By Ed Piper, Jr.
I want to focus on a playoff game that La Jolla High's softball team competed in before the CIF championship game, which they won, 2-1, over Mission Bay on a dramatic finish in the bottom of the final inning.
Instead, I want to re-examine the Vikings' powerful 12-3 win over Coronado May 25, only two days before the finals. Why? In collecting 19 hits, the players throughout Coach Andrea Denham's lineup showed what they can do. It was a heck of a display.
(The win actually seemed to break Coronado's spirit, because the Islanders, the number-one seed in the bracket, lost by a big margin to Mission Bay in the next game of the semifinal doubleheader, thus being eliminated from the tournament. La Jolla was seeded sixth.)
From the have's, of Linda Brown, the power-hitter, jolting two two-run homers over the centerfield fence, to the have-not's--I'm using the terms figuratively--of, say, Ava Verbrugghen, who only plays for the high school team, getting a hit and a sacrifice, everybody took part in the hitting festival.
Now, you guys, don't take things personally. I'm merely drawing out the distinction in today's high school softball between the players who practice the craft almost year-round on club teams, and those who only play for their high school teams.
Usually, but not always, the girls who compete for club teams are the better players. One, there is a selection process. If you're not very good, you probably wouldn't be playing on a club team. Two, the coaching and game experience you get on a club team are going to hone your skills. Otherwise, what are you doing out there in practice everyday?
The girls, when you talk to them, love this mixing of talents with their friends in school. They don't express frustration at all at some of their teammates' errors or mental mistakes that come from not knowing the sport the way they do.
Take Bishop's. I did a story on the Lady Knights team earlier in the season, and conducted a lengthy interview with their star pitcher, Shelby Maier, who had just committed to a full-ride at a four-year school. She said she really enjoyed playing for her school team, whereas playing for her club team was "stressful".
In the same way, without revealing names, similar was heard among the Viking contingent during warmups before the Coronado game. There is a different atmosphere on the school team. No one is competing for a position. In fact, they go around to other girls at school before and during the season trying to get them to join the team, because there aren't enough players.
That's how Verbrugghen came out. She had never played before her sophomore year. Some on the team recruited her to join the team camaraderie. That's how Sara Tyrus came out and ended up being the starting second baseman pretty much throughout her high school years. Ditto Sina Anae, an athlete but not a softball player, who ended up scoring the winning run for the championship.
I don't think Hailey Ramos plays for a club team, either. Am I wrong?
Ramos, as noted elsewhere, had four hits in the semifinal win over Coronado, including two RBI's. Vanessa Shaffer, another talented athlete but not experienced in softball before coming out two years ago as a freshman, had a single in the second and coaxed a walk in the fifth, after relief pitcher Emma Casamassima, newly inserted for the Islanders, twice was called for illegal pitches. The pitcher was landing to the side on her pitching delivery, instead of the required straight-ahead step.
I had never seen the call before.
Tyrus, a graduating senior who originally planned to sit out this season and who now has a CIF title, hit a single in the sixth and came around to score the Vikings' ninth run when Coronado catcher Danielle Herrera made an error.
Anae failed to get a hit, and was scolding herself for it. But Sina, with her big sister watching from the stands at the Poway Sportsplex, did line out to the second baseman twice.
The unsung cog in the machine has been Emily Alvarez. She is the original good humor team member, taking videos of teammates and generally keeping a smile on her face. She's easy-going, like her sister Stephanie, who starred for La Jolla and who attended the playoff games.
Alvarez singled in the third, singled again in the fourth, and played a dependable first base.
Josie Sinkeldam had three hits, including a two-run triple in the second, and scored twice. Kyra Ferenczy, likewise, had three hits, three RBI's, and scored three times in the romp.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
LJ softball: LJHS's fifth CIF title this year
By Ed Piper, Jr.
If I'm not mistaken, the La Jolla High softball team's CIF title May 27 is the fifth CIF title for LJHS this school year.
Paula Conway, the Viking Athletic Director, said the school already had four titles up till last week. I believe my memory is correct, although I can't enumerate the four: We have girls soccer, boys volleyball, and boys lacrosse. I know that a pair in girls beach volleyball won, but I don't know if Paula was counting them.
What was pretty remarkable about the boys lacrosse and boys volleyball titles was that they occurred the same evening, the same day. I was busy attending to softball playoff duties that day, having been out of the area for a while and having stayed home from events to let my nasty back recuperate a little.
Back in my days, in the CIF Southern Section, there were only four divisions, 4A through 1A, 4A being the highest. And in the major sports at least, football, basketball, and baseball, only the league champions advanced to the playoffs.
So, after having gone to all-star baseball tournaments for years in youth league, Pony League, and so forth, my brother and I were shut out in our high school competition from playing in the CIF playoffs. My brother, a backup first baseman at the time, went one year, but he didn't play.
I know the arguments about the dilution of the meaning of a CIF title when San Diego Section has a billion divisions. But I never see any parent or player complaining when their team just won the championship game. All I see is a major dogpile celebration on the field among the players, and family members and students whooping and hollering in the stands.
It's just plain fun and exciting.
Another aspect to having many opportunities to advance to the playoffs is the invaluable experience it yields to players. They've been tested in the heat of competition, when games are often do-or-die, and it's just fantastic.
