Area roundup: Beach Futbol CLub added to Girls Development Academy; Carey hired as LBSU basketball assistant coach

After just nine years of existence, Beach Futbol Club is one of first 25 youth soccer clubs to be part of the Girls’ Development Academy, U.S. Soccer aounced Thursday.

Long Beach State head coach Mauricio Ingrassia welcomed the decision, and the national exposure it can bring to the club and its players.

Beach FC, which has had national success, uses George Allen Field on the campus of Long Beach State, and had more than 65 active boys and girls teams this year.

“This is a huge honor, and it’s going to be a lot of work, but we’ve got great leadership in place and we know we’ve been doing the right things,” Ingrassia said. “The application process was grueling. They want clubs who develop players and we will continue to do that.”

Beach FC players Savaah DeMelo, Emma Egizii, Sarai Zedingil, Daria Petredes, Savaa Gomez, Samantha Witteman, Katie Pingel, Shaon Simon, Michelle Reed, Sydney Bloch have all been called to a U.S. Soccer camp in the last calendar year. Ingrassia credits that success and growing potential with opportunity.

“We let these girls play with older players, and it helps them develop quickly,” he said. “We’ve all been working very hard (to be recognized as an elite club) and it’s also great for Long Beach State soccer.”

San Diego Surf, LAFC Slammers (Los Angeles), Lamorinda (Moraga), Mustang (Danville), So Cal Blues (Rancho Capistrano) and De Anza Force (Saratoga) are the other clubs from Califoia.

According to the official release from U.S. soccer, the Girls’ Development Academy is geared towards accelerating development. It will begin play in the fall of 2017. The release also says, “this group (of clubs) will be providing 276 full scholarships with a total of $1.49 million of scholarship funds being contributed.”

-JJ Fiddler

NCAA men’s basketball

Senque Carey has been hired on to Dan Monson’s coaching staff at Long Beach State after spending last season as an assistant at Florida Gulf Coast, helping lead the Eagles to the NCAA Touament.

“We are excited to add Senque to the Beach family,” Monson told reporters. “He comes to us with a wealth of Division I experience as well as West Coast ties. I first met Senque as a player at the University of Washington and have admired his career ever since.”

Carey has coached at New Mexico, Portland State, Loyola Marymount, Hawaii and Fresno State after paying collegiately at Washington and New Mexico.

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Baseball

The Los Altos Cal Ripken 12U All-Stars won their fourth consecutive SoCal championship with a 21-9 win over Heartwell and are hitting .455 with 27 home runs and scored 95 runs over nine All-Star contests.

Last season, the team qualified for the PSW Championship game. It’s solid play this season puts it in position to make it to the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Maryland.

The team is collecting donations to help with travel. Thos wishing to contribute can find information at gofundme.com/lbcalripken12U or mail checks to LAYBS, P.O. Box 15313, Long Beach, Ca. 90815.