August 23, 2007

SPORTS

Youth is served in 2007 for Leland girls’ water polo

Team returns just four players from 2006 roster

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

For Leland girls’ water polo head coach Eric Rise, the 2007 season can be summed up in one word--youth.

Rise, who will embark on his fifth season at the helm of the program, has compiled a roster that returns only four players and only two starters from last year’s squad in Kylie Sarpa, Kelsey Nolan, Amy Georgiou and Courtney Gold. Georgiou, Leland’s goalkeeper, is also fairly new to the varsity experience after spending most of last season at the JV level before serving as a backup toward the end of the season for varsity.

Leland goalkeeper Nicole Piligian (red cap) is the team’s lone senior this season. All told, the Chargers are returning just four players for 2007, following the departure of six seniors from the 2006 squad. Photo by Dan Miranda

Rise lost six players to graduation, including All-League players in Courtney Monsees, Christy Stibbe, Elena Santamaria, Allison Mossing and Andrea Henneman. This year’s roster consists of eight juniors, three sophomores and one freshman. Goalkeeper Nicole Piligian, who spent last season playing at the JV level, is the lone senior on the squad.

Despite the team’s youth, Rise noted that he’s confident in his team, while also enjoying the challenge of coaching a younger squad.

“This would probably rank up there as one of my more challenging (seasons) because we’re just so young,” Rise said. “But the example that was set before them is there. They know nothing else than winning and working hard. They have a little bit of a fire where they want to get as good as those other girls who set the bar already.”

If anything, Rise noted, this year’s squad is not lacking in desire. With Leland currently holding a 28-game unbeaten streak in league play on the line, Rise said he’s confident his current squad is up to the challenge of continuing the winning atmosphere set by former Leland players.

“They don’t want to be the team that ends that streak,” Rise said. “At their age right now, they’re just about as talented as Christy, Elena and Courtney. …We don’t have necessarily the stars at the top, but we’re a lot deeper.”

Depth, in terms of talent, is arguably the team’s greatest asset, Rise said. While last season’s squad was driven offensively by a handful of standouts, Rise said he foresees more balance throughout the lineup and the bench this year, and in future seasons.

“Our strength this year will probably be that we’re going to have six solid players,” Rise said. “Next year will probably be the first year I’ve ever had where I’ll return pretty much the same group and the same starters. That’s kind of where our focus is and our aim is. We’re looking to build.”

Still, Rise cautioned not to mistake youth for inexperience. For the past season, several of the team’s current players have been hitting the pool together competing for San Jose Aquatics. That team, which is also comprised of players from Los Gatos and Pioneer, placed 25th at this summer’s National Junior Olympics, where 48 clubs compete in the nation’s largest age group water polo tournament. 

In addition, the SJA team has competed in several other tournaments in California, placing in the top four in the Norcal Winter League, sixth in the team’s zone tournament, as well as going 4-2 at an open tournament in Davis in July. 

“We’ve been trying to play the best to get them ready,” Rise said. “I’ve gotten to see them get game-tested a little bit. …They had one week off between finishing National Junior Olympics and then starting up again (with Leland), so we’re jumping in pretty much ready to go.”

With talent spread evenly throughout the roster, Rise said, competition for starting spots has been a relatively new, but welcome, sight.

“It’s battle,” Rise said of the competition for starting spots. “That’s what I like now. In past years, my starting lineups have been pretty easy; I knew right off the bat. Now, I still have no idea what my starting lineup is. It’s a battle every day.”

To that end, Rise noted it will be his team’s tenacity that will guide the team throughout the 2007 season.

“They’re so enthusiastic,” Rise said. “They just want to get better. This is the kind of group that would probably swim through a wall if I asked them to. They so want to get better.”

Pioneer girls’ volleyball aiming high in 2007

Mustangs’ lone goal is to win league title

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

For new Pioneer girls’ volleyball head coach Bryan LaCaille, the goal for the 2007 season is simple--win the West Valley Division crown.

To that end, the Mustangs will certainly accept nothing less, noted LaCaille, who served as an assistant coach and JV head coach last year for the program. Last season, the Mustangs finished in fourth place in the division with an 8-6 record.

