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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The craziest finish in women's college basketball history?

I doubt anybody watched this live last night, but the Stanford women dodged a huge bullet. They are ranked #1 in their bracket and probably only second to UConn in the entire country, but they were tied at 53-53 and on defense with less than 30 seconds to go.

Take a look at the highlight below, just an incredible, crazy finish. One team experienced the high of highs while the other team a low of lows.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Wrestlemania fallout

A pretty eventful weekend around St. Mary's as we saw the 7th and 8th grade teams sweep in their weekend of games as well as the baseball team play their best game of the season.

Some students and coaches last night attended the Sharks game. It was definitely an exciting game and it's too bad more of you people could not have joined us, as the Sharks pulled it out in the last few minutes of the game and won 4-3. Also, Wrestlemania 26 was last night, a fantastic event which saw Shawn Michaels career come to an end at the hands of the Undertaker.

So, a few house keeping issues...

--There will be no practices during Spring Break for girls basketball. They will resume on Sunday, April 11th at NDV, following Wednesday night's practices at Cameron House.

--Baseball will practice Thursday and very likely one practice during the break.

--Next week, we will look back at the first half of the girls basketball season and baseball season team by team, with exclusive interviews and quotes from the coaches and some players.

Lots of good stuff on the blog coming up and some videos that were posted in the last week or so if you haven't seen them, so please check them out.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Saturday Recap: 8th grade wins big again

**Highlights updated below**

Another dominating performance from the 8th grade girls
The 8th grade girls showed no sign of being tired from their game last night as they won big 29-3 to close out the first half of their season.

They got off to another great start and lead 13-1 after the first quarter and pushed their lead to 23-1 at the break.

Tianna led the team with a game-high 11 points. Melinda scored 8 points after going pointless from the field a night before.

Pretty much every facet of the girls' game was clicking. Offensively, they were able to score in the half-court, fast break and from the free-throw line. Defensively, any time you can hold another team to only a single point in the first half and 3 total points the entire game, they are doing something right.

Their demeanor more than anything is what has been most impressive. They no longer hope to play well -- they expect to play well.

Right now, they sit at (4-0) midway through the regular season. There is still a long way to go, but this strong start will definitely give them a boost the rest of the way.

Tiffany and Emily both scored 4 points and Sally had 2 points.

3rd grade plays their best game
The 3rd graders lost 12-1 today in their latest contest, but played the best they have all season. Defensively, they held their opponent to only 12 points. This team they played today creamed a team that blasted them a few weeks ago. Progress is being made.

Offensively, they are more aggressive and getting off a lot more shots than they did a week or so ago. Pretty soon, they should be hitting these shots.

Miracle scored the only point of the game for the 3rd grade girls.

4th/5th grade offense missing
Trailing 4-3 at the half, it looked like the 4th and 5th grade team had a chance to break through and pick up their first win of the year. The only problem, their offense didn't score a single point in the second half.

Defensively, they are doing a solid job, but they don't generate enough turnovers. They don't see passing lanes and get steals, which lead to fast break points. They're too station to station and the girls aren't quick enough to get off shots with defenders in place.

On the offensive end, they had some opportunities to cash in but they just can't make the shots. Currently, they average only a little bit more than 4 points a game, which means if they can't hold the other team to less than 4 points, they can't win.

After going scoreless the last two games, Cynthia scored 3 points in the loss.

Baseball
The baseball team played a strong game today but fell 8-3. It was the most runs they've scored so far this season and also the least amount of runs they have given up. Tommy got the start at pitcher in the team's third game of the year.

Friday, March 26, 2010

7th and 8th grade girls both pick up wins

**Highlights below**

The 7th and 8th grade girls both shook off slow starts and won their games tonight.

Up 6-2 after one, the 7th grade girls went on a tear the rest of the way and won convincingly 33-12.

Marissa had another monster game and had 14 points. Beverlyn had a solid game as well putting in 10 points of her own. Serina had a career-high 7 points, while Amanda scored the first field goal of her career and a beautiful full court lay-up.

They controlled the boards and never let the other team get into any groove and they easily pulled away for their third win of the year. They are now (3-1).

Defense wakes up in the second to propel the 8th grade
The 8th grade girls didn't get off to as good a start they had the last two games, but put together a solid defensive effort in the second half to seal a 27-16 victory for their third win of the year.

