2019 fall sports guide · christian child development center quality care and education naeyc...

2019 FALL SPORTS GUIDE

INSIDE:• Full schedules of local teams

• Pictures of season preparation• Interviews with coaches

BECOME ASTUDENTATHLETE

ATCERRO COSOCOMMUNITY

COLLEGE–

TeamworkMakes TheDream Work!

2019/2020 Sports Schedules available at www.cerrocoso.edu

SPECIAL THANKS TO OURPRESIDENT’S CIRCLE

SUPPORTERS OFCERRO COSO ATHLETICS

Mather Brothers, Inc.Ridgecrest Regional Hospital

Desert Valleys Federal Credit UnionJan BennettMen’s Baseball

Men’s Basketball

Women’s Soccer

Women’s Softball

Women’s Volleyball


Burroughs High SchoolFootball...................................... 4Girls Volleyball.......................... 8Boys/Girls Cross Country....... 10Girls Tennis............................... 11

Youth SportsIWV Burros Football.............. 15

Cerro Coso CollegeWomen’s Soccer................ 12Women’s Volleyball.......... 13

Team logos courtesy of their respective teams.All schedules are subject to change.Daily Independent Sports Editor: Lauren Jennings • (760) 375-4481 ext. 114Daily Independent Advertising Director: Paula McKay • [email protected] Independent Publisher: John Watkins • [email protected]

Trona High SchoolFootball and volleyball schedules................................... 19

Immanuel Christian HSGirl’s Volleyball.......................... 17

2019 FALL SPORTS GUIDE4

Christian Child Development Center

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We offer care and education forchildren 2 months to 10 years of age

Infant Program – 2 months to 2 yearsPreschool Program – 2 to 5 years

School Age Program – 6 to 10 years

Hours of Operation: 6:30 am – 6:00 pm

Phone: (760) 446-45051201 N. China Lake Blvd,

Ridgecrest, CA 93555

Email: [email protected]: www.cdcimmanuel.org

ImmanuelChristian School

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(760) 446-6114 201 West Graaf Ave. Ridgecrest, CA 93555Email: [email protected] Website: www.icsk12.org

Open EnrollmentKindergarten — Grade 12

WASC Accredited School

Community After School Program and Transportation AvailableCharter, Montessori, Gateway, Pierce Schools

ImmanuelChristian School

Christian Leadership& Academic Success

Burroughs FootballHead Coach: Sean Fullerton (2nd season) • Home field: Sherman E. Burroughs Stadium

The Burroughs High Schoolvarsity football program wasstill feeling the impact lastseason after losing 26 seniorsat the end of the 2017 season.

Many will remember thatunder former head coach ToddMather the 2017-18 Burrosfootball team had an 11-3record and made it to the CIFFinals — only to be defeatedby Aquinas High School.

Last year, the Burros namedSean Fullerton as the new

football head coach. Knowingthat he had large shoes to fill,Fullerton set high but reason-able expectations.

During his first year as headcoach, Fullerton and the Bur-ros went 1-9 overall and 1-4in league, their only win com-ing in against Hesperia duringtheir last game.

Then, much like the yearprior, the Burros were hit withan overwhelming amount ofgraduating seniors at the end

of the 2018 season.Regardless, Fullerton still

holds high expectations forhis team.

“We are going to be com-petitive, and we are going toplay to win. I expect them tocompete,” Fullerton said.

“We say we have a 1-0 men-tality. For example, today wehad a 1-0 mentality: we wantto have a good practice, wewant to have a winning effort.So, taking care of those little

things, the scoreboard willtake care of itself.”

Along with the team's newmotto, Fullerton also has beenincreasing his player's footballIQ by having them play andlearn multiple positions.

“They are going to have adeeper understanding of thegame because they are goingto have to play both offenseand defense side and positionson both sides of the ball,”Fullerton said.

“The first day I told themthey are going to have to bethe best-conditioned team inAmerica. And they will bewell-coached because they aregoing to have to play multiplepositions.”

These are plans that Fuller-ton and his staff have beenworking on and preparing forsince December 2018.

