September 12, 2005

South Bay Volleyball wins Gold

Boys Club ‘City Beach’ takes first at Junior Olympics

By Jeremy Lipps
Staff Writer

When over 90 teams from across North America and the Pacific met in Kentucky this July to determine who would reign as the Junior Olympic volleyball champion, only one team was from San Jose in the boys 16-year-old division.

City Beach Club Volleyball took gold and put three players on the All Tournament team.

City Beach Club Volleyball arrived in Kentucky already in the shadow of Southern California’s volleyball dominance. With over 20 teams representing Southern California it’s almost always safe to pick a Southern California team in junior volleyball.

This year, however, was different. Northern California would take gold and put three players on the All Tournament team.

The first day of tournament play would test City Beach. After losing their first two games it seemed like City Beach was headed home. After one round of play there was a three-way tie for the second spot to advance. A Southern California team had locked themselves into the first spot, and it was only Hawaii in a tiebreaker standing between City Beach and the next round.

Deep into a tight game after a full day of play, City Beach found itself playing pressure ball at 11:30 p.m. With the game on the line, Hawaii hit a hard spike, which was deflected by the front line and seemed destined to turn the tide against City Beach. But Joey Heinlein dug it out and Todd Smith hit it over to save the point. It was a major change in momentum that pushed City Beach on to victory.

“Our boys never gave up,” said Anica Ng-Parish, mother of City Beach player Jonathan Ng-Parish.

After a quick pizza party in the hotel room the boys finally got to bed at 1 a.m. Rest was fleeting as the next day’s early game was against a top ranked Southern California team, Spectrum.

City Beach downs So-Cal monsters
The average height on the Southern California Spectrum Boys Volleyball Club is 6’4”, while the average height for City Beach is six feet. Like so many things in California, Northern California often finds itself second to the Southland.

Spectrum had easily dispatched and outlasted teams from Puerto Rico, Chicago and even Guam to stand looking down on the little guys from San Jose.

After another tough game, Spectrum fell to City Beach who moved on to the championship game against Canada. After facing down the Best in the West the championship game was easily won as Canada fell, making City Beach the gold medalists.

“They actually played together as a team, some were good in the back row, others on defense, but they really came together,” explained Ng-Parish.

To make the deal even sweeter, three City Beach players were named to the all tournament team including Setter/Outside Hitter Jonathan Ng-Parish, tournament MVP Jon Fisher and Hawaii hero, Todd Smith.

After the excitement of a championship, the players from City Beach have started school and will all disband to play for their individual high school teams, taking with them great memories and the honor of being named Junior Olympic champions.

Going the Extra Mile

Dedication and hard work make a difference for local soccer team

Placing first is hard enough for any sports team, but three in a row is an extremely difficult task, especially when it is a team’s first year of play together as a team. That is exactly what the CVYSL U12 Boys Revolution team has done over the past month.

The Revolution soccer team came about this year, as a team comprised of 16 boys, all eager to play competitive level soccer, but who wanted the flexibility to play other sports as well.

The goal was to create a fun, flexible soccer environment and a tight-knit team culture based on dedication, respect for each other and the game, good sportsmanship and a drive to succeed as a team. So far, the team has far exceeded the players, the coaches and the parent’s expectations in a short amount of time.

“With any team, you like to win, but that is not the main emphasis on this team, it’s just been happening that way,” says right wing Jason Shelton.

Besides playing competitive level soccer, the team has created a “Mileage Club” as a way of promoting good health and to bolster their endurance on the field.

As of the beginning of September, the boys have put in over 900 miles as a team on their own time. This includes walk-a-thons, charity walks, running, jogging, power walking and swimming laps. Their weekly practices do not even count in their totals. These are pure extracurricular miles they are putting in.

Most of the boys also get their parents involved on their daily miles so it becomes a real family project for some. The coaches started this club to provide a way of motivating the boys to exercise on their own and help them see the benefits of exercising outside the team environment.

Striker Brandon Velez stated, “these extra miles help the team because we now run longer and faster.”

When you watch their games, you can really see the benefits of all their hard work. “I think it has helped us by getting us ready and fit for the league games and tournaments we play in,” says defensive back Tom Watson.

“We want these boys to learn how to play soccer well, win or lose, and learn how important it is to work together to achieve goals and hopefully make some life long friends and memories for themselves,” said Coach Darryl Shelton.

CVYSL U12 Boys ‘Revolution’ team: back row (l-r) Sergio Pacheco, Gabriel Montalvo and Darryl Shelton. Middle row (l-r) Ryan Morgan, Rishi Ahuja, Joseph Lopez, Brandon Montalvo, Ben D’Costa, Chase Enzweiler, Darren Hollak, Tom Watson and Matthew Schroeder. Front row (l-r) Daniel Kidman, Jason Shelton, Brandon Velez, Alec Skjerven, Omar Borrego, Dylan Lenox and Chas Grimm.

