SportsForce athlete Oscar Sanay has accepted an athletic scholarship to Cal State Bakersfield to continue his baseball career with them. Oscar, who plays short stop and second base for Bonita Vista High School and club for the Bonita Vista Legends, had a few key factors which helped him decide on CSU Bakersfield. Oscar was able to secure a scholarship that would allow him to play at CSU and move away from home. Oscar was also equally impressed with the level of education CSU Bakersfield can provide as well as the playing time he will see with their baseball team.
Oscar, who was originally leaning towards attending another university became aware that he would have a better chance to grow as a player at CSU Bakersfield. Oscar shared with SportsForce that what he is most looking forward to in college is a chance be around others who love the game as much as he does well as get a great education for whatever the future may hold.
“The most thing I’m looking forward to in playing at CSU Bakersfield is getting better. Not just getting better about baseball, but being more educated,” Oscar told us.
We wish Oscar the best of luck at CSU Bakersfield and hope to be hearing more great things from him in the future. Visit Oscar’s full SportsForce profile and check him out in action below.
Former Student Athlete of the Week, Natalie Hagglund, helped lead the LCC Girls Volleyball team to victory over No. 1 ranked Torrey Pines. The San Diego Union-Tribune writes of the match,
In a thrilling back-and-forth battle between two of the state’s top programs, the Avocado League rivals did not disappoint in the San Diego Section Division I finals.
In the end, No. 2 La Costa Canyon took the 25-15, 25-27, 25-22, 26-24 victory over the top-seeded Falcons at Cathedral Catholic last night, earning the Mavericks a sixth consecutive section title before a near-capacity crowd.
Just two weeks earlier, La Costa Canyon (28-5) fell to Torrey Pines (25-9) in the final match of the regular season, resulting in the league title being shared by the two schools and the higher seed in the playoffs going to the Falcons.
But the Mavericks managed to finish ahead in the tightly contested match, getting a stunning performance from big-match veterans Kendall Polan and Natalie Hagglund as well as underclassmen such as sophomore Natalie Bausback and junior Karsta Lowe.
Hagglund had a match-high 10 kills, while Bausback and Lowe each added nine.
See video below of Natalie in action at the California Challenge:
Postion: Outside Hitter Height: 6’1” Class: 2010 School: Cathedral Catholic High School San Diego, CA
Kelly Reeves signed her National Letter of Intent with UCLA to play volleyball for them this past Wednesday. Kelly is captain of the Cathedral Catholic team which won last years Division III Championship as well as the Western League title. A dominant outside hitter, Kelly’s coach, Kelly Drobeck told The San Diego Union-Tribune, “Kelly is always the one we know will never run out of energy. She definitely hasn’t changed at all in that aspect. She has gotten a lot stronger and smarter. I’ve definitely seen her mature, too. Now she’s developed into our team leader.” Reeves has racked up 294 kills this season alone while leading Cathedral Catholic to another impressive season with playoffs starting this week, which the Dons are sure to go far in. Reeve’s is also looking for big things with her club team, The Encinitas Wave, telling ESPN Rise she hopes her team wins the Junior Olympics.
This past weekend, Ricky Seale broke the San Diego CIF rushing record that has been standing since Demetrius Sumler (2002-05) set it. Seale surpassed the 5,650 yard record by 161 yards. 619Sports.net writes:
“Seale electrified the boisterous home crowd in Escondido by eclipsing the section rushing record on the game’s first series, scampering 28 yards for a touchdown. That gave him 50 yards for the game and 5,651 yards for his career, one more than Demetrius Sumler of Cathedral Catholic. But while Seale kept the 5th ranked Cougars (6-1-1, 1-1-1 Avocado) close, once running 10 straight times on a drive out of the wildcat formation, eventually he wore down. After carrying 26 times for 178 yards in the first half, Seale was held to just 34 yards in the second half by the athletic “Gang Green” defense of LCC.”
Another San Diego football star who has been garnering lots of attention is La Costa Canyon wide reciver, Kenny Stills.The question now stands where Kenny will play after high school. 619Sports.net caught up with Kenny to see what schools top the list:
“I’m looking at Florida and Oklahoma, and if I can stand the cold weather, I could go to Michigan,” said Stills, who plans on making his official announcement on December 1st.
However things could change:
“If Stills delays his decision, that would be good news for two more schools who have popped up on his radar screen. Stills told 619 Sports he’s been offered a scholarship by the University of Miami, a school that has a tradition of developing NFL wide receivers.”
