SPORTS

Chargers caught off guard by Grizzlies despite 45-38 win

Lackluster effort, poor free-throws cited as main concerns

By Ken Lotich
Times Intern

It’s unlikely you’ll hear the phrase, “A win is a win” from any Leland boys’ basketball players.

Leland’s David Farsai, shown here during a game during the regular season, said the Chargers played “extremely lazy” despite a 45-38 win over Gunderson in the second round of summer league playoffs. Farsai led the Chargers on offense in the win, scoring 13 points. Photo courtesy www.mikejanes.com

Despite picking up a 45-38 victory on July 14 against Gunderson in summer league playoffs, Leland guard David Farsai was far from impressed.

The returning senior letterman, who picked up 13 points in the win, said the Chargers were fortunate to add another win in the team’s 12-3 summer record.

“We were lucky,” Farsai said. “We played extremely lazy and very incoherent.”

Despite the jagged victory, Farsai said the team’s ability to come together proved stronger than what he described as a “lackadaisical” effort by the Chargers.

Farsai said one possible reason for the team’s summer stagger is the lack of practice time.

Typically the team practices a day or two out of the week, Farsai said. However, with the Leland gym receiving repairs, the Chargers have been forced to work out kinks during game time.

Things started off slow for both teams in the game. At the end of the first period, Leland led 10-8.
Farsai would put up the first points of the game, converting a 3-point play with 8:22 left in the first period.
In the second period, the Leland defense stepped up, allowing only two baskets from the Grizzlies, putting the game at 19-12 at halftime.

Leland missed three out of four free throws in the second period.

During summer league play, the game is divided up into four 10-minute periods, with the clock running the entire time, even during free throw shooting. When a player is fouled, he is awarded 1 point and must convert on the free throw to gain the other point.

This is where Leland ran into the most trouble, Head Coach Dave Frandsen said.

“We couldn’t hit our free throws,” Frandsen said. “Sometimes you hit them, sometimes you don’t. A lot of the time, kids think playing makes your shot better—it doesn’t—it makes your game better. You have to take (hundreds of) shots a day to make your shot better.”

In the third period, both teams turned up the intensity, with the Chargers hitting two 3-pointers for a 9-point period. The Grizzlies answered with eight points.

In the final period, the Grizzlies would nearly double their entire game effort, launching 18 points. The effort was too little, too late, with the Chargers coming out on top.

Senior forward Philip Petro, who pitched in with seven points, said the Grizzlies caught the Chargers off guard.
“We figured we were going to take it, just because we’ve taken them every other time,” Petro said. “They came out for us and ready—we just weren’t prepared for them.”

Leland played Pioneer in the semifinals of the summer league tournament on Tuesday, where Petro would have to defend an old friend, Mustangs’ standout point guard, Craig Weaver.

Despite what happens in summer league, Petro said the most important thing is that the team is able to improve.
“We’re able to work really well under pressure,” Petro said. “We just need to be more consistent.”

Sports Briefs

Central Valley Edge holds youth soccer tryouts
CV Edge, a Class 3/U17 girls’ soccer team, is offering Monday/Wednesday tryouts to girls born after 7/31/88 for the fall season for all positions. Contact Patty Rashid (408) 267-2740 or Afsari at (650) 771-6213 for more information.

South Valley Lacrosse Chiefs offer free clinics July 23 and Aug. 20
South Valley Lacrosse Chiefs are offering free clinics during the summer for kids in grades 3 to 8. The dates are July 23 and Aug. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon at Williams Elementary School in San Jose. 

The Chiefs added a seventh-eighth-grade team in the spring. Our free summer clinics give newcomers a chance to try the sport before they purchase equipment (loaner sticks available on first-come, first-served basis). So bring a friend and come have some fun with lacrosse. Please RSVP to joy.bender@prodigy.net.  Our Web site is www.svlax.com.

Almaden Metro holds soccer tryouts
Almaden Metro Class 3, U17 boys, is holding tryouts for the fall season on most Sundays. Date of birth after 7/31/88. Contact Jeff Earl at (408) 268-5125 or jesvo11@yahoo.com.

Bret Harte seeks Boys
Junior Lacrosse coaches
Bret Harte Middle School in San Jose is looking for Boys Junior Lacrosse coaches for the 2005-06 season. Multiple positions are available for both head coaches and assistants. Previous lacrosse coaching experience is strongly recommended. Competitive salary offered. If you are skilled in lacrosse, kid-oriented, and motivated to create a winning team from the ground floor up, we would love to talk with you! This is an exciting, and rapidly growing sport in California, and these Bret Harte boys are ready to go!

For more information, please contact Mike Garcia at (408) 590-6949 or emailmgarcia@gmail.com.

