The undersized, vertically challenged squad defeated San Francisco powers Riordan (6560), Mission (82-66), Lincoln (74-55) and Marshall (97-75).

Bessolo hardly takes the air out of the ball either, instead pressing full-court, forcing tempo and finishing off breaks with 3-pointers.

“Coach really promotes skill development,” Springwater said. “We spend 30 minutes at the end of every practice just shooting. It’s a big part of our game.”

And it’s all about playing University’s game — not worrying about what the opponent does well.

Jordan Lebrecht

Will Carroll and Harold Getz, both sophomores, and freshman Jack Gale.

“More than anything, this group brings a fearless and competitive attitude to the floor every game,” Bessolo said.

But undoubtedly the leader on the floor each night is Springwater.

“He’s very thoughtful and a very nice young man,” Bessolo continued. “He’s reserved by nature, but in his role as captain he definitely speaks up.”

And when truly needed to score or shoot, he’s not bashful.

Balen called him a “stone-cold scorer” when he needs to

be. “Like so many shooters, when he gets going he appears unstoppable,” Balen said.

“In a game against Lick-Wilmerding, he had 19 points in the second quarter (and finished with 28). It was just an unbelievable shooting display. He also has the ability to get to the basket and he gets to the free throw line with ease.”

The funny thing, Bessolo said, is Springwater may be a better defender than offensive player. In the Lick-Wilmerding game, he recorded a unique double-double with 11 steals.

“He has a real good feel for the game,” Bessolo said. “He does whatever we need him to do.” ✪

Best stretch Like at the Modesto Christian Holiday Hoop Classic. The Red Devils faced far superior athletic teams so most figured University would slow things down.

Instead University sped things up while beating Canoga Park (73-32), Fremont-Los Angeles (69-66) and Notre DameSherman Oaks (74-64). The team’s only loss in the tourney was 66-62 to Burbank-Sacramento.

It was probably the Red Devils’ best stretch of basketball this season. It definitely caught the attention of those at the tournament.

“There was a pretty big buzz in the crowd every time we played,” Bessolo said. “Here were are this small private school team pressing and running with the big inner city schools. We’d get a lot of unsolicited comments from folks saying they liked how we play.”

The Red Devils definitely like it.

“Everyone really buys into it,” Enriquez said. “You have to be pretty dynamic and definitely unselfish to play in it.”

Among the team’s key components, other than Springwater, are senior guards Enriquez and Matt Schneider, junior guard Max Savage, and three underclassmen forwards —

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in the paint

Lack of height hasn’t kept team from a 22-1 start By clay kallam | Contributor

One of the hidden treasures of the Bay Area is a thriving basketball program that no one hears much about: Asian basketball leagues and tournaments.

Originally, the leagues formed because of overt and covert racism, but they still exist for a variety of reasons, including that they’re community-based, and that Asians, in general, are shorter than many Californians – and basketball, as we know, is a game that rewards the tall.

High school girls’ basketball fans can see the fruits of the well-run Asian leagues by just watching the Mission San Jose Warriors of Fremont, who had just one loss through Feb. 4, and are in first place in the Mission Valley Athletic League.

That standing is somewhat of a surprise to many. First, Mission San Jose’s tallest player on an almost all-Asian roster is 5-10; and second, the Warriors haven’t shared an MVAL title since 1995, and they last won an outright championship in 1973. (Yes, that’s 1973, and yes, that was 38 years ago.)

Within the MVAL, though, the ascendance of Mission San Jose isn’t a shock.

When Doug Sakamoto took over in 2008, the Warriors went 16-13, and last year they were 19-9.

“Three years ago, I didn’t have a graduating senior,” said Sakamoto, who previously coached at Irvington. “This year, we have eight seniors, and it’s helped us in those grinding-type games.”

And Mission San Jose definitely grinds out wins, especially on defense. The WarButch Noble riors have given up more than 40 points only Mission San Jose’s Maya Ramachanthree times all season, despite having posts who are just 5-9 and 5-10. dran looks for room to shoot during the “We’re very defensive-oriented,” says Warriors 44-38 win at American-FreSakamoto. “We emphasize that in practice.” mont on Feb. 1. Mission San Jose last Though they will play zones, their best shared a Mission Valley Athletic League defense is man-to-man, and they play it with title in 1995, and hasn’t won it outright tenacity and intensity. (If you count India since 1973. as part of Asia, then Mission San Jose has one non-Asian, Megan McLaughlin. Maya Ramachandran, the 5-10 post, has an Indian background.)

“We do a good job hampering the other team’s No. 1 scorer,” said Sakamoto. “We focus on making the complementary players score against us.”

That strategy has obviously worked well, as the Warriors’ only loss this year was to Huntington Beach, one of the many very strong Southern California teams, at the Costa Mesa tournament. The next night, Elaine Tsao hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to give Mission San Jose a 32-30 win over El Toro, which beat Huntington Beach earlier in the season.