I never went to the basketball playoffs, but hitting key free throws in the third overtime of an upset win over Santa Barbara High, the giant in our league at that time featuring future Laker Don Ford, gave me the confidence to play much better players in pickup ball on Saturdays at Loyola Marymount College and in competition in Mexico City, where I played in a men's league.
I remember stepping to the line in a game in Xochimilco, where there are floating gardens in southern Mexico City, and calmly thinking I had done all this before and succeeded. I made the free throws, which I expected, and our team won.
Hopefully, that confidence blends over into other parts of student athletes' lives as they get older and mature. A healthy confidence. Not a cocky, irritating self-assurance. I would call it a right view of ourselves, in perspective, with us having value and worth, beneath a God who loves and cares for us.
If I'm not mistaken, the La Jolla High softball team's CIF title May 27 is the fifth CIF title for LJHS this school year.
Paula Conway, the Viking Athletic Director, said the school already had four titles up till last week. I believe my memory is correct, although I can't enumerate the four: We have girls soccer, boys volleyball, and boys lacrosse. I know that a pair in girls beach volleyball won, but I don't know if Paula was counting them.
What was pretty remarkable about the boys lacrosse and boys volleyball titles was that they occurred the same evening, the same day. I was busy attending to softball playoff duties that day, having been out of the area for a while and having stayed home from events to let my nasty back recuperate a little.
Back in my days, in the CIF Southern Section, there were only four divisions, 4A through 1A, 4A being the highest. And in the major sports at least, football, basketball, and baseball, only the league champions advanced to the playoffs.
So, after having gone to all-star baseball tournaments for years in youth league, Pony League, and so forth, my brother and I were shut out in our high school competition from playing in the CIF playoffs. My brother, a backup first baseman at the time, went one year, but he didn't play.
I know the arguments about the dilution of the meaning of a CIF title when San Diego Section has a billion divisions. But I never see any parent or player complaining when their team just won the championship game. All I see is a major dogpile celebration on the field among the players, and family members and students whooping and hollering in the stands.
It's just plain fun and exciting.
Another aspect to having many opportunities to advance to the playoffs is the invaluable experience it yields to players. They've been tested in the heat of competition, when games are often do-or-die, and it's just fantastic.
I never went to the basketball playoffs, but hitting key free throws in the third overtime of an upset win over Santa Barbara High, the giant in our league at that time featuring future Laker Don Ford, gave me the confidence to play much better players in pickup ball on Saturdays at Loyola Marymount College and in competition in Mexico City, where I played in a men's league.
I remember stepping to the line in a game in Xochimilco, where there are floating gardens in southern Mexico City, and calmly thinking I had done all this before and succeeded. I made the free throws, which I expected, and our team won.
Hopefully, that confidence blends over into other parts of student athletes' lives as they get older and mature. A healthy confidence. Not a cocky, irritating self-assurance. I would call it a right view of ourselves, in perspective, with us having value and worth, beneath a God who loves and cares for us.
LJ softball: CIF title
By Ed Piper, Jr.
In the aftermath of a CIF title, things have to look different.
La Jolla High's softball team put in all that work, had a break-through season a year ago to fall in the championship game to a superior Christian High team.
That scenario looks totally different, seen backwards through the lens of the Vikings' title-grabbing ways only four days ago.
The final against Mission Bay was a pitcher's duel, with the Buccaneers' talented freshman, Cassidy West, dominating center stage.
Besides striking out 13 Vikings, including seven in a row early in the game, she wasn't allowing many baserunners either.
Hailey Ramos, La Jolla's catcher, continued to be a revelation, getting two hits and knocking in the team's first run.
Nothing came easy, and after Mission Bay tied the game in the top of the fifth, there wasn't much else going on on the basepaths either way.
Kyra Ferenczy, the Vikings' pitcher, makes it look easy sometimes. She loves playing, it's apparent, and sometimes her pitching gets overshadowed by her adept hitting.
When you hit the way she did her freshman year, and no one else is a proficient pitcher on your team, people can start to assume you're going to be in the pitching circle each game and not think that much more about it.
But in the championship game, it came down to her and the defense keeping the Bucs from scoring further in the fifth, when they could have.
The tight play of the Vikings set up Josie Sinkeldam's game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh, driving in Sina Anae with one out.
What happened just prior to Anae scoring was a totally nerve-wracking--from the La Jolla dugout, at least--play. Anae, a good athlete but new to softball, strayed way toward third base on Vanessa Shaffer's bunt attempt, which she popped up into the air.
Not realizing she had to get back to the bag initially, Sina, a good runner, hesitated for a moment. She was close to two-thirds of the way down the basepath.
When the popup was caught, it looked like Anae was a dead duck.
That would have been the second out, but more importantly, it would have snuffed out the potential run that she represented after a smash double to right.
Everybody in her dugout yelled at her to get back.
Somehow, like in a slow-motion movie reel, she got back to second, beating the throw. She kind of jump-slid, jamming her limb stiff-legged into the bag.
Two pitches later, Sinkeldam lined a pitch from West--all the club players either know or are aware of one another--into right center, breaking a 1-1 tie, and the celebration was on.
In the aftermath of a CIF title, things have to look different.