Pioneer’s Rebecca Case is one of nine seniors on the girls’ volleyball roster in 2007. New head coach Bryan LaCaille said he’s looking to Case, and other seniors, to provide leadership to the team this season. Photo by Dan Miranda

“I am looking to win the C league and move into the B (Santa Teresa Division) league by next year,” said LaCaille, who guided the JV squad to an 11-3 record last season. “That’s my goal. That’s why they brought me in last year as the JV coach and that’s why I took over this year as the varsity coach, so we can keep this going toward that goal.”

LaCaille is taking over the reigns of the program for Michelle Ritter, who went on maternity leave this summer but is still expected to serve as an assistant coach this season, along with returning assistant coach Steven Boyd.

This season, the Mustangs will return seven players from last year’s squad, including 2006 Second-Team All-League player Heather Goodman. The roster, as it currently stands, consists of 17 varsity players, including nine seniors. All told, LaCaille said, continuity, both on the coaching staff and on the player roster, is a good thing.

“We might have switched titles, but it’s still the same three people who are there,” said LaCaille of the coaching staff. “That’s going to be big, especially because they’re used to our styles, they’re used to how we run practices, they’re used to how we manage games and things like that. That is definitely a big thing.”

With seven returning players and nine underclassmen on the varsity team, as well as a mostly new batch of players at the JV level, LaCaille said he hopes the program can grow into a successful operation in 2007, and beyond.

“We actually do have a lot of carryover,” LaCaille said of the program’s returning players. “We are very senior heavy too, but we do have a ton of incoming freshmen and sophomores. …This year’s going to be a great year not just because of all the seniors, but the next few years with the base we’re building.”

And despite the departure of key players such as 2006 seniors Heidi Isaacson--the West Valley Division’s Senior of the Year--and First-Team All-League player Carolyn Kanzaki, LaCaille said he doesn’t foresee any letdown effect on the team this coming season. To that end, LaCaille said he’s looking to the likes of Goodman, as well as seniors Anna Barlaan, Karina Barragan and Rebecca Case to provide senior leadership to the rest of the team. LaCaille also referred to Goodman, Case and Barragan as his “big three” on offense this season.

“I’m excited about this team because we have all the pieces,” said LaCaille, who noted that approximately 60 players tried out for spots on the varsity and JV teams this summer. “We have height, we have depth. Of the 17 (players) that we kept, there’s not one of them that I wouldn’t be confident in by plugging them in at any given moment in the game. That’s why they’re on the team.”

Still, with the season not yet upon the Mustangs, LaCaille said he’s wasting no time getting some wrinkles ironed out, such as finding a new setter for the team--a job previously occupied by Kanzaki in 2006. In addition, LaCaille said he has yet to determine who will be in his starting lineup. Still, regardless of who is in the starting lineup or not, LaCaille said arguably the biggest difference maker for the Mustangs this season will be the attitude of the team, something he’s already had a good glimpse of during preseason practices.

“The nice part is that all 17 players have bought into it,” LaCaille said. “They all know that with 17 people, not everyone’s going to get the playing time and not everyone’s going to get all the experience, but they all are just excited to be a part of this team and that’s going to be huge. That’s going to carry us farther than anything else.”

Racer’s paradise

Sights from the 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races

It was a racing enthusiast’s paradise in Monterey on Aug. 16-19 as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca hosted the 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races. This year’s event honored the legacy of Indy’s “Roadster Era,” as well as champion drivers and the host racetrack, first established in 1957.

John Norman of Oakland in a 1974 Ford Capri races around turn 3 on two wheels at Laguna Seca Raceway during the 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races in Monterey on Sunday, Aug. 20. Photos by Dan Miranda

The event included legendary drivers Al Unser Sr., Bobby Rahal, Parnelli Jones and Emerson Fittipaldi, with all four legends taking a practice run on Aug. 18. Pete Lovely, winner of the first main event at Laguna Seca in November of 1957, was also honored during the event by being inducted into the “Legends of Laguna Seca.”

The event also included the inaugural “Race of Legends,” which saw drivers holding championships from nearly every level of racing, including Formula One, the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans, compete in an eight-lap charity race. The field consisted of well known racing names such as Bobby Unser, Al Unser Sr., Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Rahal, Parnelli Jones, Vic Elford, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ove Andersson and Derek Bell.

