Southern California Discussion 2011-2012
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:21 am
I figure since the school year's about to start here for everyone we might as well get this going.
First of all, some good news on the Academic League front: Sweetwater's League chose NAQT questions as their providers for this year and several of the coaches that I spoke with today from that league were quite enthusiastic about attending other tournaments in the region. I suspect we'll see not only the venerable Eastlake program continue to do well down there but a number of new schools should come onto the scene. I'm continuing to try to work on the other leagues and there's some (slow) progress taking place. But kudos to Sweetwater for taking such decisive action.
I was intrigued by the number and quality of Canyon Crest folks who came to our summer practices. The traditional Torrey-RB battle in North County may well be complicated by CC's emergence, provided they continue to come to tournaments. Westview also looked promising last year and seemed to improve each tournament that they attended. La Jolla's a bit depleted, but had a good crop of JV people last time and Erica's a superb lit player. Several of the top players in the region who've been playing for years have departed for collegiate pastures, leaving lots of room for former understudies to step up and take over. David at RB will likely be on the top individual list at most tournaments and Anthony at Canyon Crest remains a threat.
North Hollywood had a fine crop of fairly young players last time, but seemed hampered by budget woes (perhaps they should host a tournament up there?). University loses a lot of their scoring and Irvine seems to be in rebuilding mode as well. Arcadia will continue to send the most teams to tournaments and likely have the best C team west of Texas. I sincerely hope our outreach efforts through SoCalQB will pick up some new teams in the OC/LA/Imperial County areas, but I don't expect miracles.
There aren't too many tournaments on the agenda right now in the area, so any programs wanting to host in Nov./Dec. should find some free dates.
First of all, some good news on the Academic League front: Sweetwater's League chose NAQT questions as their providers for this year and several of the coaches that I spoke with today from that league were quite enthusiastic about attending other tournaments in the region. I suspect we'll see not only the venerable Eastlake program continue to do well down there but a number of new schools should come onto the scene. I'm continuing to try to work on the other leagues and there's some (slow) progress taking place. But kudos to Sweetwater for taking such decisive action.
I was intrigued by the number and quality of Canyon Crest folks who came to our summer practices. The traditional Torrey-RB battle in North County may well be complicated by CC's emergence, provided they continue to come to tournaments. Westview also looked promising last year and seemed to improve each tournament that they attended. La Jolla's a bit depleted, but had a good crop of JV people last time and Erica's a superb lit player. Several of the top players in the region who've been playing for years have departed for collegiate pastures, leaving lots of room for former understudies to step up and take over. David at RB will likely be on the top individual list at most tournaments and Anthony at Canyon Crest remains a threat.
North Hollywood had a fine crop of fairly young players last time, but seemed hampered by budget woes (perhaps they should host a tournament up there?). University loses a lot of their scoring and Irvine seems to be in rebuilding mode as well. Arcadia will continue to send the most teams to tournaments and likely have the best C team west of Texas. I sincerely hope our outreach efforts through SoCalQB will pick up some new teams in the OC/LA/Imperial County areas, but I don't expect miracles.
There aren't too many tournaments on the agenda right now in the area, so any programs wanting to host in Nov./Dec. should find some free dates.