|
A surprise to us all, President Ben Fisher opened today’s hybrid meeting at Hillel at UCLA. It was a surprise since President Ben was supposed to have had knee surgery Thursday morning. Ben informed us that the surgery was postponed to Saturday. We all offered President Ben our prayers for a speedy recovery.
Our greeters today were our newest members, Val Espinoza and Sam Botbol. Bill Roen led the Pledge of Allegiance and PP Ron Lyster recited the 4-way test. PP Ed Gauld donned a UCLA cap in honor of today’s speaker and led us in today’s song: “When the Saints Go Marching In”.
Jim Crane gave the Thought of the Day. Jim read an inspirational quote from Myron Tayler’s book, Rotary’s Four-Way Test”. Many in attendance did not know that Myron was a minister and a member of our club for many years. Let’s get copies of Myron’s book out to the members who have not yet received a copy.
Next, PP Steve Day (me!) introduced his guest, Arnold Anisgarten. Arnold is a long-time partner and friend of Steve’s, a board member of Hillel at UCLA, an avid UCLA Bruin alumni and good friend of our speaker, Cori Close.
Also, Rotarian Bill Simon was introduced. Bill is a member of the Fullerton Rotary Club and plans to transfer his membership to WVRC!
PP Steve Day got up again (can’t we get him to sit down!) and presented PP Marsha Hunt with a WVRC baseball cap as a thank you for her superlative efforts last year as our District’s and club’s Peace Chair.
PP Steve also shared with everyone that they need to purchase opportunity tickets and event tickets to the 2024 Foundation Gala – “The Rotary Bowl” at SoFi Stadium. It will be on Saturday, November 2nd from 12p.m. to 4 p.m.
President Ben called on Dave Stover to give us an update about his business. Dave shared that he has completed an additional financing round and brought in a major investment from an outside investor. President Ben immediately fined Dave $200. Congrats Dave!
Today’s Speaker
Bill Roen introduced today’s speaker, Cori Close. Cori is UCLA women’s basketball coach. Cori has been the head coach since 2011. Cori shared with us that she last visited our club about 10 years ago. PP Aly Shoji confirmed this since Cori’s visit occurred during Aly’s year as president.
Cori shared that Rotary’s motto “Service Above Self” is in alignment with her beliefs. (She would make a great Rotarian). Cori shared with us the importance of creating a positive environment for her players; a sense of family, the importance of giving back to the community. Cori believes that after their basketball careers are over, the 2 most important goals for each of her players is – who you become and who you impact. Her goal is to not only coach basketball skills but also coach their hearts. Cori used the phrase - be transformational. Cori sees the person first, the student second and the athlete third.
Cori wants to impact her players positively but also win games. Her 2024-2025 team is considered a top 5 team nationally. She feels that the team may be most talented team in 31 years of coaching. Her goal is to win both the Big Ten title and the national title.
Cori told us that John Wooden was a mentor of hers. She first met Coach Wooden in 1994. She shared with us that Coach Wooden took an immediate liking to her since she spells “Cori” the same way that Coach Wooden’s granddaughter does!
Cori stated that a lot has happened in women’s basketball and college athletics as a whole since she last spoke to us. This includes paying players for their name, image and likeness, commonly referred to as NIL which has changed college sports significantly. The policing of NIL money, paid through called collectives, is virtually nonexistent. Help is on the way because starting September 2025, the schools will be able to pay their athletes directly. The hope is that the unregulated collectives will go away.
Cori thanked all the Bruin supporters for their generosity and participation. She encourages us to watch the team on TV and come out for games. Cori even offered to provide each of us with a ticket to a game next season!
Cori was asked why a recruit would choose to come to UCLA. Cori’s shared the following reasons - NIL money, UCLA culture, UCLA alumni network and opportunities in a city such as Los Angeles.
Cori was also asked about the expected impact to UCLA sports with move to the Big Ten. She said that it shouldn’t have a major impact on football and men’s and women’s basketball (UCLA women’s team traveled to the east coast 4 times last year) but Cori is concerned about impact on the other collegiate sports, which includes many Olympic sports.
Cori was also asked about coaching Caitlin Clarke. Cori said that Caitlin is a once in a generation talent. As good as a shooter, she is a better passer. She plays with a lot of moxie and is also a great teammate and just a nice, caring person.
President Ben thanked Cori for an interesting, informative, and inspirational program.
President Ben ended the meeting promptly at 1:30pm.
| 