All told, some 400 cars participated in the event and were divided into 14 groups based on age and engine size. Cars were also selected for their history, interest and current state of presentation, with the oldest car dating back to 1914—a Mercer—and the newest car—a 1981 Porsche 935K4.

John Norman of Oakland in a 1974 Ford Capri races around turn 3 on two wheels at Laguna Seca Raceway during the 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races in Monterey on Sunday, Aug. 20. Photos by Dan Miranda	Jimmy Domingos from Carmel in a 1962 Cooper T59 F. Jr. speeds though the famous corkscrew during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races. Domingos won the race with an average speed of 78 miles per hour. Photo by Dan Miranda	Dick Deluna of Woodside in a 1948 Nardi Corsa Barchella leads the pack of Sports racing production cars group 2B through the corkscrew at Laguna Seca Raceway.

High School Sports Schedule 8/24 to 8/30

Leland
Thursday – JV girls’ water polo at Los Altos Tournament, time TBA

Pioneer
Friday – Varsity football scrimmage vs. Andrew Hill, 5 p.m.
Friday –Frosh/soph football scrimmage vs. Andrew Hill, 5 p.m.

Saturday – Freshmen football scrimmage at Santa Teresa, 9 a.m.

For more information about Leland and Pioneer sporting events, go to:

Pioneer Athletics: www.phsathletics.com
Leland Athletics: www.lelandathletics.com
Blossom Valley Athletic League: www.bval.org

Sports Briefs

Tryouts for De Anza Force – U12 Girls’ Competitive Soccer
Girls’ U12 Soccer Tryouts (born after 07/31/1995). De Anza Force competitive teams. Schedules are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Class 3 (Competitive): 3pm-5pm; Class 1 (Select): 5pm-7pm. Location is Eaton Elementary School, 20220 Suisun Dr., Cupertino. For more information, contact: Stephanie Pearson at 619-917-7594. 


Silicon Valley Tigers youth tackle football now accepting applications
The Silicon Valley Tigers are still accepting applications for players between the ages of 6 and 14 for their youth tackle football teams.  We are a non-profit organization that was founded in 2006. We are dedicated to preparing the youths of Silicon Valley to play football at the high school level. We are a member of the highly competitive NYFL football league.

To register, or for more information, please go to our web site www.siliconvalleytigers.com and follow the instructions.  We have excellent coaching staffs in place for all teams.   If you have any questions about the Tigers or the NYFL, please contact Mary Ann O'Hara at 408-646-7748, Rod Abarca at 408-836-7844 or email rod@siliconvalleytigers.com.


Join the Almaden Aftershocks Boys’ U14 Soccer
The Almaden Aftershocks U14 Boys’ competitive soccer team is looking for several new players (born between Aug. 1, 1993 and July 31, 1994) for the fall season to be part of a winning tradition and a team-family culture. The Aftershocks’ coaches strive to improve fundamental soccer skills, build team spirit, improve physical fitness, create life-long friendships, and focus on team-building attitudes and fair play through practicing and playing soccer, and having fun! Our players are personally trained by an English Premier Trainer. Contact coach Mark Schrick at schrick@pacbell.net or (408) 391-6664 for more information.


Bay Area Boot Camp 5K Fitness Training Program
Boot Camp dates are from September 10 - November 4 at South Bay locations. The cost is $125 - All proceeds benefit the Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative. The 5K Fitness Training program, developed by Bay Area Boot Camp’s expert coaching staff, is a comprehensive workout series designed to prepare you for the Silicon Valley 5K Run/Walk on November 4, 2007.

Designed for runners of all levels, this 8-week program includes:

Eight weekly training sessions led by Bay Area Boot Camp coaches

A detailed schedule of running, speed, and cross-training drills

A Training log to help you track your progress and keep your focus

An eight-week nutrition plan designed to support your training and optimize your energy level

Unlimited phone and email support from our coaching staff of veteran 5K, 10K, and marathon runners

15% off September and October Boot Camp sessions - an ideal way to enhance your race preparations and cross train in a supportive group environment

A pre-race party – get to know your fellow 5K racers and learn more about BAWSI!

For more information, contact Mary Beth Gonzales at marybeth@bayareabootcamp.com or phone 408-425-9475. Visit our website at www.bayareabootcamp.com.

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