Champion’s QUEST Athlete has her Official Signing Day

It was a special day for senior Long Beach Poly water polo player Orla Brazell on Wednesday. She had her official signing with California State University San Diego. Ryan Bishel from Champion’s QUEST was there to witness this milestone for Orla and her family.

Derrick Campbell, her Athletic Performance Coach, had the following to say: “Since Orla started her training program in October 2008 she has always had a strong focus on her goals. She accomplished nearly every goal that the set for herself 2 years ago. For having such a hectic schedule, training, practice and most importantly school, Orla stayed committed to her strength development program and now she can eat the fruit of her labor! She has a strong work ethic and is extremely self motivated when it comes to her training program. Any collegiate coach would want an athlete with the same traits as Orla. It makes me proud to see Orla reach her goal of receiving a scholarship from a school that has been a top choice for her. I wish her the best in success at SDSU!”

History is being made with a new first for the Jackrabbit Program, Brazell becomes the first signee to a Women’s Division One Water Polo Program. Coach Pentilla stated: “I’m proud of Orla’s commitment to water polo.  Her hard work has paid off, she has become a fine player, who always competes to the best of her abilities.  I would categorize her style as aggressive.  Her very accurate outside shot averages of 3 goals per game totaling 60 goals so far for our season. Thus contributing steadily to our teams success.  Brazell is an all around team player, regularly setting up her teammates with assists for shots on goal.  As a smart player, with great water polo IQ she will continue to improve at the next level.”

Wishing Orla all the best with the Aztecs at San Diego State
Coach Scott Penttila, Poly H.S. Long Beach

Stats for Orla Brazell: Year to date 2009-2010 Season:
Scored 61 Goals/ 20 games  Average 3 goals per game

FROM SDSU Coach Crawford: Orla Brazell will come to Montezuma Mesa after completing her high school eligibility at Long Beach (Calif.) Poly. An ambidextrous player who has sprinter, wing and utility experience at the Junior Olympic level, Brazell has averaged three goals, two assists and more than three steals per game over her career. During her time at Long Beach Poly, Brazell has recorded 64 goals, 46 assists and 70 steals, while winning 24 of 28 sprints. The 2009 ODP training team athlete is also an outstanding member of the Long Beach Poly swim team.

“As a left-handed attacker, Orla will bring an added dimension to our offense,” Crawford said. “She contributes on both sides of the ball very effectively, with a balanced stat line in every game she plays. Orla is also a very ambitious student-athlete who has the desire, drive and work ethic to help us achieve our goals. Orla is the type of athlete who will have a steep learning curve in college, and I’m really looking forward to coaching her.”

You can read more about other athletes at signing day here at LB POST SPORTS.

Congratulations on your success Orla! All of us at Champion’s QUEST are so proud of you! You have really worked hard over the years and it has obviously paid off. Your story is a true testament of what a strong work ethic, dedicated athletic development program and desire to be the best can bring to ones life! We wish you nothing but the best at San Diego State as well as in life!

(Top) Orla signs her official commitment letter with her parents at her side.

(Bottom)Champion’s QUEST Athlete Orla Brazell with the rest of her classmates at “Signing Day.”

The Soles4Souls Shoe Drive was a HUGE Success!

Thanks to you and the community. we shattered our goal of 100 pairs of shoes and collected a total of 812 pairs!

We filled up Ryan’s whole bed of his truck and took all the shoes over on Friday night.

Also, a big & special thank you to LB POST SPORTS and the NEWS ENTERPRISE for helping spreading the message in the community.

Champion’s QUEST Athlete Earns “Defensive Player of the Year” for 2nd Consecutive Year!

Sophomore A.J. Herrera, through his commitment, work ethic and focused attitude, has earned defensive player of the year at Los Alamitos High School for the second consecutive year! When asked how he did it, he replied in a humble matter: “Cause I prepared (through my training program here) as best I could in the off-season and I gave it my best on the field every day.”

Congratulations on a great  year A.J. and we wish you the best as you prepare for your starting position on varsity next year as a junior. Keep up the hard work and focus!

ATTENTION CHAMPION’S QUEST FRIENDS!