“We go brick by brick. And

New year, new plan. Burros get ready for tough season by switching things up

SEE BURROS, PG. 6


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08/15 6 p.m. Chaffee08/23 7 p.m. @ Legacy High School08/30 7 p.m. Palmdale09/06 7 p.m. @ Pete Knight09/20 7 p.m. @ Barstow09/27 7 p.m. @ Bishop Union10/04 7 p.m. @ Apple Valley10/11 7 p.m. Oak Hills10/17 7 p.m. @ Serrano10/25 7 p.m. Sultana11/01 7 p.m. @ Hesperia

BURROS FOOTBALL 2019 SCHEDULE


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I feel good. Last year we werea little bit behind because wechanged the offense after thespring. We decided to go in a

different direction after thespring. This year I wanted tobe prepared ahead of time.”

After Fullerton and his staffcame together and discussedthis upcoming season, theyknew that things would needto change. And having a younghead coach, who has a little

bit of “old-school coaching”and “new-school coaching”could be perfect for the Burros.

“Last year we ran a versionof the spread offense. Thisseason when we looked at ourpersonnel it doesn’t really fit.Upfront we are a bit lighterthan most teams,” Fullerton

said. “We have some really good

running backs and we havesome good, shifty receivers.Our approach will be morebalanced with the run and thepass. We are focusing a lot onmisdirection.”

A lot of the focus on offense

is geared towards preppingsome of the athletes for play-ing at the college level.

Although this year the teamis going in a different direc-tion, the spread offense is useda lot in college and is also

BURROSContinued from pg. 4

SEE BURROS, PG. 7


Keeping Our EyeOn the Ball.

760-375-8202

starting to be implement-ed at the professional levelby younger coaches.

The idea is using mul-tiple wide receivers, nor-mally three to five insteadof two. It forces the de-fense to play every squareinch of the field and po-tentially can create mis-matches.

Obviously, having fewerplayers and a light offenseas Fullerton said, this wayof playing is no longersustainable for the Burros.They will most likely focusheavily on defense andthe run game, given theirnumbers.

The Burroughs footballteam plays its first gameon Thursday, August 15against Chaffey HighSchool at 4 p.m.



Burroughs Girls VolleyballHead Coach: Laura Metcalf (2nd season) • Home court: Burroughs Barn

Lady Burros excited for season matchupsThe Burroughs High School

volleyball team is gettingpumped for their second seasonunder Head Coach Laura Met-calf.

Last year, Metcalf and theLady Burros had a winningrecord of 15-13 overall; howeverthe team finished 2-8 in league.

Metcalf has been prepping inorder to finish towards the top3 in league. One of the teamsthat gave them the most troublelast year was Oak Hills, who

finished first in the Mojave RiverLeague. But the Lady Burrosare still hopeful.

“Oak Hills is going to be theone to beat. I think we are goingto be very competitive [againstthem]. The team we are goingto work hardest to beat is OakHills. Last year we took a setfrom them, and were one of thefew teams to do that. This yearI want to take two, maybe three,”Metcalf said.

One of the main reasons that

Metcalf has such confidence inher team is because of the Bur-roughs volleyball program as awhole.

“This team is vey talented andoverall our program is reallyexcited. Our freshman comingin [this year] have been playingfor a while and they are goingto be really competitive. I thinkwe will do fairly well,” Metcalfsaid.

Another reason that her ex-pectations are high is because

the varsity girls are well-versedin multiple positions. That way,knock on wood, if the team hasan injury, there are girls whocan come in and help the team.Girls can move around to ac-commodate.

Even without injury, if some-one is having an off game, theteam as its options on who toplay.

“We have a lot of girls thatcan play a bunch of differentpositions. I am excited to see

our girls used in different waysand play different spots,” Metcalfsaid.

Right now, the team is lookingforward to preseason. They willhave multiple games, but twoteams stick out in Metcalf ’smind: Barstow and Tehachapi.

“I will say Barstow beat uslast year, so we will have somefire heading into that preseasongame,” Metcalf said.

