Sharon Ng, a former Homestead High School athlete, served as captain of the six-player United States team at the World University Badminton Championships, held July 23-29 in Cordoba, Spain.
Ng, the only returning player from the 2013 U.S. squad that traveled last summer to Kazan, Russia, was the top American competitor at this year’s event, scoring the only U.S. points during losses to Korea 4-1 and India 3-2.
A junior-to-be at Wellesley College near Boston, Mass., Ng took two out of three sets in the women’s singles contests and teamed with Cally Chung of San Francisco for a straight-sets women’s doubles triumph against India.
The U.S. squad, which also lost 5-0 to Canada and Malaysia, featured three men and three women, all from the Bay Area. Joining Ng and Chung, recent Monta Vista High graduate Stephanie Lam was the other woman on the team. The men included Chetan Potu, a 2013 Cupertino High grad who will be a sophomore at UC-San Diego.
No American advanced in any category of the individual competition, although Ng and Potu came close in singles play. Ng dropped the first set against her opponent from Switzerland, 21-19, but evened the match with a 22-20 win before bowing 21-18. Potu played his Canadian opponent tough, but lost 19-21, 22-20, 20-22.
All three local players competed in Central Coast Section championship matches during their high school days. Lam, who will attend UCLA, was a four-time CCS finalist, winning gold medals in girls singles (2011) and mixed doubles (2013) and finishing second in women’s doubles in 2012 and this year. Potu combined with Caniel Chow to win the boys doubles crown in 2011 and he was third in singles in 2012. Ng finished second in the 2009 girls singles tourney.
A big summer for Monta Vista’s Ma
Justin Ma, the defending CCS boys singles champion, returns to Monta Vista for his senior year this fall after a senational summer on the badminton court.
Ma won the under-19 singles championship at the U.S. Junior National tournament held in July and also placed second in the boys doubles competition. The title was his fifth as the U.S. national level, having struck gold in singles and doubles events in under-13, under-15 and under-17 play.
Later that month, Ma went on to represent the U.S. in the Junior Pan Am tournament in Guatemala and won a silver medal in boys doubles play.
Former 49er aide takes TKA helm
Mike Johnson, who was an NFL assistant coach for 11 seasons–including two with the San Francisco 49ers (2009-10) under Mike Singletary–and a coach in the Pac-12 Conference for four seasons, is the new head varsity football coach and director of development for The King’s Academy.
He began his work at TKA on April 28, according to athletic director Joe Maemone.
Johnson, whose coaching experience includes stints with Oregon State, the San Diego Chargers, Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens, was UCLA’s interim head coach in the 2011 Kraft Hunger Bowl after serving all season as the team’s offensive coordinator.
While with the Atlanta Falcons, Johnson helped start the First and 10 Foundation, an organization designed to help underprivileged youth in the Atlanta area.
Johnson, who is married with two teen-aged children, played quarterback at three colleges, including Akron University in Ohio, from where he earned his bachelor’s degree.
His first college was Arizona State, the same school attended by Johnson’s predecessor at King’s, Willie Gittens. In three seasons, Gittens’ teams posted a record of 10-20, including 5-5 last year.