La Jolla High's softball team put in all that work, had a break-through season a year ago to fall in the championship game to a superior Christian High team.
That scenario looks totally different, seen backwards through the lens of the Vikings' title-grabbing ways only four days ago.
The final against Mission Bay was a pitcher's duel, with the Buccaneers' talented freshman, Cassidy West, dominating center stage.
Besides striking out 13 Vikings, including seven in a row early in the game, she wasn't allowing many baserunners either.
Hailey Ramos, La Jolla's catcher, continued to be a revelation, getting two hits and knocking in the team's first run.
Nothing came easy, and after Mission Bay tied the game in the top of the fifth, there wasn't much else going on on the basepaths either way.
Kyra Ferenczy, the Vikings' pitcher, makes it look easy sometimes. She loves playing, it's apparent, and sometimes her pitching gets overshadowed by her adept hitting.
When you hit the way she did her freshman year, and no one else is a proficient pitcher on your team, people can start to assume you're going to be in the pitching circle each game and not think that much more about it.
But in the championship game, it came down to her and the defense keeping the Bucs from scoring further in the fifth, when they could have.
The tight play of the Vikings set up Josie Sinkeldam's game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh, driving in Sina Anae with one out.
What happened just prior to Anae scoring was a totally nerve-wracking--from the La Jolla dugout, at least--play. Anae, a good athlete but new to softball, strayed way toward third base on Vanessa Shaffer's bunt attempt, which she popped up into the air.
Not realizing she had to get back to the bag initially, Sina, a good runner, hesitated for a moment. She was close to two-thirds of the way down the basepath.
When the popup was caught, it looked like Anae was a dead duck.
That would have been the second out, but more importantly, it would have snuffed out the potential run that she represented after a smash double to right.
Everybody in her dugout yelled at her to get back.
Somehow, like in a slow-motion movie reel, she got back to second, beating the throw. She kind of jump-slid, jamming her limb stiff-legged into the bag.
Two pitches later, Sinkeldam lined a pitch from West--all the club players either know or are aware of one another--into right center, breaking a 1-1 tie, and the celebration was on.
LJ softball: Clutch hitting
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Gary Sinkeldam had some remarkable statistics. Sinkeldam, the official scorekeeper and statistician for La Jolla's CIF-winning softball team, compiled the following numbers in the Division 4 playoffs prior to the Vikings' title win at UCSD Sat., May 27.
His daughter, Josie Sinkeldam, the junior shortstop, was hitting a whopping .625 from the leadoff spot. Hailey Ramos, the team's catcher, a sophomore, was popping the ball at a .533 clip.
Meanwhile, Linda Brown, the Vikings' graduating power-hitting third baseman, clubbed the ball at .529 through the playoffs. Finally, Kyra Ferenczy, pitcher/third-slot hitter, was hitting an even .500.
No wonder Coach Andrea Denham's team came alive during the playoffs. Their hitting was phenomenal. The bats woke up, as coaches like to say.
That takes care of one of the major facets of softball. The other, a pitcher, has been very solid with Ferenczy, a sophomore in her second year of pitching practically all of La Jolla's innings.
That's one area in which softball is so different from baseball: In baseball, a coach has to find multiple arms and juggle them in starter and reliever roles. The human arm was not designed to take the beating of an overhand throw multiple days in a row.
With the underhanded softball motion, a star pitcher can pitch nearly every inning, and both games of a doubleheader, if necessary, without rest.
Imagine that "Iron Joe" McGinnity, in the old days of major league baseball, did just that. Unthinkable now.
Gary Sinkeldam had some remarkable statistics. Sinkeldam, the official scorekeeper and statistician for La Jolla's CIF-winning softball team, compiled the following numbers in the Division 4 playoffs prior to the Vikings' title win at UCSD Sat., May 27.
His daughter, Josie Sinkeldam, the junior shortstop, was hitting a whopping .625 from the leadoff spot. Hailey Ramos, the team's catcher, a sophomore, was popping the ball at a .533 clip.
Meanwhile, Linda Brown, the Vikings' graduating power-hitting third baseman, clubbed the ball at .529 through the playoffs. Finally, Kyra Ferenczy, pitcher/third-slot hitter, was hitting an even .500.
No wonder Coach Andrea Denham's team came alive during the playoffs. Their hitting was phenomenal. The bats woke up, as coaches like to say.
That takes care of one of the major facets of softball. The other, a pitcher, has been very solid with Ferenczy, a sophomore in her second year of pitching practically all of La Jolla's innings.
That's one area in which softball is so different from baseball: In baseball, a coach has to find multiple arms and juggle them in starter and reliever roles. The human arm was not designed to take the beating of an overhand throw multiple days in a row.
With the underhanded softball motion, a star pitcher can pitch nearly every inning, and both games of a doubleheader, if necessary, without rest.
Imagine that "Iron Joe" McGinnity, in the old days of major league baseball, did just that. Unthinkable now.
LJ FB: Roach and Hayden
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Spring football at La Jolla High moves forward apace.
There is a sense that "We've been together before" and "Let's build it from here".
Tyler Roach is the third head football coach the program has had in the past 16 months. But Roach was the offensive coordinator prior to Matt Morrison's short one-year interlude as head coach, so more than one player has said, with no disrespect to the effective Morrison: "He (Coach Roach) is the coach I thought should have been hired a year ago."