BU12 select soccer team is looking for a goalie
Almaden Valley Storm, a Class 1, U12 boys’ select soccer team, is looking for a full-time goalkeeper. Last year, the Almaden Storm advanced to the round of 16 in the state cup and was knocked out by one of the teams that went to the finals. This year, we hope to win the cup.  If you have a son who wants to play goalie full time and has had some comp or select-level playing experience, feel free to come to our Tuesday and Thursday practices. The age group for BU12 is 08/01/93 to 7/31/94 (or younger, if he is good goal-keeper).  Contact Mo Bani-Taba for location and times at (408) 221-5377 or mbanitaba@yahoo.com.

Mustangs ride away with 58-43 win over Los Gatos in second round of summer league playoffs

Ample in-game intensity no problem for Pioneer

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

Holding at least a 9-point lead throughout the game, the Pioneer Mustangs beat Los Gatos 58-43 in the second round of summer league playoffs on July 14.

The game had a decidedly more fever pitch than normal summer league games, which are often used by teams as a means to work on some of the finer points of basketball in preparation for the regular winter season.

Throughout the contest, players and coaches alike reacted with increased emotions at nearly every turn, giving the game a regular-season atmosphere.

“I didn’t play much last year, but I’ve seen it from the bench, how physical and how emotional games can be,” said Pioneer guard Kyle Fager. “That felt more like a regular season game than just a regular summer league game against Los Gatos.”

Pioneer summer league Coach Kevin Mack said he spoke to his team, which came into the playoffs as the No.1 seed, prior to the game about the more intense and physical nature the match-up would bring to the table.

Nonetheless, Mack said some of his players were caught off-guard at first by the intensity of the game.

“With the heat in there, tempers can flare pretty easily, and a few of the guys were surprised with the physical part of the game,” Mack said. “But we stepped up in the second half and adjusted to it.”

The Mustangs led by 10 after the first quarter of play, holding a 21-11 lead before going into halftime with a 31-18 edge. The Mustangs opened the second quarter on a 3-pointer from Fager before T.J. Watson, a junior varsity player on the varsity squad for the summer, added five points on a layup, jumper and a foul shot.

“He’s starting to adjust to how physical the game is,” Mack said of Watson. “He was struggling at first with the physical part of the game and I think he’s adjusted to how quick the game is now.”

The Mustangs opened the third quarter with four quick points before Los Gatos went on an 8-0 run close within nine points of the lead. The Mustangs responded with 3-pointers from Kevin Denardi and Nolan Maggipinto, along with two free-throw shots from Craig Weaver for an 8-0 run of their own. Later in the third quarter, Maggipinto nailed back-to-back layups to go up 47-28 before ending the period with a 49-34 lead.

Part of the increased intensity in the game, Mack said, was attributable to the fact that Los Gatos and Pioneer have played spirited game against each other in the past, both during the regular winter season and summer league play.

“When we play Los Gatos, and we know them pretty well, it’s always pretty physical,” said Mack. “The level of the game steps up when we play Los Gatos.”

The Mustangs didn’t squander their 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, getting five points from Weaver throughout the last period of play, going 3-for-4 from the free-throw line and nailing a layup in the closing moments of the game.

As for the intense nature of the contest, Weaver said he was glad to experience a bit of rough-and-tumble play during the summer. He said playing meaningless games during the summer often lack intensity and that the Los Gatos game will serve as a reminder of what regular season play will be like this upcoming winter.

“Most of all, you think summer league is going out there and playing around, only playing a quarter or something,” Weaver said. “When we come around to playing some real games, we’ll be ready for it. Coming in here and playing like it’s a real game, is totally going to help our game.”

Just call me coach

Pioneer’s Mike Kaufmann makes jump from starting forward to assistant coach during summer league play

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

Pioneer graduate and former basketball standout Mike Kaufmann is in an unfamiliar position.

Kaufmann, who graduated in May and spent three seasons on Pioneer’s varsity basketball squad, is spending his summer unlike many of his 2005 classmates by helping out as an assistant coach during the summer league season for both the junior varsity and varsity squads.

For Kaufmann, who averaged a double-double during his senior season as a power forward, the new venture is an interest he’s had since he began his playing career at Pioneer. Upon realizing that his playing days were coming to an end after his senior season, Kaufmann said the idea of coaching began to be even more appealing, especially when he was accepted at Santa Clara University, where he will begin attending in the fall.

Pioneer 2005 graduate Mike Kaufmann, shown here in a game earlier this season, has traded in his basketball shoes for a clipboard this summer, serving as an assistant coach for Pioneer’s JV and varsity summer league teams. Kaufmann, who will attend Santa Clara University in the fall, said he hopes to be a coach in the future. Photo by Ron Reed

“It kind of hit me when I got into Santa Clara (University) and I realized that’s where I was going to be at, because it’s going to be local,” Kaufmann said. “I’m just trying to help out as much as I can and get the program up there among the elite in CCS.”

