May 6, 2005

Evergreen Sports

Quimby Oak girls’ volleyball looks to make a dynasty

Lobos win 2005 SCCESJHCA championship and run undefeated streak to 33

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

The girls’ volleyball team at Quimby Oak Middle School finished off another season with what is now an expected result—an undefeated record.

THE CREW. The 2005 Quimby Oak Lobos (back row, from left) Coach Dean Askanas, Lanyssa Fiaui, Watta Tarmoh, Iman Scott, Inanna Eshoo and Bianca Raynes. (Front row, from left) Priscilla Olmos, Lyka Manalo, Alyson Sagala, Kiana Dela Rosa and Alyssa Prudencio.

In fact, the Lobos have lost only one game in the past four years—a defeat in 2003—and have compiled an 80-1 record over that span. In the past two seasons, the Lobos have enjoyed unparalleled success, 33-0, including a 16-0 mark this year.

For Head Coach Dean Askanas, success comes from finding the right mix of physical talent as well as the mental makeup in his players.

“General athleticism, learning ability, the ability to get right into a drill and being able to perform the drill,” Askanas said of the things he looks for in his players. “As far as volleyball goes, to be able to pass the ball cleanly. I also look a lot at their GPAs because you’ll find that in volleyball programs, a lot of the good volleyball players are good students. These were all very good students.”

Askanas started out the season with a young and somewhat inexperienced team comprised of mostly seventh-grade girls. Although this mix hardly seems like a recipe for success, both Askanas and the players made it work, practicing the fundamentals and moving on to more difficult concepts on both offense and defense as the season wore on.

For their part, the players credit Askanas with running a smooth volleyball operation.

“It was really good,” said Lobos setter Inanna Eshoo of Askanas’ coaching throughout the year. “Mr. Askanas is a really good coach even though some of us hadn’t played volleyball before. He taught us the basics and when we got those down, we advanced from there.”

For Askanas, getting an inexperienced squad meant getting his players adapted quickly in a relatively short period of time.

“They were quick learners and they practiced every day,” Askanas said of his team. “The junior high season is short and they’re at square one—this is their first experience with volleyball. But they are good athletes and they’re quick studies. They just worked very hard and became pretty skillful in a short amount of time.”

Askanas, who has coached the Lobos for the past nine seasons and also serves as a physical education teacher at Quimby Oak, guided the 2005 version of the Lobos to another Santa Clara County East Side Junior High Coaches Association championship.

Perhaps more impressive than the 33 – 0 mark over two seasons is the way the Lobos defeated the competition this season. After opening the season with a 2 – 1 win over Ocala Middle School, the Lobos defeated the rest of their league competition in straight 2 – 0 sets the rest of the way. That streak included a 2 – 0 win in the championship game over none other than league rival Ocala on April 7.

“We talked as a team about wanting to play good competition,” Askanas said of the championship game. “… We wanted to face good competition and we wanted to be challenged. I told the girls to be excited about good competition and they really bought into that feeling. We were excited over it and just jumped all over them (Ocala) and really played very textbook volleyball.”

Despite the success over his years as Lobos Head Coach, Askanas is quick to credit his players, many who have siblings that played volleyball in past years at Quimby Oak, for another successful year.

Askanas heaps much of that praise on his starting lineup, which consists of only one eighth grader in middle blocker Watta Tarmoh. Aside from Tarmoh, Askanas was pleased with the play of starting middle blocker Iman Scott, opposite hitters Bianca Raynes and Lanyssa Fiaui as well as Eshoo.

“In the past few years, we based all our offense on two good middle hitters [blockers] and this year, we had two good middles and two good outsides [opposite hitters], which is good for junior high,” said Askanas, who also coaches the Leigh High School girls’ volleyball team. “It allowed our offense to be more multidimensional.”

Even though the 2005 season has ended, Askanas has much to look forward to. Since the majority of the team will return for another year, Askanas is looking to make another run for an SCCESJHCA championship title in 2006.

“This team is going to be great again next year because almost all of them are returning,” Askanas said. “They should be really strong again.”