Said Roach of his initial spring workouts as head coach of a program, "We're trying to get the team together. We have a lot of young guys. We want to teach them how we practice.
"We've already seen a progression this week in three days," Roach said back on Wed., May 24, the third day of workouts.
Quarterback Kenny Hayden, rehabbing his right knee and standing on crutches, in response to being asked what the point of spring workouts was, said, "To learn the game of football and to create a bond with your family. It's not just the football ethic, but learning to play with your family.
"It also has to do with a work ethic," Hayden continued. "I know when I've worked hard and achieved something, it has taught me the rewards of a work ethic."
La Jolla practiced Monday through Thursday afternoons May 22-25 during the first week of workouts. Then this week, after the Memorial Day holiday Mon., May 29, the Vikings continued practice Tuesday, to be continued Wednesday and Thursday.
Roach didn't schedule practice for Fri., May 26. It was part of the four-day Memorial Day Weekend.
He was apologetic and explanatory about not holding practice this coming Fri., June 2: "It's a half day of school, and you know how that goes as far as getting things together."
What the program will do Sat., June 3, beginning at 9 a.m., is hold a Family Day, with spring games, meet-the-coaches, a tour of facilities, and a barbecue after the games at 11:30 a.m.
A new thing is the attractiveness of the facilities. Last year the program was still in storage containers at Muirlands Middle School in August. Now, La Jolla can show off its new turf, concessions stands, press box, but more importantly for the athletes the new trainer's room and strength/weight training room.
Said new receivers coach Armon Harvey, "I've never had this before. Our coaches' office is right on the field (the northern-most building, in the corner of the stadium next to the shot put pit). I just came over from the pro league in Europe, and we didn't have this."
Regarding bodies, he said, "We have 20 to 25 players" who showed interest in playing on the freshman team next year in a meeting for eighth-graders from Muirlands Middle School.
Harvey coached for the Cineplexx Devils, a pro football team in the state of Voralberg in Austria. He was head coach of the organization's second team, and offensive coordinator of the first team. It was part of the European Football League (EFL).
Interestingly, the league has a large number of players from Germany and Austria, where Harvey said there is interest in and knowledge of American football. "It would be kind of like a DI school here," he said as far as the competitive level.
Each team can have three Americans on its active roster. Two Americans can play on each platoon, offense and defense.
Spring football at La Jolla High moves forward apace.
There is a sense that "We've been together before" and "Let's build it from here".
Tyler Roach is the third head football coach the program has had in the past 16 months. But Roach was the offensive coordinator prior to Matt Morrison's short one-year interlude as head coach, so more than one player has said, with no disrespect to the effective Morrison: "He (Coach Roach) is the coach I thought should have been hired a year ago."
Said Roach of his initial spring workouts as head coach of a program, "We're trying to get the team together. We have a lot of young guys. We want to teach them how we practice.
"We've already seen a progression this week in three days," Roach said back on Wed., May 24, the third day of workouts.
Quarterback Kenny Hayden, rehabbing his right knee and standing on crutches, in response to being asked what the point of spring workouts was, said, "To learn the game of football and to create a bond with your family. It's not just the football ethic, but learning to play with your family.
"It also has to do with a work ethic," Hayden continued. "I know when I've worked hard and achieved something, it has taught me the rewards of a work ethic."
La Jolla practiced Monday through Thursday afternoons May 22-25 during the first week of workouts. Then this week, after the Memorial Day holiday Mon., May 29, the Vikings continued practice Tuesday, to be continued Wednesday and Thursday.
Roach didn't schedule practice for Fri., May 26. It was part of the four-day Memorial Day Weekend.
He was apologetic and explanatory about not holding practice this coming Fri., June 2: "It's a half day of school, and you know how that goes as far as getting things together."
What the program will do Sat., June 3, beginning at 9 a.m., is hold a Family Day, with spring games, meet-the-coaches, a tour of facilities, and a barbecue after the games at 11:30 a.m.
A new thing is the attractiveness of the facilities. Last year the program was still in storage containers at Muirlands Middle School in August. Now, La Jolla can show off its new turf, concessions stands, press box, but more importantly for the athletes the new trainer's room and strength/weight training room.
Said new receivers coach Armon Harvey, "I've never had this before. Our coaches' office is right on the field (the northern-most building, in the corner of the stadium next to the shot put pit). I just came over from the pro league in Europe, and we didn't have this."
Regarding bodies, he said, "We have 20 to 25 players" who showed interest in playing on the freshman team next year in a meeting for eighth-graders from Muirlands Middle School.
Harvey coached for the Cineplexx Devils, a pro football team in the state of Voralberg in Austria. He was head coach of the organization's second team, and offensive coordinator of the first team. It was part of the European Football League (EFL).
Interestingly, the league has a large number of players from Germany and Austria, where Harvey said there is interest in and knowledge of American football. "It would be kind of like a DI school here," he said as far as the competitive level.
Each team can have three Americans on its active roster. Two Americans can play on each platoon, offense and defense.
LJ FB: Forcier a quarterback force
QB confab: Vike coach Chris
Forcier confers with
Trevor Scully.
(Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Chris Forcier presents a fierce exterior. Think Norse warrior, profile view.
