Beckman Families-

Welcome to the 23-24 school year. It's shaping up to be a fantastic year for BHS Sports Teams. We had tremendous participation for our summer camps with our numbers well above where we were pre-Covid. Our Coaches and athletes have put in amazing amounts of work and are ready to see that hard work pay off.

You may have noticed that Girls Flag Football has become an official CIF sport and we're competing as a school for this first time this Fall. With this being the inaugural year, the team is excited to set the bar for all female athletes for years to come.

Besides adding a new sport, we've had some new coaches come onto our staff for this year. Below is a list of our new Head Coaches and their sports.

• Pierre Sanjurjo - Girls Flag Football
• Tijmen Egtberts - Boys Water Polo
• Tim Jones - Wrestling
• Mandi Willis - Girls Lacrosse
• Chad Cole - Boys Lacrosse (took over late last year)

I look forward to a great year of Patriot Athletics and I appreciate all of the support you give to our coaches and athletes.

-Steve Fischel

Athletic Director

If you haven't seen the construction in the back of the school, a 2nd gym and a new Weight Room are being built. The pictures below show the progress over the past three months with the buildings slated to be completed in February. The 2nd gym will allow us more time and flexibility with the practice sessions and games for our Beckman teams. As for the new Weight Room, it will be a first-class facility and significantly larger than our current one to train our student-athletes.

Every two years, the Athletic Directors and Principals in Orange County take on the process of making changes to the athletic leagues to account for schools that need relief from the current league they reside in. The process began back in April with the final voting occurring near the end of last school year. Some of you are aware that the result of these meetings currently has Beckman moving to the Coast View Athletic Association which includes all of the public high schools in South Orange County (San Clemente, San Juan Hills, Dana Hills, Trabuco Hills, El Toro, Capistrano Valley, Mission Viejo, Aliso Niguel and Tesoro).

Should the results of these meetings stand, we would begin competing in the CVAA beginning in the Fall of '24. There have been appeals submitted to the CIF Executive Committee to contest the process and results of the Re-Leaguing results. Should the Committee vote in favor of any one appeal, we would be given details of re-starting the process of setting the league for the Fall of '24. If the CIF Committee instead decides to uphold the results, we would have two years in the CVAA before we could possibly move out of that league.

If you've driven near Beckman just after school, you've likely seen our outstanding Cross Country program scampering through the streets of Irvine and Tustin. Among that group is Senior runner, Taiyo Ariga. As he entered his Freshman year, Taiyo wasn't interested in any particular sport, but his dad encouraged him to get involved with a school sports team. Now that we're into the middle of his Senior season for Cross Country, Taiyo has become an incredible individual runner and has helped propel our Boys team into position to win their third straight league title.

Although Taiyo may just seem like your typical high-achieving student-athlete from Beckman, that's where the story just begins. He is also a National Champion for the 16-18 age group in the art of Kendo. Beginning at age 3, Taiyo began training in the sport of Kendo which is a Japanese version of Fencing. It's a family tradition to train in Kendo with his dad being the lead instructor for him at their family studio, called Butokuden. In the sport of Fencing, you jab at your opponent, whereas in Kendo, it's more of a striking motion with one's sword.

Taiyo not only trains about 12 hours a week for Cross Country, but he also spends 6-8 hours a week training in Kendo. In addition, he has recently begun instructing a younger group of athletes at the family studio. Taiyo states that his success in Kendo and as a runner are connected and that he's appreciative of being able to compete in both sports simultaneously.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/girls-thriving-with-new-high-school-flag-football-opportunities-5488075

Please go to the Beckman Athletics webpage for all of the following important info and so much more (https://www.tustin.k12.ca.us/beckman/athletics).

• All athletes should be completely cleared for their sport(s) at this time. Visit our website if you still need to finalize your clearance
• Team Websites and Coach's Contact Info
• Super Booster/Fundraising Info
• Schedule of Athletic Events

Please follow Patriot Athletics on Social Media:

Twitter @BHSADFischel

Instagram @beckmanathletics