The Revolution team started their fall season in early August with a first place finish in the Central Valley Magic Cup tournament in Campbell. Two weeks later the finished first in the Foster City Shootout Tournament. Over Labor Day weekend, the team took another first place in the Danville Mustang Devil Mountain Tournament.

These tournaments bring in top competitive teams from all over California. The Revolutions record to date is 11 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie. In all, the team has scored 46 goals and given up 9 goals in 12 games.

“The dedication level and chemistry between these boys is incredible and it truly shows in their ability and skill on the field. Being a multi-sport team has helped the team as a whole, as many of the boys bring skills they have learned in other sports, such as baseball and basketball. They a are able to utilize them on the soccer field, making them multi-dimensional players,” says Shelton All of these are key components for any successful sports team.

Shelton, also known as Coach Darryl, coaches and Gabriel Montalvo manages the team while Sergio Pacheco, a Nationally “A” licensed trainer from Chile, is the trainer. The team’s regular league season starts Sept. 10 and runs through November. The team will play an exhibition game later this month during halftime at a Santa Clara vs. Stanford Soccer game.

The Revolution is sponsored by a number of local companies in the community, including, WM. Ebert Construction, Inc., Giorgio’s Italian Restaurant and Pizza, Jakes of Willow Glen, Frankie Johnnie and Luigis Too! and Ignite Marketing, who all have helped the team in many ways over the past year.

Bringing honor to the game

The Blossom Valley Athletic League hosts 22 schools
at Evergreen High to discuss sportsmanship and steroid use

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

More than 400 student-athletes, coaches, parents and school administrators from 22 schools, including Westmont, gathered at Evergreen Valley High on Sept. 7 for the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s 4th annual Honor the Game conference.

Leland Athletic Director Chris Hansen (wearing a blue windbreaker) leads a group of students through hypothetical situations involving sportsmanship and the use of performance-enhancing drugs. More than 400 student-athletes, school administrators, coaches and parents were invited to attend the conference.

Members from each of the schools, which are affiliated with the local high school sports governing body, were on hand to discuss good sportsmanship and other topics related to high school sports from a variety of perspectives.

“As a society, we witness all the time poor sportsmanship at all levels, from Little League on up through the professionals and this has been kind of our way of trying to combat that within our league, the BVAL,” said Pioneer High School Athletic Director and varsity head football Coach Mark Krail. “It’s been a very positive event … It seems to kind of rejuvenate kids and parents every year to think positively about sportsmanship and athletics.

And that’s our goal, that they take it back to their schools and improve the atmosphere at these games.”

Former San Francisco 49er tight end Brent Jones, a graduate of Leland High, spoke to the crowd about how to treat opponents and the field and about proper conduct as an athlete, relating stories of his playing days at not only the high school level, but also the college and professional levels of sports.

In addition to Jones, FERMAR Official (the officiating organization affiliated with BVAL sports) Kenny Jackson talked about sportsmanship through the eyes of a game official and how players, coaches and officials can get along on the playing field.

Former 49er tight end Brent Jones talked to the student-athletes representing 22 schools affiliated with the BVAL about sportsmanship and leadership on and off the field. Jones related stories about his playing days at Leland High, Santa Clara University and on the NFL level with the 49ers. Photos by Diego Abeloos

A large portion of the three-hour conference was dedicated to the dangers of using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Doctor Janiece Stewart of San Jose’s O’Connor Hospital gave a presentation about the history of performance-enhancing drugs, the positive and negative effects of taking the drugs, as well as the ethics involved in taking them.

Stewart said studies have shown that between 4-12 percent of high school boys have used or are currently using steroids and that approximately 2-3 percent of seventh and eighth grade girls have used or are currently abusing steroids as well. Overall, about 1 million people in the United States are users or former users.

“There’s been a lot of controversy about steroid use and whether it’s good or not,” Stewart said. “Surprisingly, a lot of younger kids, high school and even grade school level, are using steroids. So I thought it was really important to come out and actually show the kids some pictures of what happens to your body when you have steroids inside.”

The members of all the schools were also broke up into groups to discuss efforts to influence others on their campuses to promote good sportsmanship. They were also tested on how they would react to various situations in regards to sportsmanship and the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“I just felt like it was important to come back and share with the kids some of the things that I’ve learned over the course of my career,” said Jones. “The opportunity to share with them that they can really be leaders not only on the field, but off the field, as well in their school and their community, is great. The kids were very receptive and it’s great to be able to come and share some of that with them.”