Madison Hema (15). (Photo: FIBA)

Fran Belibi (Regis Jesuit) and Madison Hema (Castle View) are representing Colorado on the international stage this week, with each competing in the under-17 women’s basketball World Cup in Belarus.

Belibi has helped the U.S. U17 team off to a 3-0 start through pool play. The Americans secured the No. 1 seed out of Group B on Tuesday morning following a 107-50 win over China. They will face Colombia, the fourth seed in Group A, in Wednesday’s Round of 16.

Fran Belibi (15). (Photo: USA Basketball)

Through three games, Belibi is averaging 7.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists. She had a breakout game in the second game of the tournament against Mali, when she scored 15 points on 7-of-7 shooting, and also hauled down six rebounds, and had three steals.

Belibi was also a member of the U16 U.S. squad that won gold in Argentina last summer.

Hema, a dual citizen of both New Zealand and the U.S., is making history with New Zealand as the squad takes part in its first-ever age-group World Championship event.

New Zealand went 0-3 during pool play, with losses to Spain (83-48), Hungary (68-60) and Argentina (60-52).

Hema is averaging 1.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.3 assists in 7.1 minutes per game.

New Zealand, the fourth seed in Group C, will face rival Australia, the top seed in Group D, in the Round of 16 on Wednesday.

Both players will be seniors at their respective schools this fall.

(Renee Patridge/reneepatridgephoto.com)

AURORA — The RPI calculation for out-of-state opponents from select states is being adjusted this season.

For the past three seasons, out-of-state opponents have had their opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage (OWP) fixed at .500. This was because accurate data could not be verified for what would amount to tens of thousands of out-of-state teams.

However, in an effort to support schools with transportation challenges — especially those close to the borders of neighboring states — opponents from the following states will have the same calculation as in-state teams:

• Arizona
• Nebraska
• New Mexico
• Utah
• Wyoming

This means that opponents from those states will be given their true value in the OWP calculation.

“It gives our member schools in outlying communities an opportunity to play teams from neighboring states without the perception that they are being penalized due to their geography,” said CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green. “This will hopefully decrease the loss of school time and additional finances that are often associated with large amounts of travel.”

The reason for this change is that each of the above states are MaxPreps partner states, which will ensure accurate reporting of data. Accurate date is critical to the RPI formula. Should other neighboring states become a MaxPreps partner, they will also be given the same calculation as an in-state team.

This change applies to all sports that use the RPI, and will be used going forward.

Additionally, the RPI formula in 2018 has been slightly altered for all sports, to 30/40/30. That change happened in February following a vote of the Board of Directors.

This information, and more, is included in the RPI FAQs.

(Photo courtesy of CU Athletics)

All Derrick White needs is a chance to prove himself. Once he has it, he has no problem showing just how talented he is.

That was the case when he played at Legend High School. The theory held through his time at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and certainly in his final year of college where he shined for the CU Buffs.

And in his young professional career, White continues to take advantage of every opportunity he’s been afforded. At this rate, he could into something that is rare for Colorado kids. He could become an NBA star.

“I just have to take every opportunity and make the most of it, whether its in the G-League or wherever,” White said. “I have to get better and learn down there and be a better player.”

White was selected with the 29th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He was scooped up by the San Antonio Spurs, giving fans of his from Legend, Colorado Springs and Boulder reason to be optimistic about his future.

After all, if Spurs coach Gregg Popovich saw something in White, there is reason to believe he had the chance to be something special. After all, if anyone in the league can get White’s development to stay on track it would be Popovich.

“There is no doubt in my mind,” Legend basketball coach Kevin Boley said. “I got called during the draft process and talked to seven or eight different GMs. I talked to a handful of personnel people and they all asked the same question.”

Is White going to continue to get better?

If the infancy of his professional career is any indication, he is going to remain on track.

White was limited to just 17 games with the Spurs in his rookie season. He averaged just 3.2 points per game and scored a season-high 14 in a loss to Houston on Mar. 12.

