Ladera Ranch NJB: Welcome

Thank you! Your participation in the 2011-2012 Ladera Ranch NJB league has made this season the best yet!!

Specifically, we appreciate all the parents who so diligently transported your kids (and other's kids) to practice and games on time and consistently - we know that this is not always an easy task. We appreciate the coaches for volunteering countless hours (and sleepless nights) to developing these young players and teaching skills beneficial on and off the court. We appreciate the volunteers who helped with the clocks, the scorebooks and other activities around the gym. We appreciate the fans who cheered on our teams and our kids in victory and defeat. But most importantly, we appreciate and are grateful for the many kids who participated in this league - we are fortunate to be associated with some fierce competitors, good sports and generally wonderful kids.

As you may be aware, our league continues to grow year after year. This season player participation increased by 171% over last year (266 to 454). This growth, while positive, has brought on some growing pains. We elected to participate, for the first time, in the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and AllStars. The TOC process presented some scheduling conflicts and some mis-steps which we as a Board assume responsibility. To those 2nd place teams who were not registered appropriately, we humbly apologize. We will learn from this error to ensure that future TOC teams do not endure the same frustration. Moreover, we are taking what we've learned already and applying this growth to ensuring the AllStar process runs as smooth as possible.

At this time, we would like to CONGRATULATE the following teams for their accomplishments this season...

League Champs

2nd Grade - Suns (Coach Phillip Ashman)

3rd/4th Grade - Bucks (Coach Carlos Ward)

5th/6th Grade - Spurs (Coach Mike Barrows)

7th/8th Grade - Lakers (Coach Marc Simpson)

Tournament Champs

K/1 - Clippers (Coach Loren Ollenburger)

2nd Grade - Spurs (Coach John Votava)

3rd/4th Grade - Bucks (Coach Carlos Ward)

5th/6th Grade - Spurs (Coach Mike Barrows)

7th/8th Grade - Lakers (Coach Marc Simpson)

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to not only announce, but to CONGRATULATE the AllStar selections for the 2011-2012 Season. This was not an easy process for the coaches - there were many other players who are worthy of the AllStar team. However, after many meetings, emails and discussions, it was decided that these players and coaches will represent the league in the upcoming AllStar Tournament in March.

3rd Grade - Coach Carlos Ward

Tom Crist

Kaide Ward

Dominci Mejorado

Scott Galovan

Matt Porchas

Spencer Cinco

Colin Blanchard

Vincent Pirro

Ashton Bartolucci

Luke Whittaker

4th Grade - Coach Herbie Weston

Grant Alarid

Jake Vurpillat

Reese Reda

Brandon Weston

Jack Stall

Brandon Fleiss

Charlie Henderson

Nolan MacDougall

Jackson Ebner

Billy Oberholtzer

5th Grade - Coach Joel Almeida

Jacob Bartolucci

Jake Ingle

Mitchell Northen

Jack Wohlgemuth

Callen Almeida

Luke Yurkovich

Devin Wright

Brendan Corbett

Robbie Peterson

Carlos Germann

6th Grade - Coach Mike Barrows

Matt Alexander

Jack Patnoe

Matt Barrows

Brendan Gibson

Dylan Stam

Kyle Mayor

Luke Bobruk

Logan Johnson

Ryuko Geronimo

Peyton Doty

Again, this was not easy. We encourage all players to continue to practice and develop and strive to make this team in the years to come. In the meantime, we wish this current batch of AllStar players and coaches much success in the tournament!

In closing, Thank You all again for helping to create such a wonderful environment for all of our kids to practice, compete and develop. We look forward to seeing you all in the Spring League.

Gratefully,