Quick-hitting, behind-the-scenes news and notes from the CalHiSports.com staff, including previews of upcoming content and events.
Our all-state patch for the 2025 baseball season is similar to the one for previous years through our partners from BillyTees.com.
It’s just one year before the Central California Lions All-Star Football Game reaches the big 5-0, but before that the 49th annual all-star game was set to be played on Saturday night, June 21 at 7 pm at Wayne Schneider Stadium in Tracy.
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If you’re into basketball and want to grow beyond just school or local games, then you need more than regular practice. While playing on school teams or community leagues gives you some exposure, it might not be enough to unlock your full potential. That’s where basketball academies come in. These places focus on skill-building, discipline, and serious training. For players who want to push themselves and stand out, academy training can really take things to the next level. Let’s take a closer look at how it helps young athletes gain an edge.
By Sarah Baker
1. Specialized Coaching and Expert Instruction
At a training academy, you’re not just learning how to dribble or shoot. You’re learning how to play basketball with purpose. Many basketball academies like Valley Athletics Academy offer specialized coaching from experienced professionals who know what it takes to succeed. They help you refine your technique, fix small mistakes, and build strong fundamentals that stay with you as you grow. Every drill, every session, is focused on helping you reach your full potential.
2. Individualized Skill Development
Everyone plays differently. Some players are quick on their feet, while others have a strong shot. Academy training focuses on what you need to improve as an individual. You get personalized guidance that builds on your strengths and improves your weaker areas. This one-on-one attention helps you grow faster and smarter, not just as a player but as a complete athlete.
3. Advanced Tactical and
Strategic Understanding
It’s not enough to just be fast or have a good jump shot. Basketball is a thinking game, too. At the academy, you’ll learn how to read the court, understand your opponent, and make smart decisions under pressure. Coaches break down plays, teach positioning, and help you see the game in a new light. This kind of training helps you become a smarter player who can handle tough situations confidently.
4. Structured Physical Conditioning and Injury Prevention
Being in the best shape is just as important as having solid skills. That’s why academy training includes structured workouts designed to improve your strength, speed, and stamina. You also learn how to warm up, cool down, and train safely so you avoid injuries. With the right physical foundation, you can play harder, recover faster, and stay in the game longer.
5. Exposure and Networking Opportunities
Academies often connect young athletes with scouts, coaches, and other professionals. Whether it’s through tournaments, showcases, or regular training sessions, you get the chance to be seen. These opportunities can open doors for scholarships, higher-level teams, or even a path to professional basketball. Simply put, being part of a good academy puts you on the map.
6. Mental Toughness and Discipline
Basketball is as much mental as it is physical. You’ll learn how to stay focused during high-pressure moments, bounce back from mistakes, and keep pushing even when you’re tired. This kind of mental training helps you stay sharp, motivated, and in control of your performance. Discipline becomes part of your routine, both on and off the court.
Should Every Player Join an Academy?
Not really. Academy training isn’t something you just try out casually. It needs time, dedication, and a solid mindset. It’s a better fit for those who:
*Truly enjoy playing basketball and want to keep getting better.
*Are ready to train regularly, take feedback, and put in real effort.
If that sounds like you, an academy might be the right place to level up your game.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re serious about basketball and ready to put in the work, academy training can really help you grow. It gives you focused learning, better exposure, and a strong routine. It’s not for everyone, but for those who are committed, it can make a big difference.
Author Bio
Sarah Baker is a content strategist and community outreach coordinator at Valley Athletics. Passionate about youth development and sports education, she works to connect families with programs that promote confidence, discipline, and lifelong wellness. When she’s not writing, Sarah explores new ways to support local initiatives that empower young athletes.
Our all-state hoops patch for this year (2025) is available to order at BillyTees.com. Patches also come with a certificate to further recognize the achievement.
Our all-state hoops patch for this year (2025) is available to order at BillyTees.com. Patches also come with a certificate to further recognize the achievement.
If Kaden Korst was in the same uniform as the Marin Catholic players after their CIF D3 state title win, it would be very hard to determine who was the head coach and who were the starters. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
For more on this year’s overall State Coach of the Year announcement, CLICK HERE.
(Associate editor Harold Abend contributed to these honors.)
We hope you like this free post on CalHiSports.com. Please help us out today by becoming a member of our Gold Club so you can see all of our great content, including some of our upcoming all-state girls basketball teams plus state team and individual record lists. For more on special offer to get signed up for $4.99 for one month, CLICK HERE.
CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.
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Coaches of all basketball teams in the state, boys and girls, all know about the importance of summer scrimmages for their programs. Here’s a rundown of all the reasons they are and how coaches can schedule them even with those schools who may not be that far away.