Tianna had a game-high 11 points, while Sally, 5 points and Tiffany, 7 points both had career-highs in the win.

Their defense was a little lackluster in the first half as they were unable to get back on defense after their press was broken. When they settled into their half-court defense in the second half, they were forcing turnovers and bad shots that translated to some easy buckets.

One thing they do a lot better this year than before is drawing fouls. The girls are a lot more aggressive and fearless in taking the ball to the hoop. They get the other team in the bonus almost every half they play.

It's going to be a quick turnaround for the girls as they play again tomorrow afternoon in a back-to-back.

Happy Birthday to...

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Alex in his prime

Maybe Alex is in his prime right now, or maybe he hasn't even hit it yet. But take a look at the archives of Alex playing for Lincoln in high school. This was his championship game when he was a sophomore.



Courtesy: SF Youth Sports from Henry Wong

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Happy Tuesday

Don't forget to turn in your shoot-a-thon money either tomorrow or at latest Thursday to be eligible for the prizes.

Here are some videos to get you through the day. A quick highlight from our baseball game Saturday, where I was last night and some instructional videos for the baseball team.









Sunday, March 21, 2010

Mr. B adds another notch to his belt



Mr. Ballesteros has played four tournaments so far in 2010 and has been victorious three times, an amazing accomplishment for someone who is a year removed from knee surgery.

Him and his partner, Jeff Wong, are currently ranked #1 in Northern California with 3003 points.

Their last victory came two weeks ago in Pleasanton when they beat their rivals from San Francisco in the final game 7-5, 6-3. Mr. B said this was huge and gives them great momentum heading into their season in April.

The most exciting point of the match came when Mr. B ran backwards to chase down a ball and hit a shot in between his legs over the net -- so impressive their opponents told them that the point was worthy of YouTube fame.

7th grade girls come back to beat NDV in OT, other Saturday results

It is currently 2:12 a.m. and I just finished my dinner. Crazy day today starting in the morning with the St. Mary's Gaels beating Villanova in the NCAA tournament. They now advance to the Sweet 16.

Remember the Shoot-a-thon is today so be sure to show up and shoot! 1 p.m. for boys and the girls will shoot at their practice time. If you can't make it at 1 p.m., you can still show up and shoot any time between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Now onto the crazy St. Mary's day.

Huge comeback by 7th grade, beat NDV in OT

By Emily

Talk about a heart attack.

The 7th grade girls overcame a 10-0 deficit to start the game to come back and beat NDV in overtime 27-26.

An NDV girl was on fire early on and hit three straight jump shots to give them the early lead. The 7th graders chipped away at the lead and cut the lead to seven at halftime.

NDV stretched their lead to 9 to start the fourth and that's when the girls fought for their lives. Their press started the comeback and they were able to trim the lead down to five with about two minutes left to go.

Marissa drove hard to the rim, got fouled and still hit her lay-up. Her free throw afterward made it a two-point game.

Marissa did not have her best game from the free-throw line but hit the ones that needed to be hit. She split her two trips to the free-throw line with less than a minute to go in the fourth, and tied the game, sending it to overtime.

It was a gutsy effort all around and their defense was instrumental in propelling them to victory. Amanda scored the first point of her career on a free-throw and played some really good defense. Serina didn't get on the board offensively, but her pressure on the defensive end was crucial in the turnaround.

In the extra frame, Marissa hit a free-throw to put St. Mary's ahead only to have NDV tie it right back on a free-throw with about a minute left.

But the 7th grade girls were determined to win and Marissa drew a foul with 20 seconds left in overtime. She hit a free-throw to give St. Mary's a the one point edge and that lead stood.

The buzzer went off and the 7th grade girls completed their comeback.

Catharine, who scored her first two points of the year, played her best all season and had a block party. She made two crucial blocks in the fourth and scored on an open look off a Beverlyn inbounds pass.

Marissa had a game-high 16 points, and Beverlyn had another strong offensive showing with 8 points.

After the game, an NDV parent came up to the St. Mary's parents and said, "Wow! Those girls are amazing. Only 5 players too and no subs."

Matthew Chung contributed to this report.


4th/5th grade offense in quicksand
The 4th/5th grade girls need to score.

Right now, they are giving up about 10-14 points a game, which is about average for the 5th grade level. Problem is, their offense can't muster anything close to double digits.

