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BVAL HOSTING SPORTSMANSHIP DINNER WITH EARTHQUAKES

Sportsmanship is an important part of high school sports, a central tenet often espoused before the start of each game. 

So when those values slip, leagues can be compelled to take action.

One South Bay league is doing so in a nontraditional manner. 

The Blossom Valley Athletic League is jointly hosting a BVAL Preseason Soccer Meeting and Sportsmanship Event at PayPal Park in partnership with the San Jose Earthquakes, an occasion the league’s commissioner, Bill Murray, hopes leads to productive dialogue and a decrease in unsportsmanlike incidents during the boys and girls soccer seasons this winter. 

The event is scheduled from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Oct. 29 in San Jose. 

“The last few years, we’ve had an uptick in poor sportsmanship in our soccer programs with ejections,” Murray said. “A lot of it has to do with player-to-official and coach-to-official confrontations. So we were trying to find a way how we can start to steer the other way.”

Bellarmine’s Aidan Dempsey (6) consoles Westmont’s Spencer Hoang (3) after Bellarmine won 2-0 after their CCS Division I boys soccer semifinal game at Bellarmine in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) 

Murray hopes the night brings an opportunity for dialogue between coaches and officials, which he has noticed lacking in recent years.

“A lot of it is the coaches and referees, they just don’t really mingle,” Murray said. “They don’t know each other. I was the girls basketball coach at Del Mar for 26 years, so our officials, I know most of them. We’d talk ahead of time, just get to know the officials. I guess soccer isn’t like that. And so (we’re trying to) humanize everyone and realize that we’re all here for the same purpose.”

The event features a keynote speaker in Shea Salinas, a former Earthquakes player who is now the team’s Head of Youth Soccer Partnerships. Murray noted that Salinas, who has young kids himself, is passionate about the issue of poor sportsmanship. 

“He’s starting to see it, so he really wanted to be on board,” Murray said.

Six officials from two officiating associations that the BVAL partners with will be present, and they will have chances to talk separately with coaches from each level of the BVAL soccer pyramid – the Mt. Hamilton, Santa Teresa (East and West) and West Valley.

“Our divisions, essentially, are going to break out and there’s gonna be one official with each one,” Murray said. “They’re going to rotate through, just get to know everyone. So it’s not going to be all of them. It’s going to be six officials with, hopefully, as many of our 52 head coaches (26 boys, 26 girls) as we can get.”

The event will also have time designated for question and answer sessions and “role-playing scenarios,” Murray said. Dinner will be provided for those in attendance.

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Granada senior Katie Vail was named offensive player of the year, while California senior Olivia Horton, fresh off a league title win over San Ramon Valley on Tuesday, was named defensive player of the year. Horton had five tackles and 10 catches for 61 yards in the Grizzlies’ championship victory over SRV.

All-EBAL first-teamers include California’s Caeli AuYeung and Carissa Rogers, SRV’s Hania Bowes, Amador Valley’s Riley Harrington, Granada’s Marin Lnenicka, Foothill’s Claire Young, Carondelet’s Kamilynn Luu, Dougherty Valley’s Kaitlyn Lobe, Livermore’s Bailey Becerra and Monte Vista’s Naliyah Sefidi. 

EBAL second-teamers are Cal High’s Danica Boisseree and Anya Mahajan, SRV’s Lena Clark and Asha Hanger, Amador Valley’s Georgia Brown and Ka’lani Walker, Granada’s Isabelle Dunn, Foothill’s Jazmine Simmons, Carondelet’s Janel Nevares, Dougherty Valley’s Vanessa Nguyen, Livermore’s Addison Rippy, Monte Vista’s Grace Fan and Dublin’s Samantha Botell.

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