The former St. Augustine star, in La Jolla's spring workouts, never smiles and has an intimidating visage as he marshals his new quarterback corps, baseball cap backwards over shoulder-length hair.
If he can bring further respectability to the Viking football tradition, more power to him.
The average San Diego County resident, when "La Jolla football" is mentioned, doesn't generally associate "intimidating" with the phrase.
More likely that the person will say, "You mean Country Day?", since that is a well-known sports school. La Jolla High, not so much.
Forcier, for the uninitiated, is the middle brother of a renowned local football family. Besides leading the Saints at quarterback in his prep days, the tall right-hander went to UCLA, then transferred to Furman University. He spent time on rosters in the NFL and then-NFL Europe (now the EFL).
From a pair of days watching him up-close in spring practice at Edwards Field, it is apparent he didn't just start coaching as an ex-jock, though. Previously, he was quarterbacks coach at Hoover High, under Jerry Ralph, a respected long-time head coach who is now at El Camino High in Oceanside. Ralph was Forcier's coach in high school.
"Chris brings some knowledge, some great experience," says Tyler Roach, the Vikings' new head coach and former offensive coordinator, who brought Forcier onto his staff this spring. "He's a great guy. He comes from a great football family. We're lucky to have him. He's collaborating with me on offense."
On Tues., May 30, Forcier guided his quarterbacks through intensive drills. There didn't appear to be wasted time, and the tone of the work reflected the look on the quarterback coach's face: all business, no slapping people on the back and saying good job. Very serious.
His quarterbacks, Trevor Scully and Carsten Fehlan, seemed to relish the level of work. They moved repeatedly around a circuit that included stepping high-kneed at separate stations marked by cones several yards apart, carrying the football ready to throw while maintaining a look down an imaginary field, then running rapidly with tiny but pronounced steps in a rope ladder laid on the ground to further agility.
Scully, in the view of a relatively inexperienced football observer who knows athletics overall, seemed to move precisely and quickly, without missing a step. Scully will be a senior next year. Fehlan, one year in school younger, looked almost as impressive. It's early, and a lot of water is going to pass under the proverbial bridge during the rest of spring practice, summer passing leagues, the annual team-building trip in Big Bear, and official practice in August.
LJ FB: Quarterback competition
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Not easing rising senior Kenny Hayden's anxiety any, the quarterback spot at La Jolla High is wide-open, among Hayden, last year's JV quarterback Carsten Fehlan, and Trevor Scully, a former Viking who transferred back from Mission Bay Wed., May 24.
Hayden, a southpaw passer, is the only one of the three who was on La Jolla's varsity squad full-time and exclusively last year. Fehlan led an outstanding junior varsity that sailed through an undefeated 9-0 season. Scully spent a year starting for the Buccaneers after Cole Dimich prevailed as Viking starting quarterback last season.
"It's totally open," said new La Jolla receivers coach Armon Harvey Tues., May 30, of the quarterback competition. "That's the way (new head coach) Tyler (Roach) does it, coming over from La Jolla Country Day."
"Kenny does not have seniority," said Harvey, who at present is part of a triumvirate that is piloting the red-and-black offense, with Roach doubling in his role as head coach also as offensive coordinator. Chris Forcier, the third prong of the trio, is quarterbacks coach. While Harvey spoke with a reporter, Forcier was running Scully and Fehlan through cone and ladder drills for agility and mobility while practicing their downfield-read posture. They looked pretty sweaty when they were done. They were working hard.
Harvey, a former fullback who played and coached in Europe, as well as coaching at Mater Dei, Montgomery, Monte Vista, and, last year, Del Norte high schools, vowed the Vikings' offense will be "electrifying" next fall.
"I see us competing for the (Eastern League) flag," he said. Spring football is like Spring Training baseball: Hope springs eternal. No one has any losses yet.
Roach's program, with the active quarterbacks, Scully and Fehlan, rotating, has a slate of 7-on-7 passing drill competitions scheduled this summer. One will be the annual camp at San Diego State. Another is the big camp held on the Southwestern College campus in the South Bay. Hayden is presently rehabbing a knee, and is not taking part in workouts.
This time the powers-that-be enter the summer fray with the expectation--assurance?--that this head coach will be around for a few seasons. That's what Head of Football Operations John McColl, who was at Wednesday's practice, clearly stated at the team event announcing Roach's hire back in March.
Not easing rising senior Kenny Hayden's anxiety any, the quarterback spot at La Jolla High is wide-open, among Hayden, last year's JV quarterback Carsten Fehlan, and Trevor Scully, a former Viking who transferred back from Mission Bay Wed., May 24.
Hayden, a southpaw passer, is the only one of the three who was on La Jolla's varsity squad full-time and exclusively last year. Fehlan led an outstanding junior varsity that sailed through an undefeated 9-0 season. Scully spent a year starting for the Buccaneers after Cole Dimich prevailed as Viking starting quarterback last season.
"It's totally open," said new La Jolla receivers coach Armon Harvey Tues., May 30, of the quarterback competition. "That's the way (new head coach) Tyler (Roach) does it, coming over from La Jolla Country Day."