So far, things have gone smoothly, according to Pioneer Assistant Coach Kevin Mack, who also serves as the JV head coach and is currently serving as Pioneer varsity’s head coach for the summer league season. Mack took a similar path that Kaufmann is taking right now, having graduated from Pioneer in 2000 after playing basketball under Pioneer Head Coach Joe Berticevich before beginning his coaching career shortly thereafter.

Kaufmann, with barely a month-and-a-half of coaching under his belt, is beginning to see the differences of the game from the bench, as opposed to on the floor.

“Yelling at guys, talking to guys one on one—it’s a lot different because I’m getting it from the other side of the fence because I’m the coach,” Kaufmann said. “You can’t let your emotions get the best of you like you can when you’re playing. It’s definitely different.”

Mack said he approached Kaufmann following the end of the 2004-05 season about the possibility of helping coach the summer league squad. Mack said he based his decision on Kaufmann’s leadership skills throughout his career at Pioneer, citing examples of in-game situations when Kaufmann recognized intricacies such as match-up advantages with other players, not to mention his vocal presence during timeouts.

“When he first came as a freshman, when he played for me (on the JV team), I knew he’d be able to be a coach,” Mack said. “He’s one of those guys you look at and say, ‘he can probably coach the game.’ He’s solid. He knows the game, he’s smart and he understands what it takes to win.”

Yet the new role of assistant coach hasn’t come without a few adjustments. Kaufmann admits that the incoming junior varsity players have taken his advice more willingly and eagerly than his former varsity teammates, who still view him more as a player than a coach.

In addition, Mack said Kaufmann now serves as a role model for the younger players, something that has taken some getting used to by the former Mustang forward.

“The kids on the team are looking up to him,” Mack said. “They understand what he has gone through the last few years. He’s got to make the adjustment from being their friend to being their coach first, and he’s making a great adjustment. I can just see it out there that he understands what his role is now, compared to what it was the last three or four years.”

Part of the adjustment to coaching also involves resisting the temptation to go out on the court and play again when things are going bad for the team, said Mack, who experienced similar feelings when his playing days ended in 2000.

“It’s hard, the first year or two, to be on the sidelines and not being able to out there and throw the shoes on and do it,” Mack said. “You sit there and say, ‘God, I wish I could go out there and do this, what I want them to do.’ You just have to be able to teach that to them and get them to that level that you want them to be at.”

For the immediate future, Kaufmann said the close proximity of his new school will allow him to help support the program in any way he can. The experience of summer league coaching, however, also has Kaufmann eyeing a future as a head coach. But for now, Kaufmann said he has more pressing matters at hand.

“I guess if the right situation fell into place, I’d coach,” Kaufmann said. “But right now I’m just looking to help out and help develop Pioneer basketball.”

The comeback kid

Almaden’s Mikaela Gillette perseveres after two major hip surgeries

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

Some people never face physical adversity in their life and take simple things for granted. For Mikaela Gillette, who grew up in the Almaden valley, that has certainly not been the case.

Almaden native and Presentation softball pitcher Mikaela Gillette saw her dreams of playing college softball take a major hit when she found out she had a bone deformity on the ball of her femur in the hip joint. Gillette triumphantly returned to the field in 2005, earning Second-Team All-West Catholic League honors. Gillette will now go on to play softball at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.

She has experienced all kinds of physical adversity that has required multiple surgeries and years of rehabilitation. It would seem strange that her favorite sport, softball, is what taught her to how to deal with adversity, set goals and work hard in order to return to the sport she loves.

Gillette began playing softball in the Almaden Valley Girls Softball League at the age of 6, but didn’t develop a passion for it until she met her softball coach’s father, famed baseball pitcher and Cy Young award winner Mike McCormick. After meeting the former San Francisco Giants pitcher, she knew that she wanted to become a pitcher and dreamed of playing softball in college and possibly the Olympics. With the encouragement of her parents and her coach, she began playing competitive travel club softball year round at the age of 11 and began taking private pitching and hitting lessons from Lisa Mize, a former Olympic pitcher.

“He gave me advice about baseball and softball and basically life in general,” Gillette said of McCormick. “Ever since then, I’ve wanted to go as far as I could playing softball.”

She spent countless hours practicing with her team, with her father and by herself. By 14, Gillette was the starting varsity pitcher at Presentation High School, a pitcher on a Strikkers traveling softball team with 17-year-old players, and had played in more than 250 games all over the western United States.

Then one October Sunday morning, Gillette’s dreams came tumbling down. Her back foot got stuck in a hole on the pitching mound, while her body continued forward. The severe injury tore her labrum, the cartilage that stabilizes the hip joint, tore her hip flexors and jammed her femur into her hip joint.

