Sport: Water Polo Class: 2011 School: Vista High School Vista, CA

The Vista Girls Water Polo are once again the reigning Division I CIF San Diego Section Champions, with the help of Sydney Witt. The stand out junior helped propel the team towards another towards the finals and another championship title as she scored 7 goals in a playoff match against Fallbrook which launched them to the finals against Carlsbad for the third year in a row. The Panthers went on to defeat Carlsbad 10-6. Witt has been a member of the varsity team since their first championship win in 2008.

To view Sydney’s complete SportsForce profile click here – http://www.sportsforceonline.com/athletes/switt

Highlight Video and Scouting report courtesy of SportsForce – Home for college Sports Recruiting Videos, Tips, Tools and Premium Services – www.sportsforceonline.com

Sport: Basketball Positions: Guard Height: 6’2” Class: 2010 School: Foothills Christian, El Cajon, CA

Foothills Christian guard Troy Leaf broke the all-time leading scorer record for the San Diego Section. Leaf broke the record in a loss to Hoover this past Monday, scoring 21 points on the night and bringing his total to 2,982 points. Leaf has been averaging 29.5 points per, 6.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.9 steals per game on the season. Leaf is committed to UC Santa Barbara. Leaf is currently out with a separated shoulder, but is within grasp on becoming one of only six players in the state to break the 3,000 point mark.

To view Troy’s complete SportsForce profile click here –http://www.sportsforceonline.com/athletes/tleaf

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Scouting report and highlight video courtesy of SportsForce – Home for college Sports Recruiting Videos, Tips, Tools and Premium Services – www.sportsforceonline.com

This summer has been full of nothing short of amazing volleyball. Both Boys and Girls wrapped up the Junior Olympic National Championships recently with intense competition from top teams around the country. The JO’s serve a great showcase for many of the top teams and players to hundreds of college coaches from around the country. It gives college coaches a tremendous opportunity to see top caliber competition and players ability can perform under press.

Congratulations to the Nebraska Juniors 18-1 in the Girls 18 Open Division for winning their way to 18 Open Gold Division Champions. Also congratulation is in order for AVA TX 18 Performance as the Girls 18 National Gold Division Champions.

On the Boys end 18s Orange in the Boys 18- Club division and Riptides OC 18 Asics in the Boys 18-Open division won JO National Championships.

The summer isn’t complete without hundreds of various prospect camps and instructional camps that are held throughout the country. Often college programs host summer prospect style camps to build direct relationships with players and for student-athletes to showcase their skills in front of schools they are interested in. Also top caliber coaches and former and current college players put on their own instructional camps for aspiring players to learn and improve their all-around skill level and approach to the game.

As the high school season approaches we wanted to rewind the clock and remind you who were the top teams from last high school season. ESPN FAB 50 rankings named Archbishop Mitty High School #1 for girls volleyball and Mira Costa High School as #1 for boys volleyball. Can both these teams keep their title in the upcoming seasons? It will be tough competition.

FAB 50 Final Rankings

Girls: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/highschoolvolleyball/0-5-10/ESPN-RISE-FAB-50.html

Boys: http://proxy.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/fab50?sportId=10020070&seasonType=1

Finally the high school girls volleyball season will be taking off in less than a month and it will be exciting to who emerge as the top players and teams to watch.

Sportsforce was at the Aflac All-American Game at Petco Park this last weekend, where the country’s best baseball players showcased there skills before a busy crowd of parents, fans, and professional and college scouts. Broken into two teams, the East team and the West team, the roster was composed of the Top 40 high school baseball players in the country. The competition was fierce and the incredible talent at the event performed impressively.

Some of the event’s top talent included Jameson Taillon, the 6′ 7″ fireballer from Woodlands, Texas, Yordy Cabrera, the powerful slugger from Lakeland, Florida, and Bryce Harper of Las Vegas, Nevada, the most acclaimed prep-level athlete in the country and the player who has been called the future “Lebron James of baseball.” Taillon was dominant, throwing 2 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts, Cabrera won the Aflac Homerun Derby, hitting 8 bombs in the first round, and Harper displayed an impressive all-around skill set and made an amazing defensive play throwing out Chevez Clarke at second base for an inning ending double play.

