Next week things get started

Lot's of interleague games starting next weekend. Get your 10 days of practice in and be ready for games. We'll keep you on top of it all.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Sweatie locker room, not what it's meant to be

They say that hard work by athletes leaves some evidence behind. It's still important to remember some of the basics. An article on personal hygene, with some interesting things to think about.

Congratulations to Natsasha Torgenson of Grant's Pass (OR.) signing with Sacramento State. She played with the Northwest Elite Bluez coach by John Fraiter. (Yes I will be trying to reach into Oregon)

How our Local athlete's are doing

Click on the links for full stories
D1
Kiva Herman from Hudson's Bay had a big week with 20 points against CS Northridge in the win and 16 points against Cal Poly in a lost of the two games played this week for USD.
Nicole Johnson from Columbia River had an up and down week last week. Utah State won one and lost one last week. Nicole score 7 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the win against Northern Arizona, and had 4 points and 7 rebounds in the lost to Idaho State. Nicole played well last night.
Ashlee Smith from Skyview had a busy week. The St. Mary's College women's team has played 5 games on the road. Losing all 5, but Ashlee is playing well. So well the she moved into the starting line up, were she scored 6 points and grabbed 5 rebounds against CS Fullerton, and against Nevada she had 4 points with 3 boards.
Ashley Corral from Prairie now with USC scored 20 points, went 6 - 14 from the 3 point line, and grabbed 7 rebounds against Pepperdine Monday nite to lead USC to victory.
Jazmine Foreman from Hudson's Bay now with BYU plays against UCONN Tuesday.

D2 & D3 and NAIA
Britney Knotts, Sara Shelton from Mt. View and Heather Cardelli from Evergreen all three now with Evergreen State had games this week. Personal stats not available at this time but the team won the Cal-Maritime Academy Tournament in California.
Jessalyn Jackson from Fort Vancouver is doing well with Northwest University. She's already had a 20 point game. The team is off to a 1 - 3 start.
Kiesha Gordon from Heritage now with George Fox University is leading the team to a great 2 - 0 start in Dallas Texas. Kiesha didn't play the second game, injury?
Katie Allen from Battle Ground at Warner Pacific is averaging nearly 5 points per game in the first 4 games for her team. They are 3 - 1.
Lauren Hefflin from Ridgefield now at Western Washington is learning the ropes at the school seeing limited time but playing well.
Emily Lashua, Jamie Gelhar from Prairie and Krissy Bassett from Washougal are helping St. Martin's University get off to a good start. Jamie had a good weekend, scoring 20 points over a weekend tournament at Western Oregon. Emily is 3rd on the team in rebounds. and Krissy Bassett is the teams 2nd leading scorer.
Brittney Roggenkamp from La Center High now with Northwest Nazarene has a big role for the team. Her 19 points help lead the team to victory this weekend. She leads the team in scoring averaging 18 a game.

Community College
Jocelyn Joudrey from Heritage at Gray's Harbor College start her career this weekend with a double/double 15 points and 10 rebounds.
McKenzie Meyer from Prairie and Dayle Powell from Skyview playing together at Clackamas Community College, Dayle is one of the teams top scores and McKenzie is helping off the bench with good play.

Excepetion:
Kara Patterson from Skyview, you should read this exceptional story from the Oregonian;

Exposure equates to college scholarships

Hoopgurlz.com was a Seattle Washington based website, giving girl's high school basketball in Washington great exposure. During it's 'hey day' here in Washington, the exposure given to high school girl's basketball reach out nationally, and many Washington athletes received college scholarships to schools all across the country. Washington was a hot bed for girl's basketball talent. In fact June Daughtery lost her head coaching job at the University of Washington partly because of her inability to keep the in state talent home.
Two years ago Hoopgurlz.com signed on with ESPN.com and they now have a national base and scope. Now giving great exposure for girl's high school basketball across the country for ESPN. But the state of Washington has suffered. This year only 9 girl's through out the state sign "letter's of intent" in the early signing period. Down 25% from 2008, and as much as 50% in 2007 and before.
Exposure is the key. That's our goal with this blog/site. Your help is appreciated. Our girls have the talent, we have to help them with exposure.