Isabella scored all 4 points for the girls as they fell 14-4.

When a team has trouble shooting, they need to be able to get better shots closer to the basket and generate some fast break points off of turnovers. Right now, neither of those things are happening.

By now, most of the girls should be used to game situations, but that instinct to take the ball and be confident with it is lacking. There's still a lot of season left and they can still turn this ship around.

Baseball team drops second game
14 errors and mental breakdowns will not win you many baseball games.

Right now, not everybody on the team is mentally prepared and giving it their all. Some players are coasting and mailing it in which is a terrible sign for a team playing in only their second game.

These lapses hurt a lot, most notably pitchers and catchers not moving quick enough to cover home on wild pitches. Also, routine flares and grounders are being dropped or completely missed. It's not a lack of skill, but simply a lack of focus.

The game went a full 7 innings, a first in St. Mary's history as the boys were on the losing end of a 17-2 drubbing. Most of the runs were unearned.

Derek started the game for the second time this season and limited his walks in his four innings of work. He recorded 9 strikeouts on the afternoon.

Tommy pitched two innings in relief and struck out four. Mark finished the game and had one strikeout.

The other team's pitchers were really strong and the team was unable to generate a hit until Brandon had a nice opposite field single in the 7th inning. He came around later to score the second run on a wild pitch.

Kevin reached base two more times, the first on a pitch that nailed him in the forearm. He was able to shake it off and came around to score, also on a wild pitch. He was standing on second when Gavin C. made contact for the first time this year, and made a productive out putting Kevin at third.

Gary was the lone bright spot for a team that made 14 errors in the field as he caught two fly balls in left field.

Friday, March 19, 2010

8th grade girls dominate, 7th grade suffers first loss, 3rd grade loses as well

**Happy wedding anniversary to my parents**

**HIGHLIGHTS UPDATED BELOW**

The 8th grade girls put together their most impressive performance to date and absolutely blasted their opponent tonight 33-10.

They jumped out to another early lead, this time 14-0 after one quarter of play. In their two first quarters this season, they have outscored the opposition by a combined 23-0.

In the first, the other team got off only one shot the entire quarter. Minutes into the game, the game was pretty much over.

But the 8th graders didn't play that way, as they were well aware of their game last week when they led 11-0 a minute into the second, and then went on to score only one bucket the rest of the way.

Tianna had a game-high 12 points. Emily scored 9 points. Melinda chipped in with 7 points and Tiffany added 5 points.

Their defense was fantastic, pressuring the ball and generating turnover after turnover. They got out quick on the break and hit their shots. As the game went on, their confidence grew as well, and the rout was on. They improve to (2-0) on the season.

Video Courtesy: Alex Kawashima



7th grade dealt first loss
The 7th grade girls suffered their first loss of the season 24-15. They were able to cut the lead to five on a handful of occasions but did not get closer. The game got stretched out early in the game when Serina had to leave for a few minutes because of a bloody nose.

And since only four girls from the 7th grade joined this year, as opposed to five last year, they were left with only four girls on the court for a few minutes. (Amanda from Chinese school rounds out the team this year). Those few minutes were crucial as they were outscored 6-0 to put them behind the eight ball early.

Despite the hiccup tonight for the girls, they were in this game and if they were able to make a few more shots by the basket, the game would've been closer and we might be talking about a victory. But playing from behind is tiring and the girls did that all night.

They will need to rest up quick because they play again tomorrow afternoon.

Marissa scored 8 points and Beverlyn added 7 points.

3rd grade drops third game
The 3rd grade lost their game earlier tonight and fell to (0-3) on the year. They are still adjusting to playing in a game as this is only their second week of competition.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Let the March Madness begin

The NCAA tournament kicked off in a big way today. Great win by St. Mary's over Richmond. We had a bunch of upsets and a game that went into double OT. Stay glued to Ch. 5 over the next few weeks for all the March Madness.

The finish of the day put No. 13 seed Murray State against No. 4 Vanderbilt. Murray State was down one with 4.2 seconds left. This is what happened:

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Shoot-a-thon Sunday, Happy Birthday

A reminder that the Shoot-a-thon is this Sunday. It will be at 1 p.m. for the boys, while girls shoot at the beginning of their practice.

The more money we can raise will mean the less we need to charge in registration fees. With a healthier budget, we can have nicer equipment, jerseys and more funding to plan other events. Maybe even a free Warriors game in the future???

