The area's best volleyball players get one more chance to play

After all that food Thursday you'll need some exercise.

So go out to your car Saturday. Drive to Wheaton College's King Arena. Get out of your car and go inside. Climb up some bleachers.

Then watch some of the area's top volleyball players exercise.

The fifth annual Illinois High School Girls Volleyball All-Star Game and the accompanying second annual Senior Showcase will be held at Wheaton College. The 3 p.m. Showcase features 30 of the top unsigned seniors in the state. The All-Star Game offers 30 of the top signed players. A portion of the proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.

The All-Star Game, starting at about 5 p.m., has two teams with a couple local players on either side. Binghampton recruit Kaelan Haag of Neuqua Valley and Northwestern-bound middle Rachel Fara of Benet, captain of the DuPage County All-Area Team, are teammates for a day. They'll play a side that includes St. Francis' middle Mary Boken, headed to Clemson; and Hinsdale Central's San Diego-bound outside hitter, Lauren Fuller.

The Showcase offers Glenbard East's Samantha Bell, Benet's Dana Griffin, Glenbard West's Patricia Stirb and Wheaton North's Alana Schouten. Also, Neuqua Valley's Emily Krachenfels, Wheaton Warrenville South's Erin Staunton, Downers Grove North's Grace Larson, Hinsdale Central's Alex Davis and Westmont's Gabby Slagle.

If this sounds way too exhausting, relax and slouch in front of your computer. The games will be streamed live on SportsTownChicago.com, operated by students and staff of the Illinois Center for Broadcasting.

Championship quotes

The Daily Herald's bureaus will announce their All-Area football teams Dec. 5, but the action on the field ends this weekend in Champaign.

Before the whistle blows, here are a couple great quotes from a couple highly quotable coaches.

Talking defense, West Chicago's Ted Monken said: "Some guys fall so in love with that 3-3 Stack (defense) they think it can cure cancer and can cure ALS."

Another Monken quote dealt with an early-season loss to DeKalb and Illinois-bound running back Dre Brown: "They didn't do anything special to get him the ball and we didn't do anything special to stop him."

In honor of Montini's downstate berth in Saturday's Class 5A title game against Sacred Heart-Griffin, here's Broncos coach Chris Andriano after their game against another southern squad, East St. Louis.

"Actually we ended up (in) like a 6-2 (defensive front)," he said. "It's our Meatloaf package ... because we bring in all of the beef up front. And if it's like my mom's meatloaf, it's pretty good."

Also, after that 42-36 Montini victory: "It was a battle, the whole game was a battle. And I'm exhausted right now, totally. And I don't even do anything, I don't even coach anymore, I just kind of like stand around."

A lot of heart

Greg Ktistou said he puts a ton of energy into his Breakaway Basketball skill development company. Right up to the limit of his doctor's orders.

A 1997 Downers Grove South graduate and All-Area pick as a senior, for four months in 2009 he was Downers North's boys coach until the lure of continuing a professional basketball career in Europe proved too strong.

Last season at age 34 with the German pro team BG Hagen he was enjoying the best season of his 10-year career. Suddenly a night in the hospital, fearing he was having a heart attack, swept that great start, and his competitive hoops days, into history.

In March Ktistou's playing career abruptly ended when he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In other words, an enlarged heart.

"I realized in March how something you love can be quickly taken away," said Ktistou, who has a wife and baby girl to think about.

So, what do you do with a heart three sizes too big?

Use it.

"Being around the holidays, I was thinking about how we could give back to the community," said Ktistou, typically identified as "Coach Greg" since his last name, pronounced "thee-stew," is so often mishandled.

On Nov. 30 Ktistou and Breakaway Basketball will join with Downers South girls coach Lyndsie Long and her program to present a series of age-based training sessions with the cost of attendance being a new toy of about $25 in value. The toys will be donated to Toys for Tots.

The sessions, held at Downers South, will run from 4-5:15 p.m. for boys and girls in third through fifth grades; 5:15-6:30 for sixth- through eighth-graders; and 6:30-7:45 p.m. for high schoolers. The two younger groups will run through skill development drills then finish with 15 minutes of scrimmage. The high schoolers can't play a game while basketball's in season so they'll stick to the drills. Players need to bring their own ball.

Earlier this week 200 players had already committed. All must preregister by emailing info@breakawaybasketball.com.

"We've expanded so much throughout the western suburbs, and it would be wrong of me not to take advantage, with so many great relationships we have with people and families, not to support a great organization like Toys for Tots," Ktistou said.

In only a few years Breakaway Basketball has trained some six thousand players and 100 different teams.

"Even though it's Breakaway Basketball and people think they're coming for basketball, what matters for us is the messages that we teach through the game of basketball," said Ktistou, who worked to escape the bench before a stellar senior season at Downers South, which led to a college career at Eastern Illinois and Carthage.

"That is the cornerstone to our program, teaching life skills through the game of basketball - discipline, hard work, focus, understanding that anything is a process, a long, hard one," he said.

This Toys for Tots benefit isn't his first charity mission. Last spring he offered a one-day event that raised more than $10,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

It's not quite the same thing, but Breakaway Basketball provided a free clinic at Northern Illinois and paid for the players to see the Huskies game. Through his connections Ktistou got the kids into the locker room afterward.

If it weren't for his health condition, Ktistou would still be overseas drilling the 23-footer against professional competition. Things changed, and he's up for that.

"When I made my decisions based on my heart, it led to things I was meant to do," he said.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1