Here are the girls in our state that signed letter's of intent for 2009;
(unfortunately non from Southwest Washington)

Lindsey Moore - Kentwood H.S. (WA) - Nebraska
Carly Noyes - Moses Lake H.S. (WA) - Washington State
Nichole Jackson - Auburn-Riverside H.S. (WA) - Portland State
Alyssa Smith - Archbishop Murphy H.S. (WA) - Montana
Ally Schmitt - Snohomish H.S. (WA) - Montana State
Kenzie De Boer - Lynden Christian H.S. (WA) - Montana
Shannon Byrne - Emerald Ridge H.S. (WA) - Idaho State
Karley Lampman - Snohomish H.S. (WA) - Portland State
Amanda Thompson - Kentlake H.S. (WA) - Cal State Northridge

Greater St. Helen's 4A Poll results

Well, it appears overwhelming, 50% of you voted that Heritage would win the 2008-2009 Greater St. Helen's 4A League Championship this year now that Prairie has move to the 3A. There could be many reasons for this. I recognize that I have a large contingency of readers from the Heritage high school area. "Premier Elite" worked with many of the players at the school, thus lots of bias voting could have taken place. But what also could have been a factor is that they only lost one player from last year's team. Granted it was their best player in Kiesha Gordon, but everyone else is back from a very formidable team from last year. Lots of expectation for this still very young team. There is a ton of potentially good players on this team, good luck coach Rogers in bringing this team together and meeting those expectation.
Skyview high school, for the past few years the only real threat to Prairie's strong hold on the league, was second in our poll with 17%. Coach Hook lost a lot of talent from last season's team with the departure of Ashlee Smith and Dayle Powell to graduation. There will be a lot of young players and even a few freshmen that need to step up for the Storm this season. Skyview is a system program, and if the system comes together with these young players they could be good. It will probably take some time, so be patient parents.
Surprisingly Mt. View and Kelso tied for 3rd with 12% of the vote each. I personally thought that Kelso would have been the second place representative. They have two of the best players in the area returning and they've always done very well in the 3A in previous seasons. I guess moving up to the 4A and many readers not knowing much about them contributed to the 3rd place vote, but watch out for them, they should be good this year. Just as surprising is Mt. View ranked 3rd. They appear to be the lunch bucket crew. Not a lot of 'star quality' but a lot of hard working players that could possibly shock the rest of the league. Mt. View is the 'wild card' this season in the 4A. They could upset the apple cart.
Evergreen had 6% of the vote and Battle Ground 1%. Both of these teams are trying to build, this could be a tough season for them. But you never know what kind of surprises could be out there.
Thanks for voting, always good to argue about how things will be on paper. But you never know in sports. Injuries and other factors come in to play, so now let's see what happens on the court.

Happenings around D1 and local interest

Congratulations to Oregon State Beaver's Talisa Rhea, daughter of Ken ( a local basketball official) for her 42 point, (record setting 10 3 pointers) Sunday vs Sacramento State.

Ashlee Smith has another big game for St. Mary's as she was the leading scorer for the Gael's in a lost to University of Texas, followed by another lost to Dayton last night where she scored 10 points.

Ashley Corral is also playing well for USC, scoring 10 points Sunday in a win vs the University of Milwaukee, after a 15 point outing Saturday in a lost to Charlotte.

Kiva Herman senior for University of San Diego played well in lost to UC Santa Barbara.

Utah State and Nicole Johnson host the University of Portland this past weekend and lost, Nicole did not have her best game, not scoring, but hope to bounce back this week with two games.

BYU plays again Tuesday night vs University of Nevada. Jazmine Foreman has moved to the starting line up with the terrible injury to the knee of Haley Hall Saturday vs PSU.

I had a chance to see Concordia College out of Portland play Washington State last week. Ex-Prairie high school player Rachel Bristow coming off the bench, played very well.

Lot's of girls doing well at D2, D3, and NAIA and Community Colleges. Please if you have information, provided it to me so I can let everyone know how or ex-Southwest Washington high school stars are doing.

Announcing formulation of a 7th/8th grade team

"Premier Elite" is proud to announce, by popular demand, the formulating a 7th/8th grade team. Tryouts will be in early December '2008

For information via email or phone, lanpdx2003@yahoo.com or 360-991-2566.