The biggest NorCal win for the Warriors was over league rival James Logan-Union City, 4031. The two teams are on track to play in the last game of the season for the MVAL title — and a win for Mission San Jose would give the Warriors that elusive outright league title.

And it would also be more evidence that the Bay Area’s Asian leagues deserve a lot more credit than they usually get. ✪

inside look: mission san jose

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in the paint

Enrollment breakdown will be costly to two NCS Div. I girls teams One negative for Mission San Jose, and all the North Coast Section Division I teams, is that the NCS has only 22 teams in Division I so only two teams can advance to the NorCal playoffs. If there were 24 teams, then four teams could move on — and since Berkeley and Carondelet-Concord look pretty solid as one and two, that’s a big difference for teams like the Warriors.

A cursory look at the NCS breakdowns shows that by shifting the enrollment requirements just a bit – which sections are allowed to do – there could be 24 teams in Division I, and 24 in Division II. But NCS Associate Commissioner Karen Smith pointed out that she drew up the lists in January 2010, before it was mandated that Carondelet move up to Division I after winning three straight Division II titles. So at that time, there were just 21 Division I teams, and moving three up from Division II, which has 25 teams, would have required moving teams up from Division III, and eventually Division IV. “Marin Academy and University of San Francisco would have been bumped to Division IV,” she said, “and those are Division V programs.”

In other words, someone was going to get the short end of the stick, and it turned out to be the eventual third and fourth place finishers in the NDS Div. I playoffs, who might have moved on to NorCals but instead will end their seasons in the NCS semis.

The rivalry continues As rivalries go, it doesn’t get much better than the one between the De La Salle-Concord and San Ramon ValleyDanville boys basketball teams right now.

It all started back on Jan. 5, 2010 when the Wolves went to De La Salle and shocked the Spartans 49-45. It was the first time in more than 12 seasons that the Spartans had been defeated in a league game at home. In fact, prior to that game, De La Salle was 90-0 in home league games under coach Frank Allocco.

Since then, De La Salle had won four straight hard-fought games against SRV (which included a 53-42 win on Jan. 7).

But the Wolves still managed to come in and win on the Spartans’ home floor again, beating De La Salle 53-47 on Feb. 1.

Despite the upset, the Spartans still held a one-game lead over SRV in the East Bay Athletic League standings.

NorCal Girls Top 15

NorCal Boys Top 15

Records are through Feb. 5. Teams from the Central Section are not considered.

Rank (Last week) Team Record 1 (1) Berkeley...................................................22-1 2 (2) St. Mary’s-Stockton.................................15-2 3 (3) Carondelet-Concord................................19-3 4 (4) St. Mary’s-Berkeley.................................19-4 5 (5) Dougherty Valley-San Ramon................20-2 6 (6) Presentation-San Jose............................17-5 7 (7) Archbishop Mitty-San Jose......................15-7 8 (11) St. Ignatius-S.F.......................................18-5 9 (12) Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland.......................15-7 10 (13) Del Oro-Loomis...................................19-3 11 (9) Deer Valley-Antioch...............................14-6 12 (10) Eastside College Prep-Palo Alto.........16-6 13 (8) Pinewood-Los Altos Hills.......................16-5 14 (14) St. Francis-Sacramento......................17-5 15 (nr) Lincoln-Stockton...................................19-2

Records are through Feb. 5. Teams from the Central Section are not considered.

Rank (Last week) Team Record 1 (1) Archbishop Mitty-San Jose......................20-2 2 (3) Castro Valley............................................20-2 3 (2) Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland.........................18-4 4 (6) Salesian-Richmond.................................7-17* 5 (4) De La Salle-Concord...............................18-4 6 (12) Granite Bay............................................20-3 7 (nr) Burbank-Sacramento.............................18-4 8 (14) Sheldon-Sacramento............................16-7 9 (13) El Cerrito................................................17-5 10 (5) Sacramento...........................................18-5 11 (nr) Franklin-Elk Grove ...............................19-5 12 (11) Woodcreek-Roseville ..........................19-4 13 (15) Chico....................................................20-1 14 (nr) San Ramon Valley................................20-2 15. (7) Oakland.................................................13-6 *Forfeited 16 games (ineligible player), under appeal

Rank and file

since Pinewood-Los Altos Hills lost to Eastside College PrepPalo Alto, splitting that series, and Deer Valley beat Eastside, that all falls together.

Sort of.

The rankings will all become a lot clearer once postseason begins — but until then, don’t expect too many changes.

— Chace Bryson and Clay Kallam

Girls basketball in the West Catholic Athletic League sure doesn’t make it easy. Presentation-San Jose has beaten Archbishop Mitty-San Jose twice; Mitty has beaten St. Ignatius-San Francisco twice; St. Ignatius has beaten Presentation twice. The only difference between them is that Presentation hasn’t lost to St. Francis — so Presentation gets the higher ranking.

