EL SEGUNDO HERALD June 25, 2015 Page 5 Are You Ready for Some Football By Gregg McMullin For the past two years the El Segundo high school football teams have had phenomenal success. The fact is no other time in the history of the school have football teams won this many games and advanced to the playoffs so deep. In 2003 a number of this year’s seniors, including Midgee (Elijah) Hale, Jackson Walz, Nick Karsseboom, Miguel Wagner-Bagues, and junior Mark Binder started playing flag football together. By 2010 their youth tackle team had grown to include Mike Villa, Lars Nootbaar, Ryan Kelly, Nick Scott, Shane Van Pelt, Isaac Luna, Zeke Rodriguez, Parshan Sohelli, Hassan Hendricks, and juniors Griffin Martes and Shahman Moore. These seniors and juniors, that played youth football together, are all standouts and have had a tremendous impact on the high school program. The team was CIF finalist in 2013 and went undefeated and a CIF quarterfinal appearance this past season. No other time in the school’s history had the team rolled up 21 wins in a two-year span. The surge of other sports and negative press on concussions has all but made tackle football obsolete as a sport for youth residents of El Segundo between 5-14. After several discussions between residential youth and high school football coaches, parents and community members, it was apparent that a program was needed that would prioritize teaching football and cheer to kids in the El Segundo community. Football has been a huge inspiration in our town for so many young people. The high school’s success has directly led to a renewed interest in youth football and cheer in El Segundo. A group of coaches, educators and business professionals met and discussed ways to find a sustainable league in the South Bay, limited to Los Angeles County, that resembled the high school’s league opponents. Pop Warner was a perfect fit, and the national mission and philosophy of that organization ensures both the physical and social protection of players and cheerleaders. After an exhaustive investigation into age/weight requirements for players it was determined that the Pop Warner organization also has the closest age/weight matrix to the CDC’s maturation rate percentiles. This ensures that players are competing within an acceptable weight range with their school peers. Additionally, Pop Warner requires an academic eligibility making school a priority, like that of high school players. It was determined that El Segundo needed an outlet for residents to participate in Pop Warner football to be the feeder program to the high school. In the past there have been teams that have played here but for the most part these teams were made up of mostly out of residency players. With the new program in place it will now focus on players who reside here. The mission of El Segundo Pop Warner is, “Promoting youth football and cheer through El Segundo Residency El Segundo Pop Warner is limited in geographical area as a charter to El Segundo, North Manhattan Beach and small parts of Del Air but must fill a roster with El Segundo residents first to host outside players. As it stands, Pop Warner is limited to Los Angeles County. El Segundo will be in a league with other South Bay and Westside cities including Palos Verdes, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Carson, Santa Monica and Culver City. This league in many ways would emulate the high school’s schedule. Players will compete against each other now and in the future. Not only will friendships evolve but friendly rivalries will too. There are a number of age and weight divisions that start with the Flag Division and expands to the tackle division. Organizers ensure of the safeguards are in place for each player. The organizers would like to host 20 kids per team per division. They are actively looking to get most of their player’s interest from the middle school kids who want to get them ready to participate ready at high school level. As an organization El Segundo Pop Warner will have limited practice days and adhere to contact rules much like that of the high school players. Pop Warner is also partnered with USA Football and all coaches must be certified in protection and safety protocols in blocking and tackling.” one more thought on the football article. Its important to note that the way the league is setting it up will be friendly for kids who want to play both AYSO and Pop Warner. They will only practice twice a week and will more than likely practice earlier in the day. So, AYSO kids will have the option to do both. Tackle football, because of strict residency rules, is the only sport not represented on the city’s Youth Sports Council. As a program El Segundo Pop Warner will prioritize resident players and ensure that there is fun in learning and playing football. The organizers believe it is important for our community to have a tackle football program that is recognized Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L A W Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litiga tion 310-540-6000 Lifetime El Segundo Residents *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization Brian R. Brandlin • Bruce R. Brandlin • Christopher P. Brandlin Douglass M O R T U A R Y “Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954” B U R I A L - C R E M A T I O N - W O R L D W I D E T R A N S F E R P E T M E M O R I A L P R O D U C T S 500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245 Telephone (310) 640-9325 • Fax (310) 640-0778 • FD658 Warriors Come Out Golden By Adam Serrao It was only a matter of time before the Cleveland Cavaliers came back down to earth. Like oil separating from water, the Golden State Warriors and the Cavs were simply two distinctly different teams that maybe didn’t even belong together. Golden State had perhaps one of the best regular seasons of all time. Winners of 67 games, the Warriors were not only the best team in the entire NBA, but also led the league in both total offense and total defense, as well. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, were playing on borrowed time. With injuries plaguing the team it was sure to not be long before the series dragged on, the team got tired, and LeBron James would simply run out of gas. Last Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, all of those things happened. With a 105-97 victory, the Warriors took Game 6 and the series away from the Cavaliers to win their first title in 40 years. As the Warriors gathered at center court to celebrate the championship that they had just won, a feeling was emanating around Cleveland and Quicken Loans Arena that was beginning to become all too familiar. Silence from the crowd. If you’re a sports fan in Cleveland, chances are you haven’t had all that much to get loud about over the last 50 years. Last Tuesday night was no different. LeBron returned to the Cavs last summer after four years spent with the Miami Heat, all but promising to finally bring home a championship to Cleveland, but as head coach of the Cavs David Blatt put it, “Not every story has a happy ending.” Despite LeBron’s efforts, Blatt was right and this one did not. “It doesn’t mean it was a bad story,” he continued. “It was not. It was a good story.” Perhaps good, but not good enough to finish the season off with a win and certainly not as good as Golden State’s. In stark contrast, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had an altogether different view of the finals. “Pure joy,” he said of his emotions as champagne dripped off of his now soaking wet suit. “We were fortunate in a lot of ways,” Kerr admitted, “and maybe No. 1 was health.” Kerr was right. While his team’s players missed a total of only 15 games all season long due to injury, the Cavaliers were plagued by it, almost as if it were a disease running rampant throughout their locker room. Kevin Love himself missed a total of 15 games in the playoffs alone. Unfortunately for the Cavs, that was the story of the NBA Finals and despite LeBron’s best Atlas impersonation, they ended exactly how we thought they would. “We ran out of talent,” said a remarkably brash and honest James, undoubtedly still riddled with emotion immediately following his team’s series loss. “We had 14 assists and I had nine of them,” he continued. “I don’t enjoy that. That’s not winning basketball.” That is why his team lost. He simply didn’t have enough help. James unquestionably decided to return to Cleveland knowing full well that Kyrie Irving was the point guard and that he might be able to attract other big names to the team, like Kevin Love. Love went out for the year in the first round against Boston and Irving was officially done for the year after the first game against Golden State in the Finals. Even still, many held out hope. The Cavs were up 2-1 in the series with Game 4 in Cleveland. At that point, Matthew Dellavedova was still a hero and LeBron was paving out his legacy as one of the greatest Finals players of all time. Then, just as expected, LeBron and the Cavs ran out of gas and the Warriors won three games in a row to take the series. A combination of coaching adjustments from Kerr and his staff and longevity in the face of a team who had none wound up winning the series for Golden State. The series MVP, Andre Iguodala, was inserted into the lineup and the Warriors never lost a game thereafter. “After the first three games we decided to start Andre,” Kerr explained. “He was doing by far the best job on LeBron but he was also contributing in so many other ways.” “Iggy”, as they call him, not only stepped it up on defense, but also became one of the team’s best scoring options. “He was great the entire series,” said Golden State small forward Draymond Green. “Not just when he started starting. He was great the entire series. He saved this season for us.” James attempted to will his team to victory and toward a series win, but it turned out that he simply couldn’t do everything all by himself. Two triple-doubles and an average of 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists wasn’t enough to beat the league’s best team. LeBron needed help. That fact was evident from the percentages that he put up. James shot 39.8% from the floor and only 31% on three-pointers. Normally, those would be absolutely horrible numbers, but James has been getting a pass in lieu of his lack of team. His team’s numbers were so horrible that they aren’t even worth mentioning. Well, maybe just one. With James on the sideline in the Finals, his team failed to hit even one three-point shot in his absence. Simply put, it was James or nothing. See Warriors, page 6 See Football, page 8
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