Sports Briefs

Citywide youth track meet at Evergreen Valley May 22
A free track and field meet for boys and girls ages 9 to14 will be held on Sunday, May 22 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Evergreen Valley High School track, 3300 Quimby Road.

Sponsored by the city of San Jose, department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services and the San Jose Police Amateur Athletic Association, the meet includes track events such as the 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 meter runs, and 4 x 100 meter relay.

Field events include the standing long jump and softball throw. Group one is for athletes born between 1995 – 1996; group two is for athletes born between 1993 – 1994; and group three is for athletes born between 1991 – 1992.

The event is a qualifier meet for the Nor Cal Hershey State Track and Field Meet held on Saturday, June 18, at San Jose City College, and is a stop on the road to the National Meet in Hershey, Pa.

Implemented in 1975 as a playground track and field meet, the Hershey Youth Program has become the largest youth sports program of its kind in North America. About 400,000 children participate in the program annually, representing more than 3,000 communities across the country.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. For more information and registration forms, call the Citywide Sports Office at (408) 369-3900. Registration will also be accepted on the day of the event between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.


Silicon Valley Football Classic not renewed for 2005
The Silicon Valley Football Classic, the bowl game held annually at San Jose’s Spartan Stadium, was not re-licensed for the 2005 season.

Last year’s game, which saw Northern Illinois defeat Troy State 34 – 21 in the fifth annual SVFC, has been classified as “The Perfect Storm.” SVFC officials battled a number of immense challenges, including South Carolina and Clemson’s withdrawals from the eligible bowl contingent, which left the 28 existing bowls with only 57 bowl-eligible teams.

Next, SVFC’s local conference partners, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and Pac-10, could not provide bowl-eligible teams, and the match up of two at-large teams unfamiliar to the local market didn’t help. The tumultuous rain drove away attendees on game day, and finally, a stream of negative press leading up to bowl week, all strongly impacted the SVFC 2004 game.

“We are truly disappointed in the NCAA’s decision to deny the Silicon Valley Football Classic a 2005 season,” said Chris Hutchins, executive director of the SVFC. “Our executive committee worked tirelessly over the last several weeks to present the NCAA with the positive and successful results associated with the Bowl. We were 100 percent committed to building upon last year’s successes, but unfortunately, attendance criteria became the deciding factor.”

During the last five years, the SVFC has made a direct economic impact to the city of San Jose, generating more than $32 million during one of the slowest tourism weeks of the year.

“Since the first, the Silicon Valley Football Classic has contributed greatly to our community with significant economic, community and downtown benefits,” said San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales. “I appreciate all the hard work from so many people over the years to create what we all expected to become an outstanding San Jose tradition.”

In addition to its economic impact, the SVFC invested and gave back to the community. Last year, the SVFC teamed up with the After-School All-Stars of Greater San Jose, its official charity partner, to host its first-ever Team Community Day. The SVFC was recently able to reaffirm its commitment to the community by presenting ASAS-GSJ with a $10,000 donation early this year.

Standing out in a crowd

LeyVa siblings excel academically, athletically

By Mike McFerran
Staff Writer

When people say that Mehakpal and Harlene Grewal stand out in a crowd, they mean it, literally.

Eighth grader Mehakpal towers above most of his peers—and teachers—at almost 6-feet, 2-inches tall, and his seventh grade sister Harlene is not far behind at 6-feet, 1-inch.

Born in Canada just 16 months apart, the Grewals lived in Toronto before moving with their parents, Paul and Baldev, to the Evergreen area in 1998. Now attending LeyVa Middle School, the brother and sister are gaining recognition for more than just their height.

“Mehakpal and Harlene really work hard both academically and in athletics,” says their mom with pride, noting that they won athletic scholar and “Most Valuable Player” awards this year. “I am very proud both of them earned MVP awards for basketball this year while maintaining 4.0 GPAs. It’s a great honor for them.”

Unlike some brothers and sisters, who seem to live in polar universes, both Grewals love basketball and spend a lot of their free time watching and studying the NBA together.

“I know more about the players and stats than the analysts on TV,” claims Mehakpal. He is currently captain of his AAU team, the RoadDawgs 14U, while Harlene plays for the AAU team San Jose Xtremes.