The same reputation we've developed with or "Premier Elite high school" program, we plan to bring to our 8th grade team. If you know of any young ladies that would like to participate in a hard working, skill developing program, design to prepare them for high school basketball, please send them our way.

Basketball officially arrives in SW Washington

Today is the first day of tryouts. Gym's all over Southwest Washington are being filled with the bouncing of balls, the swishing of the nets, the squeaking of tennis shoes, sweat, whistles, yelling coaches... Yes it's high school basketball's opening day. There will be plenty of ice packs, heat balm, and hot tub use these first few days also. I'm so excited... (smile).

Thank you for your support since I started this site October 1st. I hope to keep you informed through out the season. Please don't hesitate to assist with news, stories, and information. Contact me anytime. My theme is "It takes a village to raise a child".

Student athlete's please stretch and warm up properly, work hard, be safe and have fun.

Ashley & Ashlee do well in their career openers

Both Ashlee Smith formerly of Skyview and Ashley Corral formerly of Prairie see plenty of playing time and do well in their college career openers with their respective teams. Ashlee Smith had 10 points and 5 rebounds in a opening lost for St. Mary's College and USC's Ashley Corral scored 15 points to lead the Lady's of Troy in scoring in a lost Saturday.

OTHER LOCAL'S PLAYING D1

Kiva Herman formerly of Hudson's Bay scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds to help Univesity of San Diego to a victory Saturday.

Nicole Johnson formerly of Columbia River didn't score but grab 2 rebounds for Utah State in a lost Saturday night.

Great turn out for the BYU vs. PSU game

Thanks to everyone that came Friday night. I know I didn't get a chance to speak to everyone, it was a great turn out.
A proud father, watched on as BYU came close but lost to PSU 73 - 64. Jazmine had 12 points off the bench, with 4 assist and spark a comeback for BYU but they couldn't get over the hump.
It was a good time, and Jazmine wanted me to thank all of you who came out to watch the game.

It's the early signing period, and NO D1 signers

We have plenty of talented basketball players here in Southwest Washington, but a lack of exposure and personal assistance is holding our girl's back from receiving some of the basketball scholarships being awarded. This is the first week of the early signing period, which last two weeks, and we have no news to pass along concerning any Southwest Washington 2009 seniors, signing "letters of intent" to play basketball with NCAA D1, D2, or any NAIA schools. As a coach of a local club team "Premier Elite", this is disturbing, troubling, and hurtful. Unfortunately this past summer's Premier Elite team was full of underclassmen, (the seniors that played in the spring, choose to play else where for the summer). The summer tournaments are where you get the exposure for theses early signings. Five of the Premier Elite underclassmen are receiving letters of interest from NCAA D1 & D2 schools. I'm vowing not to let future early signing periods pass, with no class of 2010 or beyond early signers. Let's work together and prevent this travesty. Our girl's deserve better.

Should you play Club/AAU ball or stick with the high school team?

Why not do both, if you're looking to play at the next level, it's now almost essential.

It's amazing that club teams in various communities around the country have a difficult time working with the local high school coaches. Adults placing kids in the ugly positions of having to choose between one or the other. One argument between many high school coaches, and private trainers and/or AAU/Club coaches, is over the player's practice time. I think all involved want the players to improve. High school coaches want their players to fit in to the team concept, to elevate the team to league and state prominence. Trainers and club coaches want the players to do well, help their team, get a scholarship so they can take credit for the player's development and improvement. Both high schools and club coaches hope that outsiders see the success of the program and want to play and/or train with them. Both are good and both can work for you.