By Clifford Winston
CalGamesWanted.com
In today’s landscape of high school basketball, where AAU programs, open transferring and NIL opportunities are prevalent, it’s crucial for all of you coaches out there to focus on the core aspects of player development for all your players. For a successful high school basketball program, creating an atmosphere of competitive development will ensure that student-athletes have a positive experience.
Spring and summer is the perfect time to work on developing that competitive spirit in your players. For various reasons, it can be difficult to get enough players to your practice sessions to conduct meaningful practice. How many times have you had less than 10 players at practice in the summer?
We have heard of girls teams scrimmaging boys teams during the summer at certain schools. Photo: The Royal Page (Minn.).
A scrimmage also is basically an opportunity to have a full-blown practice between two teams, when those teams might not have enough players to run 5-on-5 in practice. It can also be used to break up the monotony on those hot summer days in the gym.
Reason for having scrimmages:
*Don’t have enough players to run a competitive practice.
*Stirs competitive juices by practicing against different players.
*Works on your “stuff” against an unknown opponent.
*Players run full court.
*No pressure of “winning or losing.”
*Summer is the perfect time to develop a players’ competitive nature, especially for those younger and less experienced.
Suggestions for conducting a scrimmage:
1. Start in the half court.
*The team on offense has 5-10 minutes (or a certain number of possessions) to run their offense. Coaches can stop play for instruction on offense or defense.
*Switch back and forth for as long as needed.
*Go over out-of-bound plays (under basket, sideline, baseline) when the opposing team doesn’t know what’s coming.
2. Move to the full court.
*Each team works on their press and press break packages, rotating from offense to defense with coaches input on both.
*Work on early offense packages.
*Work on special situations.
*Last minute situations using the clock.
How CalGamesWanted can help:
*Reduces the cost of your summer program.
*Puts you in contact with teams in your vicinity
*Enables you to schedule in as little as one or two days prior.
*Assists you in setting up a multiple team scrimmage situation.
Think of the possibilities
*In many regions of California, there are anywhere from three to 15 schools located within a 20-mile radius. Many teams often lack enough players for effective summer practices. So, if you have access to your gym, why not make the most of it.
Check out CalGamesWanted.com and sign up today.
State D4 Coach of the Year David Moseley from Priory of Portola Valley celebrates with players after team won CIF NorCal title. Photo: @priorybasketball / Instagram.com.
FOR MORE ON THE 2025 OVERALL STATE COACH OF THE YEAR,
CLICK HERE.
We hope you like this free post on CalHiSports.com. Please help us out today by becoming a member of our Gold Club so you can see all of our great content, including some of our upcoming all-state boys basketball teams. For more on special offer to get signed up for $4.99 for one month, CLIK HERE.
CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.
OPEN DIVISION/DIVISION I
Andre Chevalier (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth)
The overall State Coach of the Year is also always the state coach of the year for a division. Chevalier’s team won the CIF D1 state title, which also was the third of his coaching career. Senior Bryce James, the second son of NBA all-time scoring leader LeBron James to play for Chevalier along with Bronny James between 2020 to 2023, was a key member of this year’s team. Besides junior Maxi Adams, other leaders of the 2025 Trailblazers were senior Gavin Hightower and senior Bryce Cofield.
Last 15 honorees: 2024 Matt Dunn (Bellflower St. John Bosco); 2023 Mike Hansen (San Ramon Dougherty Valley); 2022 Mike LeDuc (La Verne Damien); 2021 Josh Giles (Corona Centennial); 2020 Dave Rebibo (Studio City Harvard-Westlake); 2019 Jonas Honick (Ross Branson); 2018 Dave Kleckner (Etiwanda); 2017 Steve Singleton (Eastvale Roosevelt); 2016 Russell White (Encino Crespi); 2015 Dave Kleckner (Etiwanda); 2014 Nick Jones (Danville Monte Vista); 2013 James Hecht (Santa Monica); 2012 Tony Amundsen (Fresno Bullard); 2011 Gary McKnight (Santa Ana Mater Dei); 2010 Reggie Morris Jr. (Lawndale Leuzinger).
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Rancho Christian’s girls basketball team, along with head coach Marlon Wells (far left), shows off patches and plaque after winning CIFSS D1 title on Friday. Photo: Harold Abend.
We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. Please help us out today by becoming a member of our Gold Club so you can see all of our great content. All new State TOP 30 rankings and several of the upcoming all-state team posts and will be for Gold Club members only plus upcoming state record updates. For more on special offer to get signed up for $4.99 per month, CLICK HERE.
CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.