Mehakpal’s rough season
It was a particularly tough basketball season for Mehakpal, because he had come down with mononucleosis and his doctor had warned that he might need to sit out the season.

“This was very upsetting news for all of us, and I didn’t know what to say every time he asked me why this was happening,” says Baldev. “I’ve always told my children to dream big and set attainable goals each year. However, with this medical obstacle, even I was lost for words.”

Richard Miller, LeyVa’s principal, put the ordeal in perspective. “Once he was cleared to play, Mehakpal demonstrated the inner strength and determination that he exhibits in his academics and worked hard to regain his competitive edge.

“He not only regained it,” continues Miller, “he exceeded it by earning the coveted MVP award of a very skilled team. Often, athletics can bring out the best in young people, and in this case, Mehakpal was a shining example of what strong will and determination can do.”

Boys basketball coach, Brian Conrad, adds, “Mehakpal is an extremely determined worker … when the going got tough this year, he stepped up his game and fought even harder.”

The 14-year-old teen maintains his 4.0 GPA while taking all the honors classes available at LeyVa.

“In the classroom, Mehakpal is an “A” student who is very responsible, dedicated, self-motivated and always gives his best effort to achieve his goals,” says Dan Spencer, one of Mehakpal’s teachers. “Mehakpal is also one of our best athletes at LeyVa. He is a well-rounded athlete who will continue to shine in high school.”

When the basketball season ended, Mehakpal moved on to compete in volleyball and then track and field this spring. Although he couldn’t fit cross country into his schedule in the fall, he was LeyVa’s PE cross country champion.

Mehakpal hasn’t decided where he’ll be going to high school in the fall, but he is thinking about entering a pre-law program at a major university upon high school graduation and hopes to play college basketball.

Harlene holds her own
“As a basketball player, Harlene can do it all,” says Spencer, Harlene’s basketball coach at Leyva. “She can shoot, rebound, block shots and has excellent footwork and the basketball fundamentals of a high school player.”

Spencer adds that she is a pleasure to coach because “she listens, never complains, is always trying to get better and, most important, is a team player who makes those around her much better. Harlene has the potential to be a dominant high school player if she continues to work hard and practice.”

Like her brother, this 13-year-old seventh grader hasn’t decided which school she’d like to attend after LeyVa, but she also dreams of playing college basketball. In the meantime, she loves to read Shakespeare and fantasy novels and deems science her favorite subject in school. In addition to her honors classes, Harlene chose leadership as her elective.

LeyVa teacher and volleyball coach Annie Williams adds, “I am glad that Harlene is trying different sports and getting a feel for what is out there for her, because with her height, attitude and drive, the sky is the limit for her.”

This summer the Grewal siblings will be busy playing basketball with their AAU teams and attending basketball camps, but they will also try to spend a few weeks in Toronto, on what has become an annual visit with their dad’s family.

Citywide youth track meet at Evergreen Valley May 22

A free track and field meet for boys and girls ages 9 to14 will be held on Sunday, May 22 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Evergreen Valley High School track, 3300 Quimby Road.

Sponsored by the city of San Jose, department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services and the San Jose Police Amateur Athletic Association, the meet includes track events such as the 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 meter runs, and 4 x 100 meter relay.

The event is a qualifier meet for the Nor Cal Hershey State Track and Field Meet held on Saturday, June 18, at San Jose City College, and is a stop on the road to the National Meet in Hershey, Pa.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. For more information and registration forms, call the Citywide Sports Office at (408) 369-3900. Registration will also be accepted on the day of the event between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

Evergreen Valley track ends regular season with perfect 7-0 mark

Both boys’ and girls’ teams take win at Pioneer on April 29

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

When the Santa Teresa Division track season got underway on March 10, the Evergreen Valley Cougars started running. Seven meets later with the regular season at an end, and the Cougars are where they didn’t expect to be—atop the division with a perfect 7 – 0 record for both the boys’ and girls’ teams.

“I thought we could do okay, but as far as going 7 – 0 in the girls and the boys, I don’t think any of us thought that would be possible,” said Cougars Head Coach Frank Slaton.

The Cougars finished off their regular season with a much-anticipated match-up against the Pioneer Mustangs on April 29.