PRIZES
1st Place - 2 Warriors tickets vs New York Knicks on April 2nd, PLUS AN EXCLUSIVE WARRIORS DRAFT PARTY WITH STEPHEN CURRY AND ANTHONY MORROW

2nd Place - 2 Sharks vs Colorado Avalanche tickets, March 28th

3rd Place - $50 gift certificate to Foot Locker

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
We wish Melinder a Happy Birthday!



BONUS VIDEO

Monday, March 15, 2010

A goodbye to Ben Legere



If you played a CYO game in the last 50 years, odds are that the great Ben Legere officiated one of your games.

Benny passed away last Wednesday on his way home from umping a baseball game. He was 77 years old.

About a month ago, I was working at Ch. 5 on a Monday and we needed to find a story. It was a holiday so most of the colleges and pro teams were off, so it was back to the drawing board. In the back of my mind, I always thought it would be fascinating to do a story on Benny. After all, he has been a referee for more than 50+ years and is just such a character.

From the glasses, to his fake out calls on the court, he was someone who could be at your game once and you would remember him for the rest of your life.

It just so happened that Benny was reffing Monday night at 5 p.m. I went out and interviewed him. (The story is below if you haven't seen it) While he spoke, I couldn't help but feel the enthusiasm and passion he had for kids and youth sports. The story aired and was one of the most watched videos on CBS5.com, because simply, everybody knew Benny.

When he entered a gym, everyone's eyes were always glued to him because he had that type of presence. But if you asked him, he would never want the spotlight at all. He once said that the best game you can officiate is a game where nobody notices you at all.

If he wasn't reffing, he'd simply go to a game and enjoy it. One of the last games he got to enjoy was the 7th grade playoff game at Epiphany. After the game, I don't remember exactly what his words were, but it was something to the effect that he had never seen a game like that, or rarely had he seen a game like that. And you know he's seen a lot of games.

He was a professional, never late for games and he did his best to be fair. There were probably calls that none of us agreed with, but I'd much rather have him reffing a St. Mary's game than most referees.

One part of Benny's life nobody really knew too much about was his willingness to help other officials become better. He ran baseball umpire meetings for years, typing up pages of scenarios and talking for nearly 3 hours, making sure that the right call would be made come game time. Even this year when he watched me ref a game, he offered me a suggestion. His heart was always in the right place.

When we started baseball here at St. Mary's, Benny was one of the first people that I talked to, and he offered suggestions on how to grow the game in our school. He was very impressed that we finally got a baseball program going after all these years.

I will also remember him as one of the referees who reffed my first championship as a coach and one of the refs who officiated the 7th grade championship victory. And on Saturday morning, February 27, little did any of us know that Benny reffed the final St. Mary's game of his life, a win by the 8th grade girls.

Benny gave his life to youth sports and will be remembered for years and years to come. Whenever I was at a gym, he would always say hi to me, always gracious and always had a smile on his face. Nothing made him happier than to see a fair game.

We lost a great official, but heaven gained an even better human being.



Saturday, March 13, 2010

Saturday Recap

**7th Grade Highlights Below**

Defense propels 8th grade
The 8th grade girls jumped out to an early 11-0 lead early in the second quarter, and then scored only two points the rest of the way. They somehow managed to hang on to win the game 13-9.

Their defense was great throughout and that's what won them this game. They wore down as the game went on and just could not hit their shots. But their early cushion proved enough as they won their season debut.

Tianna had a game-high 8 points. Melinda had 3 points and Emily 2.

Good debut for baseball team
Inexperience proved too much to overcome as the errors and walks eventually caught up with the baseball team. Trailing 5-2 going into the top of the fifth, the flood gates opened and a 5-2 deficit soon became 12-2, due to some poor fielding and pitching.

The boys were right in this game until the end and made some nice plays in the field. Tommy fielded most of his grounders cleanly and Elliot caught a blooper.

The nicest defensive play of the afternoon came when Gary snagged a line drive in left field, threw to Derek, who relayed it back to first to turn a double play.

Offensively, Jeremy and Tommy both drove in runs with base hits. Gavin C., who walked on a hit-by-pitch scored on Tommy's double that made it 2-2. Brandon scored on Jeremy's bloop hit for the first run of the game.

