One of the special aspects of the Long Beach sports world is how community-based it is, and how many programs feel like a family. The Long Beach Poly football team has always been one of those teams, and that’s been evident in how the program has grieved and remembered Keith “Slice” Thompson, the beloved longtime […]
The All-City Freshmen of the Year award has been a great predictor of success the last two years, with previous winners Camille Lindsay, Maya O’Dea, Jason Parra, and Sammie Hamilton all continuing to dominate the Moore League this year (all four won Moore League Player of the Year or individual championship honors in 2021-22). We […]
Each year we present the Spirit of Long Beach award to a person or group of people that’s inspired us over the course of the school year. We’ve never spent less time deliberating the award than we did this year, in deciding to present it to Long Beach Poly junior Gabriel Tyler. We’ve known Gabe […]
As athletes begin to specialize in a sport or even a position within a sport at earlier and earlier ages, the era of the multisport star has largely come to a close. It’s no longer the norm for the city dominant high school athletes to earn Player of the Year consideration in multiple sports the […]
Mike Guardabascio A few weeks ago we celebrated a milestone moment in American sports history, the 50-year anniversary of the passage of Title IX. A federal civil rights law that has influenced so much around gender equality in education, arguably Title IX’s biggest impact was leveling the playing field for girls and women in sports. […]
The562’s coverage of Long Beach State Volleyball is sponsored by Naples Island Car Wash. Visit NaplesIslandCarWash.com to learn more. Virtually since the moment Alex Nikolov took the court for the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team this year as a star freshman, there were been questions swirling in the volleyball community about how long he’d be […]
NUMBER TWO Against the odds, the small yet hungry group of Panthers made history with their CIF-SS Division 2 championship this year. The Panthers were led by super sophomore Jordan Washington and hurdler Darryll Stevens–who each scored in multiple events–but few would have imagined that J-Town would be able to knock off D2 favorite Mater […]
NUMBER THREE It had been a few years since the Long Beach Poly boys’ water polo team had claimed a CIF-SS championship–92 years, to be exact–but the Jackrabbits got it done under coach Ish Pluton with a 14-11 win over Crespi in the Division 4 championship. “This means so much to us, it means so […]
NUMBER FIVE It’s not easy making history at Long Beach Poly, but the girls’ tennis program did just that with the program’s first ever CIF championship last fall. The Jackrabbits had to fight for it, barely holding off San Dimas with a 10-8 win at the Claremont Club, securing a Division 4 CIF crown. Julia […]