Last season, with both Pioneer and Evergreen battling it out in the West Valley Division, the Mustangs handed the Cougars a crushing defeat at season’s end. This year, the tables have turned.

Although both teams were bumped up into a higher division for 2005, it was the Cougars who came out on top on April 29. The girls’ team handed the Mustangs a tidy 97 – 24 loss and the boys’ team battled it out until the end, when the Cougars’ 4 x 100 relay team won the final event of the day, clocking in first with a time of 43.97 to win the meet 68 – 59.

“We hit a lot of times that are CCS marks actually,” said Evergreen junior sprinter Josh Hernandez. “It was pretty good … the relay was pretty exciting. Just handing off the baton and everything, it felt good.”

Best may still come
Slaton, a track and field veteran in the Evergreen area for nearly 30 years, looks back on the regular season with cautious optimism. Although both the girls’ and boys’ teams have made great strides this season, the best may still be to come.

Out of the 65 athletes, 40 boys and 25 girls, Slaton has coached this season, only four will go on to graduate at the end of the school year. For Slaton and the rest of the coaching staff, that signals room for growth and perhaps more accolades to come in the next couple of seasons.

“As far as maturing running-wise, it’s nice to see the freshmen go up to juniors and learn how to run a race,” said Cougar Assistant Coach Jim Sena. “In their minds, it’s how they finish their last 100 yards and how fast they can run. We’re trying to train them to not even have to do that, to be at the finish line before everybody else. It’s nice to see them do that.”

In the win over Pioneer, Slaton saw several reasons to feel good about the future of Evergreen Valley’s track team.

Cougar boys
On the boys’ side, junior Jonathan Gragert won two events single-handedly to help the Cougars secure the win. Gragert clocked in at 4:37 in the 1600-meter event, placing first, and also finishing ahead of the pack in the 3200-meter.

Aside from Gragert, Slaton has also relied heavily on Hernandez and Brian San Agustin, both juniors as well.

Hernandez helped the relay team to a victory in the 4 x 100 event while also registering a first-place finish in the 400-meter with a time of 53.51. Adding the icing to the cake, Hernandez placed first in the 800-meter with a time of 2:07.83.

“We expect Josh to go to CCS,” said Sena. “… Josh has been very consistent. He’s a hard worker, dedicated, comes to practice and has got a lot of talent, a lot of skills.”

San Agustin placed first in two individual events to help the Cougars as well, winning the 100-meter with a time of 10.94 and the 200-meter at 22.56.

Cougar girls
On the girls’ side, Slaton has reason to smile as well. Freshman hurdler Golde Ibia, who Slaton said has the size—she measures 5-feet, 9- inches—and the work ethic to be great in the coming years. At Pioneer, Ibia placed first in the 110 hurdles, clocking in at 15.79 and at the high jump, leaping an even five feet to take the event.

“She’s just an outstanding athlete,” Slaton said of Ibia. “…With the height that she has, we said, ‘well, let’s try her in the hurdles.’ Right now, she’s one of the top girls in our league in the hurdles and she’s only going to get better.”

Among the other athletes contributing heavily in the 2005 season are Rachel Ambrosia and Yareni Carrasco. In the season-ending win, Ambrosia placed first in three individual events—the 1600-meter at 5:50, the 800-meter at 2:43 and the 3200-meter at 12:07—helping the Cougars earn a lopsided win.

Slaton calls Carrasco one of his most-improved athletes of the season. She is undefeated in the 100-meter and 200-meter for the season, and placed first in two events, the 200-meter and the 100-meter.

With Blossom Valley Athletic League finals underway, the Cougars are looking to finish off their season by claiming the league title and sending at least a couple of teammates on to Central Coast Section competition.

Regardless of the outcome, Slaton feels confident both teams will be there again in the coming years.

“It’s been great,” said Slaton. “The key is, we’ve had some great kids and some great parents, and then some great [assistant] coaches. Everybody’s been on the same page. All of the kids enjoy each other and all of the coaches enjoy each other. That sort of just makes a great family.”