SEE BURROS, PG. 9


08/14 5:00 p.m. @ Tehachapi08/16 5:00 p.m. Bishop Union08/17 8:30 a.m. AB Miller / Fontana08/20 5:30 p.m. Lancaster08/21 5:30 p.m. @ Adelanto08/27 5:00 p.m. Mammoth08/30 3:30 p.m. Burbank 09/03 5:30 p.m. Granite Hills09/05 5:30 p.m. @ Victor Valley09/10 5:30 p.m. Barstow09/13 3:00 p.m. Cal City09/16 5:30 p.m. @ Apple Valley09/18 5:30 p.m. Serrano09/20 5:00 p.m. @ Mammoth09/23 5:30 p.m. @ Sultana09/25 5:30 p.m. @ Hesperia09/30 5:30 p.m. @ Oak Hills10/02 5:30 p.m. Apple Valley10/07 5:30 p.m. @ Serrano10/09 5:30 p.m. Sultana10/15 5:30 p.m. Hesperia10/16 5:30 p.m. Oak Hills

BURROS VOLLEYBALL 2019 SCHEDULE

“[And] our scrimmageagainst Tehachapi. I knowit is just a scrimmage butI think the girls are goingto be excited about thatone. I think we haven’tbeat them since I haveplayed here [in 2012].”

The team did not faceTehachapi last year, so itwill be interesting to see ifthe Lady Burros havegrown since their last faceoff.

The Burroughs HighSchool volleyball team willplay Tehachapi on Tuesday,August 14 at 5 p.m.

The Lady Burros havetheir first home gameagainst Bishop on Fridayat 5 p.m.


“I have been running about40 miles a week,” MadelynAcosta, a senior cross countryrunner, casually said duringthe Burroughs High Schoolposter photo shoot.

To the average person, 40miles a week is over the top.But for Acosta and her team-mates, 40 miles is their nor-mal.

The Burros cross countryhead coach, Anthony Barnes,runs a tight ship over at BHS.

Practice begins at 6 a.m.sharp, Monday through Friday,with another practice a littlelater Saturday mornings. Thisdoesn’t include the optionalweight lifting at the BHS gym-nasium.

The major reason for the ear-ly morning practices is obvious– it is too hot out to be runningin the middle of the afternoon.

But there is a reason thatBarnes works his runners everyday. And the results are shownwhen comparing the program’s

recent history and where theyfinish at the end of the year.

“It really hit me during mythird year here [at BHS] …We knew this was going to bea battle to get back on top inour league. We went from sev-enth place, out of eight teamsto missing the State meet byfour points. But it was a coupleyears process,” Barnes said.

There are some individualand group examples that show-case that Barnes’ program isworking.

For example: Bryce Hillholds the freshman and soph-omore records for the 1.5 sum-mer mile. Christian Schultz(2014) holds the junior record,while Matt Johnson holds thesenior record (2007).

And even though Barnes didnot discuss this example specif-ically, he did talk about theprograms improvements fromprior years.

Schultz still holds the recordfor the fastest trial (not by

class), while Hill is currentlyin second, only five secondsbehind.

And Hill is still improving,much like his teammates havesince beginning high school.

Acosta sits at eighth placein Burroughs history, withthree runners from 2018 fin-ishing faster than her. The oth-er runners are from 2013 orearlier.

Another example comes fromthe team’s combined efforts.The girls cross country teamstruggled to get five girls under20 minutes in the three mileevent.

This year, the team may havefive girls running even fasterthan that.

“I have dreamed about this.Seriously. Last year we hadfour girls under twenty min-utes. This year, if we do it right,we have five girls under 19minutes,” Barnes said.

On the boys side of things,the team was still struggling

as well during previous sea-sons.

“Two years ago, we were los-ing all of the time but we werecompetitive. And the kids didnot get discouraged. We knewwe would reap the benefits inthe end,” Barnes said.

One of the ways that Barneshelped, and continues to help,the team stay motivated is bysending the athletes weeklynewsletters. Included in thenewsletters are Burroughs run-ning records, event lists, run-ners of the week (the winnersreceive a gift card), practiceschedules and goals.

Currently, the goals listed inthe newsletter include “CIFSouthern Section Finals andState,” “[seven] in the top 15at [the Mojave River League]Finals, [five] All League,” “Havea team of at least 10 freshmen.Everyone bring a friend,” and“100 mile shirts.”

The “10 freshman” goal isalso something that Barnes fo-

cused on while revamping thecross country program.