Use the Summer to Step Your Game Up

Are you taking the rights steps to reach your athletic potential? Are you looking to have a breakthrough season or potentially win a starting position on the team? Either way you’ve got to have a plan to reach your potential.

The majority of this year’s high school sports seasons have ended and the rest are coming to a close. With summer right around the corner, it’s time to take advantage of your free time and step your game up. Here are few key areas to focus on .

Manage Your Time:

We all know that the summer is the prime season to relax and hang out with your friends. However, with proper time management, you can definitely find time in your day to get workouts in and still enjoy the good life that summer has to offer. Sit down and create a specific schedule tailored to the demands of your sport. I recommend you schedule your intense workouts in the morning as it’s more difficult to do them as the day moves on. Also you should assign certain days for specific areas of your training program such as resistance training, speed / agility training and conditioning. Some days you might have a training session and practice, in that case I recommend handling your strength and conditioning workout in the AM and your practice in the PM. Once you create this schedule, be sure to stick with it. This will certainly pay off once your season comes around. To make sure you keep up with the schedule, post it on a calendar in your home or at least hang it up somewhere visible in your room.

Set Personal Goals:

It’s always great to actually notice and feel some improvement in your conditioning and skills. Go ahead and set some goals for yourself so that you can feel inspired to get out and train each day. The key point here is to write your goals down and be specific. Goal example: “To improve my overall strength by 10% over the next 3 months.” You can measure this by keeping track of your workouts and the amount of weight you are using per lift / exercise. Once you start seeing the slightest progression in your game, you will definitely want to continue making progress with your training program. You can set pre-season goals, so that you’re in top shape and ready once pre-season practices start, as well as set goals for the season to motivate you to strive for perfecting your overall abilities in your sport.

Tackle Your Weaknesses:

The downtime you find during the off-season provides the perfect opportunities for you to analyze your weaknesses and tackle them head-on. There is always some aspect of your game that could use improvement. Take a moment to reflect on past performances and list the areas where you believe you could improve the most and why. I’d also ask someone you trust, whether it’s a coach or one of your parents, what areas of your performance could you improve the most. This will help provide clarity on what areas you should focus on.

Your weaknesses could range anywhere from rehabbing an injury to improving your flexibility to working on your jump shot. In general, progression in any sport is highly dependent on athletes’ abilities to address their weak points directly in order to become successful, complete and consistent performers. Read the rest of this entry »

My name is Alyssa Sobolik and I live, breath and sleep soccer. I’m from Northern California and played soccer in college at Santa Clara University from 2001 to 2005. I currently live and coach soccer in San Diego where my main focus is helping prepare athletes for the opportunity to play soccer in college and then help them through the process. Because of my experiences and first-hand knowledge of playing college soccer, coaching college soccer and coaching club soccer, I am able to better prepare athletes for what steps and efforts need. I aim to help athletes not only get seen by college coaches but to ultimately make the right decision on what school to attend.

Picking a school to go to is tough enough without factoring in playing for a team. Do I want to go to a big school, small school, east coast, west coast, private versus public etc? These are decisions that every college bound student must make. But, as an athlete you have to take it one step further and see if the sports program is right for you. Each prospective athlete is allowed five official visits that each school pays for. I definitely recommend taking all five to get the best perspective on each school. I took my five to Santa Clara University, University of Michigan, University of Florida, University of Connecticut and Boston College.

Here is a check list of major questions you need to ask yourself when choosing a school as a student athlete:

1. Do I want to go to a big school or a small school? How big a school is can greatly affect your college experiences. University of Michigan has roughly 27,000 undergraduate students. University of Santa Clara has 4,000. A smaller school is going to give you a more intimate college experience where a larger school will provide surprises every day.

2. Which areas of the country would I be happy to live in? Growing up in California, I wanted to go away for college to experience a different lifestyle. Ultimately I ended up choosing a school 20 minutes from where I was raised. The reasons were simple in the sense that Michigan was too cold and I didn’t want to play in the snow, Florida was too hot and humid for me. Both schools I LOVED, but didn’t feel I would be happy there.

Read the rest of this entry »