TORRANCE TRIBUNE July 13, 2017 Page 3 Up and Adam Community Briefs SBWIB Awarded Grant for Pre-Apprenticeship Development in Engineering The South Bay Workforce Investment Board (SBWIB) has been awarded $240,000 by the California Workforce Development Board to continue developing its new Aero-Flex Pre- Apprenticeship (AFPA), which creates a career pathway for engineering. The funding will be utilized to expand the pilot program; designed as an employer-driven earn and learn model that will build a workforce pipeline to help meet the needs of area aerospace employers. The AFPA is a customizable program allowing each individual employer to design or “flex” the program’s curriculum to meet the needs of industry and of each participating manufacturer. Program participants will gain career knowledge in engineering, gain valuable work experience, connect with top employers ready to hire, gain industry association membership and more. Partnering employers will be able to flex the curriculum to their needs, build their workforce pipeline, receive funding to support training and recruitment and have access to a pool of talented job seekers ready to work. The program timeframe is 6-12 weeks and consists of work readiness training, industry specific occupational skills training and on-the-job work-based learning, provided by Aero-Flex member employers. The AFPA provides an innovative and customizable framework that allows employers to easily invest in pre-apprentices with flexibility to respond to their priorities, labor market changes and innovations in the field. AFPA will be shared regionally throughout the Los Angeles Basin to bring together additional employers, workforce development partners, community colleges and others. The SBWIB is expecting to enroll up to 100 Aero-flex Pre-Apprentices with this funding. Additionally, students will be provided $500 stipends for their participation and successful completion of the program. Current partners include El Camino College, West Los Angeles College, Tooling U-SME, Training Funding Partners and AMP So/ Cal. Some of the employer partners include Northrop Grumman, L-3 Communications, Magnetika, Impresa Aerospace, Space Vector, Ten Tech, Space Vector, Verisurf and Zodiac Aerospace. – Source: SBWIB Youth Volleyball Summer Camps, Fall Leagues, Advanced Juniors Program Registration for the United States Youth Volleyball League’s (USYVL) three signature volleyball programs is open. USYVL is accepting registrations for three-day summer camps during July and fall volleyball leagues and the Advanced Juniors program. Each program offers boys and girls the opportunity to learn and play volleyball in a fun, safe and supervised environment. Summer camps are located throughout Northern and Southern California at locations including Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Long Beach, Los Gatos, Moorpark, Sacramento, San Jose, Thousand Oaks, and Torrance. The player to coach ratio for summer camps is 8:1, which permits more flexibility and time for coaches to work oneon one with participants. USYVL’s eight-week fall instructional leagues provide participants instruction twice per week. Skilled instructors teach basic volleyball skills and drills in a positive environment. Fall leagues teach principles of participation, teamwork, skill development, sportsmanship, and fun. Practices and games operate in a co-ed format and present participants the opportunity to develop self-esteem and confidence. In addition to regular fall leagues, USYVL also offers an Advanced Juniors program for intermediate and advanced players between the ages of 12-16. The Advanced Juniors program is for participants that have mastered the basics of volleyball and are preparing for the next level of volleyball competition. For information on registering for summer camps, fall leagues, or Advanced Juniors visit www.usyvl.org or contact us at 1-888-988-7985 or info@usyvl.org. – Source: USYVL Tunes at TAM Presents “Grant Hungerford and Friends” South Bay Artist and Producer Georgette Gantner teams up with the Torrance Art Museum to present Thursday Tunes at TAM, a monthly series of live music events hosted by the museum. Performing live this month are “Grant Hungerford And Friends” featuring Grant Hungerford on trumpet and flugelhorn Thursday, July 20 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Gallery One at the Torrance Art Museum. The museum’s current exhibits are Why Art Matters! and Bill Dambrova: A Vein is a River. Hungerford will be accompanied by John Rusnak (piano), Brian Chapman (bass) and Marc van Aiken (drums). TAM is located at 3320 Civic Center Drive North, in Torrance. Suggested donation is $20. For more information, call (310) 376-5577 or visit www.TorranceArtMuseum.com. – Source: Torrance Art Museum South High Volleyball Team Loses to Eventual Champs By Adam Serrao The South High boys’ volleyball team was young and there was no doubting that fact. A youthful roster with nine junior players certainly had no problem taking the Pioneer League by storm, though. Under head coach Aaron Saldana, the Spartans’ regular