Derek got the start and gave up five runs, four of them unearned.

Two is not enough for 3rd, 4th/5th grade teams
Both the 3rd and 4th/5th grade teams were held to two points in their games earlier today. The 3rd grade fell for the second straight day, this time by a score of 10-2.

Miracle scored the only 2 points of the game.

On the 4th/5th grade side of things, Tiffany, Garrick's sister scored the lone two points of the game early on, and their offense was quiet the rest of the day.

When you can't score more than two points, it's tough to win, as they lost 16-2.

7th grade wins their season opener
The 7th grade won 24-8 in game one of the regular season. Marissa led the team with 16 points, while Beverlyn and Serina both scored as well.

7th Grade, March 13, 2010 from Bryan Cheung on Vimeo.

Friday, March 12, 2010

3rd graders drop debut

The youngest team in the school played their first game tonight. It was more of a feeling out process as the girls were getting acclimated to playing in an organized game for the first time ever. They loss the game and scored 4 points.

Miracle made all the points for the 3rd graders.

They will have to regroup quickly as they play again tomorrow morning. After having week one off, they are playing a back-to-back this weekend.

With a game's experience, they should have a better idea of what to expect and a little less nervous for tomorrow morning's early start.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

My 7th grade boys season


By Vinette Ly

There is so much I want to say and not sure where to start. This season has definitely been placed very high in my most accomplished in my lifetime. I am so proud of my team. The five boys that I saw at our first practice to the five boys I saw shaking my hand before I presented them our 1st place trophy have well deserved the 1st place title. These five boys have fought hard for that spot and improved so much.

We had our low points -- not even going to lie. In the beginning, we understood that with five players, we definitely have a disadvantage going into the games. We had to build trust very quickly. If one player decided to be late or does not show up we would have to forfeit, this made me very nervous. I knew how badly they wanted to win and make everyone who support them proud so I trusted them to be there.

Fouling was another problem. Early in the season, maybe our first three games or two we had to play with four players in the fourth quarter. This always made it easier for the other team to score.

Then we had the problem of not showing up to practice because someone decides to misbehave at school. With five players when someone misses practice it just makes it so much harder to practice. We knew as coaches we needed to do something for these problems to stop and we couldn't be at school with them to watch them. So James, John and I decided to make up rules or almost like punishments for the team if someone got fouled out or missed practice because of behavior. These rules were the start to our winning streak.

When our record was 2-3, we all knew that we had to win every game. They had a slow start at many games, but they always keep their fight and never gave up. They started to play as a team and motivated each other to play hard. In our championship game , everyone scored. They passed the ball to each other for fast breaks. They boxed out, and they made their free-throws and lay-ups. They proved everyone who have ever doubted or underestimated them wrong.

I am so thankful and grateful that I had the opportunity to coach. I am so happy to still be part of St. Mary's. Thank you everyone who supported us. Thank you everyone who helped us during practice. Thank you all the teams we played against because you made our team learn and become so much better. Thank you parents for giving me an opportunity to coach your kid. Thank you Bryan for giving me this wonderful opportunity. Thank you Justin, Jeremy, Miles, Michael Ng and Michael Fong for trusting in me to be your coach. Finally, thank you John and James for being EVERYTHING.

The smallest school with loudest and the biggest crowd. I heart you!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Wallenberg vs Mission reax, low participation

Tonight, Wallenberg lost 62-50 in the State Playoffs. One of our own alumni, Andrew Chuong, plays for the Wallenberg varsity team.

Last Friday, Mission beat Wallenberg for the city championship. Both schools are underdog stories, as evident by the Mission article below and the fact Wallenberg had never made a championship in their school history.

I was pulling for Wallenberg because I'd like to see one of my players from before win, but didn't mind too much that Mission won.

I have a soft spot for Mission because a few years ago, I read a story in the newspaper about how they had to forfeit a playoff game because they didn't have enough players.

At St. Mary's, we face that type of thing in almost every grade. Two of our teams this year had only 5 players. Right now, we have 9 for baseball -- the bare minimum. For one of our soccer teams, we had only 10, when we needed 11 to play.

Back to the Mission story, they had 5 girls on the team, in high school -- crazy. One girl was injured and they forfeited a playoff game. Unreal.

So for Mission to slowly become good at sports and winning championships is a good thing for the AAA San Francisco public school league.