Despite only receiving the No. 8 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, Rancho Christian (25-8) has run the table, and in a battle of teams with Eagles as their mascot, the Cal-Hi Sports No. 19 ranked Eagles from the far southeastern reaches of the Inland Empire pulled off the upset over second-seed and No. 12 ranked Brentwood of Los Angeles to win the championship, 58-48, on Friday night at the Toyota Arena in Ontario.
Gonzaga-bound senior Julia Wilson led all scorers with 22 points plus eight rebounds and three assists. Junior Alyson Boyd added a double-double 19 points and 11 rebounds. Boyd was out ill when Rancho Christian lost 64-58 to No. 16 ranked Sacramento McClatchy back in early December at the La Jolla Country Day Sweet 16 event.
While Rancho Christian was winning in Ontario, McClatchy, just like the victorious Eagles, also pulled off an upset after winning the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 championship over state No. 9 Folsom with a 64-53 victory.
Both McClatchy and Rancho Christian will be moving up in the next Cal-Hi Sports rankings, but McClatchy will be in the CIF Northern Regional Open Division playoffs while Rancho Christian will be in the Southern Regional Division I field.
After winning a CIF Southern Section Division 3A championship in 2023 when Wilson was a sophomore, Rancho Christian didn’t have enough players to field a team last year until December 27 when its transfers were eligible. The team still had a decent season but lost to Ivy League arch rival Moreno Valley in the quarterfinals of the CIFSS Division 2AA playoffs.
This season, the Eagles lost twice in league to Moreno Valley but when they defeated Brentwood it sort of avenged the losses since Brentwood defeated Moreno Valley in the semifinals.
“Last year we couldn’t play a game until the end of the sit-out period, and now to be able to compete for a Division 1 championship, and not get any respect in the seedings, it’s a beautiful thing,” said Rancho Christian head coach Marlon Wells. “We’ve been on a roll. We played the number one, number two, number five and number seven team in the country, and Clovis West, and they’re undefeated, but we compete, and its not always pretty, but despite being only the number eight seed you have to play the games, and we did and we won.
“I’ve been doing this awhile, and I’ve had some really good teams in the past and some great players, but overall, this is one of my favorite teams and these girls worked very hard and really deserve it, and it starts with our leader Julia Wilson,” continued Wells, who coached both No. 1 and No. 2 all-time leading scorers Destiny Littleton at La Jolla Bishop’s and Charde Houston at San Diego.
Rancho Christian bolted out to a 7-0 lead, and although the game was tied twice in the third quarter, the team never trailed.
All in all, Rancho Christian dominated in all aspects of the game. Brentwood came into the game having made 381 three-pointers and shooting 35 percent from behind the arc. On Friday they were 5-of-33 while Rancho Christian was 5-of-18. Rancho Christian won the rebounding battle 41-28 and the assists at 10-8 as well.
“Two glaring things,” said Brentwood head coach Charles Solomon. “We got a ton of open shots and they were just not falling, and they controlled the paint. The five threes was our low total for the year.”
UC San Diego-bound senior Lev Feiman played her heart out and finished with 22 points, but no other Brentwood player had more than seven points. Senior Payton Sugar, who came into the game shooting 37 percent outside the arc with 126 made three-pointers, was only 2-of-13 on treys.
Rancho Christian is behind all of the CIF Southern Section Open teams that were not selected for the CIF Open Division in the south for Sunday’s seedings. That mean’t a drop to Division I, but it is a No. 5 seed with the first round opponent being Oak Park (see below).
Oak Park’s CIF Southern Section D2AA championship team is shown on the bench just prior to them getting all of their patches. Photo: @OPgirlsbball / X.com.
Division 2AA
Oak Park 68, North Torrance 57
After winning the CIF Southern Section 3AA title last season. Oak Park (22-3) moved up two notches to win the 2AA championship in the nightcap at the Toyota Arena on Friday.
We had felt that Oak Park should have possibly been in Division 1 but it worked out well for head coach William Burr and his Eagles’ girls.
Sophomore Maya Deshautelle picked the right night to have a huge double-double after finishing with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Ava Rogerson added 14 points.
North Torrance (20-8) got 23 points from Keimi Santiago, 18 points from Camryn Shimazaki and 11 points from Shay Tokeshi.
On Sunday, Oak Park was seeded No. 12 in the CIF SoCal D1 playoffs. It’s first-round opponent will be CIFSS D1 champion and No. 5 seed Rancho Christian.
Division 2A
Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) 51, Rosary (Fullerton) 49
The way this game started, it looked like Rosary was going to run away and hide.
