Category: Sports

The outdoor playing fields and indoor gymnasiums of most high schools around the Valley — and the state — have been silent and empty for most of 2020 after campuses were ordered closed in March because of the coronavirus outbreak. No Friday Night Football. No packed stands for basketball or volleyball. Baseball and softball games […]

It’s the nature of baseball, Matt Mowry says, that makes one believe the seemingly impossible is possible. “You can be down a couple runs in the last inning with two outs, but you figure out a way to keep battling and battling and pull off a win. That’s what we’re hoping for here,” he said. […]

The afternoon sunshine and gentle breezes have created some comfortable conditions this Sunday, March 8, at the Woodley Lakes Golf Course in Van Nuys. And the sounds emanating from the course are typical ones: bags full of clubs being jostled, and the pounding of golf balls at the driving range as players either warm up […]

It was looking bleak for City Section basketball fans in the Valley as team after team — boys and girls — was getting knocked out of the playoffs in the semifinal games played this past weekend. But when all the dust settled, a few area teams did make it to a final. And two of […]

Dynasties, by definition, are about domination. The word comes from the Greek word “dunasteia,” describing lordship and power. It also speaks to a succession of people, heredity or otherwise, that sustain a high level of excellence or control. Sports dynasties, however, are more about evolution than creation because many great teams never won championships. And […]

Banners are not an issue for the girls’ basketball program at Harvard-Westlake High School. There are plenty of them adorning the gym walls on the Studio City campus, and at all levels — league, Southern Section and state CIF titles. They are more than, however, a salute to excellence. They are reminders of the pursuit […]

The view from the top in sports is almost always glorious, and the stay there can be brief. Teams often work so hard to reach the mountain top, it’s difficult to sustain that effort once they have arrived. So it’s never fair to keep expecting the same team to keep winning a championship because it […]

There’s a small, single poster attached to the wall of the Poly High School gymnasium as the Parrots’ boys took to the floor for their boys’ basketball game against Monroe High. Two simple but declarative sentences adorn the poster. “Believe in your dreams. U R Poly’s Dream Team 2019-20.” The poster was hung at the […]

Derrick Taylor, like many coaches, can have intense moments. And they can be visible to the public when one of his Taft High boys’ basketball players takes an ill-advised shot, misses a defensive assignment, or simply doesn’t appear to be involved in the game. Taylor does have various ways of eliminating stress. One of them […]

You could call the El Camino Real girls’ basketball team short, which seems plausible with a roster that lists only two players being six feet in height and neither one is a starter. But you better not consider them — or think of them — as being soft. These 2019-20 Conquistadors have fully embraced the […]