In case you did not catch my story before or just want to watch it again, here it is. This problem of getting students to play is not just a problem at St. Mary's, but across the city. Here, we have enough boys basketball teams, but we still have trouble getting more players to play baseball, soccer and volleyball.

6th grade girls, where are you?

Monday, March 8, 2010

Young men on a mission at Mission High School

Courtesy: The San Francisco Chronicle by Gwen Knapp

As he watched his city champions warm up for Monday's practice, coach Arnold Zelaya explained how the Mission High boys' basketball team came together. The story does not have a pretty beginning.

Grade trouble forced a couple of the seniors out of Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep years ago. One of them entered Balboa High, ran into trouble there and, to his parents' dismay, had to move over to Mission. Another student's discipline problems led to expulsion from one school and a shift to 18th and Dolores streets.

Zelaya told a few more similar tales before he summarized: "I'd say about half of them, when they ended up at Mission, they wanted out." The coach understands all too well. Twenty-six years ago, when he lived in the neighborhood, his mother refused to let him accept assignment to Mission High, sending him off to Sacred Heart.

Despite extensive upgrades over the last decade, the school cannot entirely shake its longstanding reputation as a dumping ground.

"I embrace that, the dumping ground," said Zelaya, also the dean of students. "Now we're the dumping ground for the private schools."

If he seems to be swaggering a little, he's entitled. Mission won its second city championship in three years on Friday when it beat Wallenberg 67-60. At 7:30 tonight, the Bears will play in the first round of the Division IV state tournament, facing Capital Christian of Sacramento in Kezar Pavilion.

But that's not what makes Zelaya boastful. The team currently has a collective grade-point average of 3.o3, he said, announcing the number as proudly as if he had a son with a .303 batting average in the majors.

Some of the seniors who unhappily defaulted into Mission High have already been admitted to college, including Terrence Langston, who plans to attend Cal State Northridge. He has a 3.3 GPA, and an hour before basketball practice Monday, he did warmup exercises of another sort.

Langston worked on scholarship applications, polishing his presentation for two selection interviews in the next week. He went to Room 104 and met with a volunteer for ASAP, the school's 6-year-old Athletic Scholars Advancement Program. The organization grew out of athletic director Scott Kennedy's commitment to placing Mission's student-athletes in college summer camps, an effort that became more urgent after the shooting death of football player Raymon Bass in May 2004.

Founded shortly after Bass' murder, ASAP raised $18,000 in its first year, according to executive director Judy Grossman. This year, she said, the operating budget reached $350,000.

The goal of sending teams to summer training camps expanded to include college-application help and trips to strictly academic summer camps at Ivy League schools such as Cornell, Columbia and Brown.

Junior basketball player Jaleel Stancil's older brother, Jeff, became one of the first Bears to attend Cornell for a summer session. So Jaleel became one of the few current basketball players who did not come to Mission against his will.

"I knew the other schools didn't have ASAP," he said, "so I wanted to be here."

The basketball team went to two camps last summer, one at Santa Clara University, Zelaya's alma mater, and one in Sonora. The Wallenberg team also attended the Santa Clara camp, and the soon-to-be championship rivals became friendly, pulling for each other in matchups with other opponents. The Mission team, by all accounts, bonded over the summer.

"We got to eat together, and we'd laugh and joke with each other," senior JaVaughn Shannon said. "We almost stayed up till 1 a.m. talking."

Shannon had attended Sacred Heart and Balboa, and he came to Mission intending to transfer as soon as possible. "But it actually turned out to be the best thing for me," he said. ASAP helped put him on track academically, he said, and he plans to attend college.

When the team returned for the fall, 11 of the players were supposed to be on the football team. That season, however, came to a halt after three non-league games because the team - a playoff qualifier just a few years ago - couldn't draw enough academically eligible athletes.

So the basketball players started lifting weights together and waiting for their chance. Zelaya noticed older players keeping tabs on younger ones, making sure they went to class.

The coach deliberately scheduled a tough preseason, and the Bears started out 1-5. They are now 21-10, a number that Zelaya recited casually. He was a lot more excited about his team's GPA.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Championship season retrospect

by James Chiu

This past season has been an exhilarating ride, filled with many ups and downs. There were so many things that needed to go right for us to achieve this championship and I am glad I was able to be a part of it all.

