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?
.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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