Having runners at the middleschool level is a priority forBarnes and the team. Startingthe runners at a younger ageand prepping them for highschool is key.

But it tends to be harder inRidgecrest, compared to out-side areas. There are studentswho start their running careersin Ridgecrest but move else-where by their junior or senioryears.

Or, on the other side ofthings, some student-athletestransfer to Ridgecrest later inhigh school.

Either way, cross countrysees the same struggles as theother programs do, which iswhy the “10 freshman” is soimportant.

The cross country seasonstarts a little later than othersports. The Burros will competein their first invite on August31 at McFarland at 7 a.m.


Burroughs Cross CountryHead Boys and Girls Coach: Anthony Barnes • Home course: Cerro Coso Community College

Burros cross country continues to make strides towards State

08/31 7 a.m. McFarland Invite @McFarland09/04 3:15 p.m. MRL Cluster #109/11 3:15 p.m. Burros Invite09/21 TBA Woodbridge Invite @Silver Lakes09/25 3:15 p.m. MRL Cluster #2 @ Oak Hills09/28 8:30 a.m. Wayne Walker Invite @ Craig Park10/12 8:50 a.m. WDW Invite @WDW10/16 3:15 p.m. MRL Cluster #3 @ Hesperia10/26 TBA Mt. Sac Invite11/06 10 a.m. MRL Finals @ VVC

BURROS CROSS COUNTRY 2019 SCHEDULE


Burroughs Girls TennisHead Coach: Ed Aralar (1st season) • Home court: Burroughs High School Tennis Courts

08/23 3 p.m. Victor Valley08/26 3 p.m. @ Granite Hills08/27 3 p.m. Adelanto08/29 3 p.m. @ Palmdale09/04 3:15p.m. @ Lancaster09/05 3 p.m. @ Bishop Union09/07 8 a.m. Hesperia Tournament09/09 3 p.m. Quartz Hill09/20 3:15 p.m. @ Katella09/21 9 a.m. First Serve Tournament09/26 3:15 p.m. Apple Valley10/01 3:15 p.m. @ Serrano10/03 3:15 p.m. Sultana10/08 3:15 p.m. Hesperia10/10 3:15 p.m. @ Oak Hills10/15 3:15 p.m. @ Apple Valley10/17 3:15 p.m. Serrano10/22 3:15 p.m. @ Sultana10/24 3:15 p.m. @ Hesperia10/29 3:15 p.m. Oak Hills10/31 9 a.m. League Finals @ Oak Hills

BURROS TENNIS 2019 SCHEDULE

New coach, new players, new expectationsThe Burroughs High School

girls tennis team has a new headcoach this year, who has a newapproach for this season.

Ed Aralar, the new head coach,played tennis in high school. Hisson and daughter also played ten-nis, more recently his daughterplayed for BHS last season.

But it was not until his childrengraduated that Aralar decided tocoach the team.

“I played tennis in high school.And then I stopped playing for along time. Then I picked it upagain here in Ridgecrest. I am along-time member [of the tennis

club] … I just enjoy playing. I amobsessed with playing [tennis],”Aralar said.

Aralar was always involved intennis, but one of the reasonswhy he did not coach while hischildren were a part of the highschool team has to do with hiscompetitiveness. He did not wantto pressure his children.

But now that they have left theproverbial nest, Aralar is ready.

“If I took this job five or tenyears ago… you know, I really en-joy winning. But now that I amolder, winning is nice, but it isnot important for me. For this

season I want to give the girls agood experience,” Arlar said.

“For me, it is not just abouttennis. I have plans for teambuilding, fundraising, and I wantthem to enjoy that process. I wantthem to enjoy the whole experi-ence. I want them to bring tenniswith them when they leave highschool. It is a life sport.”

The Lady Burros lost a lot ofseniors after last season, so Aralarexpects a challenge in that area.

“We lost a lot of talent last year.We had a lot of seniors, and abouthalf of our team is going to bemade up of freshman. So, we do

not have a lot of depth on ourteam right now. But our No. 1player, Brittany Jacobs, shouldfinish in the top 3. She is a reallygood player. Our No. 2 player,Tony Cooper, has a lot of potentialas well,” Aralar said.

