Sports
Ducking under the water, seven-year-old Colin twists his body around in a tight corkscrew, shoots his hands in front of his head and pushes off hard against the pool wall. His slight frame cuts through the water like an arrow in flight—graceful, precise, direct. And then the arrow goes awry: a few yards down his head pops up, his right arm readies for the first stroke and his right leg suddenly juts out of the water too. Like a periscope,…
Lady Eagles head coach Rae Jackson has had enough. And even though his squad battled to a 74-64 victory over Analy High Tuesday night to advance to the second round of the North Coast Section Division 3 Bracket, he wasn’t happy. Soft third quarter play has been a deep thorn the coaching staff’s side all season, and for whatever reason the Lady Eagles can’t put teams away in the second half. Again the Tri-County Stone League champions let an 18-point…
As the clock struck 2:20 p.m. on Friday, 800 Kennedy High students filled the gym to celebrate Black History Month and begin their weeklong President’s Day vacation. The pep rally was full of balloon races, tug-of-war contests, dance moves, catwalks and cheer. Phillip Johnson, the school’s principal, even wore a blue Hawaiian shirt to accent the mood of the day. Toward the end of the celebration, Johnson took a microphone and addressed the student body. As a not-so-perfect hush fell…
With frantic little-kid energy, the Panthers under-10 boys basketball team races around the pavement lot next to the Shields-Reid Park in North Richmond. The kids are fresh from a 42-0 victory over the El Cerrito team, their third straight victory in their youth league. Some of the kids play a pick-up game against their coaches—older boys, brothers, cousins, neighbors—who shout directions and jokes. Around the edges of the court, kids drift in and out of the game, jousting with each…
While the San Francisco Giants are in balmy Scottsdale, Ariz., reminiscing and shaking the dust off their recent World Series trophy, the Kennedy Eagles baseball team has been under Bay Area clouds working hard on shagging fly balls and fielding grounders. First-year head coach Tim Logan said for the past two weeks his team has been practicing nothing but defensive fundamentals. But the ABCs of a 6-4-3 double play have turned into rocket science for Kennedy the past few years….
Forty-five minutes after the North Coast Section quarterfinal playoff game ended, and they had lost, the boys from the Richmond High School soccer team came out of their locker room and walked back toward the field. Still wearing their jerseys, under their red team jackets, they looked like they might be trying to play another match. Instead, the players slowly trickled to the center of the field and waited for their other teammates to catch up. Family and friends, who…
Tears came early for the Kennedy Lady Eagles Thursday night. As teammates practiced free throw shooting during halftime, senior shooting guard Susan Valiphone sat on the bench and kept to herself. Down only three points with two quarters to go, tears trickled down her cheeks. On paper Kennedy and Salesian looked like a good boxing match. Both teams were nearly 20 games over .500. But in person the Lady Eagles looked like a high school team, and Salesian, with their…
Eleven-and-zero. That’s the Kennedy Lady Eagles home record this year. And if they win three more home games this week they’ll call themselves Tri-County League champs. After the final buzzer sounded on Tuesday night, and the song “Another One Bites The Dust” boomed over the loud speaker, the number two-seeded Lady Eagles huddled together at midcourt with fans to celebrate their 73-68 tournament victory over six-seeded St. Patrick/St. Vincent Lady Bruins of Vallejo. According to Lady Eagles head coach Rae…
The Richmond High School boys’ soccer team will open its North Coast Section playoffs tonight when they play host to Dougherty Valley High School at 7:00 p.m. Richmond, which owns a 15-4-5 record on the season, was rewarded for its strong play this year when the seeding for the Division 1 bracket was announced last Sunday. Although the Oilers lost 2-0 to St. Mary’s High School in the Tri-County Athletic League playoffs championship match last Saturday, the Oilers still received…