Stills’ Miami trip isn’t scheduled until December 11th-13th, so the Hurricanes have to hope Kenny is still undecided by that point. Stills also said the only way he will be at school for the spring semester (he’s on target to graduate in December) would be if he is trying to qualify academically for Stanford.”
Kenny is also very grounded when it comes to his recruiting decision
“’I know this body still needs to fill out, and my education is really important to me. You need something to fall back on after football is over.’”
SportsForce began coverage of a new sport this week: Field Hockey. We can’t deny the popularity of this sport and want to offer our athletes and audience all access. We recently covered the Scripps Ranch vs. Cathedral Catholic, check out the highlights below.
Though Field Hockey is now high on the SportsForce radar, there are still limited opportunities for Division I play in our home state of California. The North County Times recently covered the lack of opportunities and the start up Division I program at UC Davis. The program has in-state athletes, and more specifically, athletes from San Diego and North County flocking to it.
“…when Vianney Campos was named head coach and put in charge of starting a program at UC Davis, there was no doubt about her first recruiting stop.
‘I played at Eastlake, so I knew where to go to get players,’ Campos said.
When the recruiting process was over, Campos had 27 players for her first-year program —- 15 from San Diego, including 11 from North County.”
The article explains the increased level of play on the West Coast in recent years and in increase in talent,
“Since 2002, 72 field hockey players from North County high schools have gone on to play in college.
‘There are so many more opportunities now than when we all played a decade ago,’ said Kelli Gannon, now the head coach at San Pasqual. ‘When we played, you had to go east if you wanted to play collegiately.’
‘The West Coast teams have become very competitive over the last few years, and that’s good for the West Coast kids.'”
The creation of UC Davis’s program brings the number of Division I field hockey programs to four in the state. Though as the NC Times reports, there are other level of opportunities in the state,
“Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, USC and UC San Diego have club programs. Cal Poly is said to be considering adding field hockey to its varsity roster.”
SportsForce athlete, Alysha Isaacson recently committed to the University of Dayton to play softball for the Flyers. Alysha went on an official visit to the school in September and decided to commit after “falling in love with it” according to her mother. The signing period for softball starts November 11th and Alysha will officially sign with Dayton then. Alysha currently plays club ball for Case Batbusters and High School for Hilltop High School. Visit Alysha’s profile on the SportsForce site to see what helped to propel the recruiting process.
SportsForce athlete and Christian High School place-kicker, Michael Gruber was recently featured by the San Diego Union-Tribune in an article highlighting the superior abilities of Christian’s special teams. Gruber is a talented athlete all around as the Union-Tribune reports:
“Gruber, a starting catcher for the Christian baseball team, never thought about football until the beginning of his junior year. His place-kicking career began by chance after his father, Curt Gruber, and former football coach and now Christian athletic director David Beezer watched him play goalkeeper for the Patriots soccer team.”
“I knew he was raw, but I got a bag of balls just to see what he could do as a possible kicker,” Beezer said. “I kept it simple, and he’s gotten better and better.”
Gruber’s accuracy is especially impressive: “Gruber has placed 21 of his 25 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. In the past two seasons, Gruber and the Patriots are 16-for-16 in recovering onside kicks.”
Gruber is an extremely dedicated athlete and has taken many measures to ensure his success as a place-kicker: “When the kicking carrot was dangled in front of him, Gruber went after it. He attended a San Diego summer combine with 50 kickers and won the field goal kicking competition. He has connected on 4-of-6 field goal attempts this season with a long of 47 yards for Christian (5-2), which plays at Santa Fe Christian at 2 p.m. Saturday.”
John Matich, is a former NFL and NCAA kicker and now owner and director of The Kicking System, which offers Camps & Private Kicking Lessons in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles.
The most elite high school girl’s volleyball tournament in the country happens this week in San Diego, CA. SportsForce was at the California Challenge last year and was able to get some great video footage of the championship game which featured La Costa Canyon vs. Mira Costa. Check out the video below to see some of the action.
The 2009 California Challenge will host top teams and players from top ranked high school programs throughout California. There will be 10 teams competing in this year’s tournament that are listed among the top 100 teams in the country (ranked by prepvolleyball.com). Even more impressively, six teams attending the tournament are listed among the top 50 including Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara, Marymount, Mira Costa, Long Beach Wilson, and Redondo Union.
The California Challenge affords top teams the chance to match up and prove their dominance early in the season. Many of these have been known to meet again in section and state playoffs.
