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Nado Natterings |
A weekly column by David Axelson |
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Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation
17 Dec 2008 Issue #48
Graphing
the content of Nado Natterings
from last week to this would resemble the downward path of the word economy.
Lots of flash and dash last week, reflecting strong profits and 3,500 words as
we concluded the fall CHS sports season and began the winter athletic doings in
Islander land.
One
week later, literary despair looms as two teams, Girls Basketball and Girls
Water Polo took the week off and we fall to just more than 2,000 words amid
sell-offs, profit taking and a loss of investor confidence. Making up for the
lack of games from the aforementioned sports were Boys Soccer, Boys
Basketball, and Girls Soccer, who were all embroiled in tournament
play to begin their respective seasons.
The
Islander Boys Soccer Team, again under the direction of Head Coach Brian
Hiatt-Aleu, hosts their own soccer tournament to
begin the season, and as in years past performed well, defeating Hilltop 3-1 in
the semi-finals before falling to Carlsbad in the finals. “We started off well
in the first three games and didn’t give up any goals,” said Hiatt-Aleu. “We won our first four games before falling to a
When
you attend an Islander Boys Soccer game at the outset of the season, you better
take a roster with you as only three starters return from last year’s CIF
Division IV title team. Hiatt-Aleu elaborated on the
youth of his club. “We only return two senior starters, Christian Herrera
and our Captain Peter Kittiyasawadi. Junior Connor
Marcone is a returning starter, but its eight new
guys out there with them.”
Starting
with the defense and moving up the field, Eduardo Ruiz will be the
Islanders’ new goalkeeper and he has three sophomore defenders in front of him
including Sergio Flores, Ruben Perez-Berton and
Tommy Hart. Midfielders include junior Seth Willey who returns to
the varsity from last year and fellow junior Ryan Burdeaux.
“Those two have really been playing well for us in the middle,” said Hiatt-Aleu. “They need to stay healthy for us to have success
this season.”
In
the Hilltop game, Herrera, Kittiyasawadi and Eduardo
Sacal all had one goal each.
Hiatt-Aleu provided an overview of the Central League race, which
finds
The
CIF has now moved
This
week
Islander Girls Soccer Scoring All or Nothing
Teams
tend to be a little erratic at the beginning of a new season and the CHS
Girls Soccer Team may have set a new standard of scoring strangeness in
their first three games, all played as part of the Barons Tournament. Their
first game was a 0-0 tie with
“We
played well,” said Head Coach Kiko Medina
of the game against Parker. “If we could have finished one of those scoring
chances, we’re through instead of Parker. We looked dangerous at times, but we
had one bad pass or we didn’t get the combination of passes we needed. We were
a little off in the offensive third (of the field) against Parker.”
The
victory over Mater Dei contained a couple of unusual elements. Sophomore
forward Kaitlyn Couture scored a hat
trick (three goals), while senior goalie Andrea Davis pitched a shutout
for the Islanders in the first half. Coach Medina sent
“Neither
of our goalies got much action,” said
This
week the Islanders have a number of games, including hosting Canyon Crest
Tuesday at 4 pm, followed by a game at Bishop’s Thursday at 3:15 pm. This
weekend the team plays in the Lady Vaquero Classic, playing Granite Hills at
Valhalla and
Boys Basketball Plays Four Times Last Week
Another
energetic program last week was the CHS Boys Basketball Team, which
played four times, posting a 1-3 mark in the annual Small Schools Tournament.
The week began Monday with a 70-37 loss to
“Basically
we weren’t ready to play,” said Head Coach Ken Caesar. “But it’s good for
us to face the size and speed of some of these teams. We’re taking some lumps
playing young guys early in the season.”
The
next game was two nights later when the Islanders lost to the tournament host
team La Jolla Country Day 59-44. Another of the
The
loss to La Jolla Country Day was followed by a 41-39 setback to Calvin
Christian. Saturday the Islanders defeated Escondido Adventist 46-27 to
complete the tournament.
Coach
Caesar is glad to have Malkemus back on the court.
“Blake has helped. Right now I have him, Hebert and Hebner
in the backcourt. One thing they did yesterday was exciting. We were having
Danny and Justin throw the ball ahead and then do what they do. They are both
good passers, but they have been holding on to the ball for a long time. I told
them to keep their heads up (to see the floor) and throw ahead. Blake would
give his defender a pump fake and then go to the basket. Blake knows how to
handle the ball, pass it and run with it, plus he’s our best defender. He’s
going to be on the floor (playing) all the time.”
Maskevich, a junior, has improved his play over the
summer and thus far this season. “Chris has been a productive guy coming off
the bench for us,” said Caesar. “Technically he does everything right. He’s big
and tall when he flashes (to receive a pass in the post area) and he can pass
over the top on a high-low post. Justin Parsons is starting to get his legs
under him.”
Caesar
sees improvement from his squad. “We’re starting to putout stuff together.
Playing these tournaments will help us. We play
Girls Water Polo Team Update
Last
week the Islanders Girls Water Polo Team was off, but they more than
make up for being idle with three games against tough opponents this week.
Wednesday University City comes to the
Girls Basketball to Host Two Games
The Girls Basketball Team swings back into action hosting two games this week. Wednesday
Coronado hosts
CHS Sailing Team Competes in Anteater Regatta
Having
spent my formative years in a suburb of
“The
Anteater Regatta (hee, hee)
was last weekend at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club (no laughs there). This was
the second regatta of the season and was run by the U.C. Irvine (Anteater)
Sailing Team.
Conditions
were very cold and windy Saturday, but were much calmer Sunday. The CHSST
finished 10th among Varsity Teams with Skippers Philip Lozier, and
Samantha Childers and Crews Katie Dowling, Kaitlin Dunphey
and Alexa Cavalieri.
The
Junior Varsity Team finished fifth overall and consisted of Skippers Sally
Harris and Alex Wood, with Crews Jenny Melnick
and Andrea Valletta.
The
next event will be the Rose Bowl Regatta January 3-4, run by the USC Trojan
Sailing Team. This regatta is unique in that it consists of both college and
high school teams sailing on the same race course.”
Islander Boys Lacrosse Members Garner Some
Ink
Preseason
polls, especially ones taken a full three months ahead of the start of the
season, are to be taken with a grain of salt, unless of course they highlight
local
Recently
a list by class of the ‘The Best in the West’ high school lacrosse players hit
a website and several
Making
the sophomore class list were No. 1 Kyle Runyon, an attackman
and at No. 24 middie Sergio Flores. The list
was compiled by an evaluation committee that consisted of Division I, II and
III coaches as well as Western Lacrosse leaders.
Thanks to Rotary Club of
In
a recent issue of this publication, Your Natterer
was shown receiving a $1,000 check from Rotary Club of Coronado President Al
Ovrom, which was presented to the Islander Sports
Foundation. The donation will be used to purchase much-needed equipment and
uniforms for the
The
funds will provide a direct benefit to the youth of