Last year, the Burroughs tennisteam had one main competition:Serrano. It was the one schoolthey could not beat.

This year, the focus is moreabout competing with all theschools, instead of focusing onthe individual schools.

“Having a daughter who hadbeen through the process, I kind

of know what the girls are dealingwith. I want everyone to supporteach other. Having gone throughall of [high school] with mydaughter, I would like to think Iunderstand,” Aralar said.

“Think of the court as a sanc-tuary separate from all of theother things going on throughouthigh school. There are going tobe kids who aren’t going to benice to you, but the court can al-ways be a sanctuary.”

The Burroughs High Schoolgirls tennis team will take on Vic-tor Valley in a scrimmage on Au-gust 23 at 3 p.m.


Cerro Coso Women’s SoccerHead Coach: Brad Buttang (1st season) • Home field: Cerro Coso Soccer Field

The Cerro Coso women’s soccerteam has been working tirelesslyin preparation for this year’s sea-son.

Under the direction of theirnew head coach, Brad Buttang,along with new assistant coachSiera Lutz, the team has ap-proached this season a little dif-ferently than those prior.

“This year we are going in withdifferent expectations. I expectmy girls to know that chances arethey are probably going to be out-numbered because of our rostersize. But we are not going to beoutplayed on the field,” Buttang

said.“That’s the game plan we are

going with. We don’t have to bethe biggest, largest skilled teamout there. If we can stay in thegame longer than the rest, theneventually it will all work itselfout.”

Buttang was a goaltender incollege at UCSD, which plays ahuge part in why he took the headcoaching position at Cerro Coso.

“I had a coach in high schoolthat said goaltenders make thebest coaches, just because theyhave to see and direct the entirefield,” Buttang said.

Although Buttang found himselfin Ridgecrest for non-related soc-cer reasons (work), he still wantedto stay involved with the sport.

“When I came out to [Ridge-crest] there was no adult [soccer]league. So, my only way to stayimmersed in soccer was to coach.I started with rec at Kerr McGee.I worked my way up from there,”he said.

But Buttang didn’t join the LadyCoyotes alone. He brought alonghis long-time friend Lutz to helpcoach the girls.

Lutz is a lifetime athlete thatcompeted in track and field, her

favorite event being the pole vault.Lutz competed at the college level,and after graduating at 20 yearsold, she opened her own gym.

This is the first time she iscoaching at the college level, butshe brings something more to thetable.

“Believe it or not, [Siera] hasno soccer background. But whatshe has is a kinesiology degree,personal trainer, nutritionist…everything from Cal Poly. So wework off each other’s strengths,”Buttang said.

“I take the technical techniqueside like teaching the game, and

she takes the physical conditioningand more or less she keeps thegirls healthy, especially since weare low on numbers.”

Buttang also said that his pri-ority and focus this year is not onwinning every single game, butrather giving the Lady Coyotesexposure to four-year colleges.

“Hopefully they can get out andcontinue their education at a four-year school with the possibility ofsoccer helping them do that,” But-tang said.

The Lady Coyotes play theirfirst game on Tuesday, August 27at Glendale at 7 p.m.

Lady Coyotes bring back the basics; focus on fundamentals

8/27 @ Glendale 7 p.m.9/3 @ LA Pierce 6 p.m.9/4 @ Taft 2 p.m.9/10 Moorpark 6 p.m.9/11 Imperial Valley 6 p.m.9/13 Glendale 6 p.m.9/17 @ West LA 2 p.m.9/20 @ Sequoias 4 p.m.9/24 Reedley 12 p.m.9/27 Sequoias 5 p.m.10/4 @ San Bernardino * 4 p.m.10/8 @ Desert * 4 p.m.10/11 Victor Valley * 4 p.m.10/15 @ Chaffey * 4 p.m.10/18 Mt. San Jacinto * 4 p.m.10/22 Norco * 4 p.m.10/29 San Bernardino* 4 p.m.11/1 Desert * 3 p.m.11/5 @ Victor Valley * 3 p.m.11/8 Chaffey * 3 p.m.11/12 @ Mt. San Jacinto * 3 p.m.11/15 @ Norco * 3 p.m.