Parents, always wanting more for the darling daughters, sometimes finding themselves frustrated with the way that the local high schools are handling there daughters, and choose to go to the local club teams. Because of the various restrictions on high schools, most communities have just one or maybe two schools that are constantly competitive and a large number schools that struggle to find there way, so parents look around for greener pastures. Sometimes they find better, sometimes they don't. No matter how you feel one thing's for sure, AAU/Club teams have a niche in almost every community. They are her to stay. It's all about finding the right one for you. The advantage of playing with good club team's are playing with and against more competitive players and playing in the college viewing tournaments. (find out more, ask around)

There are many communities that have enjoyed huge success because of the work of the local club team. Spokane and the Inland Empire has enjoyed great success because of the club team "Spokane Star's". The picture above shows the Star's club president with a few of his players that have attended Arizona State University on a basketball scholarship. Many high schools surrounding the Spokane area, have their players training with the "Star's" and the schools have enjoyed unparalleled success in the high school state tournament. State champions at all divisions seem to be a constant coming out of the Spokane area. Including but not limited to the back to back state 4A champs Lewis & Clark. And not only have the teams enjoyed success but over 150 players, over the past 20 or so years, have achieved D1 scholarships including University High School player and now University of Tennessee starter Angie Bjorklund.

It's time here in Southwest Washington we started working together, helping our local student athletes achieve personal basketball success, of which I believe the local high schools will gain be successful. This is the goal behind "Premier Elite". After the '08 - '09 high school season, we will be holding tryouts for the high school level, two teams. We hope you'll consider being a part of the 2009 spring and summer team. Also this December we will be putting together a 8th grade team. Future correspondence will be posted concerning tryouts. Let's make our community the next big thing for girl's basketball in the state.

Portland State vs. BYU

Friday November 14th at the Stott Center at PSU, starting at 7:00pm. The season opener for both schools. Hope to see you there.

News around the area

Portland, Oregon;
You think there is lots of concern about high school athlete transfers here in Southwest Washington, you should read what's going on in Portland. Probably the best point guard in the Northwest, last year's Oregon 5A player of the year, as a sophomore, Shoni Schimmel from Pendleton Oregon, has transferred with younger sister Jude, to Franklin High School in Portland. The kids mother CeCe was hired as the head coach at Franklin and the parents of the other schools in the Portland area are in an up roar. Regardless to right or wrong, this girl Shoni, is worth going to see play, and Franklin will immediately become a contender.

Congratulation Southwest Washington freshman players, playing D1;
Ashley Corral of USC scored 17 points in an exhibition game last week, and Ashlee Smith scored 18 points for St. Mary's in an exhibition game this past week. Good luck in the season ladies.

Madison moves 8 miles;
Katie Madison from Prairie High School, who spent two years at the University of Idaho has transferred to Washington State University. She will sit out this year, D1 transfer requirements, and will be eligible to play next year for the Cougars. She has undergone knee surgery this month and hopes to come back better and stronger than ever.

Practice has started in Portland;
November 10th mark the beginning of tryouts / practice for the state of Oregon. Things get started here in the state of Washington next week November 17th.

Projected Impact seniors, SW Washington '09

This upcoming basketball season promises to be one of the most interesting of past few years here in Southwest Washington. Last year the 2A division of the Greater St. Helen's League was the most competitive in the area, but this year almost every team in every division 2A, 3A, & 4A has a chance to win their league title. Because of the lack of senior talent, the reorganization of the divisions, and the fact that you never know what you'll get from talented but lack of experience underclassmen, every team eagerly anticipating the upcoming season, with feelings of "this could be our year" ringing in the air.The underclass talent seems to be predominate at most schools.

But here are a few seniors that we believe you'll hear more about as the season unfolds.

CHAWNCY McCLENAN of Heritage High the most athletic player in Southwest Washington. Chawncy plays soccer, runs track, and plays basketball. She has good speed, good jumping ability, and has length. She's worked very hard on her basketball skills over the spring and summer, and should have lots of colleges watching her over this season. She's one of the reasons why Heritage goes into the 4A season probable favorites to win the league championship.

DARON DEAN of Hockinson is probably the most talented power player in the area. The 5'10 senior should wreck havoc in the 2A division. Working hard in the off season should pay off, playing all spring and summer, Daron is posed for a big senior season. I expect Hockinson to lean on her broad shoulders throughout the season, keeping them competitive for the 2A championship.

MEGAN DIRE of Union has a great shooters stroke. Again one of those players that put in a lot of time over the off season, playing on spring and summer teams, and being the only returning senior from last years 3A all league team, Megan should meet all expectations of being a standout player for Union this year. As she goes so will Union.

