Spring Prep Season

Riki’s FOR (Japanese American community league) team finished its spring prep season at 6-1 and in first place with a convincing 43-32 victory over the ABC Tigers today. Riki had a solid game with 13 points (all in the first half on 4-4 shooting from 3-pt range and 1-2 from the line).

We recently received Riki’s Redondo Union High School varsity summer schedule. They will be playing in 7 tournaments, one league and one camp between mid-June and the end of July, including two out-of-town tournaments. For now, she is playing with the varsity as they will be graduating 8 seniors (5 starters) in a few weeks.

The following is their tournament schedule:

6/13-15 SCIBA (Arroyo HS, El Monte)

6/19-22 Vanguard (Costa Mesa)

6/27-29 Redondo Classic (Redondo Union HS)

7/5-9 End of the Oregon Trail

7/11-13 Swish (Orange County)

7/17-20 San Diego Classic

7/25-27 Best in the West (?)

Christine and I are planning on joining her in Oregon and San Diego. RUHS will also be playing in their own summer league on Mondays and Wednesdays from the end of June through the third week of July. They also will be going to CSULB for a team camp on 6/23-25.

After three years of club ball (and traveling across the west and one national trip each year), the pace is nothing new. We did expect that enrolling her at Redondo would give her the level of coaching that she is used to but would miss something on the competition level. Of course, at her age, pure physical athleticism (i.e. size and speed) is catching up and there is no guarantee that she would get as much playing time if she stayed with club ball. Right now the prospects are for her to play point guard against some of the top Asian point guards in So Cal because all of the South Bay schools seem to have at least one!

So, this seems to be working out for the best for Riki. A solid three years of varsity ball at Redondo and we’ll see if she wants to play at the next level as a walk-on somewhere. If her game improves, maybe she can get some attention at the DII or DIII level. Who knows?

If you’re interested in possibly seeing Riki play in any of the tournaments and want to know specific game times, just let me know sometime that week.

Thanks for your support!