San Jose’s coming year packed with sports action

This year will be action packed with sports events in San Jose. We start with the Amgen Tour of California – a professional cycling stage race – and two days of competition Feb. 21 and 22 here before the race moves toward Southern California. The race is followed by the State Farm Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Tournament on March 3-6 at HP Pavilion.

Later in the year, action turns to the USA Judo Junior Olympics, the San Jose Grand Prix presented by Taylor Woodrow racing through the streets of San Jose, followed by the best in action sports with the Dew Action Sports Tour. Then over Columbus Day weekend, the city will host its inaugural Rock ’n’ Roll Half Marathon with an anticipated field of 15,000 runners.

The First Tee of San Jose golf program expects to introduce the sport to 1,000 youngsters this year, the REACH Youth Scholarship Breakfast hosted by Ronnie Lott will be held in May and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner will again be held in early November.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Dean Munro
Executive Director

The professional cyclists competing in the Amgen Tour of California will be whizzing through San Jose before you know it. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 21 and 22, cycling’s international stars will complete Stages 2 and 3 of the eight-day race in San Jose – the only city in the week-long race with two days of competition.

Where can you watch the riders? What teams are competing? Where are the finish-line Lifestyle Festivals featuring the health & fitness expo, cancer awareness education, cycling gear, family activities, bike safety, food and entertainment? How can you volunteer?

You’ll find the answers to these and other questions by clicking the Amgen Tour of California icon at www.sjsa.org. Want to know more about the Tour’s other stages, which run from San Francisco to Redondo Beach? Surf over to www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

More than a million spectators are expected to see the 700-mile race in person when it begins Feb. 19, and it will get one hour daily coverage on ESPN2.

A team of Irish boxers will return to San Jose Civic Auditorium on March 12 to face a California team in one of the highlight events of Irish Week 2006.

Irish Week event celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Sister Cities relationship between San Jose and Dublin and will also include a joint concert of the Dublin Youth Symphony Orchestra and San Jose Youth Philharmonic on March 11 at the Civic and the Spirit of Ireland Dinner with special guest Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland, on March 14 at the Fairmont.

The Ireland vs. California boxing match features 12 Olympic-style bouts. Tickets are $150, $125, $40, $25 and $18 and are available in person at HP Pavilion or through TicketMaster outlets.

The Santa Clara Broncos advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in December. Now the university and the Sports Authority have teamed up to bring either the 2008 or 2009 women’s championships to HP Pavilion in San Jose.

The San Jose-Santa Clara bid is one of seven being considered – the University of Nebraska (Lincoln), University of Washington (Seattle), Ohio University (Athens) plus three as yet unnamed – and the NCAA will announce its decision in June.

Our bid projects a record attendance and ticket revenue for the two days of volleyball competition.

The State Farm Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Tournament returns to HP Pavilion March 3-6 for its fourth consecutive year, and the Sports Authority is working to expand its reach into the community.

The tournament’s local organizing committee, created and staffed by the Sports Authority and chaired by former mayor Susan Hammer, has set a goal of providing tickets to 2,500 disadvantaged youth who otherwise could not afford to attend. We are again supporting the tournament by raising $40,000 in corporate support for this Basketball and Youth Program and by coordinating ticket distribution to schools and non-profit organizations that will identify the youngsters.

If you or your company would like to participate in the Basketball and Youth Program, contact Tracie Morris, the Sports Authority’s development director, at (408) 288-2937 or by email at tracie@sjsa.org. She can fill you in on details such as whether you would like to designate groups to receive your tickets and possible tax benefits.

The San Jose State Event Center will fill with more than 600 young athletes this summer when USA Judo stages its National Junior Olympics there. Bringing this event for the sport’s future stars back to San Jose is a return to the sport’s American roots. Yosh Uchida established the judo program at San Jose State, organized the first national championships there in 1953, and coached the United States’ first Olympic judo team in 1964. The Spartans’ judo program has continued to lead the nation though Uchida has retired. They have won 38 national collegiate championships.

Register on our Web site at www.sjsa.org to win four free tickets to see one of the most explosive teams in the National Lacrosse League, the San Jose Stealth. Stealth teammates Derek Malawski and Jeff Zywicki are tied for third in the league in scoring with 11 goals apiece after the season’s first five games.

Four tickets to the Stealth’s 7:30 p.m. game Saturday, March 11 in HP Pavilion against the Edmonton Rush could be yours if you win the Sports Authority’s Stealth contest. Just visit our Web site here, fill in the email form, and if your entry is drawn, an evening of exciting Stealth lacrosse will be yours. The entry deadline is midnight Thursday, Feb. 23. The winner will be notified by email and telephone on Friday, Feb. 24, and the tickets will be available for pick-up at HP Pavilion’s Will Call window under his or her name.

Pat Dando was named to the Sports Authority board after leaving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s staff to become president and CEO of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. Dando is a 30-year resident of San Jose and after election in 1995 served a decade on the San Jose City Council representing Council District 10, which includes the Blossom Valley, Santa Teresa and Almaden neighborhoods. In 2003, she was appointed Vice Mayor of the City of San José, a position she held through the end of her term in 2005.

Prior to her election, Dando served five years as a senior policy advisor to Mayor Tom McEnery and four years as assistant to the executive director of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. She also led the campaign to build the San Jose Arena, now HP Pavilion and home of the San Jose Sharks. She is a member of several community boards in addition to the Sports Authority.

Dando graduated from North Texas State University in 1968 with a double major in elementary education and English. She spent five years as a school teacher before taking time off to raise her three children. In summer 2003, she was selected to study public policy in a special program for senior executives in state and local government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.