"Kenny does not have seniority," said Harvey, who at present is part of a triumvirate that is piloting the red-and-black offense, with Roach doubling in his role as head coach also as offensive coordinator. Chris Forcier, the third prong of the trio, is quarterbacks coach. While Harvey spoke with a reporter, Forcier was running Scully and Fehlan through cone and ladder drills for agility and mobility while practicing their downfield-read posture. They looked pretty sweaty when they were done. They were working hard.
Harvey, a former fullback who played and coached in Europe, as well as coaching at Mater Dei, Montgomery, Monte Vista, and, last year, Del Norte high schools, vowed the Vikings' offense will be "electrifying" next fall.
"I see us competing for the (Eastern League) flag," he said. Spring football is like Spring Training baseball: Hope springs eternal. No one has any losses yet.
Roach's program, with the active quarterbacks, Scully and Fehlan, rotating, has a slate of 7-on-7 passing drill competitions scheduled this summer. One will be the annual camp at San Diego State. Another is the big camp held on the Southwestern College campus in the South Bay. Hayden is presently rehabbing a knee, and is not taking part in workouts.
This time the powers-that-be enter the summer fray with the expectation--assurance?--that this head coach will be around for a few seasons. That's what Head of Football Operations John McColl, who was at Wednesday's practice, clearly stated at the team event announcing Roach's hire back in March.
LJ FB: The view from Coach Armon Harvey's spot
Armon Harvey (right) plots the next offensive play
with fellow coach Chris Forcier (center)
in Vikings' 7-on-7 drills May 30.
(Photo by Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Armon Harvey remembers his last time playing on the Edwards Stadium field.
"The final score was 12-0, La Jolla beat us (Mission Bay)," reminisced Harvey, the Vikings' new wide receivers coach. "All the scoring was on field goals."
But the coaching veteran, who has served on staffs in the European Football League (EFL), formerly NFL Europe, as well as at local high schools, promises a whole different type of offense by La Jolla this fall.
"We're definitely going to be electrifying, fast-paced," says the likable and outgoing former Buccaneer linebacker and fullback. "I like to say 'to be quick, fast, and in a hurry.'"
Is this the typical preseason coaches' positive chatter, or does he have a basis for what he claims? We will see beginning in August, but Harvey does point out the two quarterbacks, Trevor Scully and Carsten Fehlan, working out a short distance away, and mentions Kenny Hayden, presently rehabbing his injured right knee.
Scully, in 7-on-7 drills during spring workouts Tues., May 30, consistently made medium-range passes with snap and speed, maintaining a pretty tight spiral on each pass. Many were complete, some too difficult for the receivers taking part in the workout to grab under pressure. Phelan, last year's quarterback on a 9-0 junior varsity squad, was working more on sending a consistent spiral while a reporter watched.
Hayden, the only returner from last year's varsity of the three, won't be back in active drills until August, he said last week on the sidelines of workouts May 24. He was walking on crutches, before visiting Matt Bridges' trainer's room for a treatment.
Scully's eligibility at La Jolla began that day, May 24, according to new Vikings head coach Tyler Roach, returning after a year starting for Mission Bay's football team under former La Jolla coach Jason Carter as his offensive coordinator. So Scully would seem to have an edge that way.
Back to Harvey, he ran an impromptu mini-clinic for a sideline observer on how the quarterbacks and receivers read the placement of the safeties and middle linebacker when they come up to the line, then both respond in an practiced but improvised kind of ballet to connect on passes. The coach, Del Norte's receivers coach last year as well as JV head coach there, was clear, thorough, dynamic--can we say articulate?
Roach and Harvey said that at this point, head coach Roach will serve as the Vikings' offensive coordinator, in collaboration with Harvey and Chris Forcier, a former St. Augustine star quarterback, the middle brother of the Forcier family.
"We found that we were totally on the same page when we sat down and talked," said Harvey of his interview with Roach to join the new Vikings' staff. "He (Roach) also wanted to see if I was compatible with the other coaches." The answer was yes.
"We agreed on every detail," said Harvey of his tete-a-tete with Roach. The atmosphere on the practice field seemed to reflect that, with a lot of energy, the three coaches interacting, deciding what kind of play to call next, their active exchanges with Scully, Phelan, and the other players energetic, on task--taking care of the business at hand.
With the third head coach of the program in the past 16 months, no one seemed to be sitting around wondering what to do next.
Back to Harvey, he ran an impromptu mini-clinic for a sideline observer on how the quarterbacks and receivers read the placement of the safeties and middle linebacker when they come up to the line, then both respond in an practiced but improvised kind of ballet to connect on passes. The coach, Del Norte's receivers coach last year as well as JV head coach there, was clear, thorough, dynamic--can we say articulate?
Roach and Harvey said that at this point, head coach Roach will serve as the Vikings' offensive coordinator, in collaboration with Harvey and Chris Forcier, a former St. Augustine star quarterback, the middle brother of the Forcier family.
"We found that we were totally on the same page when we sat down and talked," said Harvey of his interview with Roach to join the new Vikings' staff. "He (Roach) also wanted to see if I was compatible with the other coaches." The answer was yes.
"We agreed on every detail," said Harvey of his tete-a-tete with Roach. The atmosphere on the practice field seemed to reflect that, with a lot of energy, the three coaches interacting, deciding what kind of play to call next, their active exchanges with Scully, Phelan, and the other players energetic, on task--taking care of the business at hand.
