Fall sports will start in a few weeks at Culver City High School, and that means it's a great opportunity for the Culver City community to support their local teams and at the same time be able to watch high school sports at an elite level.

Culver City High School has some of the best teams and coaches in Southern California. The majority of their teams battle for league and CIF championships. This fall will give fans a chance to watch cross country, football, girls' volleyball, boys' water polo and girls' tennis and a few other sports that start in the fall and continue through the winter months.

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Not only does Culver City have great athletes they also have outstanding head and assistant coaches. The head coach for cross country is Thomas Fritzius, for football is Jahmal Wright, boys' water polo is Nestor Dordoni, the coach for girls volleyball is Tanner Siegal and Phil Rothenberg coaches girls tennis.

Professional football in Los Angeles is starting to heat up with the weather. The Rams and Chargers held joint scrimmages last week at their training facilities in Irvine (Rams) and Costa Mesa (Chargers).

Players like joint scrimmages because it gives them an opportunity to play against another team. "It's always a good learning opportunity for us," said Ram head coach Sean McVay last Saturday." We get a chance to play against their good players. It will be great tape for us to look at and learn from. It's great for both teams."

McVay continued to say, ""They (Chargers) are a good team. We have a lot of respect for their team. Naturally the competition level rises because you are going against players you are not accustomed to. There is a level competition that you can't emulate."

One of the Rams newest players, 13 year veteran safety Eric Weddle seemed to be excited last Thursday for two reasons, he was playing for a new team and he was facing one of his old teams, the Chargers.

"Two great teams were out there today," said Weddle. "It was fun to get out there on the practice field and compete. I love competing. We got a little better today. We treat this like a game. We take this seriously. I just go out there and be me."

The Chargers veteran quarterback Phillip Rivers had this to say about his former teammate who is now a Ram. "He can be a real nice piece adding to that group, just what he brings from a knowledge stand point. The way he communicates. He has studied and learned the game."

After the Super Bowl there have been a lot questions about Todd Gurley II knee. "It was good work against another team," said Gurley. When a reporter asked him about his knee he replied, "Football is football. I am out here practicing."

McVay had this to say about Gurley, "He is a very important part of our offense. He is an all-purpose back. He looks like Todd but we want to be smart with his work load."

The Dodgers are finishing their 10 game home stand this weekend with three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks starting Friday night at 7 p.m. On Saturday the game starts at 6 p.m. and Sundays' game is 1 p.m.

At press time they still had the best record in baseball at 76-40 which is one game ahead of the New York Yankees. The good news for the Dodgers is they appear to have a very good young catcher in Will Smith. Smith can hit and throw base runners out. They also have what appears to be two outstanding rookie pitchers in Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin.

Los Angeles currently has another first place team, the Los Angeles Football Club of the Major Soccer League. They are 16-3-4 and they have 52 major league soccer points. Their next home game is Sunday at 7 p.m. against the New York Red Bulls.

The Sparks of the WNBA will host the Chicago Sky at the Staples Center on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Sparks are in fourth place in the 12 team league. Now that they are starting to get some of their players back from the injury list they look like as team that can make a deep run in the playoffs.

George Laase

A healthier Candace Parker of the Sparks scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help lead the Sparks to an 83-75 win over the Seattle Storm. Parker was named WNBA Player of the Week last week. The Sparks play the Chicago Sky at home on Sunday at 2 p.m.

This sports column is dedicated to former Culver City Observer Editor and Sports Editor Mitch Chortkoff.