The following programs are represented in this years tournament; Bishops, Mira Costa, Canyon Crest Academy, Mission Viejo, Cathedral Catholic HS, Notre Dame Academy, Clovis West, Poway, Dos Pueblos, Redondo Union, Francis Parker, San Clemente, Huntington Beach, Santa Barbara, La Costa Canyon, Santa Margarita, Laguna Beach, Scripps Ranch, La Jolla Country Day, Tesoro, Long Beach Wilson, Torrey Pines, Marymount and Vista Murrieta.
SportsForce will attend the California Challenge this year and continue to feature some of the country’s top girl’s volleyball talent.
Visit our Girls Volleyball Section to see highlight videos of top ranked players, top tournaments, news and more.
Nick Melka is a defensive end and tight end out of Lisle, IL. At 6’2” and 242lbs Nick is a force on the field. He is captain of the football team as well as a captain of the boys volleyball team. In his 2008 season, Nick has 51 Tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, 5 ½ sacks and one blocked punt. So far in his 2009 season, Nick has 11 ½ sacks over six games and one blocked extra point.
Sean Callahan is a midfielder for the boys soccer team at the San Diego Jewish Academy. Sean is the leading all-time scorer for San Diego Jewish Academy as well as a varsity letter man as a freshman and named to All-Citrus League Team, scoring 8 goals. Sean was named team captain as a sophomore and Citrus League Player of the Year, scoring 28 goals in 19 games.
Bernadette Butkiewicz plays outfield and 1B/2B for Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, CA. She was named the offensive MVP last season and also plays for the San Diego Chaos. Bernadette defines herself by saying, “I work hard not only in practice and in games, but I do my own personal training at Velocity in Poway and work with hitting Coach Darren Johnson.”
Granite Hills kicker and SportsForce student-athlete, Tyler Strickland is garnering attention for his amazing accuracy and dedication to his team. The Union-Tribune recently covered Strickland, praising the kicker for his abilities on the field and unwavering commitment to his team and the sport. Bill Dickens of the Union-Tribune writes:
“When it comes to kicking, precision is essential for Strickland and the Eagles football team. With the help of long snapper Joe Cardona and holder Dylan Rubio, Strickland is 13-for-13 on points after touchdown this season and has made one of two field-goal attempts, connecting from 37 yards.
Granite Hills coach Randy DeWitt said Strickland routinely kicks 55- to 57-yarders in practice.
‘In a game, I wouldn’t be afraid to give Tyler a shot from 45 yards — maybe even longer, depending on the situation,’ DeWitt said. ‘He focuses on his craft seven days a week, whether we’re in season or not.'”
Strickland is not just gaining notice in the local spotlight, but has several colleges with their eye on him, the article continues:
Strickland loves to contribute to the scoring, but that’s not his favorite part of the game.
“I like kicking off because that’s when I’m allowed to kick the ball as hard as I can,” said Strickland, who played defense for the Granite Hills soccer team for the past two seasons.
DeWitt, whose Eagles (2-1) host El Centro Central at 7 p.m. tomorrow, is pleased with that part of Strickland’s game. His kickoffs usually reach the end zone, resulting in a touchback. The coach figures about 90 percent of Strickland’s kickoffs are not returned.
“Having a kid like Tyler who can kick the ball that far is like an added weapon,” DeWitt said. “It takes a lot of pressure off our defense in terms of field position.”
Strickland handles all the kicking chores for the Eagles, including punting. Much of his practice time is actually not spent punting the ball.
“It’s all about the drop,” Strickland said. “In practice I’ll stand on the line facing the bleachers and make sure that I throw the ball straight up and let it hit the line. If you drop it to the left or to the right, you’re probably going to shank the punt.”
Arizona State, Nevada and Nevada Las Vegas have expressed interest in Strickland.
“Tyler has an uncanny ability to power the ball,” Eagles kicking coach John Matich said. “He can put the ball in the end zone and has long-range field-goal abilities, which makes him a Division I prospect for sure.”
John Matich, is a former NFL and NCAA kicker and now owner and director of The Kicking System, which offers Camps & Private Kicking Lessons in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles.
Check out Strickland in action and visit his profile page.
When it comes to kicking, precision is essential for Strickland and the Eagles football team. With the help of long snapper Joe Cardona and holder Dylan Rubio, Strickland is 13-for-13 on points after touchdown this season and has made one of two field-goal attempts, connecting from 37 yards.
Granite Hills coach Randy DeWitt said Strickland routinely kicks 55- to 57-yarders in practice.
“In a game, I wouldn’t be afraid to give Tyler a shot from 45 yards — maybe even longer, depending on the situation,” DeWitt said. “He focuses on his craft seven days a week, whether we’re in season or not.”