CERRO COSO SOCCER 2019 SCHEDULE


Cerro Coso Women’s VolleyballHead Coach: Kim Young (8th season) • Home court: Cerro Coso Gymnasium

The Cerro Coso women’s vol-leyball team has one focus thisseason — be relentless.

You can see the word “relent-less” on the backs of the playerspractice shirts, and it is some-thing you hear constantly whilein the gym.

It is even written at the topof the whiteboard that the CerroCoso volleyball head coach KimYoung uses during every prac-

tice. “We want to be relentless in

everything that we do. Whetherthat be academically, [or] whilepursuing our career goals forthe future. Just being relentlessto go get it. Relentless goes fur-ther than being relentless overthe ball. It is a relentless pursuitof our goals,” Young said.

The motto is also incorporatedinto every practice that the team

has.The girls get points when they

give it all out on the court. If aplayer shanks a ball and twogirls chase after it to keep theball in play, each player wouldgain a point.

“This is a competitive groupof girls who do not want to lose.That passion and competitive-ness, they just work hard tokeep that ball alive and win

every round,” Young said.The team’s goal for the month

of July was to hit relentless 400points. On July 31, the girlswere at 370.

And they hit the mark andthen some, Young said.

The team’s motto last yearwas “to get better every day.”Despite that, Young said thatthe “relentless” motto really be-gan during the end of last year’s

season. Last season, the LadyCoyotes finished with a recordjust over .600.

“Last year we had a reallyamazing season. We had a reallystrong group of girls. We werefourth in our conference of 10.For our conference, if we hadgotten third, we would havegotten to go [to playoffs],” Young

Cerro Coso volleyball dials in on upcoming season — team fights to be relentless

SEE VOLLEYBALL, PG. 14


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said.This year, the Lady Coyotes have a

hurdle in front of them though. Likemany other coaches, Young wants theprogram to continually improve yearafter year.

With this year's conference change,things may become a little more com-petitive.

“Our goal this year is making theplayoffs. During the 2017 season, wefinished in fifth place. Last year wefinished in fourth,” Young said.

Young acknowledged that with fewerteams in their conference (five insteadof ten), that the Lady Coyotes wouldneed to at least finish in the top two,if not finish first in the conference.

But that doesn't deter the team. "We want to beat all of them," Young

said.The Cerro Coso women's volleyball

team will play their first game on Au-gust 28 at East Los Angeles Collegeat 5 p.m.

VOLLEYBALLContinued from pg. 13

8/28 @ East Los Angeles 5 p.m.8/30 @ Grossmont 12 p.m.8/31 @ San Diego Mesa 10 a.m.9/4 @ Santa Ana 4 p.m.9/6 @ Antelope Valley 6 p.m.9/11 @ Taft 5 p.m.9/16 @ Porterville 4 p.m.9/20 @ Glendale 5 p.m.9/24 Southwestern 4 p.m.10/2 Santa Monica 6 p.m.10/12 Porterville 1 p.m.10/16 @ Chaffey* 5 p.m.10/18 San Bernardino Valley * 5 p.m.10/19 East Los Angeles 1 p.m.10/23 Victor Valley * 5 p.m.10/25 @ Desert * 5 p.m.10/30 Mt. San Jacinto * 5 p.m.11/6 Chaffey * 5 p.m.11/8 @ San Bernardino Valley * 5 p.m.11/13 @ Victor Valley * 5 p.m.11/15 Desert * 5 p.m.11/20 @ Mt. San Jacinto * 5p.m.

CERRO COSO VOLLEYBALL 2019 SCHEDULE

Governor Gavin Newsomsigned a new law on July 31that limits full-contact youthfootball practices.

There are already similar lawsin place that limit full-contactpractices for middle and highschool football programs. Cur-rently, middle school and highschool football players are lim-ited to 90 minute full-contactpractices a day, twice a week.

The new law would put sim-ilar limitations on youth foot-ball.

The purpose of the new law,as well as the ones already inplace, is to limit the number ofconcussions that athletes sus-tain while playing or practicing

football. According to healthresearch-

funding.org, “Concussion ratesmore than doubled among stu-dents age 8-19 participating insports like basketball, soccer,and football between 1997-2007 despite [there] being low-er levels of youth participa-tion.”