season was full of win streaks and impressive runs that led the team to a division championship and back into the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs. Though the Spartans’ postseason was cut short when the team lost to this year’s eventual CIF champions, South showed dominance with its size and timely hitting that will surely play a factor once again in an inevitable championship run next season. The South High Spartans volleyball team has seemingly called the CIF playoffs home for as long as anyone can remember now. Beginning the regular season in the way that the Spartans began theirs gave fans of the team a glimpse into how they consistently make their dominance look so easy on a year-in and year-out basis. Two dominating sweeps over the Damien Spartans (2-0) and the Mission Viejo Diablos (2-0) got South High off to a flawless start. It was the team’s play toward the middle of the season and just before league play, however, that really demonstrated what a terror it would be to all rivals from the Pioneer League. Throughout a 10-game stretch at the beginning of March, the Spartans lost just one game to the Tesoro Titans and won all nine others by a total of 22 sets to just four combined for all of their opponents. If domination like that didn’t impress many people, then what South High did in divisional play must have really opened some eyes. The Spartans’ rivals stood no chance. Not only did the team win every set and match that it played against Leuzinger, but also roughed up on its inner-city rivals as well. The second place West High Warriors lost both matches by scores of 3-0 and 3-1. The third place North High Saxons lost both matches by a combined 6-0. Torrance High would rather not have even showed up for their matches, losing both by scores of 3-0. The Spartans finished Pioneer League play going 8-0 with first place and a championship in the books before the CIF playoff matchups were set in stone. Neither the playoffs nor the Simi Valley Pioneers could slow South High down from the 14 wins in 15 games accumulated just before the postseason. Once those playoffs finally did begin, though, the Spartans made quick work of the Pioneers before sweeping through the San Gabriel Matadors in the second round and the Woodrow Wilson Bruins in the CIF quarterfinals. South’s winning ways had brought the team all the way to the semifinals where it would face off against a dominant Notre Dame Knights (32-8-1, 9-3) squad. For once, at the most inopportune time, the Spartans got a taste of their own medicine. Junior setter Kohl Kutsch came to play, as he had done all season long, but opposing setter Christopher Hall simply proved to be too much to handle. Kutsch’s 25 assists and three kills were bested by Hall, who put together a whopping 40 assists of his own in a 25-17, 25-19, 25-21 straight-set victory over South. “I just don’t think we were as mentally prepared as we should have been,” a dejected Kutsch explained after the match. “They played harder today. They played better and did one hell of a job.” South kept things close in the third and final set when Luke Krzmarzick slammed seven kills to the Fritz Burns Gymnasium floor at Notre Dame, but even his effort was not enough to overcome a superior Knights team. Notre Dame went on to finish things up in its next game during the CIF final as well, beating the Calabasas Coyotes to take home the championship trophy. The Knights also went on to make it into the championship game of the regional finals, losing to Clovis by a final of 3-1. Despite the team’s early exit from the playoffs, the Spartans have a lot to look forward to in what will inevitably be another impressive and successful volleyball season next year. Not only will the six-foot-three Kutsch be returning to lead the team, but he’ll also be followed by junior libero Cory Hutchison and the aforementioned junior opposite Krzmarzick, as well as well six other juniors who will all be in their prime to form what will undoubtedly be one scary club. “We thought we would be standing on top, but we have a lot to look forward to next year,” Kutsch said. “We’re getting our core back and we have to come back with a lot more firepower. We have to do it next year.” The Spartans (29-6, 8-0) will have 15 players coming back next season in order to get the job done. A CIF championship is surely something that is never promised, but if the Spartans had one year in which they might be favored to do it, it will be next year. As a team that consistently dominates the Pioneer League, Coach Saldana and the rest of the Spartans are chomping at the bit to get back on the volleyball court and avenge their loss in the CIF semifinals of what was an otherwise extremely successful 2017 season. – Asixlion@earthlink.net • DEADLINES OBITUARIES: Monday at noon. CALENDAR ITEMS: Monday at noon. PEOPLE ITEMS: Monday at noon. CLASSIFIEDS: Tuesday at noon. LEGAL NOTICES: Wednesday at 11:00 am. REAL ESTATE ADS: Monday at noon. AD CANCELLATIONS: Prior Thursday. LATE CANCELLATIONS WILL BE CHARGED 50% OF AD
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