Bishop O’Dowd jumps into the top 10 on the basis of its domination of the Hayward Area Athletic League, and its win over Del Oro-Loomis — which has beaten Deer Valley. And

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Bob Larson

P. 28: College Park-Pleasant Hill senior Orry Elor (left) has established himself as one of the top heavyweight wrestlers in the nation, but he’s more concerned about his home state — where he’s hoping to be crowned champion this March at the CIF state championships in Bakersfield.

Tunnel VISION

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Orry Elor still seeks an elusive CIF state title and this March represents his last chance. The College Park-Pleasant Hill heavyweight is all in

O

By bill kolb | Contributor

rry Elor has unfinished business.

Elor, College Park High School’s heavyweight wrestler, wasn’t satisfied with the way his 200910 season ended and he resolved then that 2010-11 would be even better.

So far so good.

Elor, who won his first North Coast Section championship last year and placed No. 8 in the state at the California Interscholastic Federation championship tournament in Bakersfield, has been on a mission this season.

It began in the summer when Elor went to Fargo, North Dakota and ripped through the Junior GrecoRoman heavyweight division at the Cadet and Junior National Championships. Elor recorded pins in six of his nine matches, eventually topping Minnesota’s Donnie Longendyke 1-0, 4-0 for his second straight national championship. For Elor, though, Fargo was really just a starting point.

“Don’t get me wrong, the Greco national championship is prestigious,” Elor said. “But it’s not my ultimate goal. Last year I was projected to win or take second (at CIF) and I finished eighth. I think I let the rankings get to my head a little bit, and that showed me what can happen if you don’t wrestle as if every match might be your last. … I don’t think (the national title) made me more confident. It made me more Upload photos and team stats! www.SportStarsMag.com

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humble and it made me realize I need to use the same strategies to be successful.”

Elor has one loss this high school season. It came in the Sierra Classic Tournament in Reno after a match in which he injured his leg.

He said that he initially thought the injury wasn’t bad so he taped it up and fought through it. Later he learned that his tibia might have been broken. It wasn’t, but the scare that potential injury put in him has brought him face-to-face with his wrestling mortality.

“It could have been broken,” he said. “My season could have been over. I didn’t go into that match thinking it could be my last. Now, I go into every match thinking it could be.”

College Park coach Jim Keck has seen the difference in Elor since the injury scare and the loss.

Mind you, with a dinged up leg, Elor still made it a match against Servite’s Wyatt Baker who is currently ranked No. 2 in the state.

“I think it was a good loss,” Keck said. “It made him refocus and rethink his game plan. He’s gotten back to basics since then, back to what works best for him.”

Everything is working for Elor right now. He is blasting his way through the Diablo Valley Athletic League competition and gobbling up local tournaments.

He is the odds-on favorite to repeat as an NCS champion.

He was ranked No. 3 in the state as of Feb. 3 according to thecaliforniawrestler.com, trailing just Wyatt and Clovis freshman phenom Nick Nevills whose tournament titles at the Zinkin Classic and the Doc Buchanan have given him some state title buzz.

But Elor isn’t letting any of the rankings or publicity distract him from the larger goal of winning a state title.

“I don’t pay any attention to rankings or any of that stuff now,” Elor said. “Last year I lost a match (at state) because I was out-smarted. He had a better game plan and he beat me.

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Bob Larson

Elor doesn’t waste time in the circle. The 285-pounder works against Northgate-Walnut Creek’s Jeremy Olson during a dual meet on Feb. 2. The match ended with Olson being pinned in less than 90 seconds.

I’m not going to let that happen again. At state, if you lose one match, your chance at first is over. I’m preparing now as if the state tournament is this weekend — every weekend.”

Fast Starter Elor is unhurried in the circle. Not plodding or slow like some 285-pounders, mind you, simply methodical. He uses his bearish brute strength and good technique to execute his game plan for each match, slowly, inexorably breaking down his opponents’ defenses and finally overwhelming them.

Sometimes this happens quickly, not because Elor is in a rush but because he is a nearly unstoppable force.

“He’s a machine,” Keck said. “He’s a strong, strong kid.”

As smooth and accomplished as Elor is on the mat, it might come as a bit of a surprise that he has only been wrestling for four years.

“He’s good,” De La Salle coach Mark Halvorson said of Elor,

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“(Elor’s) obsessed. He’s got high goals for himself. That’s part of being successful. But he puts the work in. He does it year round. He finds places to work out, drives to Boise to the Olympic training center to practice. He really just loves it.”

College Park coach Jim Keck who works out with Halvorson at the Community Youth Center in Concord. “He trains really hard. He’s a good kid and a hard worker. He’s very coachable; always trying to get better.

You don’t find too many big kids with the desire to get better that he has. He could easily have been a successful football player.”