CAITLYNN PATTERSON of Mountain View has probably made the most improvement of any of the '09 players. Although there seems to be a recurring them to my selections "girls playing spring and summer ball" the fact remains that the more time you put into your craft, the better you'll get. Caitlynn raised her stock as a player in the off season, good enough to receive a scholarship offer over the summer. She should provided a stabilizing force for Mt. View.

EVIE EVERETT also of Mountain View has the most athletic talent for the Thunder. Such a talented athlete, she plays many sports for the school. Gaging how long it will take for Evie to transition from soccer to basketball before she's up to full swing will be the question for Mt. View. But with out question Mt. View goes as far as she carries them in league.

AMBER MEYERS of Heritage could be the most talented big in the area. Long and athletic, and again one of those players that plays other sports, Amber has qualities to help lead the Timberwolves to the 4A title. She will be one to watch all season.

I'm sure there are other '09 players and I've probably left your favorite senior out, the season will unfold and I will report on all that show promise. If you know of someone that deserves recognition please don't hesitate to contact me. Until then have a great season ladies, your senior season can be something you'll never forget.

I've never heard of "X" College. Who are they?

Just because you've never heard of the school doesn't mean you will not get a quality education there. Nor does it mean you'll have less competition to play against, fewer crowds to play in front of, or receive a lesser level of quality coaching. Studies have shown that many of the "non Division 1" schools around the country actually lead the nation in a variety of educational standards. And let's be honest, except for a selected few Division 1 schools, the crowds just haven't been that great yet. Although most of these quote "smaller schools" may not offer full athletic scholarships, usually they work out very good financial packages that end up paying for most, if not all, of the athlete's tuition, books, and living expenses.
Many student athlete's are choosing Division 2, Division 3, NAIA and or Community College to continue their athletic careers after high school, and they're very happy. So when you get that letter from Tim-Buck-Two Tech, don't just throw it out. Check it out, ask around, go to the website, call the coach. It may be the perfect fit for what you're looking for. Good luck, happy hunting, and I wish you all success.

DIVISION 2
Conferences - Prospectus for this year

Great Northwest Athletic Conference should be lead this year by Alaska Anchorage.
Click the links to find out more.

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) is so big it's broken into two divisions, this seasons polls have the expectations of a very close race.

The Summit League a fairly new conference and although South Dakota State is pick as the favorite it will be a very tight this year.

California Collegiate Athletic Association, obviously made up of California schools has Chico State as the preseason top team.

NAIA
Conferences - Preseason polls
Many of these schools normally play Division 1 schools in the exhibition season

Frontier Conference preseason poll

Cascade Conference Southern Oregon is rank 19 nationally and pick a top the conference preseason poll.

Dakota Athletic Conference preseason poll is out

Our local Community Colleges and Division 3 schools haven't release much information yet, but as they do I'll get it to you.

We live in the greatest country in the world

The ability to change with the times, or the wind, (as some would say) is the key to longevity. I'm a 50 year old black man from Los Angeles Calif. I've witness many things, I've seen many atrocities, been personally involved in many unfortunate wrong doings. But I've also witness many wrongs made right. And I've notice the change in our society and individuals, including myself. And now, the real possibility of a black man, Barack Obama, being elected president of these United States. WOW!!! It honestly brings tears to my eyes. I couldn't be prouder. Included in this change in our society is not just one, but two strong women in the political arena. Very proud to see Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin representing change in America. How far we've come.

Okay enough of my soap box. I bring this up because of the opportunities for young women in America, that wasn't available just 20 years ago. Bouncing a ball, playing a game and having your college education paid for. WOW!!! And not just the benefits of higher education and playing at the next level, but the benefits received for simply participating at the high school level. I read an article in October on Sarah Palin expressing how important her high school basketball experience was in shaping her life. She says many of the lessons taught while playing ball she still uses in her life.

Independent studies have shown, girls who play sports in high school graduate at a higher percentage and achieve better employment post high school than girls who don't play. High school girl athletes are most likly to not experiment with alcohol, tobacco or street drugs in comparison to the general student population. The percentage of high school girl athletes to get pregnant or have premarital sex is much lower than the general high school student body. And studies have also shown that former female high school athletes are less likely to get involved in abusive relationships later in life.

So you ask, why should our daughters play high school sports? Why is it important? Why do the parents get so excited about it? Things that make you say hummmmm...