bidding

Age: 29 Ranking: 55 Strength: Forehand

British number two Katie Boulter, appearing in the BJK Cup for the seventh year, brings some much-needed experience to Anne Keothavong’s side.

She won her singles match against Germany in April’s qualifying event but lost in the singles against the Netherlands, before she and Jodie Burrage teamed up to win the decisive doubles match and clinch Britain’s finals place.

It has, however, been a mixed 2025 for Boulter.

She missed some tournaments early in the year with a foot injury before claiming a maiden clay title at a WTA 125 event in Paris.

A second-round defeat at the first women’s Queen’s event for 52 years was part of a difficult grass-court season, and Boulter relinquished her two-year reign as British number one to Raducanu as a result.

She achieved a fourth career win against a top-10 player – defeating Paula Badosa in the Wimbledon first round – but lost to lucky loser Solana Sierra in the next.

Boulter did not make it past the second round at any of the four Grand Slams, admitting at Wimbledon that her “moment might not come”.

But Boulter has often highlighted her love of competing for her country, with the BJK Cup bringing out the best in her.

That was in evidence against Japan on Thursday as she dropped just three games in a straight-set win over Moyuka Uchijima to secure Britain’s semi-final spot.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. Let the bidding begin. A 15-year TV contract that the CIF signed with Time Warner Cable in 2011 ends in 2026. What will happen next?

CIF seeks new TV deal

The California Interscholastic Federation is about to open up bidding for its television broadcast rights because a 15-year deal with Time Warner (now Spectrum) is ending on July 31, 2026.

Signed in 2011, the $8.5-million deal gave Time Warner Cable the rights to televise state championship games and playoffs. It turned out to be a boon for the CIF, because game rights fees for high school sports ended up declining. Charter Communications acquired Time Warner in 2016 and rebranded to Spectrum, which has struggled at times as to how to maximize its investment in the TV package. Spectrum recently signed a three-year deal to broadcast Southern Section games.

CIF executive director Ron Nocetti.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

This year, the final payment of $952,422 is being made and will go into the CIF general operating budget. The deal started with a $550,000 payment and has gone up 4% each year. The CIF, which runs high school sports in California, uses money from membership fees, championship events and corporate sponsorships for its budget. The TV package is the largest financial deal among the sponsorships and helps reduce dues charged to schools.

Executive Director Ron Nocetti said the CIF will soon initiate a request for proposals and put it out for bidding. The market has changed considerably since 2011, with online streaming coverage of high school events surpassing linear coverage.

It will be interesting to see which media companies decide to bid, how much money they are willing to pay and how long the contract might last.

Another contract ending next year is with SBLive, which originally was trying to compete with MaxPreps and help the CIF design a way for fans to get immediate scores from games. SBLive changed its focus, entered into a partnership in 2021 with The Arena Group and in 2024 joined Minute Media, which runs Sports Illustrated sites. MaxPreps has moved to take further control of the prep sports scene after being acquired in April by PlayOnSports, the owner of GoFan and the NFHS Network, which started streaming a national game of the week.

This changing world of high school sports offers opportunities for the CIF to expand its media reach but also possible pitfalls depending on how media companies view the future.

How it started

Eric interviewing Sophomore Tajh Ariza after a basketball game. Son of Trevor Ariza. Taken December 2022.

(Nick Koza)

Starting with John Elway as a high school student at Granada Hills High in the 1970s, my journey covering prep sports has been going on for 49 years. It’s been quite a journey.

My mission has always been to entertain, inform and make a difference. There’s no reason to quit something you enjoy as long as the challenges keep coming and the athletes keep getting better and better with personalities that make you laugh and cry.

Here’s some observations how it started and where I’m going.

The opening weekend of Southern Section football saw a terrific matchup of top 10 teams: Mission Viejo vs. Santa Margarita. It turned out to be a defensive struggle until Ohio State-bound quarterback Luke Fahey struck late in the third quarter with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jack Junker to give the Diablos a 7-3 victory. Here’s the report.

Three Trinity League teams — Mater Dei, St. John Bosco and Orange Lutheran — traveled to Florida for games, and each one came home with a victory. Here’s the report. Mater Dei plays Bishop Montgomery on Friday at home. Bishop Montgomery went to Hawaii and lost to St. Louis in Honolulu 34-27 in a game that ended with 51 seconds left when players from both sides left benches. Here’s the report.

Huntington Beach showed off its passing attack in a win over Orange. Here’s the report.

Corona Centennial defeated Servite 42-14 to give coach Matt Logan victory No. 296 in his 29 years with the Huskies.

Here’s the score list from last week.

Here’s The Times’ top 25 rankings.

Here’s the schedule for this week.

Here’s a list of top individual performances in the Southland.

Granada Hills Kennedy quarterback Diego Montes, right, and Eagle Rock quarterback Liam Pasten stand next to each other after Kennedy’s 59-56 win on Friday night.

(Benjamin Royer / For The Times)

The best high school football game of the weekend belonged to City Section teams Kennedy and Eagle Rock in a battle of All-City quarterbacks. After more than three hours, 15 touchdowns and the game ending past 11 p.m., Kennedy prevailed 59-56 on a late touchdown by Diego Montes. Here’s the report on the drama.