And he nearly was.

“When I was a freshman if you had asked me what I knew about wrestling I would have told you it was guys in masks and tights with folding chairs,” Elor said. “I didn’t know anything about it. But this guy at my school kept telling me, ‘Coach wants to meet you. Just come and check it out.’ I kept finding ways to kind of blow him off. I’d say, ‘Maybe.’ Eventually he said, ‘It will make you better at football,’ and then I was interested.”

Ironically, wrestling ended up supplanting, rather than supplementing, Elor’s football career.

“I tried (football) as a freshman and a sophomore,” he said.

“But my sophomore year I realized I wasn’t really getting a grasp. … I didn’t grow up paying any attention to football.

I played soccer, basketball, Australian-rules football. … My parents are first-generation (U.S. citizens). All of my family is in Israel.”

But he stuck it out in the mat room, and has quickly risen into the upper echelon in the section, state, and country.

“He’s amazing,” said thecaliforniawrestler.com editor Al Fontes. “He’s a two-time national champion and a three-time all American. He’s a top-15 guy in the country, maybe higher.”

Elor already is a three-time High School All-American. He won a Greco-Roman cadet title in 2009 as the nation’s top 16year old before last year’s junior title. After placing sixth in the NCS as a sophomore in 2009 (just his second year of competition) he racked up two pins and a technical fall victory at NCS in 2010. He nipped rival Dylan Wynn of De La Salle 2-1 in the semifinal and topped second-seeded Kalafitoni Pole of James Logan 5-4 in the final.

Elor identifies Wynn, who placed third at NCS last year, as his primary competition in the section again this year.

“He lost a close match to me last year,” Elor said of Wynn. “I know if I don’t give it my all against him, I might lose.”

Elor knows that the target is firmly on his back at NCS on Feb. 25-26 at Newark Memorial.

“Everyone is going to step on the mat trying to beat me,” he said. “I’m going to go out there to send a message to everyone — including myself — that I really am this good.”

wrestle for Ohio State University, a traditional Big 10 wrestling powerhouse. “I want to make (the coaches at Ohio State) feel they made the right choice picking me over any of the other guys they could have recruited,” Elor said.

Though he still feels a bit envious of the attention garnered by the football players he has a clear plan for himself.

“I want to get an education,” he said. “Anything can happen in wrestling. Academics are important. You have to have something to fall back on.”

Beyond that?

“My end goal is to win a world championship or an Olympic medal,” he said.

Keck said that Elor’s willingness and ability to set lofty but attainable goals has been one of the prime motivating factors in his rapid rise.

“He’s obsessed,” Keck said. “He’s got high goals for himself.

That’s part of being successful. But he puts the work in. He does it year round. He finds places to work out, drives to Boise to the Olympic training center to practice. He really just loves it. He’s confident and hard-working and goes the extra mile.

He’s a student of the sport.”

For all the lofty aspirations and accolades, Elor is still a little bit stunned by his success on the mat.

“It’s a miracle I’ve made it this far,” he said. “All this is coming so fast; I’m just trying to keep up.” ✪

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED Elor may not have his CIF belt yet, but he continued to blaze his path toward Bakersfield with a title at the prestigious Mission San Jose Invitational on Feb. 4-5 in Fremont. Following are the top five team scores, and the results of each championship match. Some teams are abbreviated after first reference, Top teams: Clovis 259, De La Salle 209, Clovis West 139, Liberty-Brentwood 121.5, Madera South 94.

Finals matches 103 — Isaiah Locsin (Live Oak) d. Troy Lakin (Clayton Valley-Concord) 18-7 112 — Joe Ramirez (De La Salle-Concord) d. Andres Torres (Windsor) 8-6 119 — Daniel Gaytan (Clovis) d. Javier Gasca (CentralFresno) 6-4 125 — Joey Moita (DLS) d. Matt Gay (Clovis) 9-6 130 — Brian Sergi (Coll. Park) d. Juan Salas (Clovis) 3-2 135 — Drew Smith (Damonte Ranch-Reno (NV.)) d.

Josue Hernandez (Madera South) 8-3 140 — Joey Lavallee (Reno) d. Kenny Nez (DR) DQ 145 — Jesse Baldazo (Liberty) d. Jonathan Gomez (MS) 8-5 152 — Victor Pereira (Newark Memorial-Newark) d.

Blake Thompson 5-2 160 — Curtis Siegfried (DLS) d. Adrian Salas (Clovis) 3-2 171 — Nikko Reyes (Clovis West) d. Zach Nevills (Clovis) 8-3 189 — Luke Sheridan (DLS) d. Dakota Gordon (Clovis) 3-1 215 — Scott Brasil (Mt. Pleasant-San Jose) p. Griffith Gates (Foothill-Pleasanton) 1:17 285 — Orry Elor (CP) d. Jumoke Hunter (CW) 6-1

Future Looks Bright Elor says that he feels a certain amount of pressure to live up to the high standards set by his family.