The earthquake in Haiti is a reminder just how fragile our world is, and seeing the devastation that has affected so many, we have partnered with Soles4Souls & Sport Chalet to lend a helping hand.

All the shoes collected will be sent directly to Soles4Souls for distribution to the Haitian people.

Many of us live with the threat of an earthquake every day, it’s only a natural response to want to do something to help… please stop by and drop off one, two, or even three pair of shoes that can help someone in need today.

Please drop off your no longer needed shoes here at Champion’s QUEST by 5:00p.m. January 29th.

GOAL = 100 PAIRS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Quote of the Day: “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

This couldn’t be more true! Perseverance is one of the greatest characteristics of successful people. Not much in life comes to us easily, results take both effort & failure. That’s right I said failure! We learn from the mistakes we make in order to triumph the next time we attempt the same thing we failed at before.

So what is it going to feel like when you do end up successful from giving it “one more try?”

Quote of The Day: I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish. – Michelangelo Buonarroti

This hits big on, “Don’t be completely satisfied.” Life’s accomplishments are made up of many stepping stones along the way and it is great to accomplish a step forward, but there is always another step to take. Here at the Champion’s QUEST Athlete Academy we believe a strong desire to achieve greatness is a necessary character trait an elite athlete needs to possess.

So what is it that you desire?

Junior Kim Marshall had the Wilson goal in regulation, a clutch 30-meter blast in the upper left corner in first half stoppage time to overcome a 1-0 deficit.

“That was an epic battle,” Wilson coach Jason Kirkwood said. “The trainers earned their pay tonight.

“They (Aliso) play a certain style – it’s very physical, very organized and very frustrating to play against. We just had to battle hard. It would have been very easy to get down after falling behind, 1-0. Kim’s great goal gave us some life.”

“We’ve played them before and we knew to expect a physical game,” said Marshall,

the junior midfielder. “We just had to stay focused and not let them take us out of our game.”

Aliso Niguel scored on Lauren Brenner’s header off a corner kick with 12 minutes left in the first half.

In extra time, Mendiola maintained possession out of a collision and passed to Marshall in the center of the field.

“I saw the defender come out to pressure, and then she stopped,” Marshall said. “That gave me a chance to get a clean shot off a bounce.”

Aliso Niguel … Click Here for the full article.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! If you want a great workout, GO HERE for this week’s “Weekly Challenge.” This workout is called “THE LEG BURNER.” REMINDER: Don’t forget to post your time under the “Comment” Section! It is HIGHLY recommended that all Champion’s QUEST athletes do this every week! They can even challenge their non-CQ friends to try to beat their time!

www.ChampionsQUEST.com/Weekly-Challenge.html

Champion’s QUEST Member Feedback

I get emails like this throughout the month and I wanted to start sharing them with you. I think it will be inspirational (if not let me know). Here is an email I received from past athlete Geena Urango (see our Hall of Fame ) who is now playing at USC.

Hi Coach Ryan!

I know it’s been a long time but I hope everything has been going well for you! Champion’s Quest looks like it’s been doing really well and that you’re doing great things. I’m actually home for winter break and I was hoping that I would be able to work out and stay in shape at Champion’s Quest. …. I would love to come back to where I started because it helped make me into the athlete that I am today. I hope to hear from you soon.

Take care,
Geena S. Urango
University of Southern California
Annenberg School for Communication
USC Women’s Volleyball Team

Thank You For Attending!

Shop with a List!

Champion’s QUEST would like to thank everyone who came to hear our guest speaker, certified nutritionist Jason Deyo last night! He had a lot of useful information for everyone, both parents and athletes alike!

If you want to download the materials that were presented (especially if you missed it!) you can CLICK HERE.

There is a lot of useful tips for you, so make sure you check out what you missed!

Also, make sure you subscribe to this BLOG & add Champion’s QUEST (FAN & GROUP) to your FACEBOOK to stay in the loop for what Champion’s QUEST has to offer!

Have you heard about our new referral program? It literally puts $ Money $ in your pocket! Ask your athlete’s counselor trainer about the details!

http://championsquest.com