AFJROTC – The Prospector

CKM to Host Annual AFJROTC Basketball Tournament

Every year, CKM and Hiram Johnson take turns hosting the annual ROTC basketball tournament and NorCal competition. This year, the annual ROTC basketball tournament is to be hosted at CKM on April 14th.

Hiram Johnson hosted events like NorCal and the Bataan Death March hike last year, but according to Chief Master Sergeant Novelli, CKM is hosting the basketball game for “two years consecutively, for the first time in history.”

All hosts must provide food and refreshments for guest teams. Chief also mentioned that a snack bar will be held so that spectators will have food options, and the snack bar will serve as a mini fundraiser. The prices have not yet been determined.

The size of the team depends on the number of students who sign up and come to practice. Last school year, McClatchy had a total of 42 students, including the 15 players, referees, and servers for the snack bar. There are no try outs because it is exclusive to ROTC.

The team currently has no team captain but has two player coaches, Erica Noe (‘18) and Joseph Gibson (‘18). Player coaches are usually upperclassmen who both coach and participate.

Practice starts on February 22nd, and is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school in the small gym. One benefit to starting early is that it allows for a greater amount of practice, which will be key when the CKM team takes on Whitney High School–CKM’s biggest rival.

Eight to ten AFJROTC teams will go head to head on April 14th at CKM, and everyone is welcome to watch!

AFJROTC’s New Indoor Soccer Team

Besides water polo, tennis, and football, there’s a new sport team at McClatchy–AFJROTC’s indoor soccer. McClatchy’s unit competed with other AFJROTCs in seven tournaments and competitions. These tournaments included basketball, volleyball, softball, fun Olympics, and even chess. The first sport tournament was on Saturday, September 30th with indoor soccer. Everyone was welcome to watch.
McClatchy took home third place that day. McClatchy had five matches and one penalty kick. McClatchy tied with Del Campo but won the penalty kick, thanks to 11th grader Nico Prosh and 9th grader Emmanuel Rodriguez. McClatchy also beat Casa Roble 3-1 and Hiram Johnson 1-0. But our streak ended when McClatchy lost to Whitney 2-6. McClatchy then fought Fairfield for third place and won 2-1.
Indoor soccer was held in Del Campo’s gyms. Nine high schools competed: McClatchy, Whitney, Hiram Johnson, Valley High, De Anza, High Lands, Casa Roble, and Fairfield. For every win, the school earns three points, one point for a tie, and no points for a loss. Games were 10 minutes without breaks. Only the semifinals, fight for third place, and championship were 20 minutes and had half-time. Each team sent five members to the field, and substitutes switched. Our team had 10 members.
There were many memorable moments throughout the tournament. One was when 9th grade Fate Garcia scoring a last minute goal against Casa Roble. Other JROTC students, who didn’t play but cheered, hyped up the team before the games. The cheers rang for every time McClatchy got closer to the opponent’s goal. McClatchy roared for every point, especially Emmanuel’s tiebreaker in penalty kicks and blocking Del Campo.
But there were frustrating moments, such as the first half against Fairfield. Both teams fought the ball back and forth but scored no goals. It was painful to watch and dread about another future penalty kick. And to make matters worse, two opponents crashed into Emmanuel. Emmanuel switched with Preston to be forward. After the crash, he had a foot injury, and Alejandro substituted for him.Thankfully the constant tugging ended in the last half when Chenxi and Elena finalized the score.
Overall the first indoor soccer tournament was a success. The unit can’t wait for next year’s tournament. As for now, McClatchy’s AFJROTC has to prepare for another tournament coming up–softball.