Orry is hardly the only accomplished athlete in the Elor clan. His sister, Ronny, won a women’s freestyle national championship in 2010 at 220 pounds as a senior after placing second at 220 as a junior. His father, Yair, was a world-class shot-putter at Boise State University from 1980-84.

Another bit of pressure came this year when Elor said his family labored over finding “the right college for me,” and that the process of coming to that decision has had “a big impact on the season.”

After some deliberation, Elor accepted a scholarship to Support Your Local Business • Say You Found Them In SportStars™

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tee2green

You’ll learn the game of golf better if you’re having fun Are you having fun playing golf?

Maybe if you decide to take a look at the way you have been learning, you might discover that this is where an adjustment can be made which could help you have more fun while practicing and playing golf.

So many golfer’s are “stuck” in the same pattern of just trying to experiment with the latest swing advic e, golf gimmick and invention, that they often fail to see where the culprit of the problem really exists. Maybe it is in their own head!

If you picked up the game out of a fascination and desire to learn, somewhere along the way that passion got sidetracked. No doubt golf is a challenging game requiring coordination and motor skill development, but

Dave De Long

notes from the pros if you are constantly battling from within, it makes the learning process almost impossible to yield favorable results.

Take an assessment of your learning. Is it intimidated by hesitation, confusion, frustration, anger or depression? The trick is to genuinely make learning fun.

As Oswald B. Shallow reminds us: Choose to have fun. Fun creates enjoyment. Enjoyment invites participation.

Participation focuses attention. Attention expands awareness.

Awareness promotes insight. Insight generates knowledge.

Knowledge fascinates action and action yields results. Perhaps you have set your goals high and you are more determined to have your best season yet. Make sure to also place at the top of your goal list to have more fun in the process.

Dave DeLong is the PGA professional and director of instruction at Boundary Oak GC. Contact him at ddelongolf@aol.com.

First Tee’s ‘Goal Ladder’ can be a big help on and off the course All of us have dreams and aspirations, something in our minds that we want to achieve more than anything.

The First Tee helps participants with this by not only teaching them how to make goals, but also gives them tools to achieve these goals. One of the first tools you learn is the “Goal Ladder”. The Goal Ladder for me, has been one of the most helpful and easy tools I have learned from the First Tee. What the Goal Ladder teaches you is that you cannot just get to your goal first thing, you must work your way up to the top. First, you must have a goal — this is the top step of the Goal Ladder. After you have this top step, you fill in the rungs below with steps that you know you must take to reach that goal. Whether it be something that needs to be done by yourself, or something that others must help you with, every rung in the ladder is helpful to the ultimate goal. As you begin to

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first tee, firsthand check tasks off your goal ladder, the more your goal comes into view. It is exciting to see the hard work and determination pay off in the end. So next time you have a dream that you want to make reality, use the “Goal Ladder” to work your way to the top!

Eddie Estrada is a senior at De La Salle High. He has been a member of The First Tee Contra Costa for six years. Contact him at eddieestrad@ gmail.com.

Eddie Estrada

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NCGA and NCPGA create the Junior Tour of Northern California

By SportStars Staff After operating independently of each other over the past couple of years, the junior tours of both the Northern California Golf Association and the Northern California Section of the Professional Golfers’ Association have agreed to merge.

The agreement, which was reached on Feb. 3, creates the Junior Tour of Northern California — an 18-tournament circuit to be played out on some of Northern California’s finest courses. Each tournament will be two-round, 36-hole championships and flighted to account for varying player abilities.

Players will be sorted by handicap as opposed to age.

“We are excited to join forces with the NCPGA,” NCGA CEO/Executive Director Lyn Nelson said in a press release.

“The real winner is junior golf in our region. Contestants will enjoy top-notch venues, certified rules officials and championships for tremendous value. We take pride in offering juniors an unparalleled competitive environment.”

The tour’s first stop will be in Stockton on March 12-13.

The tournament will utilize two courses, Brookside Country Club and Stockton Country Club. The circuit will be broken down into three parts, the Spring Series (six tournaments), Summer Series (seven tournaments) and Fall Series (five tournaments, concluding with the Tour Championship at Stevinson Ranch on Oct. 29-30).

“The merger between our associations is a great step forward for junior golf in Northern California,” NCPGA Executive Director Chris Thomas said in a press release. “With the experience and expertise that both associations possess, this new Tour is sure to provide junior players the best golf experience Northern California has to offer.”