Coach Carter speaks to SJSU crowd about keys to success
and time as Richmond basketball coach

Movie based on coach’s decision to lock out high school team

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

Known as “the coach who cares,” Ken Carter has made quite a name for himself as a basketball coach.

Although his Richmond High School basketball teams continued to win games throughout his tenure as coach from 1997 through 2002, Carter’s name hit the national spotlight for something other than wins and losses—academics.

In early January of 1999, Carter made the controversial decision to lock his players out of their high school gym, as 15 of his 45 players failed to meet the coach’s 2.3 grade-point average standard set in written contracts signed by the players. In doing so, Richmond High was forced to forfeit two games at a time when the team was off to a 13-0 start in the season.

In an April 12 visit to San Jose State University, where he gave a one-hour motivational speech, Carter discussed a variety of topics, including his time as Richmond’s head basketball coach and the circumstances surrounding the community at the time.

“When you’re poor, it defeats you mentally,” said Carter, who now spends his time as a motivational speaker, an author and head coach for the SlamBall league’s Los Angeles Rumble, a sport with a twist on basketball, focusing on highlight-reel slam dunks. “…Our mental state, how we see ourselves, determines our strength.”

The decision to lock his players out of the gym, including his son Damian, drew national headlines and some scorn from the Richmond High athletic booster club. Nevertheless, Carter stuck to his decision, even at times when he feared for the safety of his family, and still looks back on it with great pride. Carter told the SJSU crowd that one of his proudest achievements as coach of Richmond High was the fact that all of his players went on to graduate high school and attend college in a school where approximately 50 percent of the student body never finished their senior year.

“If a child gets passed along early because of their gifts or their (athleticism), they develop this mentality that they will always be able to do this. Get by and just lie,” Carter said. “… People understand that and student athletes understand that. I have to go to class and be a student-athlete because student comes first in that equation.”

Carter said part of the problem at the time was the culture surrounding his team. He said people involved with the school, including parents, often looked the “other way” when it came to the academic performances of the school’s basketball players because the team was winning. Just a few short years removed from that incident, Carter, who still resides in Richmond, now feels many athletic programs and schools are beginning to place a higher value on the education of their athletes.

“I think it’s slowly changing because now we’re looking at all these athletes who didn’t get a proper education in their early childhood or in college and they just got by on their (physical) abilities,” Carter said. “Some tragic things have happened to them in their lives as far as them being 10 years removed from the sport and now they’re broke. When we look at our professional athletes, we’ve held them up almost like gods. Now to see this person broke and defeated, it raises some serious questions.”

During his hour-long speech at SJSU’s Morris Dailey Auditorium, Carter spoke about the tools to success in life. He told the crowd success begins with validation from family members, something he received growing up in a large household, which included seven sisters who continue to serve as positive role models to the 45-year-old coach.

“Education is the key,” Carter said. “The reason you’re here is because you’re searching for something.”

Carter also spoke about his story turning into a movie. “Coach Carter,” which was released in theatres in January of this year, recalls the lockout in 1999 and the trials and tribulations of several of Carter’s players as well as the coach himself. Carter, played by Samuel L. Jackson in the movie, boldly told Paramount Pictures executives that his seven sisters, mother and older brother, along with his former assistant coach and several players, needed to play a part in the film or it wouldn’t be made. Carter reasoned that his family was his “team,” supporting and validating him from the start and that the movie needed to reflect this. The executives eventually relented.

Carter then spent six months with Jackson to help the actor nail down mannerisms and other characteristics to make the part as real as possible. According to Carter, Jackson pulled off Coach Carter about as well as anyone and said the events depicted in the movie were 98.5 percent correct.

“Samuel L. Jackson became Coach Carter,” Carter told the SJSU audience. “When someone said, ‘Hey, Coach Carter,’ both of us turned around.”

But as far as athletics and its surrounding ideologies go these days, Carter offered up hope for the future, sighting sports like Major League Baseball’s drug testing program as an example for keeping athletes accountable for their behavior, on and off the field or court.

“There’s definitely been a huge change in just the way we think,” said Carter. “…It’s like a domino effect. Everything that happens in the pros percolates down to college. What happens in college percolates down to the high schools. Now that you see these things addressed at the pro level, you see the other people start to address it also.”