Sports
Could These ‘Blue Angels’ Be the Future Lady Centaurs?
These 10-year-old Culver City AYSO players have competed with - and more than held their ground against - seasoned club soccer teams.
Mention women and sports in Culver City, and most of us think of the Lady Centaurs. Not many will think of 10-year-olds and soccer. But here they are - the little ladies who call themselves the Blue Angels. They represent our fine city in the AYSO Soccer Extra League. Culver City’s AYSO Region 19 has a well established and envied status for developing and producing strong soccer teams and the Blue Angels go a long way to continue that tradition.
Taking a big leap of faith, our region decided to participate in the new “Extra” program. They found coaches, tried out players and decided to form Region 19’s first Extra team. A big gamble, no doubt!
The Blue Angels are: Zyan Brandon, Sierra Chabola, Juliana DeNeve, Junie Dickson, Brooke Dunlap, Brooklyn Hamilton, Victoria Martinez, Natalie Preciado, Allegra Weil and Jordan Weiss. They are all great friends and long-time teammates.
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These little ladies have worked hard to show that they were and are worth the gamble. The Blue Angels started the season as just a group of young players from the general player pool. No extra skills, no extra training, just an extra desire to play soccer. Once practices started, the girls responded like the champions they are.
The season was long, sometimes challenged in organization, but definitely worth the effort. The Blue Angels finished the regular fall season strong and capped it with a championship at the Huntington Beach Turkey Shoot-Out Tournament.
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They rested over the Christmas holidays and on returning to play they clinched the Area 1-P Extra Championship after a fiercely fought competition against Santa Monica AYSO. The game was decided after two overtime periods and seven rounds of penalty kicks.
Our Blue Angels then advanced and defeated Beverly Hills in a tightly contested final. They are now, not only the new ladies of Culver sports, they are the champion ladies representing our fine city.
These young athletes have competed with and more than held their ground against seasoned club soccer teams. They are coached by two of Culver City’s favorites: Head coach is none other than Casey Chabola, who is joined by Dan Weil. Like Casey, Dan has spent a lot of time over recent years volunteering and coaching soccer to our children here in Region 19. Together they made a commitment to seek additional training in order to take on this challenge.
Casey and Dan will soon lead our little ladies to play in Riverside at Sectionals and then maybe to the State championship. So let’s get on the victory train with our Angels as they continue their evolution toward becoming our Lady Centaurs of tomorrow.