Thanks to the reputation of the two merging tours, the American Junior Golf Association — which holds several marquee amateur events throughout the U.S. — has already agreed to award performance-based exemptions to the boys and girls winners or every championship flight at each stop of the Junior Tour. Junior golfers can join the tour with a $40 membership fee, and each tournament will have a $90 entry fee. Registration is available online at ncga.org and ncpga.com. ✪

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Junior Tour of California Schedule Spring Series Date Course Location 3/12-13....... Brookside CC/Stockton CC....Stockton 3/19-20....... Sierra Meadows CC...............Ahwahnee 3/26-27....... Sharon Heights GCC..............Menlo Park 4/9-10......... Hunter Ranch GC...................Paso Robles 4/16-17....... Oakdale CC............................Oakdale 4/30-5/1...... Oakmont GC...........................Santa Rosa Summer Series 6/21-22....... Palo Alto Hills GC....................Palo Alto 6/23-24....... Belmont CC.............................Fresno 7/11-12....... Round Hill CC.........................Alamo 7/18-19....... Metropolitan GL......................Oakland 7/20-21....... Poppy Ridge GC.....................Livermore 8/1-2........... Poppy Hills GC........................Pebble Beach 8/8-9........... San Jose CC...........................San Jose Fall Series 9/17-18....... Haggin Oaks GC....................Sacramento 9/24-25....... Foxtail GC...............................Rohnert Park 10/8-9......... Greenhorn Creek GC.............Angels Camp 10/15-16..... Poppy Ridge GC.....................Livermore 10/29-30..... Stevinson Ranch GC..............Stevinson

Butch Noble

San Ramon Valley-Danville junior Cody Blick tees up his ball last June during the NCPGA Junior Tour’s Summer Circuit I tournament at Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville.

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T

Want to win the one-on-one battles? You’ll need stability

here is no doubt that the best athletes in the world have phenomenal stability, that’s why they play great in 5- to 10-yard bursts. Visualize young athletes in the following situations: ■ A wide receiver who explodes off the line and needs to make a hard cut to get free for a reception, and another cut to beat the safety for a touchdown.

■ A soccer goalie is one-on-one and needs to prevent a score on goal ■ A basketball player drives hard to the left, and needs to plant hard off her foot to perform a crossover dribble to create space for the fade away shot.

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In many sports, your young athletes need to be able to create space and free themselves from defenders as well as prevent an offensive player from scoring. The ability to go hard or react in one direction, then plant, cut and even change directions, will determine whether they make the play or not.

In order for your young athletes to do this effectively, they need a blend of physical qualities: Speed, relative strength, power, body awareness, biomechanics and movement skills, etc.

But we can’t forget stability.

Stability allows them to go hard into the cut, control and align their bodies in the

most effective angles possible, so they can dominate.

Without stability, they will have energy leaks (power that goes to waste). If they go into the cut strong, and their core, hips or feet aren’t stable enough to provide them with the necessary support, they will lose their explosiveness and advantage.

Worse than that, they can get injured. Poor stability at the core and hips are critical to why there are so many ACL tears these days with our young athletes, especially females.

This is part of the reason why single-leg training is so important for your young athletes. Two-legged lifts like squats, dead lifts and power cleans give your athletes raw horsepower — they allow then to become bigger, faster and stronger.

However this type of strength and power is less effective if they can’t control their bodies in a single-leg stance. Imagine driving a Ferrari at top speed and trying to take a hairpin turn with bicycle tires.

It would be a mess. The same goes for an athlete with no single-leg stability who tries to cut at full speed.

If your young athletes want to become the best athlete possible, they need to focus on finding their limitations and address them. When it comes to stability, the areas that need to be addressed are: Their feet, hips,

core and pelvis.

Every young athlete, no matter the sport, must develop stability in all the areas above to reach their athletic potential.

If your young athlete finds himself one-on-one with a defender and their stability is up to par, they can make that one move that will shake them free, winning the game for their team. Or they could accomplish the same thing on the defensive end of a one-onone scenario. Is their stability up to par? If not, then they need to focus their training on the areas above to ensure that it is when they need to make a play.

Training Time Tim Rudd for IYCA

Tim Rudd is an International Youth Conditioning Association specialist in youth conditioning (level 3), speed and agility (level 2), and nutrition specialist (level 1). You can contact him with questions or feed- back at tim@ fit2thecore.com. Go to www.fasteryoungathletes.com for the video that accompanies this article.

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twenty-four7 BASEBALL Feb. 21: Pleasanton — TPC President’s Day Hit/Pitch Baseball Camp. 9:30 a.m.-noon @ The Pitching Center. Ages 8-13. 925416-1600, eric@thepitchingcenter. com; www.thepitchingcenter.com.

Feb. 21: Livermore — TPC President’s Baseball Skills Camp.

9:30 a.m.-noon @ Cabernet Baseball Club. Ages 8-14. 925416-1600, Matt@thepitchingcenter. com; www.thepitchingcenter.com.

Feb. 22: Concord — Clayton Valley Little League Parent Night Majors Baseball & Peanuts. 6-7 p.m. @ TBD. Visit www.cvll.org.

