In 1983, Glenn Ventura started doing "something right" from the very beginning when he established the Pioneer Classic Tournament. Ventura was the girls varsity basketball coach at Pioneer, and he felt that the area needed a quality girls tourney, so he got the ball rolling. Through the years the Classic has become a girls basketball tradition in the Santa Clara Valley.

Five years ago in 2001, the tourney took on a new identity in honor of its founder and was renamed the Pioneer-Glenn Ventura Classic. Ventura spent the last 20 years of his 30-year teaching career at Pioneer, including 16 years as the girls varsity coach. His vision and tireless efforts over the years along with the support of the staff and parents at Pioneer have been the foundation of the success of the tourney.

The 2005 version is scheduled for competition to take place Nov. 30 - Dec. 2 with the championship game scheduled for 8 p.m. on Dec 2. All games will be played at Pioneer.

First round match-ups will see Westmont face Scotts Valley, Monta Vista take on Soquel and Piedmont Hills go up against Oak Grove. Leigh was a late cancellation from the tourney which left only seven teams in the tournament field so Pioneer received a first-round bye.

The Classic has characteristically provided a high level of competition among the participants and this year should prove to be no different with all participants coming from "A" level leagues. In fact, there is a lot of familiarity among the participants which often lends itself to much intensity on the court.

Pioneer, Oak Grove, Westmont and Piedmont Hills compete in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division while Monta Vista is in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Soquel and Scotts Valley play in the always tough Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.

Homestead Cup

Most of the 38 high school boys soccer teams entered in the 12th annual Homestead Christmas Cup will be in action on Dec. 3 as group play continues with 16 games at five sites.

Hosted by Homestead and organized and directed by Mustangs coaches Luis Comesana and Jeff Kordes, the Christmas Cup has grown into one of the Bay Area's best pre-season soccer tournaments. This year's field features 20 teams from last winter's Central Coast Section playoffs, including defending Division I champion Watsonville and Division II winner Archbishop Mitty. Local teams competing in the event are Homestead, Cupertino, Fremont, Lynbrook, Monta Vista, Prospect, Saratoga, Leigh, Los Gatos, Pioneer, Leland, Lincoln and Willow Glen.

Homestead will host three games on Saturday, beginning at noon. Homestead and Lynbrook will clash at 1:45 p.m. Meanwhile, both Lincoln and Willow Glen will host five games Saturday, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Among the games set for Lincoln are Fremont-Lincoln at 10:15 a.m., Santa Cruz-Los Gatos at noon and Leland-Aptos at 3:30 p.m. At Willow Glen, a Harbor-Saratoga match follows the Rams' 1:45 p.m. contest against Menlo Atherton.

Other games Saturday include a 1 p.m. double-header at Mitty and Monta Vista's 2 p.m. clash at Gilroy. Two games also will be played on Dec. 5, including Cupertino's 7 p.m. contest against visiting Mt. Pleasant. Group play concludes on Dec. 10, with two games at Homestead and five each at De Anza College, Willow Glen and Lincoln. The top two teams from each group will compete in the Round of 16 on Dec. 17. Quarterfinals are set for Dec. 19 with the semifinals and championship games to be played the next day.

Mike Barnhart contributed to this story.