The new law also requiresthat a medical professional bepresent for all games, as wellas an independent person tobe at all practices.

The state legislature approvedthe bill earlier in July with noopposition. The new law willtake effect on January 1, 2021.

How will this affect Ridge-

crest youth football?According to the Indian Wells

Valley Youth football commis-sioner Gerald Armendariz,president Mike Stafford andcoaching director Joe Dugan— it won’t affect them thatmuch.

The program began prepar-ing last year when Assembly-man Kevin McCarty (D-Sacra-mento) proposed the “SafeYouth Football Act,” eliminatingtackling at the youth footballlevel as well as at the middleschool level.

The bill never passed.But that did not stop the

IWVYF league from preppingfor what was inevitable in the

long run. “We started preparing when

rumors started about a bill thatcould pass… Anything we do,we try to take the head out ofit,” Armendariz said.

“We are trying to follow [thehigh school]. As far as affectingus, it is not going to be a giantsetback,” Dugan said.

One of the concerns for theprogram is the amount of timeallotted, as defined in the newlaw. The thought behind thatis that with less time teachingthe children how to properlyhit, the higher the risk of injuryto the children.

Which, in reality, is the exactopposite result from what law-

makers want.“We have cut back on the full

contact, but we are still teachingthem the same exact things,”Dugan said.

“The setback that we are go-ing to have is, I mean, we areobviously youth football tryingto teach [the children] fromstep one. And you have a teamwith 40 kids. So that kind oftakes up all of your time. [An-other] setback will be on Sat-urday when game time comesand you haven’t had the extratime to teach the kids how totackle correctly,” Armendarizsaid.


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“I think that there could bemore injuries, and penalties.The refs are looking more strict-ly for it, understandably so.But if we are not getting enoughtime to teach them… It is likethrowing a middle schooler outon the road to drive. You givethem their license and say,‘here, go drive,’” Stafford said.

Another worry that the leaguehas is that when their footballteams travel out of state, whichhappens often at all levels, that

they will be grossly outplayedby teams who do not have thesame restrictions as the teamsfrom California.

“A lot of the high schoolstravel out of state to play. Thisis the only state that is imple-menting [the new law]. Sothere are teams in Texas, Flori-da… [we] are even playing ateam from Nevada at the startof the year. And they don’t havethe same restrictions,” Dugansaid.

One question raised duringthe discussion about the newlaw included how the new lawgoing to be regulated. Thereare so many youth teams, as

well as middle and high schoolteams, that it seems near im-possible to regulate the law.

But the IWVYF teams willabide by the new law passed,regardless of their worries orconcerns. They have taken othermeasures in making sure thatthe children, as well as theirparents, are more educated.

One step the league has takenis by having parents learn aboutconcussions, and what to lookfor in children that may be con-cussed. They also take classeson heat-related injuries as well,a priority for the league becauseof the elements they practicein.

“In my opinion, the benefithas been the increase in aware-ness of [concussion related in-juries]. We still have some ques-tions, like when does the clockstart and when does the clockstop?” Stafford said.

“I think until there is a betterexplanation of set rules thatthey want to implement, it isgonna be pretty vague. Differentpeople are going to interpret itdifferently,” Armendariz said.

Stafford also said he wouldlike to see a similar rule im-plemented in other sports aswell. According to completecon-cussions.com, for sports playedby those 18 and under, rugby

sees the highest amount of con-cussions, followed by ice hockeyin second place and footballcoming in third. Lacrosse andsoccer placed fourth and fifth,respectively.

This may be a step in theright direction for trying toprevent concussions in a sportthat is notorious for havinghead injuries. But there aremany problems with passing avague law, as noted by theIWVYF coaches.

In the meantime, the coachesare continuing to prepare boththemselves, the kids, and theirparents.

The results are soon to come.

FOOTBALLContinued from pg. 15

8/31 3 p.m. @ Bishop9/7 3 p.m. vs. Arvin9/21 3 p.m. vs. Braves9/28 3 p.m. @ Kern8/5 3 p.m. @ Boron8/12 3 p.m. @ Arvin8/19 3 p.m. vs. Boron8/26 3 p.m. vs. Rosamond

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Immanuel Christian VolleyballHead Coach: Todd Hopkins (6th season) • Home court: Kerr McGee Center

Lady Crusaders hoping for sixth consecutive league winThe Immanuel Christian

High School girls volleyballteam has high hopes for thisseason and is looking to re-peat their successes from sea-sons prior.

