Craving the Cup

The Palisades Cup Has Spawned a Spirited and Friendly Athletic Rivalry for Three Local Middle Schools

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

For six years now, local athletes have played their hearts out for the right to raise the Palisades Cup—the silver trophy awarded to the winner of an annual sports competition featuring Corpus Christi, Calvary Christian and St. Matthew’s middle schools.

The brainchild of Corpus Christi Athletic Director Chase Voga, the format consists of the three schools competing head-to-head in six sports—two in the fall, two in the winter and two in the spring)—with each victory being worth one point. The sports are flag football, boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball and girls soccer and the school with the most total points at the end of the school year gets to keep the cup in its glass display case in the gym—and claim neighborhood bragging rights.

“I take great pride in the Palisades Cup, not because it was my idea but our kids actually care too,” says Voga, who has teamed with Calvary Christian Athletic Director Chris Baele and St. Matthew’s Athletic Director Andy Bernstein in making the “chase for the cup” a source of program pride and school spirit. “Past the kids, Chris, Andy and myself few people care very much, but that’s okay—I love it!”

The initial three-way round robin was decided in a tiebreaker in 2014-15, when Corpus Christi won a co-ed eighth-grade bowling tournament after the schools finished in a three-way tie with four points each. The Wildcats retained the trophy the next year when their boys volleyball squad beat Calvary Christian to clinch first place in the point standings and Corpus Christi made it a threepeat in 2016-17. St. Matthew’s won for the first time the next year and the Falcons defended their title in 2018-19. Corpus Christi led Calvary Christian by two points heading into the spring season before COVID-19 brought an abrupt end to the 2019-20 school year.

Voga has been at Corpus Christi (located across the street from the Palisades Library) for 23 years. He started there in 1994, left to coach at Malibu High for two years, then returned to Corpus. Before that, he worked at Hoop Masters Basketball Club and volunteered at the Santa Monica Boys Club.

“One of the biggest challenges is getting a full commitment from our students,” he says. “With club sports being year-round and so expensive, families are forced to choose between school sports and club teams. ‘Be true to your school’ is a song less and less people remember. The most rewarding aspect is seeing the kids on a daily basis and literally watching them grow up. Some of my ex-students are turning 40 this year so it’s always great keeping  up with their lives as well.”

Voga played basketball “like a maniac” as a child and into high school. In junior high he got into surfing and it’s been his passion ever since. His favorite places to surf are Mexico and Costa Rica. Last year, he went to Baja and the Dominican Republic.

As a youngster, Voga played basketball at the Santa Monica Boys Club (now called the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club) and  after graduating from Santa Monica High he volunteered at the club for eight years. He now coaches Corpus’ 7th-8th flag football, 7th-8th boys basketball; golf (3rd and up); bowling (5th and up); cross country (3rd and up); and track and field (3rd & up) teams.

“The two things that get people to come back are giving coaches teams that have a good chance to be successful and letting them only have to worry about coaching and coaching only,” Voga says.

Meanwhile, Baele has built a quality program in his nine years at Calvary Christian in the Highlands. Prior to that he was a swimming pool manager for the Department of Recreation and Parks and a swimming and water polo coach at the Venice High pool.

“The most challenging part of being a middle school A.D. is finding and maintaining high-quality coaching staffs that our parents have come to expect,” Baele says. “Coaching at this level can be a tough job. The commitment that we ask of our coaches isn’t easy to juggle with any outside work they do. We want to support our coaches in terms of advancement in the sports they coach but also strive for consistency in our own program from year to year. The most rewarding aspect of the job is definitely the relationships built with our students, families, and coaches. The best thing I get to do on any given day is watch our kids practice and play and witness their growth and the growth of our coaches.”

Baele was a swimmer growing up and he comes from a family of swimmers. It was the sport he was best at, though he also had a passion for basketball, which was his favorite sport to play. He discovered his passion for teaching and coaching early in his collegiate career and had the opportunity to start coaching swimming while he worked as a lifeguard during college at Cal State Los Angeles and he found he had a real love for working with young athletes. At Calvary he mainly coaches basketball and volleyball.

“I’ve found the secret to finding and retaining good coaches to be the relationships that we build with our existing coaches and the community at large,” Baele says. “We find many of our coaches based on referrals from current or past coaches and relationships that we have with coaches from club programs. My goal is to find as many coaches as possible that are spending the majority of their time outside of their commitment with us, working with athletes in the sport they coach. I always want my students to be as proud of our program as I am and to be proud to be Cougars. Winning the Palisades Cup is important because it builds that pride in our school. So many of the students at Calvary, St. Matthew’s and Corpus are friends outside of school and the bragging rights go a long way in instilling that pride in our program.  We had a pretty strong boys volleyball team this spring and were hoping to make a comeback with a couple wins in boys volleyball.”

Bernstein began teaching physical education at St. Matthew’s on Bienveneda in the year 2000 and also serves as the school’s Director of Athletics. He has been teaching and coaching at LA-area private schools since 1980. A journalism major, he wanted to be a sports writer but got a job as a camp counselor at the Santa Monica YMCA the summer after graduated from San Diego State. He had such a positive experience that he went back to school and got a degree in Recreation Administration.   

“A friend’s sister was looking for a P.E. teacher/coach,” he recalls.  “I don’t know how but I got hired the same day I interviewed and here I am 40 years later!”

Bernstein has enjoyed a lifelong love of sports and believes that athletics are an excellent avenue for young people to explore lessons in life and that knowledgeable and caring coaches are essential to that journey. This past year he coached 6th-grade girls volleyball and co-ed golf. He’s also coached softball and basketball over the years.

“The most rewarding thing is watching the development process of the players and teams,” says Bernstein, who played organized baseball and basketball growing up. “Winning is nice, but it’s just a byproduct of doing things the right way. Many of our kids will go on to play in high school and college but there are also lots of kids who’ll never play organized sports again. We’d like them to take away great memories too.”

How important is it to win the Palisades Cup?

“It’s certainly a nice reward for our 8th graders when they have worked hard all year for their teams,” Bernstein says. “Since a lot of the kids are friends or know each other from competing in the same leagues over the years it gives them some bragging rights as well.”