Credit: Jay Andrino

Spearheaded by the Kimmelman Family Foundation, the state-of-the-art Kimmelman Campus is expected to span more than 80 acres and feature up to 52 tennis courts, soccer and multi-purpose fields, and a state-of-the-art academic center with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) focus.,TGR Foundation is excited to be part of the Carol Kimmelman Athletic and Academic Campus, where we can continue to spread our mission of empowering students to pursue their passions through education.”,Dynamic tennis programming for children of all ages and abilities will be offered by both the SCTA and the USTA Foundation’s NJTL program on tennis courts spanning 29 acres, allowing more students throughout Los Angeles to grow and learn life lessons through the sport.,Already, the Kimmelman Family Foundation, along with the USTA Foundation, USTA, SCTA, and representatives of TGR have met with school district leaders, local community-based non-profit organizations, law enforcement officials, and business groups to collaborate on programs and opportunities at the Kimmelman Campus.,USTAF offers support to more than 200,000 children ages 5-18 who participate in the USTA Foundation’s National Junior Tennis Learning (NJTL) program, which delivers year-round tennis instruction and a widely acclaimed academic curriculum with the goal of positively impacting lives from childhood to adulthood. read more

Without McCoy, who transferred to Texas after he was enrolled in classes for less than three weeks, USC does not have a five-star in the fold for its recruiting class for the first time since 2000, when recruiting services began ranking the top high school players.,Over more recent years, the Trojans have faced more difficulty reeling in five-star talent, largely the prospects from outside California, at times leaving them over-reliant on top players from their own backyard.,The Trojans finished 5-7 last year, their first losing season since 2000, prompting calls from fans for Helton to be fired following his third full season before the embattled coach was retained by Athletic Director Lynn Swann.,But even in the initial seasons under Helton, while the Trojans made consecutive New Year’s Six bowl games, they were unable to pluck five-star recruits from other regions of the country and poach prospects from other blue-blood schools that have had a better recent track record of producing NFL draft picks, especially among offensive linemen.,Gorney and other analysts reasoned that the Trojans have had enough talent in recent seasons to contend for Pac-12 championships, and they won the conference crown in their second season under Helton in 2017.

The traditional signing day Wednesday merely padded Oregon's already stellar recruiting class, the best in school history.,GETTING DEFENSIVE: Washington capped its recruiting class by landing two of the top defensive players on the West Coast.,Washington had seemed to be the favorite for Heimuli for most of the recruiting period, but his Menlo-Atherton team advancing to the state title game in California impacted his ability to make a decision in time for the December signing period.,The abrupt departure of new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury after 34 days shook up the Trojans' recruiting class and led to the departure of receiver commit Bru McCoy, who spurned USC for Texas.,The day had an international flavor with the Utes bringing in 6-foot-7 offensive lineman Bamidele Olaseni, a native of London who played last year for Garden City Community College in Kansas, and fellow 6-foot-7 offensive lineman Luke Felix-Fualalo, a former rugby player in Australia who played last year for prep powerhouse Mater Dei in California.

R.C. Slocum spent nearly three decades coaching football at Texas AM, and if the rules changed, recruiting didn't.,But money, social media and the pursuit of national glory changed recruiting in the Lone Star State, at least at Texas and AM.,For the first time in 20 years, Texas, AM and Oklahoma will finish in the top five of the 247Sports' composite recruiting rankings.,Now that recruiting budgets at Texas and AM have climbed into seven figures, it's easier for coaches to go national as well as fly recruits in for visits.,Besides 10 Texas recruits this year, he signed players from Georgia, California, Kansas, North Carolina, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and Washington D.C.

The Rams have broken hearts and left behind bitter fans in two different cities — in St. Louis, where the team spent 21 years, won a Super Bowl and then split town in a nasty divorce, and in Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city and team’s home from 1946 to 1995, where the Rams built and lost a fan base before returning three seasons ago.,A win over the Saints on Sunday and the prospect of a football championship for Los Angeles could bring Rams fever to a boil and carve out a place for the team in the city’s crowded sports scene.,The Rams didn’t have to work quite as hard to build loyalty in St. Louis, where football-starved fans snatched up tickets early in 1995 and were rewarded four seasons later when an unknown backup quarterback named Kurt Warner and tailback Marshall Faulk turned their offense into the so-called “Greatest Show on Turf” and won a dramatic Super Bowl championship in 1999.,A couple of weeks ago, Saints coach Sean Payton hauled in the Lombardi trophy and a big stack of greenbacks to show his team what was at stake…

Tony Hernandez, a third-generation Rams fan from east of Los Angeles, said half of his uncles and many of his friends gave up on the Rams after they moved away.,Hernandez said he briefly quit watching the team during the 1995 season in protest of the move, but soon was back to watching every game and even flying to St. Louis to cheer in person. read more