Granada Hills’ Troy Versa makes interception in 50-16 win over North Hollywood.

(Craig Weston)

Granada Hills rushed for 420 yards with no passing yards or attempts in an impressive 50-16 win over North Hollywood. Here’s the report.

Birmingham knocked off Hart 24-14 in a sign the Patriots are clearly the No. 1 team in the City Section. Quarterback Kevin Hawkins ran for more than 150 yards and Jimmy Renteria had a touchdown on a fake punt, catching a pass and also recovered a fumble.

Crenshaw defeated Fairfax 37-6 to give coach Robert Garrett victory No. 291.

Teams will be playing Thursday this week, with Dorsey at Carson a big one for future playoff seedings. Also Hamilton opens up its new stadium Thursday against Gardena Serra.

Here are the top 10 City Section rankings.

JSerra is unbeaten and looking like a challenger to Orange Lutheran. The Lions won their own tournament championship with a 19-0 win over Carlsbad.

Camarillo defeated Oxnard 13-12 in the championship game of a tournament at Rio Mesa.

Here’s score list from Friday and Saturday.

Girls volleyball

Marymount put an end to Harvard-Westlake’s seven-match winning streak with a 3-0 win at Marymount.

Mater Dei swept Los Alamitos 3-0 to improve to 2-0 on the season. The Monarchs are headed to Florida for a tournament.

Redondo Union hosts Long Beach Poly on Tuesday in a big nonleague match in preparation for a showdown against Marymount on Sept. 2.

Prep talk

Athletic trainer Jonathan Rivas of Culver City helped save an athlete who went into cardiac arrest last spring.

(George Laase)

Every day, there’s positive information coming from high school sports. That’s Prep talk. Here are last week’s stories.

Athletic trainer Jonathan Rivas saved an athlete last spring in cardiac arrest. Here’s a report.

Mira Costa’s special teams trio of punter Jackson Shevin (left), snapper Jackson Reach and kicker Nico Talbott.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Mira Costa has a trio to make its special teams pretty good this football season. Here’s a report.

Harvard-Westlake started the girls’ volleyball season 7-0 under a first-year coach. Here’s a report.

John Michael Flint is quite a two-sport star at Bishop Diego with a 38-inch vertical leap. Here’s a report.

Ty Plinski of Corona Centennial became a media sensation with his one-handed catch on Friday night. Here’s a report.

Notes . . .

High school sports participation has risen to record levels aided by one of the new sports, girls flag football. Here’s the report. . . .

Last season’s Southern Section singles tennis champion, Sophie Suh of Orange Lutheran, will not be playing for the team this season. The sophomore will be focusing on the International Tennis Federation circuit. . . .

Grant Leary of Crespi won the Southern Section individual golf championship. He’s also a photographer for the Yearbook.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Crespi golfer Grant Leary, the winner of the Southern Section individual title last season, has committed to San Jose State. . . .

The Downey vs. Warren football game on Oct. 24 has been moved to Dignity Health Sports Park at Cal State Dominguez Hills at 7 p.m. . . . .

Richard Schroeder is the new baseball coach at San Marcos. . . .

After 16 years as basketball coach at Beverly Hills, Jarvis Turner announced he has stepped down. . . .

Orange Lutheran girls water polo coach Brenda Villa has resigned to become associate head coach at Stanford. She’s a former Olympian and won two Open Division championships coaching the Lancers. . . .

Omari Cuffe, a 6-foot-4 junior basketball player who’s played sparingly the last two seasons at St. Pius X-St. Matthias, has transferred to Loyola. So has senior guard Deuce Newt from Campbell Hall. Newt started at times. Loyola has a new coach, Cameron Joyce. . . .

St. Francis basketball coach Todd Wolfson said his school has received a 7-foot-4 transfer in Cherif Millogo from Burkina Faso. Mater Dei has transfers from IMG Academy and the state of Oregon. . . .

Corona del Mar water polo standout Nathan Simoncelli has committed to USC. . . .

Pitcher Colten Rainer of Royal has committed to UCLA. He was throwing in the 90s this summer in a major improvement. He’s the younger brother of former Harvard-Westlake star Bryce Rainer, a first-round pick of the Detroit Tigers last season. Other UCLA commitments include pitchers Garrett Jacobs (Mira Costa) and Robert Zimmerman (Redondo Union) and outfielder Jaden Jackson (St. John Bosco). . . .

Rob Loehle is the new boys basketball coach at Simi Valley. . . .

Nareg Kopooshian, head coach of AGBU, has been appointed as the head coach of the FIBA Armenia U16 National Team by the Armenia Basketball Federation. The Eurobasketball competition is scheduled for the summer of 2026. . . .

Pitcher Jake Chung of Harvard-Westlake has committed to Brown.

From the archives: Lars Nootbaar

St. Louis Cardinals’ Lars Nootbaar celebrates with teammates in 2021.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Former El Segundo and USC standout Lars Nootbaar has been in the major leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals since 2021.

He was a much decorated athlete during his days at El Segundo as the school’s quarterback in football and star baseball player.