Volunteer Head CoachTodd Hopkins is entering hissixth year with the Lady Cru-saders, and he hopes to buildon last year, while also pavinga new pathway for this year’steam.

“At the end of the day, westart new. We start over everyday, we start over every prac-tice, we start over every year.And we have to do the samethings right, and get betterat doing the things we did

wrong to continue to play ata better level,” Hopkins said.

“At the end of the day, thesegirls have to recognize that…it’s not just given to you.”

The ICS volleyball programalso wants to focus on morethan just volleyball. Hopkinsand assistant coach RichShadden (also a volunteer forICS) hope to help the girlswith their personal develop-ment as well.

The adult volleyball leaguepractices after ICS does onWednesdays, cutting theirpractice 30 minutes short.

“Instead of kicking the girlsout a half-hour early, we de-cided to stay and take the

half-hour to work on our per-sonal development,” Shaddensaid.

“So each of our girls isworking on journaling, work-ing on personal goals that weare trying to help them with.But we’ve also introducedsome different learning aspectthings because some of thegirls learn differently.”

The Lady Crusaders went17-17-1 overall, and 9-1 in theHi-Lo League. This year, theywill be competing against acouple of different teams,which will allow them to testthe new skills the team hasbeen working on.

Besides personal develop-

ment, the girls have also beengetting into the nitty-grittyof specific techniques.

“We are working on specificskills. And breaking some ofthose drills down. A lot ofthe stuff that works is whatthe US National team is do-ing. Not everybody is goingto put that standard outthere,” Hopkins said.

“We use a lot of what theUS National volleyball teamis doing as well as the USOlympic team is doing.”

The Immanuel Christiangirls volleyball team will playits first game at Rosamondon Tuesday, August 20 at 5p.m.


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8/20 5 p.m. @ Rosamond 8/23 3 p.m. Antelope Valley 8/27 5 p.m. @ Desert8/29 5 p.m. Rosamond9/5 5 p.m. @ Cobalt Institute9/10 4 p.m. @ Baker 9/19 5 p.m. @ Big Pine9/20 5 p.m. Owens Valley9/21 11 a.m. Baker 9/24 4 p.m. @ Trona (Trona, CA)9/27 5 p.m. Lone Pine9/28 11 a.m. Lee Vining10/1 5 p.m. @ Owens Valley10/3 4 p.m. @ Mojave10/8 5 p.m. Mojave10/15 5 p.m. Trona10/18 5 p.m. @ Lee Vining10/22 5 p.m. Big Pine10/24 5 p.m. @ Lone Pine

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760-375-6900 • Fax 760-375-0479 • www.maturango.orgOpen 10am - 5pm Daily Except Major Holidays

9/6 7 p.m. @ Villanova Prep9/13 7 p.m. Hesperia Christian9/20 7 p.m. Mammoth 9/27 5 p.m. @ Lucerne Valley10/4 7 p.m. Kings Christian10/11 7 p.m. @ Desert Christian10/18 7 p.m. @ Lone Pine10/25 7 p.m. Mojave11/2 2 p.m. Lancaster Baptist

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Trona High School

8/20 4 p.m. Silver Valley 8/22 4 p.m. @ Lucerne Valley8/27 4 p.m. @ Silver Valley8/29 4:30 p.m. @ Hesperia Christian9/7 8 a.m. GV Christian9/17 4 p.m. @ Lee Vining9/20 4 p.m. Lone Pine9/24 4 p.m. Immanuel Christian9/27 4 p.m. Lee Vining10/1 4 p.m. @ Mojave

10/3 4 p.m. @ Owens Valley10/4 4 p.m. Boron10/7 3:30 p.m. Victor Valley Christian10/8 4 p.m. Baker10/11 4 p.m. Owens Valley10/15 5 p.m. @ Immanuel Christian10/18 4 p.m. @ Lone Pine10/22 4 p.m. Mojave10/24 4 p.m. @ Baker

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