Luke Judge

The fate of a convicted murderer was decided on a basketball court in a high school Wednesday.

The California Court of Appeal held a special hearing at Aquinas High School, a private school in San Bernardino, in front of 10 bleacher rows packed with students.

The hearing was part of the court’s Outreach Plus program, which holds hearings at high schools to teach students about the state’s justice system, said Paula Garcia, the court’s administrator.

“These trials usually show the consequences of when you screw up,” she said.

Three justices in black robes sat on leather chairs on a three-foot high stage in the middle of the court. They leaned on a bench, also draped in black cloth, looming over the two small, portable tables set up for the attorneys. Speakers to either side of the bench broadcast their words to the crowd of more than 300 students in the bleachers.

That day, more than 300 students saw oral arguments for two different cases.

The first was for Wesley Charles Zimmerman, a drug dealer from Victorville, found guilty of shooting one of his clients to death with a sawed-off shotgun in 2006, according to court records.

During the hearing, the defense argued the judge of the original trial admitted into evidence a video and an expert’s testimony that were inappropriate.

The second was for a juvenile found guilty of threatening several people with a shotgun.

The defense argued the evidence failed to show the minor intended to use the shotgun and the judge made technical errors in the ruling.

After the hearings, the justices, court staff members and San Bernardino County Bar Association lawyers split up to visit classrooms to talk to students about how they can get into a career in law.

Hannah Sequeira, 17, a senior member of the mock trial team and a Murrieta resident, said the events stirred her interest in getting into law.

“It gives me perspective. It’s kind of exciting actually. I’m actually seeing an actual trial instead of the things I see in mock trial or the things I see on TV,” she said.

Nicholas Paramo, 18, a Highland resident, a senior member of the mock trial team, said he liked the insider’s look at the justice system.

“It was pretty nice learning about how our government works and all the processes that go on,” he said. “I learned a great deal about what goes on, what kind of terminology they use.”

The Court of Appeal started holding hearings at schools in San Bernardino in 2002, and since that time more than 8,000 high school students have watched these hearings, Garcia said.

In 2005, justices decided to expand the program, so they worked with Herbert R. Fischer, a former San Bernardino County superintendent, and officials with the San Bernardino County Bar Association to make the Outreach Plus program.

During the classroom visits, the law professionals talked about the teens they have to keep a clean record and stay in school if they want a good career.

Watching the trials drove that point home, said Stephanie Haldorsen, 15, a sophomore from Highland.

“It puts it in more of a perspective. You should never do these things. If I do anything wrong, stealing, lying, I have a plan, but that could ruin my future,” she said.

The Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two, takes the appeals from the superior courts in Inyo, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. From 1929 until 1999, the Court of Appeal heard oral argument in San Bernardino and since then has been located in Riverside.

Previous visits as part of the program have been at Pacific High School in San Bernardino in January 2005, Rialto High School in January 2006, Colton High School in January 2007, and Chaffey High School in February 2008 in San Bernardino County; North High School in February 2007 and Arlington High School in March 2008 in Riverside County.

badminton Nets basketball court, sawed off shotgun

If you play racquetball to win, then a good weapon to have in your arsenal is a good “ceiling game.” Hitting the ball to the ceiling is a defensive strategy that many players use to get their opponent out of center court. Remember this: the player that controls center court is the player that wins.

When should you hit the ceiling? A good rule of thumb is to hit this shot when you don’t really have a good offensive opportunity yourself. Your goal is to get your opponent out of center court position. Your opponent hits a shot that you can barely get to….take it to the ceiling with the intention of getting your opponent to shoot from the back of the court where most mistakes will come from.

So, as you are working on developing a consistent ceiling game remember to stay in the now. Your focus is hitting it to the ceiling. Put your techniques and thought process into hitting accurate ceilings as you practice this skill.

Here are three easy ways to improve your ceiling game:

1. Warm-Up with ceiling shots.

When you first warm up before play begins and you have your stretching out of the way or you are in between stretches but ready to start hitting the ball: First, start hitting the ball to the ceiling over and over as you warm up your shoulder. You don’t want to step on the court and right away start banging the ball as hard as you can. This is not good for your muscles when they are not warm and ready for such activity.

Do this warm-up/ceiling drill for 5 minutes.

2. Commit 15 minutes a week to developing your ceiling game.

I honestly believe that in anything you do, with practice and commitment, you get better. Same holds true for developing your skill level and perfecting the shots needed to win in racquetball. Commit 15 minutes a week to developing your ceiling game, and you can’t go wrong. Get on the court, hit the ball to the ceiling over and over. 

You could do this in three, five-minute increments over the course of a week. Do it around your schedule. If you have to do it in one day, commit to 15 minutes to improving your ceiling skill. 

3. Offensive vs. Defensive Drill

This is a drill you could do with a drill partner or against an opponent. 

With Drill Partner:

Scoring: Find what works for you, but generally short games to five is a good number to start off with. First one to five wins and someone scores every rally. 

The Server is the Offense: The server is the offensive player. They will drive serve to start the rally off and you play to win. The offensive player is taking advantage of every offensive opportunity to win the rally. 

The Receiver is the Defense: At the same time, the player receiving is the defensive player and his or her focus is to hit everything to the ceiling with the intention of keeping the offensive player in the back of the court when hitting shots.

The Rally is the Skill Builder: Once the server serves the ball into play the rally begins. The offensive player wants to win the rally right away. The defensive player wants to keep the rally going as long as possible until the offensive player makes a mistake to lose the rally. The defensive player wants to keep everything in play and move the opponent/offensive player to deep in court, as that is where many, many mistakes are made.

The rally is where you will build a lot of endurance and strength. There will be some long rallies where your legs and arms will be tested. The rally is where you will make multiple mistakes but get a chance to do it over and over and over to improve your skill level.

You will increase your stamina to compete at higher levels, as this is a great cardio workout. You and your partner both will see an increase in offensive shot ability along with ceiling shot skill level. 

As the defensive player during the rally, make sure your continued focus is to keep the ball in the back of the court. Basically, hit the ball so it bounces two times before meeting the back wall or hitting the back wall less than 20 inches off the back wall from the floor.

The Scoring: The server serves the whole “short” game to five, then switch sides and becomes receiver. In other words, if server loses rally they continue serving till someone scores 5, then both receiver and server switch sides. You and your partner decide how you want to score to have winner. You can do a 60-minute play or first one to win 5 games, win by two games.

Ceiling drill while playing an opponent:

This drill should be done when your focus is about improving your ceiling skill level. I would recommend finding a drill partner who would do the above drill with you; but in the case you can’t here is a good way to improve your ceiling skill level while playing an opponent.

It is up to you if you want to let them know your focus is a drill, but you will be playing to win. 

In this drill, what I’m going to describe can be done as part of a game plan to beat an opponent, as you will make a lot less mistakes and give up a lot less easy points.

When you are playing an opponent in a fun game at the club, try to beat him on pure ceilings. Go to the ceiling almost 90% of the time.

Everything your opponent hits, return the shots to the ceiling with the intention of driving them to the back of the court and making them take their next shot. Keep doing this UNTIL they give you an offensive opportunity that you will hit and put away to win the rally 9 times out of 10. This means that they give you a shot that you KNOW there is no doubt in your mind….you WILL win the rally. 

There will be some adjusting, as you may not know all your strong points but remember…your focus is ceilings. Take all your opponent shots to the ceiling until they give you the “set up” you won’t miss. 

If you follow these three steps to improve your ceiling game you will take your racquetball game to the next level.

badminton Nets 15 minutes, court position, defensive strategy, muscles, opponent, rule of thumb