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Pacific Lutheran begins the boys basketball season with a new coach for 2011-12, pastor Jake Sletten of Christ Lutheran Church in Rancho Palos Verdes. Jake and wife Courtney are from the Midwest and currently live in San Pedro. Coach is excited about the opportunity to coach the boys and build a team virtually from scratch. And this year he has a flock of true rookies to mold. Coach is an admirer of Hall of Fame coach John Wooden, perhaps the most recognized icon in all of college sports. If you know of coach Wooden then you’ll understand why coach Sletten will spend a lot of time with his new charges on the fundamentals of the game.

Returning players include Nate Rotondo and Tyler Lytal – whose dad Shawn Lytal also volunteers as assistant for the Stingrays. Coach Lytal is a dedicated guy who helped the team last season, filled in for coach during recent trips, and manages to tear the meniscus in his knee at practice. Boys will be boys – right? But pain and a pair of crutches couldn’t keep coach Lytal from being with us ‘til coach Sletten returned, and for that we owe him a big Thank You, and our prayers for healing.

Then we have the ‘newbies’, the rookies who made it through tryouts and onto the squad. And they are new in every sense of the word. New to high school basketball, new to the fundamentals, new to the intensity of CIF competition, and new to what their coaches will surely bring. Many are even new to high school – period! We are loaded with freshmen this year. Hopefully that bodes well for the future of the program. But the present is, well… the present.

This season will be a challenge for the young Rays both in and out of conference. The Mulholland League includes three basketball juggernauts that stand in the path of those that seek after post season play. They are Shalhevet, L.A. Adventist and Arshag Dickranian, the latter of which made it to the finals last year. All are small school basketball powerhouses, and each plays a very different style. They are fast, skilled, strong and long, athletic and brash. If the Rays cannot protect the ball - the court will become a track meet before our very eyes. That will take some patience from us as fans, but we could often use a little growth in that area of our lives. We face all three schools twice during the season. The bottom half of the league features Pacific Lutheran, Westview and Summit View West. These three will battle for 3rd or 4th place in league, and either an automatic or at large bid to the CIF playoffs.

So we will need your support people – physically, financially and spiritually. Student athletes have far more to learn than the sport they play, and the heat of competition tends to bring out the best and worst in us all. So keep in mind that this season will be a steep learning curve for most of the boys, and some of us. But it will be a journey we take together, and an opportunity to grow in God. As a staff we will do our best to build your students character, develop their self discipline, and keep an honest perspective about who we are and why we are here – to honor God in ALL that we do!

Go Stingrays !!

2011-2012 Schedule

Team Roster