Just like he had experienced when he made the jump from high school to college, he understood there’s an adjustment to the professional game.

“Everybody is a little bigger and a little faster and a little stronger,” White said. “You have to find different ways to get your shot off and get into your spots. It takes some getting used to because everybody is a little longer than the guys you’re used to playing against.”

(Photo courtesy of CU Athletics)

Eventually White was sent to the Austin Spurs in the G-League where he began getting used to things. In 24 games, he scored an average of 20 points. He helped the Spurs advance to the G-League championship series where they swept the Raptors 905.

White then returned to San Antonio and played with the Spurs in their playoff series loss to the Golden State Warriors.

And then he went into the NBA’s summer league where his development continued. He led the Utah summer league with 23 points per game and judging from his past and the thoughts of Boley, this is going to be a pivotal point in his professional career.

“I knew when he got in the gym with the professional guys, I knew he would get better,” Boley said. “Then he went to the G-League and played well so he gained some confidence. And you can see know when you look at pictures, he’s so much thicker and so much stronger.”

More importantly, he continues to get better. Throughout his development, whether it was through high school or college, he has done nothing but continue to get bigger and better.

Through his entire journey, he’s learned that chances will always come along. It’s the way that they’re prepared for that will make the difference for those trying to get to the next level.

“Be ready for your opportunity when it comes,” White advises. “Get ready, stay ready and have confidence in yourself. The more confidence you have in yourself, the better you’ll play and the more fun you’ll have.”

And for a kid from Parker who has done nothing to but reach new levels with every chance he’s been given, he looks like he’s having a lot of fun.

(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

AURORA — CHSAA’s sportsmanship contest which seeks to encourage positive school spirit across the state is back for another season.

This season, the contest has been rebranded as #BackMySchool, a change from last season’s #BackMyTeam. The reason for this is because we want the contest to encompass all things about a school, including activities, and not just limit it to sports.

The winning school will receive recognition from CHSAA, and an award for its athletic department. There will be one winner for the school year, honored at the conclusion of the fall season.

Rules for the contest are available on this page, but entries can be submitted from official school/administrator accounts using the hashtag #BackMySchool on Twitter or Instagram. Please tag @CHSAA in your submissions so we are sure to see them.

All entries should show students positively supporting their team, or other acts of good sportsmanship.

Three finalists will be selected during the fall season, and the winner will be selected from those finalists following a week-long vote in November.

Eaglecrest is the defending champion of the contest.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

FORT COLLINS — More than 400 students are in attendance at the annual CHSAA Student Leadership Camp this week, which seeks to equip them with leadership skills they can take back to their schools.

This year’s camp, held on campus at Colorado State University, is the 54th in the history of the Association, and it officially marks the start of the 2018-19 school year for CHSAA activities.

The camp seeks to give its attendees skills they can use throughout the school year, and touches on topics like diversity, self-evaluation, team-building, technology and how to build leadership programs. The campers also share ideas and best practices on things like school dances, pep rallies, school spirit, and more.

On Tuesday, the CHSAA administrative staff visited the camp and met the the 18 student representatives who have been elected by their peers to provide leadership across the state. These representatives will serve on a variety of CHSAA committees, and volunteer at state championship events, among other duties.

CHSAA assistant commissioner Ernie Derrera is the camp’s coordinator and director, and Rashaan Davis, the advisor at Eaglecrest High School, is the curriculum director.

This year’s Fall Conference for student leadership will be held at Arvada West High School from Oct. 12-13.

Dillon Stewart. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Fossil Ridge’s Dillon Stewart was so close to repeating what Davis Bryant and Jackson Solem were able to do a year ago.

After Day 1 of the 2018 USGA Junior Amateur championship at Baltursol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., Stewart was inside the cut line and looked like he could advance to the match play portion of the tournament. But a string of bogeys on the back nine of his second round proved to be just enough to keep him out.