Here’s a story from 2014 when El Segundo was 10-0 led by its star two-sport athlete.

Recommendatons

From Texas A&M, a story on how youth sports can create future leaders or future cheaters.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on how Carson Palmer views coaching high school football.

From the Daily Pilot, a story on two Huntington Beach surfers creating a documentary.

From the Washington Post, a story on premium seating in high school sports.

From the Los Angeles Times, a question and answer with former USC quarterback and Orange County legend Todd Marinovich.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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The record for the amount paid for a basketball card is about to be broken by Kobe Bryant on what would have been his 47th birthday … with some help from his “big brother,” Michael Jordan.

The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs card featuring Bryant and Jordan is up for bid online at Heritage Auctions. Bidding closes Saturday at 8 p.m. PDT, with extended bidding available at that time.

As of early Friday afternoon, bidding for the one-of-one card had reached $7.015 million, including the 22% buyer’s premium added to the successful bid. That already shatters the current record price garnered by a basketball card — the $5.9 million paid for the 2009-10 Panini National Treasures Stephen Curry Logoman Autograph card in a 2021 private estate sale.

With more than a day still remaining for bids, it’s still tough to tell what the new record might end up being.

“Most likely, it’ll end up somewhere in the $8-million range,” Heritage director of sports collectibles Chris Ivy told The Times late Friday morning, although he added that he “wouldn’t be shocked” if it went for $10 million or more.

The most anyone has paid for any sports card is $12.6 million for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card in a 2022 Heritage auction. The Curry card currently sits at No. 4 among all sports cards.

The Dual Logoman Autographs series of cards features the images and signatures of two iconic players, as well as NBA logo patches from a game-worn jersey from each player. Jordan appeared on eight such cards and Bryant was on 11, but this is the only one that paired the two of them.

“It’s the only one that has Kobe and Jordan on it, and it has both their Logoman logos, and it’s signed by both,” Ivy said, “and so kind of all those factors combined together to make this the top card for modern card collectors. And we’re seeing that in the price that it’s generating right now.”

Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan eyes the basket as he is guarded by the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant on Feb. 1, 1998, at the Forum.

(Vince Bucci / AFP via Getty Images)

Cards featuring Jordan and Bryant individually haven’t brought in nearly as much cash, with Jordan’s top seller going for $2.93 million in 2024 and Bryant’s going for $2.3 million earlier this month.

Ivy said it is a coincidence that the auction is ending on Bryant’s birthday.

The beloved Los Angeles icon and daughter Gianna were among the nine people who died in a Jan. 26, 2020, helicopter crash in Calabasas. Jordan was one of the speakers at the father and daughter’s public memorial held on Feb. 24, 2020, at Staples Center.

“Maybe it surprised people that Kobe and I were very close friends,” Jordan said. “But we were very close friends. Kobe was my dear friend, he was like a little brother.”

He added: “What Kobe Bryant was to me was the inspiration that someone truly cared about the way that I played the game or the way that he wanted to play the game.

“He wanted to be the best basketball player that he could be. And as I got to know him, I wanted to be the best big brother that I could be. To do that you have to put up with the aggravation, the late-night calls or the dumb questions. I took great pride as I got to know Kobe Bryant that he was just trying to be a better person, a better basketball player.”

NOW is a perfect time to check whether you’re the owner of a 50p coin that could be worth 240 times its value.

The rare coin sold for £120 after an intense bidding war on eBay.

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Fifty pence pieces can often be worth much more than their face value.

This particular valuable rarity is a 2009 Kew Gardens 50p.

Earlier this week one of these coins sold for £120 on eBay after a bidding war, with 13 offers placed.

Other postings for the same coin are currently listed at £177.52, and £161.92.

The coin was designed by Christopher Le Brun in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Botanical Gardens’ foundation.

It had a very low mintage of just 210,000 copies, which means that it has since rocketed in value as it is the rarest of all 50p pieces.

One side of the coin features Kew’s iconic Great Pagoda.

Its base is encircled with a vine while the word ‘Kew’ decorates the bottom.

The dates 1759 and 2009 are inscribed, honouring the coin’s 250th anniversary celebration.

On the reverse, the fourth portrait of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II adorns the coin.

Alongside the portrait the initials identify the engraver as Ian Rank-Broadley.

To spot the coin among your collection, look out for the leafy design.

Another limited edition 50p recently sold for £262.

Dated to 2009, the design was the first of 29 officially licenced London 2012 Olympic coins to be released by The Royal Mint.

The coin is the same size and weight as a 50p coin found in your change and measures 8g by 27g in diameter.

The starting price was just £5 but six bidders fought it out, with one eventually submitting the winning bid on June 30.

The coin’s design was created by eight-year-old Florence Jackson from Bristol.

How to sell a rare coin

If you are lucky to find a rare coin among your spare change or have one at home, you can sell it through online marketplaces such as eBay.

Simply take pictures of the coin, any certificates of authenticity you have and any packaging.

You can also sell coins via auction, through the Royal Mint’s Collector’s Service.

If you choose this option a team of experts will authenticate and value your coin.

You will also receive advice on how to sell it.