July 3, 2008

SPORTS

Nate Jones honored by San Jose Unified School District

By Mia Syn
Special to the Times

Making school history, Nate Jones, Leland High School class of 2008, recently accepted the district’s All-Star Athlete Award, making him the school’s first recipient. This award is given to one senior out of all the district’s schools.

This award was given to Jones for his outstanding performance on the athletic field and lasting contributions to the Leland High School community. The decision process not only requires nominations from the various schools’ athletic directors, but also a rigorous grading by a committee of six people in the district office on a scale of one to five.

Nate Jones pulls in a Battipede pass over the middle.

What started out as an award given by San Jose Magazine has evolved into one of the most prestigious awards the San Jose Unified School District gives to a student who shines in academics, athletics and the community.

Jones acquired his love for baseball when he began playing T-ball 14 years ago. “I started playing baseball because I really enjoyed the sport and all of my friends starting playing,” Jones said.

He has been a standout in both baseball and football since his freshman year. In terms of baseball, he was selected his freshman year for the varsity team, and he remained on varsity throughout his Leland career.

As a sophomore, he was selected the team’s most valuable defensive player and as a junior, Jones was selected the team’s most valuable player. In addition, he was named first team all league as a junior and second team all league his senior year in the Mount Hamilton division of the BVAL.

He began playing football in middle school. In seventh grade Jones joined the Almaden Pop Warner football league. Although he took a break from football in eighth grade, Jones started back up again as a freshman on the Leland Football team and spent four years in that program.

Jones’ 2008 class photo.

He earned first team all league honors as a sophomore. In his senior year, Jones was named the league’s most outstanding defensive back, the team’s most valuable offensive player and voted honorable mention in the Central Coast Section.

Off the field, Jones has shown dedication in the classroom. He maintained a 3.83 GPA in spite of the time devoted to practicing and playing two sports.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Leland. You have the opportunity for a quality education that rivals the private schools and the support of a tremendous student body and administration. These types of awards are great and quite an honor, but really it is to be shared with all of my teammates over the years as well as my coaches and teachers. My grandfather once told me that ‘people succeed because a lot of other people want you to.’ That is certainly the case with me.”

Jones plans on continuing his athletic endeavors in baseball and studying business while attending Chapman University this coming fall.

This article was reprinted from the Leland High School newspaper.

Almaden swimmer to compete at Olympic trials

Justin Pollard, who grew up in Almaden, swam at the Almaden Swim and Racquet Club under Coach Gerry Macedo and swam for four years at Bellarmine College Prepatory, will swim the 100-butterfly at the Olympic trials this week.

Pollard is one of 34 swimmers from UC Berkeley. He just missed qualifying for the 2008 NCAA championships with a season-best of 1:46.81 in the 200 fly, but is a three-time first-team Pac-10 All-Academic honoree graduating in economics. He also earned the Pac-10 Postgraduate Scholarship; the Neufeld Scholar Athlete Award for the highest cumulative GPA (3.926); and the Walter A Haas, Jr. Community Service Award for commitment and service to the university and larger community.

Pollard

In a representation of the quality and depth of the University of California men's swimming program, a total of 34 current, former and incoming student-athletes will be vying for gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Twelve international athletes with Cal ties have already made Olympic teams for their respective countries, while 22 Golden Bears will be competing at the USA Olympic Trials, June 29-July 6 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.

"When you look at the list of people from the University of California who have a shot at medaling at the Olympic Games, it is not only the quality of the athletes, but the depth of that list that is impressive," said Cal Coach David Durden. "The program continues to build off of what Nort Thornton started - from Peter Rocca, to Matt Biondi, to Anthony Ervin - some of the greatest swimmers in Olympic history have come from Cal. It is just part of the expectation of the program to have that caliber of an athlete compete for the Bears."

Durden took over the Cal coaching reins from head coach emeritus Thornton this season, after Thornton had guided the Bears for 33 year, leading Cal to NCAA team titles in 1979 and 1980, and a long list of All-Americans and national champions. Since Thornton took over the Cal program in 1974, 48 Cal athletes have represented several countries in the Olympic Games, winning 29 medals, including 14 gold medals, 10 silver medals and five bronze.

Sports Briefs

The Lance Armstrong Foundation comes to San Jose July 13
Cyclists, runners, walkers, cancer survivors and spectators of all ages are invited to join Lance Armstrong at the San Jose LIVESTRONG Challenge, hosted by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and presented by Nike. A post-Challenge celebration featuring food, drinks and live entertainment will immediately follow. Event hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Festival Area at S. Almaden Blvd. and Park Ave. in San Jose. For more information and to register for the LIVESTRONG Challenge, visit www.livestrongchallenge.org/sanjose. Each Challenge participant is required to pay a $50 registration fee. There is an additional $250 fundraising minimum for cyclists, but no further fundraising requirement for walkers and runners, though everyone is encouraged to raise funds. Participants can register individually or as a team, choosing to bike 10, 40, 70 or 100 miles, or walk or run in the community 5K. The combined walk/run allows individuals of all fitness levels to participate. In addition to walking, running and riding, the LAF urges members of the community to volunteer and cheer on participants during the event.

Go 4 Gold Soccer School
Go 4 Gold Soccer School presents its 2008 Summer Soccer Camps program. We offer week long, coed soccer camps for players age 5 - 16 in both San Jose and Los Gatos, coached by our staff of highly trained, certified professionals. Go 4 Gold also offers year round GoalKeeping & Field Player Academies every Sunday from 5 – 7 p.m.

For a camp schedule, locations or additional information, please call 997-7775 or visit www.go4goldsoccer.com.

Sporting ‘98G Girls Soccer
The Sporting '98G Team is looking for experienced players born after 07/31/98 looking to join our team as we prepare to become a U10 Class 1 Team. Club goalies can receive free keeper training with a licensed trainer.  A second Class 3 team may form if enough girls tryout. For more information, please contact Michael Kutney at scsportinggirls98@bigfoot.com or 644-4304.

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