Stewart shot a 5-over-par-76 in the second round to finish his tournament at 8-over. Eight players were tied in 62nd place, with only three advancing after a playoff.

Smoky Hill’s Chris Kennedy was also in the field for the boys. He shot a 76 in the first round, which meant he had ground to make up for on Tuesday.

A triple-bogey on No. 2 and a double-bogey on No. 8 killed any momentum he hoped to build on the day. He finished with a string of eight-straight pars, but shot a 79 to end his week at 14-over.

Both players will return for their senior seasons in the fall. Stewart finished second in last year’s Class 5A state tournament, losing to Eaglecrest’s Bryant, who along with Silver Creek’s Solem advanced to match play in last year’s Junior Amateur. Stewart and Bryant were the only two golfers end the state tournament under par.

Kennedy finished tied for 15th.

Broomfield’s Meghan Vogt qualified for this year’s Junior Girls Amateur. She finished the second round of stroke play at 26-over to miss the match play cut.

(Dustin Price/dustinpricephotography.com)

AURORA — There will be an emphasis on enforcement of uniform and equipment rules during the 2018 football season.

The renewed focus has already been evident during clinics for officials which have started to take place this summer. Coaches will also be heavily informed of the emphasis during mandatory rules meetings before the season. In addition the topic will be discussed between officials and coaches during pregame meetings.

The uniform and equipment rules have been part of the NFHS rules, but “it has been enforced inconsistently,” said CHSAA associate commissioner Tom Robinson, who oversees officials. “This season, those rules will be enforced consistently.”

In addition — and this is new for the 2018 season — any player using improper equipment will be removed from play for one down. That was a rule change announced by the NFHS in February. A team can call a timeout, but the player still must miss a down.

If equipment or uniform violates the rules as a result of a play during the game, the player will be given the opportunity to fix it without missing a play — so long as it “does not delay the ready-for-play signal for more than 25 seconds,” according to the new rule.

“This is similar to what we saw with mouthpieces, or chinstraps, or helmets coming off,” Robinson said of the new rule. “Gradually, all these thing with equipment are now being addressed, either by a penalty, or by not being able to play.”

Repeat offenses could result in an unsportsmanlike foul on either the player or the coach, Robinson added.

Among the focuses:

• Knee pads need to be worn under the pants, and they need to actually cover the knee.
• Jerseys should completely cover pads, and fit to the top of the pants. This means no players’ stomachs should be showing, an emerging trend in recent seasons. Additionally, this means that the jersey should completely cover the shoulder pad at the shoulder.
• Thigh pads and hip pads also need to be worn.

Again, these rules have existed in the rule book, and are not new. There is, however, a renewed emphasis on enforcing them.

“We are not going to look the other way,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bud Ozzello, who administers football. “It is a safety issue, and we are going to be sure they’re properly equipped.”

The hope is that the multi-pronged approach to the communication of this emphasis will limit the in-game infractions during the season. It will also be highlighted in the football bulletin, which is required reading for each coach.

“We want this addressed during each pregame meeting so they can make any necessary adjustments to their equipment or uniforms before the game begins,” Ozzello said.

(John Nepolitan/dyestat.com)

Anna Hall (Valor Christian), Arria Minor (Denver East) and Lauren Gale (Discovery Canyon) each represented their schools and their country over the past week during the IAAF World U20 Championships in track and field hosted in Tampere, Finland.

Hall and Minor will begin their senior years this fall, while Gale graduated from DCC in May and will run track at Colorado State.

Hall, representing the United States, placed ninth in the world in the heptathlon, accumulating 5,655 points. Included was a second-place finish in the high jump, fifth in the 200 meters, and sixth in the 800 during the competition.

Hall was the top American finisher in the heptathlon. She set the national high school heptathlon record during a meet in June.