With the third head coach of the program in the past 16 months, no one seemed to be sitting around wondering what to do next.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
LJ softball 2, Mission Bay 1
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Josie Sinkeldam drove a walk-off game-winning hit into centerfield to score Sina Anae from second base in the bottom of the seventh as La Jolla won the CIF Division 4 championship game over Mission Bay, 2-1, Sat., May 27, at UCSD.
Anae, an all-around athlete, had almost been doubled off second on a popped-up bunt by Vanessa Shaffer just before her winning moment. Anae is in her first year of baseball, and didn't realize she had to get back to the bag until teammates yelled to her.
The Vikings, who had been denied in the title game last year, falling 5-0 to Christian in the final, had solved Buccaneer pitcher Cassidy West only for one run in the fourth inning before Sinkeldam's game-winner. West, an outstanding 5'10" freshman pitcher as well as hitter, struck out the side in the second and third innings, registering a streak of seven straight strikeouts.
Josie Sinkeldam drove a walk-off game-winning hit into centerfield to score Sina Anae from second base in the bottom of the seventh as La Jolla won the CIF Division 4 championship game over Mission Bay, 2-1, Sat., May 27, at UCSD.
Anae, an all-around athlete, had almost been doubled off second on a popped-up bunt by Vanessa Shaffer just before her winning moment. Anae is in her first year of baseball, and didn't realize she had to get back to the bag until teammates yelled to her.
The Vikings, who had been denied in the title game last year, falling 5-0 to Christian in the final, had solved Buccaneer pitcher Cassidy West only for one run in the fourth inning before Sinkeldam's game-winner. West, an outstanding 5'10" freshman pitcher as well as hitter, struck out the side in the second and third innings, registering a streak of seven straight strikeouts.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
LJ softball 12, Coronado 3
The ever-present mascots Pancho
(on top) and George hang with
Ava Verbrugghen.
(Photos by Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Senior Linda Brown clubbed a pair of two-run home runs and had four RBI's to lead a 19-hit attack in La Jolla's 12-3 win over Coronado Thurs., May 25, to earn a berth in the CIF Division 4 finals Saturday for the second year in a row.
Catcher Hailey Ramos got into the act with four straight hits, driving in two runs on a ground-rule double in the top of the third inning that bounced over the plastic net fence in left-center field at the Poway Sportsplex.
Ramos, a sophomore hitting .307, made a fine defensive play to keep the Islanders from scoring in the bottom of the third. With one out and Coronado's Maya Wisotzki on third base, Trudie Nixon hit a groundball to Vikings shortstop Josie Sinkeldam. Sinkeldam immediately threw home. Ramos positioned herself up the line toward third, blocking Wisotzki's path to the plate as she took the throw and made the tag on her upper body.
La Jolla pitcher Kyra Ferenczy took advantage of the play to hold Coronado scoreless until the sixth inning, when the outcome of the semifinal game was pretty much decided with Coach Andrea Denham's team leading by then by nine runs.
The sophomore hurler, who in club ball plays one of the corner outfield spots, also added three base knocks and three RBI's, hitting in the third slot.
Said Brown before the game, playing in the last CIF playoffs of her four-year high school career, "I'm pretty excited. I'm confident. We've been playing well. We've been on our 'A' game the last five games."
Something got under her craw, though: "Teams come in here and don't think we can beat them, because of our bad start."
Linda Brown takes swings with Josie Sinkeldam (L)
during warm-ups.
Before going out and stinging the ball for five hits off Coronado starter Trudie Nixon, who lasted four innings, and reliever Emma Casamassima, who pitched the last three, Brown admitted that after the season is over, "I'll probably be sobbing," because, "This is my family."Sinkeldam, in her customary leadoff spot, reached base four times and hit a two-RBI triple to the fence in centerfield in the second that started off the Vikings' scoring against Nixon.
Said a reflective Brown as she swapped places practicing swings with the shortstop before the game, "I've known Josie since I was 12."
Ferenczy limited Coronado, which was the top seed in the playoffs, to no more than one hit in every inning through the fifth. The Islanders finally put together three hits in the sixth to score their first two runs.
"You want to be champions," assistant coach Tracy Brown told the team before the game, "you got to take it. They aren't going to give it to you."
This is the second year in a row the elder Brown has helped take the squad to the finals. Last year Denham was JV coach. Anthony Sarain, who was in attendance, was the head coach last year, his seventh and final one with the Vikes.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
LJ baseball 0, Country Day 7
Vike right-hander Nick
Hammel closed out a
stellar high sports
career. (Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Starter Nick Hammel held it together through four innings, keeping host Country Day in check by allowing only two runs, until Torrey shortstop Carson Greene doubled two runners home in the bottom of the fifth. Then things deteriorated from there, as fellow senior Nick Ferenczy took over for Hammel on the mound.
It was the final game in any sport at La Jolla High for the pair of Nick's, who have entertained us with their skills--Hammel in football and basketball, as well--and embodied the values of hard work and dedication over the past four years.
In fact, Hammel's basketball coach, Paul Baranowski, watched his former guard/wing pitch his last game.
Their classmate, Dane Hansen, who will walk through graduation with them June 14, saw his season and high school career end five games ago with a left (non-throwing) shoulder injury. The first baseman watched from the bench. Hansen starred in football and baseball.
