Coaches sometimes give their players books on leadership. Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson often did so.
In Mater Dei’s water polo program, it has been the other way around.
When Mater Dei water polo coach Chris Segesman introduced polo senior Myles Stapelberg at the school’s signing-day event Wednesday, Segesman said to Stapelberg, “I’ve loved the leadership books you’ve been sending me.”
“Myles would even have selected passages already highlighted in those books,” Segesman added.
Stapelberg’s college destination? Massachusetts Institute of technology, better known simply as MIT.
MIT. Figures.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• It used to be that only the larger private schools and a couple of the more athletically inclined public schools had signing day events. Those schools understood they were competing for athletes. Now, more schools understand that reality and have joined the fun.
• Foothill boys basketball coach Rusty Van Cleave, under advice from his doctor, will not resume coaching this season. Van Cleave, who has county coach of the year recognition on his resume, said via email that he continues to make excellent progress from the stroke he suffered this past fall, but returning to coaching might hamper his improvement. Foothill assistant coach Jeff Gomez, a longtime fixture in O.C. basketball, has been running the team.
• Yes, 7-foot junior newcomer Bol Bol is making an impact at Mater Dei. He had a team-high 17 points with eight rebounds and five blocked shots Wednesday in the Monarchs’ 74-67 home win over JSerra.
• In the girls basketball state top 20 by CalHiSports.com, Fairmont Prep is No. 18. Mater Dei is No. 19.
• Servite got its first Trinity League basketball win of the season Wednesday with a 68-51 home victory over Orange Lutheran. Kamron Flemming scored 28 points for the Friars who are 1-7 in league.
• Because the letter-of-intent signing period that began Wednesday covered only football, boys water polo and boys and girls soccer, signings for only those sports were included in our list of signees. Many other sports and signees in those sports were part of Wednesday’s signing-day activities, which were great and fun. We included all of those athletes as part of our extensive photo coverage of signing day.
• We might see more conferences like the eight-school Century Conference and the 10-school Coast View Conference when league alignments for the 2018-19 school year and the following three school years are finalized. Conferences allow for flexibility within its memberships, with the opportunity to mix and match conference schools’ teams in a given sport. All Century and Coast View conference schools are better in some sports than in others, and the two leagues that are part those conferences are organized accordingly.
• Former Long Beach Poly baseball head coach Toby Hess has been named baseball coach at Marina.
• The teams selected to the CIF-Southern Section Open Division in boys and girls basketball will be announced next Friday, Feb. 10. Brackets for the other 11 divisions will be released Feb. 12.
• CIF-SS boys basketball championship games this season are at Honda Center, perhaps for the final time. The CIF-SS office and Honda Center are not agreeing on price point for future dates in recent discussions.
• Boys and girls soccer playoff brackets will be released Feb. 13.
• CIF-SS dual-meet wrestling pairings were announced Thursday. The tournament is Saturday as is the CIF-SS girls regional wrestling qualifying tournament for which the Central Regional tournament is at Tustin High.
• CIF-SS individual wrestling playoffs in six divisions are Feb. 17 and 18. The Southern Division meet is at Brea Olinda High. The Coastal Division meet is at Westminster High.
• The Masters wrestling meet is Feb. 24 and 25 at Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario.
• CIF-SS girls water polo playoff brackets will be released Feb. 11. The playoffs begin with wild-card round games, if necessary, on Feb. 14. Division 4 and 5 first-round games are Feb. 14, with the first round in other divisions on Feb. 15.
• The Saturday evening session of the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei is sold out. General admission tickets remain for Friday and the Saturday morning session.
• The Nike Extravaganza schedule for Friday: Rolling Hills Prep of San Pedro vs. Rancho Mirage, 3 p.m.; Servite vs. Saddleback Valley Christian 4:30 p.m.; Mater Dei (girls) vs. Palisades of Pacific Palisades, 6 p.m.; Oak Hill Academy of Virginia vs. Foothills Christian of El Cajon, 7:30 p.m.; Mater Dei vs. Village Christian of Sun Valley, 9 p.m.
• The Nike Extravaganza schedule for Saturday’s morning session: Dos Pueblos of Goleta vs. JSerra, 8:30 a.m.; St. John Bosco vs. Capistrano Valley, 10 a.m.; Los Alamitos vs. Villa Park, 11:30 am.
• The Nike Extravaganza evening session: Centennial of Corona vs. Los Altos of Hacienda Heights, 1:15 p.m.; Fairfax of Los Angeles vs. Santa Margarita, 2:45 p.m.; Long Beach Poly vs. Orange Lutheran, 4:15 p.m.; Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth vs. Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, 5:45 p.m.; Mater Dei vs. St. Augustine of San Diego, 7:15 p.m.; Oak Hill Academy vs. Chino Hills, 8:45 p.m.
• The latest California boys basketball top 20 from CalHiSports.com has seven Nike Extravaganza teams in it: No. 1 Sierra Canyon; No. 2 Chino Hills; No. 4 Mater Dei; No. 9 Fairfax; No. 13 Santa Margarita; and No. 14 Centennial of Corona.
• In USA Today’s boys basketball national rankings, Sierra Canyon is No. 2, Chino Hills is No. 5 and Mater Dei is No. 10.
• Many of Saturday’s Nike Extravaganza games will be streamed live for a fee. Go to nfhsnetwork.com for information.
• The Women In Sports Conference is Feb. 22 at the Mariner’s Church campus. The conference, in its 17th year, celebrates the growth of women’s athletics while motivating and inspiring female athletes and coaches to continue the progress. Registration deadline is Feb. 10 (email Alicia Seevers at aseevers@orangeusd.org for information).
• Former Fountain Valley girls basketball coach Carol Strausburg was inducted into the Fountain Valley High Girls Basketball Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Strausburg’s teams won 385 games and eight Sunset League championships.
• Former Mission Viejo and Trabuco Hills football coach Bill Crow died Jan. 16 of pulmonary fibrosis. The memorial service is Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. at Foothills Church in Rancho Santa Margarita.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