Feb. 23: Concord — Clayton Valley Little League Parent Night Farm & Minors. 6-7 p.m. @ TBD. Visit www.cvll.org.

BASKETBALL Feb. 23-25: Los Altos — Bald Eagle Basketball Mini Camp. 9 a.m.-noon each day @ Los Altos High School Large & Small Gyms.

888-505-2253, www.baldeaglecamps.com.

COMMUNITY EVENT March 26-27: Oakland — Oakland Running Festival. Marathon, half-marathon, 4-person relay, kids fun run. Start Outside Frank Ogawa Plaza at Broadway and 14th. 510-371-5273, oaklandmarathon@gmail.com; www. oaklandmarathon.com.

FOOTBALL Ongoing: Walnut Creek — WCYF Marauders. Open for registration in the Midget division.

Art Thoms, thoms3@ifn.net, 925786-0721; www.wcyfmarauders. com.

Feb. 13, 20: Concord — Spring Pre-Season Quarterback Camp.

Ages 9-14. 3-5 p.m. both days @ Woodside Elementary School.

Registration: www.walnutcreeksportsleague.com.

Feb. 13, 20: Concord — Football Mini Camp. 3-5 p.m. both sessions @ Woodside Elementary School.

Ages 6-14. Registration: www. walnutcreeksportsleague.com.

April 4-Sept. 10: Oakley — Flag Football League Signups. For boys/girls, 4-14. League play is between 8 a.m./5 p.m. Sats., Sept.

10-Nov. 12, @ Freedom Basin. $120/player. Online registration: www.DiabloFootball.com. 925625-2222.

FUNDRAISERS March 12: Walnut Creek —

Walnut Creek Pony League’s 7th Annual Crab Bash & Auction.

6-10 p.m. @ Shadelands Art Center. Contact Margarita Zeglin, mzeglin@berkeley.edu.

GYMNASTICS Ongoing: Concord — Open Gym. 8-10 p.m. Mon., 7-9 p.m.

Thur., 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sat. For ages 8+. 925-680-9999, info@ eastbaysportsacademy.com; www. eastbaysportsacademy.com.

MARTIAL ARTS Ongoing: Concord — Kids Karate LVL 1 at In-Shape Health Club. Fees and registration: 925602-5600, www.inshapeclubs.com.

Through March 26: Concord — Karate-Shorinji Ryu-Introductory Class. Ages 10+ at Centre Concord. Info: 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. weekdays, 925-671-3404, www.cityofconcord.org. Registration: www.concordreg.org; by fax or at drop-off sites.

Through March 28: Concord — Beginning Fitness Training. Ages 14+ at Centre Concord. Info: 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. weekdays, 925-671-3404, www.cityofconcord. org. Registration: www.concordreg. org; by fax or at drop-off sites.

RUGBY Through Jan. 31: Walnut Creek — Diablo Youth Rugby. Practice 6-8 p.m. Mon./Wed. at Heather Farm Park. Call hotline if raining, 925-256-3574. First game Feb. 19. http://diabloyouthrugby.clubspaces. com.

SOCCER Feb. 12-March 6: Brentwood — EDYSL Impact Competitive Soccer Tryouts. Free pre-tryout clinics. For U9-U14 session times & dates, www.edysl.net.

Feb. 20, 24, 27: Concord — Diablo FC’s 2011 Season Tryouts.

U12-U14 in Concord. 925-7792101, www.diablofc.org.

March 26-27: Pleasant Hill — Girls SoccerFest. Pleasant Hill - Martinez Soccer Association, PHMSA, AYSO Region 281. 925686-2824, www.phmsa.org.

April 2-3: Pleasant Hill — Boys SoccerFest. Pleasant Hill - Martinez Soccer Association, PHMSA, AYSO Region 281. 925-686-2824, www.phmsa.org.

SOFTBALL Feb. 23: Concord — Clayton Valley Little League Parent Night Softball. 6-7 p.m. @ TBD. Visit www.cvll.org.

SWIM May 7 or 28 or June 4: Concord — Lifeguard Review. 15+, at Concord Community Pool. Prerequisite applies. Info: 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. weekdays, 925-671-3404, www.cityofconcord.org. Registration: www.concordreg.org; by fax or at drop-off sites.

May 25-28 or June 2-28: Concord — Lifeguard Clinic.

15+, at Concord Community Pool. Prerequisites apply. Info: 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. weekdays, 925-671-3404, www.cityofconcord. org. Registration: www.concordreg. org; by fax or at drop-off sites.

Ongoing: Concord — Swim Classes in Heated Outdoor Pool for all ages at In-shape. Fees and registration: 925-602-5600, www. inshapeclubs.com.

TENNIS Through March 26: Walnut Creek — Lifetime Tennis Winter Youth Tennis Lessons. Junior Development Teams, ages 8-17, at Walnut Creek Tennis Center. Sessions: Mon./Fri./Sat. 925-945-0105.