At the state championships in May, Hall won the long jump, as well as the 100 and 300 hurdles in Class 4A. She was named the 4A athlete of the year, and Colorado’s Gatorade girls track athlete of the year after the season.

Gale, who represented Canada, competed in the 200 meters. She placed seventh in her heat with a time of 24.78.

A native of Ottawa, Gale moved to Colorado Springs from Canada in the summer of 2015.

During the state championships, Gale swept the 100, 200 and 400 meters for the second time in her career.

Minor also represented the United States as part of its relay pool. She helped the Americans finish first in their heat with a time of 3:33.11.

The American team would go on to win gold the next day.

During the high school season, Minor set all-classification records in the 200 and 400 at the 5A state meet. Her time of 51.92 in the 400 was the fastest by a high school girl this season, and she also had the fastest indoor time (52.74) by a high school girl.

She was named the 5A girls track athlete of the year after the season.

(Photo courtesy of La Veta volleyball coach Amber Huff)

Things were shaping up nicely in La Veta. The volleyball team had just had a successful summer tournament in Simla and appeared to be on the verge of conditioning itself for a breakout season.

Mother Nature had other ideas.

A man was charged of starting the Spring Fire down near the town of La Veta. But the impact of actions are being felt throughout the community.

La Veta High School no longer hosts summer workouts for its athletes. Instead it serves as a post for firefighting efforts. Status meetings are held in the gym. Tents are set up throughout the football field.

Coaches and athletes now have bigger concerns than trying to play their respective games at a higher level.

“We’d have open gym,” athletic director and girls basketball coach Greg King said. “We’d have kids in the gym working out. We’d have teams attending camps. Volleyball would be going strong. They had a tournament planned at home.

(Photo courtesy of La Veta volleyball coach Amber Huff)

“Our football coaches would have the weight room open, they’d be doing agilities in the gym,” King added. “That gym is open from 5-9 every day with kids doing something. Now it is what it is. It’s full of concerned citizens and there are meetings every day at 6 p.m. just to give updates on the fire and the progress of the firefight.

“FEMA’s here now and it’s just something that’s almost surreal.”

As of Friday, the Spring Fire had grown to over 108,000 acres. According to the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center (an interagency department that includes the National Forest Service), the fire is now the second-largest in state history behind the Hayman Fire of 2002.

That means the athletic ambitions of the kids now take a back seat to the needs of helping their community.

“I haven’t seen much of the kids since this has started,” King said. “We were supposed to go to another camp and I had most of my girls call and say they were helping people round their cattle up and helping people move their animals. The kids were volunteering and those kinds of things.”

The same can be said for the aforementioned volleyball team. Coach Amber Huff was happy to see the progress the team had made earlier in the summer. She was working with new setters and the overall feeling with the team is that it will be competitive in 2018.

That feeling might be more essential now. A competitive team on any court or field can play a crucial role in helping a small community move beyond such a devastating event.

(Photo courtesy of La Veta volleyball coach Amber Huff)

“In a small community it’s all centered around the school and all activities,” King said. “Athletics, plays band concerts, those things. In the fall it will be football and volleyball and hopefully we can come to a new normalcy and help the community. Those are therapeutic types of things.”

With the fire reaching full containment, it appears that things will be able to shift back to some level of normalcy.

King says the school’s leadership will meet soon to plot how to move forward. Athletics will play a big role in helping the community recover, there just aren’t specific plans yet on how that will happen.

But on top of volunteering with community efforts, the athletes will play a major role in helping the town recover. And in the eyes of a man like King, a coach trying to develop kids into positive young adults, this summer will certainly impact their mentality as members of a team.

“The sense of community that you try to build as a team (will be felt),” he said. “This is a community effort from the kids to the parents and the people here helping us. I think you can take that to the next level.”

Support for the Spring Fire can still be made here through the Red Cross.

(Photo courtesy of La Veta volleyball coach Amber Huff)

(Photo courtesy of La Veta volleyball coach Amber Huff)