Rosary held Rolling Hills Prep scoreless and led 17-0 after the first quarter. The Royals increased the lead to 22-0 before the Huskies finally scored at 5:53 of the second quarter. It got to 24-2 before Rolling Hills Prep went on a 31-9 run to tie things at 33-33 and only trailed 36-33 after three quarters.
Rolling Hills Prep then fell behind 49-42 but from that point on the Huskies were the only ones to score. When Sophomore Regan Enright hit her lone three-pointer after missing her first seven attempts, the score was tied at 49-49 with 18.4 seconds left.
Rolling Hills Prep got a turnover and as time was running down it looked like Enright was trapped near midcourt but the officials called a foul on Rosary with one second left. Enright stepped to the free-throw line and not only did she give Rolling Hills its first lead of the game but she nailed both to complete the unbelievable comeback for Rolling Hills Prep.
“I was nervous but I knew if I made one of two we would win,” Enright said.
Actually, the game wasn’t over. Rosary was able to get a off a shot with a second left from beyond halfcourt, but it fell well short.
Enright led Rolling Hills Prep (22-8) with 17 points and seven rebounds. Senior Noelani Pablo came off the bench to add 11 points and sophomore had 10 points before fouling out with the Huskies trailing 43-37.
Rosary (18-13) had three players with eight points — junior Kate Duarte, and sophomores Isabella Holmes and Kaiya Watties.
Division 3AA
Mark Keppel (Alhambra) 49, Cerritos 39
In the early Friday afternoon opener at the Toyota Center, Mark Keppel (24-9) won its first-ever CIF Southern Section title.
Keira Kamida led three Aztecs in double-digit scoring with 15 points. Jady Ly and Alyssa Canizal added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Cerritos (17-16) got 13 points from Cameron Lacorte.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
The Northern California and state football coaching great from Grant of Sacramento died this week at age 78. His influence was still obvious at Grant this last season when the Pacers won the CIF D2-AA state championship.
There may not be a coach in state history who has experienced the highs and lows that former Grant of Sacramento head football coach Mike Alberghini did during his 31 years as the leader of the Pacers.
Mike Alberghini from Grant of Sacramento is the last head coach from a public school to lead a team to the CIF Open Division state title . Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
Alberghini died on Wednesday at age 78, according to the Sacramento Bee, due to complications that were from a stroke that he suffered in late 2022.
The last season for Coach Al was in 2021 and it took some time for the football program to get back to being among the best in Northern California. That has happened for the past three seasons especially with co-head coaches Carl Reed and Syd’Quan Thompson. Both men played for Alberghini and have continued the motto of “Pacer4Life.”
When Alberghini retired, his reported coaching record of 282 wins was tied for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section record set in 2017 by Mark Loureiro of Escalon. For our state records, however, forfeits are not included and Alberghini has one less win by that count at 281. The 2008 State Coach of the Year and Loureiro have since been passed by Modesto Central Catholic’s Roger Canepa. Alberghini also ended his career with 18 league championships and seven SJS crowns. He is in the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame, the California High School Football Hall of Fame and SJS Hall of Fame.
Before Mike took over the Pacers’ program in football after it had been run successfully for 15 years by Bob Vukajlovich, he had been the assistant coach and varsity baseball head coach. His baseball teams in those years in the 1980s were prolific. The 1989 team finished 37-7-1, which set a state record for wins and likely will never be broken since teams these days don’t play 37 games. The Pacers of 1984 had a 27-game win streak in a 39-game season and scored 379 runs with 424 hits. The runs total is still an all-time NorCal record and No. 3 in state history. The hits total is still an all-time state record.
Alberghini gave up he baseball head coaching to take over football where he took the Pacers to similar heights, although the records were more set by individuals such as Onterrio Smith for rushing/scoring. He also coached in other sports and was Grant’s athletic director for many years. All in all, he had been an educator in the Twin Rivers Unified School District for 53 years.
“Coach Al had a unique ability to connect with students, see their potential, and inspire them to achieve their very best, not just on the football field, but also in the classroom and in our community,” Twin Rivers Superintendent Steve Martinez said in the statement. “He was a mentor, a role model, and a true champion for our kids. He will be profoundly missed, but his legacy lives on in the many lives he touched.”
As a high school player himself in the late 1960s, Alberghini was part of a great program at Mira Loma High in Sacramento. He’s not the only one from that era of Mira Loma football who became one of the winningest head coaches in state history. Others are Kevin Rooney from Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, Randy Blankenship most recently of Aptos, Terry Stark most recently from Inderkum of Sacramento and Dave Humphers most years at Nevada Union (Grass Valley).
We offer our condolences, peace and love to Coach Al’s family and the greater Grant High community.