When the season first started, I saw glimpses of the team we would need to have for a successful season. But, they were still unpolished. As the season got underway one thing I noticed was this teams’ will to win. From our earliest games in the tournaments it was evident that this team was willing to fight back when they were down, playing hard and competing even in the face of adversity.

Although we made mistakes and stumbled a little at the starting line, these guys learned from their errors and pushed themselves to improve. As the season progressed, our early missteps would soon come back to bite us as our record was 2-3 after a tough loss to OLPH. This loss seemed to be the wake up call they needed as I saw a fire light up in them. Now that the pressure was on, they would need to win out the rest of the season to assure a playoff spot in this tightly matched division.

Stepping up to the challenge, these five guys showed their will to succeed through a strong work ethic. It all started in practices as they came out ready to learn, pushing themselves to better understand what it was that they needed as a team, to come back from their predicament, and also, what it was that we were trying to teach them.

This team continued their pattern of slow starts as they had to battle back from deficits to continue on their road to the post season. But, all the running and work in practice seemed to payoff as they were able close out the games strong and clinch their spot in the playoffs.

In the two biggest games of the season this team came out and played their best basketball. Right from the tip these guys stormed out and pushed the 8-0 league leaders onto their heels. By playing solid defense and converting on good transition offense, they were able to maintain this rhythm and close out the game. Even in the face of a 4 on 5 disadvantage these guys prevailed. Their road to the championship was now sealed.

In the championship game this team rose to the occasion. It was amazing to see the complete game they put together. They were able to come out to a strong start stepping up and protecting their lead the whole way through. They controlled the pace in transition and ran their sets perfectly, hitting big shots and making the stops that they needed to produce a convincing championship title win.

Looking back, it seemed there were a lot of recurring themes that defined our season. But, I think the strongest one was the bond that this team held. The friendship and chemistry was the driving force that helped these guys learn their roles and help each other to accomplish this rare feat.

Overall, I’d like to end this with a thank you to everyone that was involved with the success of this season. Thank you, to the parents for helping these guys stay healthy and be on time, John Wang for his strong insights and play making, Vinette for her dedication and management skills and Bryan for bringing the spirit.

Lastly, I would like to thank the five guys that comprised this 7th grade championship team, for working diligently in practices and helping me pass on the knowledge of a game that I enjoy so much. I hope that although you’ve done an amazing thing in winning this championship as the underdogs, you understand that you shouldn’t let up and there is still a lot of room for improvement. Let’s see what you can do next year.

Friday, March 5, 2010

4th/5th grade girls fall short in overtime

With less than 30 seconds left in the game, Cynthia nailed a bank shot to tie the game at 6-6, sending the game into overtime.

The other team struck first with a bucket in OT, and Cynthia again answered right back and buried a jump shot. But the next time down, the other team went ahead 10-8 and that stood as the final.

Isabella had a career-high 4 points and scored the first four points of the game.

The girls were a bit nervous as expected playing in their first game of the year. But as the game went on, they seemed to get into a comfort zone and played better as the game progressed. They got off a lot of good shots, that with more practice, will go in by the end of the year.

8 points is the highest output they have had in their team's history.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

All-Star Sunday Video Library

Here it is folks, the entire All-Star Sunday video library. Goodness, there are a lot of videos. Get some food, sit in front of the computer and enjoy all of these events.



Young Stars Shootout from Bryan Cheung on Vimeo.















3 Point Shootout from Bryan Cheung on Vimeo.



7th and 8th Grade 2 Ball from Bryan Cheung on Vimeo.



Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Yus vs Lins




The rest of the videos will be released all this Thursday.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Girls Schedules Released

The girls schedule has been released. Only one game this week and that will be the 4th/5th graders who kick off the regular season Friday night.

Here are the first games for each team:

4th/5th grade: Friday night, 6:30 p.m. @ Presidio
3rd grade: Friday, March 12th, 6 p.m. @ CYO Serramonte, Saturday, March 13th, 10 a.m. @ Herbert Center
7th grade: Saturday, March 13th, 1 p.m. @ Herbert Center
8th grade:Saturday, March 13th, 11 a.m. @ St. Peter Pacifica

A full hard copy of the schedule will be passed out in class Thursday - I promise.

8TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP TONIGHT

8TH GRADE CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS

LATEST LIGHTS

3/15-3/23 Lights

6th Grade Championship

VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP