Fans of Culver City High School sports will get a rare opportunity to watch three different events on campus Friday.
Only problem is, they will have to bring their own athletic shoes to keep up with the first two games of the evening.
At 6 o’clock, the girls basketball team will play El Segundo in the Del Goodyear gymnasium while the boys soccer team will battle El Segundo outdoors at the Jerry Chabola Field.
True fans will either choose one game to watch, or run back and forth from the gym to the field to catch both.
At 7:30 the action slows down to only one game when the boys basketball team faces El Segundo in the gym.
The girls soccer team will round out the Culver City vs. El Segundo matchups. They travel to El Segundo for a 3 o’clock contest. The Lady Centaurs are 6-3-2 and El Segundo is 4-2-4.
All games on the Culver City campus should be entertaining. The Lady Centaurs basketball team is 7-9 while El Segundo is 9-7. The boys soccer team is 4-5-1 and El Segundo is 8-1-2.
The boys’ basketball team is 7-9 and El Segundo is 4-10. The Centaurs appear headed in the right direction even though they have a losing record. Their mental and physical approaches to the game have improved since the beginning of the season.
“When we started playing in the summer we weren’t very good,” said junior forward Kyle Johnson. “Now with more games under our belts, it’s a complete change. We are starting to improve. We are practicing better. Everyone is starting to come together. I just want to lead this team and I want to win.”
At the beginning of the season the young players on the team were not accustomed to the pressure of playing varsity high school sports. Now they feel more comfortable playing on the center stage.
“The more we play the better we get,” said Coach Adam Eskridge. “We still have a long way to go. But the players feel like they can win. Confidence and experience are helping. They believe in each other.”
Eskridge believes he has found the right leaders to navigate the tough Ocean League that started this week. “I am hoping Kyle, Darae (Thompson) and Isaiah (Njoku) will step up and be the leaders we are looking for,” Eskridge said.
Wrong Direction
The girls basketball team has lost nine of 10, but Coach Julian Anderson saw improvement during a loss to West Torrance last week. “We played five times better against West than in the last few games,” he said. “When you lose to a good team but you play hard, I can live with that.”
The girls basketball team is looking for leaders to take charge with Ocean League play starting this week. Against West, junior forward Kailey Tooke elevated her game into the leadership category. “It’s more mental than physical,” Anderson said. “Some girls are having a hard time realizing that it’s their turn to take responsibility and be a leader.”
The girls basketball team may be blinded by their own success. The defending CIF champions were 30-0 the past three years in the Ocean League. However, they lost two key players to graduation. This team needs to find its own identity.
“We want to run,” said Anderson, “but because our team is not that deep, we have to settle for a controlled fast break.
“This team can see how good they can be. We just need to turn the corner.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