Ongoing: Pleasanton — Youth Lessons.

Bronze Team, ages 7-18; Silver Team, ages 9-16; Gold Team, ages 12-18. 925-931-3449, www. lifetimetennis.com.

Danville — USTA Adaptive Tennis: Just Another Tennis Clinic.

Meets twice a week and is assisted by high school students. www. norcal.usta.com.

Walnut Creek — Youth Lessons.

Beginning to intermediate lessons, ages 7-15. 925-931-3449, www. lifetimetennis.com.

Richmond — Tennis Instruction for Youth. Classes Mon.-Thur. @ Nichol Park. Recreation Department, 510-620-6793; www. ci.richmond.ca.us.

Fresno — Break The Barriers, Inc. Offering lessons to students @ their 32,000-square-foot Ability Center. Funded by USTA’s adaptive tennis program. Schedule: 559432-6292. www.norcal.usta.com.

Fresno — USTA Adaptive Tennis: Fit-4-All. Programs @ Fresno Pacific University. For people who utilize wheelchairs or have special needs. www.norcal.usta.com.

Sacramento — USTA Adaptive Tennis: Paralympics Sport Sacramento Club program. Open to adults and children with disabilities. www.norcal.usta.com.

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One-stop golf shopping With the golf season back in the swing of things (sorry, couldn’t resist), now’s the time to pick up some new gear for 2011. Instead of collecting it piece-by-piece, pick up The Golf Warehouse’s monthly catalog and get everything at once. They’ve got the latest and greatest in drivers, putters, bags, balls, gloves, clothes, shoes, hats ... we’ll run out of room if we keep going, but you get the idea. Sign up for the FREE monthly catalog today by hitting up www.tgw.com. Be sure to check the site for other special deals.

Rock Warriors We believe two is better than one. So in addition to getting Sky High Sports as a sponsor, we also landed Diablo Rock Gym. Our SportStars of the Week will get free passes from DRG where they can hit up one of their many rock walls. Prepare for scaling the walls of Everest and Kilimanjaro by conquering the 32-foot high wall or by attacking the 11,000 sq. footage of climbing terrain. They also have indoor swimming, free weights, indoor cycling and yoga classes. Learn more about Diablo Rock Gym at www.touchstoneclimbing.com or call (925) 602-1000.

A relaxing Valentine’s Day? Dudes, dudes, dudes: Valentine’s Day is sneaking up on a Monday this year so don’t let the weekend go by without getting something for your better half. We suggest throwing the candy and teddy bears out the window and getting a Valentine’s Day massage for two at Massage Envy. This deal is only $98 for first-time guests. Don’t overthink it — call Massage Envy now. Massage Envy also offers aromatherapy and deep heat relief muscle therapy. Go to www.massageenvy.com for more.

Capping off a special deal Joining us at the Nike Coach of the Year awards on Feb. 17-19 will be our friends at Aviva. These guys are the experts at creating and designing team apparel for all sports and seasons. Thinking about getting new team threads for the upcoming season? Don’t think too hard ... go with Aviva! Special offer: Every member of your team gets a free logo cap with your first order. Hit ‘em up at www.avivadesign. com and also be sure to check out our Partners page online: www.SportStarsMag.com/community-partnerships to learn more about Aviva and other partners of SportStars.

Jump around Usually, we look at businesses in the community to see if they want to sponsor our SportStar of the Week section. This time we traveled up. Way up. Way up to the sky. That’s right, Sky High Sports is the latest sponsor of our SSOTW section and we couldn’t be anymore giddy about it. Our new winners will get 2-for-1 passes to hit up Sky High’s massive trampoline area where they can play dodgeball, bounce off the walls or just defy the laws of gravity. For more info on Sky High Sports, reach ‘em at www. jumpskyhigh.com or call (925) 682-JUMP (5867) where you can get tickets for you and a friend or for the whole family.

Support Your Local Business • Say You Found Them In SportStars™

February 10, 2011

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photo finish Getting 2, the hard way.

Molly Kommer of Clayton Valley-Concord goes hard to the basket and draws a hard foul from Jacqui Dulaney of Berean ChristianWalnut Creek. Clayton Valley pulled out a 55-37 victory, win No. 14 in a 17-game winning streak stretching from Dec. 3 to Feb. 4. Clayton Valley held a 21-2 record through Feb. 4, and are set up for a Feb. 11 showdown at Northgate-Walnut Creek that will determine the Diablo Valley Athletic League crown.

Clayton Valley’s 75-60 win over Northgate on Jan. 18 broke the Broncos’ 28-game DVAL winning streak.

Photo by jonathan hawthorne

Want to submit your pic for Photo Finish? Send it to us at editor@SportStarsMag.com Photos must be 300 dpi and at least 10 inches wide in the jpeg format.

Please identify every person in the photo and include your contact information.

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SportStars™

February 10, 2011

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