Steve Alford sat in a small booth at a local diner in Tarzana, Calif. A plate of eggs and bacon was on the table before him, a birthday cake sat opposite him and the face of John Wooden smiled down at him from the wall. Read more...
Photo: New UCLA coach Steve Alford, like the many coaches before him, has had to deal with continual comparisons to John Wooden in his first few months on campus. Alford’s Indiana roots are a similarity he and Wooden share.
Atonye Nyingifa is always smiling. While running wind sprints in practice, the smile races by, sideline to sideline, in a blur. In games, the smile could be misconstrued as softness until she plows her way through two defenders for the offensive rebound and two points. Read more...
Photo: Redshirt senior forward Atonye Nyingifa overcame a pair of torn ACLs to return as one of UCLA women’s basketball’s top players.
Zach LaVine waited anxiously on the UCLA bench in the opening minutes of an exhibition game against Cal State San Bernardino. “I tried not to seem like I had jitters or anything, but it’s human nature,” LaVine said. Read more...
Photo: After committing to UCLA early, freshman guard Zach LaVine flew under the radar in high school. But he expects to prove his talent quickly in college.
For UCLA graduate film student Farzad Nikbakht Sangari and the UCLA Quidditch team, nothing goes according to script. It seems fitting, then, that Sangari’s upcoming UCLA Quidditch documentary, “Mudbloods,” was neither planned nor imagined beforehand, but just fell into place and evolved naturally. Read more...
Photo: UCLA Quidditch founder Tom Marks has worked with Farzad Nikbakht Sangari to develop the upcoming documentary “Mudbloods.”
The prospect of passing out from exhaustion and pain hung constantly over Marcus Rios. Coming down with stuffy noses during his senior year of high school morphed into breathing almost exclusively through his mouth during football summer workouts. Read more...
Photo: Sophomore cornerback Marcus Rios fought off a serious infectious disease to return to the UCLA football team.
Alex Redmond enjoys inflicting pain on the football field. Coach Jim Mora said the right guard has a “mean streak” in him, a perfect trait for a guard. Read more...
Photo: Freshman offensive lineman Alex Redmond translated his success on the wrestling mat to dominance on the football field.
From her childhood in Annandale, Va., playing soccer with her four brothers, to captaining the University of Virginia Cavaliers to an NCAA Final Four run , all signs seemed to point toward an eventual career in soccer for Amanda Cromwell. Read more...
Photo: Women’s soccer coach Amanda Cromwell initially pursued a career in medicine, not coaching, before plans changed. Her academic experiences, however, as well as her soccer experience, now help her mentor her players.