After undergoing a series of doctor visits from various physicians, almost 50 physical therapy sessions, multiple MRIs, CT scans, X-rays and bone scans during the next six months, a world-renowned hip specialist determined that Gillette had a bone deformity when she was born, on the ball of her femur (thigh bone) in the hip joint. The doctor concluded that she needed to have a surgery to shave down her bone deformity and repair her torn labrum.

This reshaping of her femur was so rare that the only other doctors in the world who perform this specific surgery are in Switzerland. At the time of her surgery, she was the youngest patient to ever have this procedure done and there were severe risks.

“When I found out, it was really hard because I didn’t know the severity of it and she didn’t either,” said Strikkers Coach Frank King. “To have to go through this and maybe not be able to pitch again was a real eye-opener.”
For Gillette, the news of the injury’s severe nature was crushing.

“I was really sad because I knew it would take a long time to get over it,” Gillette said of the injury. “The doctors told me I’d probably never play competitive softball again.”

The surgery was dangerous because the 80 pounds of traction in order to separate the hip joint enough to shave the bone and the length of time her hip would be in traction could possibly leave her paralyzed. Both of her parents evaluated the risks, but Gillette wanted to achieve her dream of playing in college and the only way to do that was to have the surgery.

“It was difficult but it wasn’t at the same time,” Gillette said of the decision to have surgery. “It wasn’t difficult because I knew I wanted to play softball, so the decision was easy. But it was hard because there was a possibility that I’d be paralyzed. … At the time, I was in pain from the moment I woke up in the morning, so I thought I wanted to play softball and not live with the pain. (The surgery) was my only shot at fixing it.”

As her parents waited anxiously, Gillette woke up from the surgery relieved that she was not paralyzed, but her leg was completely numb, which lasted a week. She had to stay in the hospital for an extended period because of an allergic reaction to the anesthesia, which had sent her body into shock. After she returned home, she spent three months on crutches while the bone healed. Doctors told Gillette that she could not put any weight on the leg or her femur might snap and break.

Gillette knew that she would go through intense physical therapy sessions for months to get medical clearance. She endured pain in her hip every day and could only sit for short periods of time. She watched every high school practice and game from the dugout to support her Presentation teammates, then headed to her rehabilitation sessions alone.

“That was definitely the worst part,” Gillette said. “The worst was watching my friends play and me not being able to. So I gathered balls at practice and things like that to help out in any way I could and that helped a bit.”

After seven months of rehabilitation, Gillette’s hip had not progressed as expected. The doctors indicated that, if she was willing, a second surgery on her hip might help the pain. Although it meant missing her junior year and her summer travel season, Gillette agreed to the second surgery because she wanted to play softball again.

“I was disappointed to hear that she was having surgery,” Mize said. “But there was no doubt in my mind that she’d be able to come back and pitch.”

The doctor performed the surgery and removed more bone on multiple sides of the femur. Gillette then endured another three months on crutches and the recovery time was significantly longer in part because there was a risk that there wasn’t enough bone left to sustain her weight.

After several more months, Gillette realized that she would never walk again without pain. However, she wasn’t ready give up.

Gillette had set a goal to fulfill her dream and play softball, even if that meant always playing in pain. It took the hard work and discipline that she had developed as a travel club softball player to block out the pain.

“She didn’t move around real well after the surgeries,” said Richard Fangonilo, one of the Strikkers coaches.

“Getting back on the field itself was amazing—now it’s like night and day. Her work ethic is outstanding.”

After sitting out her junior year because of the surgeries, Gillette’s hard work and determination were rewarded this year when she was able to return to her high school team and was named co-captain of the team. She was able to resume pitching and started at second base when she wasn’t pitching. She played with the pain in her hip joint and endured two-hour physical therapy sessions after games or practices several times a week to alleviate the pain in her hip. Gillette went on and earned Second-Team All-West Catholic League honors and was an integral part of Presentation’s softball success this year, as the team was ranked in the top 10 and went to semifinals of the Central Coast Section playoffs before losing to Mitty.

In the end, she recovered enough to be offered softball scholarships from multiple colleges after graduating in May. She now plans to study business and play college softball next year at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.
“She could’ve hung it up and just gone to school but she didn’t,” King said. “She’s just amazing. She’s definitely one of a kind.”

In addition to her on the field accomplishments, The San Jose Sports Authority awarded Gillette a REACH (Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work) scholarship this spring and she was named a California Interscholastic Federation honor athlete.

When she is not on the field, Gillette is very involved in her community as the secretary for the Almaden Library and Community Center Advisory Board. She was also one of the founding members of the Almaden Teen Center called “The Spot,” for which she was awarded the 2003 Good Neighbor Award from Mayor Ron Gonzales.

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