Then we give up.Other Chargers storiesChargers Cover-Three defense looked more like Cover-NoneHelene Elliott columnizes off of the gameAntonio Gates wants to keep playingSaints winThe New Orleans Saints defeated the defending Super Bowl champ Philadelphia Eagles, 20-14, to advance to the NFC title game, where they will host the Rams next Sunday at noon on Fox.That means the conference championship will be a rematch of teams that met in Week 9, with the Saints beating the Rams, 45-35, also in New Orleans.I think that we match up really well, Rams offensive lineman Rodger Saffold said of the Saints.,The last time we played them, it came down to a game of just running out of time.At the end of the day, I think well have a better plan against them the second go-round, and youve got to be excited to be able to go back there and get another chance at those guys again.You can take a first look at the Rams-Saints matchup by clicking here.So, it will be Rams-Saints for the NFC title and Patriots-Chiefs for the AFC title.,So did the Cleveland Cavaliers.Things arent quite that bad, but the Lakers are 3-7 since LeBron James was injured and are tied with Utah for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.Fans took to social media after the game to criticize coach Luke Walton.,Turns out it wasnt gold in their stockings, it was a lump of coal painted gold.Also check out:Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram take on expanded roles with LakersHigh school basketballOne thing that often gets overlooked in the discussion of the impending strike by the LAUSD teachers strike set to begin today is how the strike will impact high school sports.High school sports reporter and columnist Eric Sondheimer takes a look at that by using the upcoming Fairfax-Westchester game as an example.The strike will halt the sports seasons for thousands of City Section athletes, boys and girls.,Bartow seemed pretty unhappy with the team in the second half, becoming very animated in timeout huddles more than once.Kris Wilkes had 21 points and Prince Ali had 13 points for the Bruins, who lost their first Pac-12 game and are now 3-1 under Bartow.USC basketball (Kevin Porter Jr. suspended indefinitely)What seemed so promising turned out to be a disastrous time in Oregon for the USC mens basketball team.

— Patrick Thomas, Maple Grove

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He wants them to get paid more and be treated better.But Merwinn, whose big brown eyes peek out from behind an overgrown bowl haircut, is concerned about what will happen to him and his mother if about 31,000 United Teachers Los Angeles union members go on strike.Across the vast Los Angeles Unified School District, which encompasses some 900 schools and 500,000 students, families are beginning to consider all the ways that a teacher walkout would affect their daily lives.,Teachers serve not only as educators but as guidance counselors, mentors and confidants for students going through a crisis or learning to break out of their shells.With extra-curricular activities at school canceled Monday, Merwinn Rojas, 11, sits idle at home, in Los Angeles.The growing likelihood of a strike has parents like Merwinns mother, Angelica Valdovinos, 33, worrying whether their kids could regress academically and socially, and whether theyd be safe at school without the adults theyve learned to respect and depend upon.Apart from robotics, Merwinn gets after-school tutoring and takes Saturday morning classes through a college-prep program at USC, just a few blocks east of Foshay.,The district is preparing to bring in highly paid substitutes, move students into large spaces such as auditoriums, where they can be more efficiently supervised, and ease background checks for parent volunteers.District officials have said all schools would remain open during a strike and that students would be fed and able to attend some after-school programs, though not all extracurricular activities and sports would continue.,Because she gets home from work at 5 a.m., that would mean sleeping just a couple of hours before waking up Merwinn in time for the 7:50 a.m. start.My son is my priority, she said.Jasper Anderson, 15, at baseball practice at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2019.,They should unite and go as allies to push the county so the county will push the governor to send funds to Los Angeles.At nearby Crenshaw High School, Isreal Lee picked up her son Jasper Anderson after heavy rains forced his coach to cancel what could be one of his teams final baseball practices before the strike.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Trevor Lawrence passed for 347 yards and three touchdowns and No. 2 Clemson rolled No. 1 Alabama 44-16 on Monday night in the College Football Playoff national championship game.,NEW YORK (AP) — Texas quarterback Vince Young and Notre Dame speedster Raghib Ismail have been selected for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, along with 11 other players and two coaches.,The rest of the players to be enshrined in December include Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, Oklahoma defensive back Rickey Dixon, John Carroll linebacker London Fletcher, Texas AM defensive lineman Jacob Green, North Carolina State receiver Torry Holt, Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer, USC defensive back Troy Polamalu, Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas, Florida State defensive back Terrell Buckley, Michigan State running back Lorenzo White and Mississippi linebacker Patrick Willis.,NFL read more

Not only did the game have meaning on the national level, it was a game that attracted the attention of local football fans in the Wyoming Valley with Meyers graduate Raghib “Rocket” Ismail playing for Notre Dame, and GAR’s Greg Skrepenak playing on the offensive line for Michigan.,With less than a minute left in the game, Colorado punted to Ismail and he returned it nearly 90 yards for what appeared to be the game-winning touchdown.,In an interview with The Citizens’ Voice in October prior to the final football game between Meyers and GAR, Ismail recalled a visit from Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz while he was recruiting Ismail.,In 1990, Ismail received the Walter Camp Award, an honor given to college football’s player of the year as voted on by major college football coaches and sports information directors.,... Senior year, Ismail rushed for 2,210 yards and 35 touchdowns and was named to PARADE’s All-America team.