The CIF play-in game Tues., May 23, was bittersweet as the Vikings finished out their season, winning only one of their last 14 games, just a rough, rough skid. Their record, which stood at a mediocre 8-7 a month ago, plummeted to a final 9-20 during the streak.
The bats of Coach Gary Frank's squad, which seemed so full of promise at the start of the season, were silent before Country Day right-hander Brandon Nance during Hammel's stretch on the mound. So there wasn't much help there.
LJCDS Coach John Edman's ace allowed just one hit during his sparkling five innings, yielding only a single up the middle by Sebastian Partida in the second inning. Nick Ferenczy added a second Viking hit after reliever Liam Greubel came on for Nance in the sixth.
In all, Hammel, a hard-luck pitcher this year despite throwing well much of the time, was charged with six runs, leaving a runner, the Torreys' Colton Punches, on second when Frank replaced him with the score 5-0.
The senior right-hander was simply out of gas after 81 pitches. Nance was economical, serving up 59 pitches.
"Someone from outside could look at the statistics and think things were terrible," said Frank in the pregame. "We just haven't gotten the break we needed this season."
Said Hansen, watching his teammates warm up while he wore school clothes, "We need to play with a lot of energy. We need to have good at-bats."
Dane said he likes to play at Country Day's venue, "because it's like ours," with artificial turf. Even with a cooling breeze on a sunny day, the temperature on the field felt warmer because of the surface.
But La Jolla proceeded to struggle, going down 1-2-3 to Nance in the top of the first. Then the pitcher, who doubles as the Torreys' leadoff hitter, bombed Hammel's second pitch clearly beyond the temporary outfield fence to the right of straightaway center field.
Hammel got out of the bottom of the third allowing only one run after several hard-hit balls. Greubel, playing second base, singled to center to lead off the inning. After Nance hit another long fly to center, this one corralled by Cole Dimich, Jacob Frankel singled sharply to left. Then Greene drove both runners in with a base hit to center.
The Viking right-hander was able to get the next batter, Josh Howe, on a lineout to left fielder Cooper McNally and Punches on a groundout to Zach Sehgal at short to end the inning.
In the fateful fifth, Country Day scored five runs to break the game open.
Monday, May 22, 2017
LJ softball: Notebook
Emily Alvarez, Vikes' first baseman,
takes a feed from assistant coach
Tracy Brown before game.
(Photo by Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
La Jolla started right off in the top of the first in the Vikings' playoff game Sat., May 20, when leadoff hitter Josie Sinkeldam hit the first pitch from Mar Vista's Jazmin Gomez off the fence on one bounce in right-center field for a double.
Ava Verbrugghen, batting from the left side, then beat out a bunt to move the fleet-footed Sinkeldam to third before Lady Mariner first baseman Ana James threw the ball down the left field line, allowing Josie to scamper home and make the score 1-0.
But what looked like an early chance to jump all over the second-seed hosts--with a warm sun beating down on the field from early in the morning--sputtered and stopped, as the other key cogs in the Vikings' lineup made out. The game started at 10 a.m.
Kyra Ferenczy, who brought a special intensity to the mound this day, nevertheless watched a third strike go by her on her first time up. Then fourth-slot power hitter Linda Brown, due for a big hit, flew out to left and Emily Alvarez popped up to second base.
Coach Andrea Denham's crew, having passed around the rally giraffes in the pregame warmup circle in right field, started up again in the second after Ferenczy put the Lady Mariners down in the bottom of the first one-two-three.
After senior Sara Tyrus singled to right with one out and was forced at second on Sina Anae's groundout, Vanessa Shaffer lofted a fly that dropped in in left field, moving Anae--pronounced "ah-NAW-ay" by the Mar Vista P.A. announcer--to second.
Sinkeldam, batting her second time in the first two innings, then drove Sina in for her first of four RBI's. The junior shortstop accounted for five of the Vikings' seven runs of the day.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
LJ softball 7, Mar Vista 2
Pancho, held by Vanessa Shaffer (L), and George, on
the right with Kyra Ferenczy, are the mascots
who power the way for the torrid Vikings.
(Photos by Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Powered by rally giraffes Pancho and George, La Jolla's softball team vanquished Mar Vista, 7-2, Sat., May 20, to go directly to Thursday's CIF Division 4 semifinals at the Poway Sportsplex.
Josie Sinkeldam was a one-woman wrecking crew, forcing the Vikings' (now 13-14) initial run with her legs in the first inning, then driving in runs in the second, fourth, and two runs in the sixth.
Asked before the game why her team is playing so well at this point in the season, the junior shortstop, a Cal State Dominguez Hills commit, said, "We're having fun. We're all here, and we're feeding off each other."
Linda Brown (from left), Vanessa Shaffer, Sina
Anae, and Sara Tyrus huddle up, along with
assistant coach Tracy Brown.
To gain the semifinal for the second straight year, the Vikings, who started the season slowly, pitcher Kyra Ferenczy and the defense held the host Lady Mariners to Erika Sanchez's two solo home runs over the outfield fence in left field. Sanchez's shots led off the bottom of the second and fourth innings.
Second baseman Sara Tyrus had three hits. First baseman Emily Alvarez singled in a run. Sina Anae, playing right field in her first season of softball, scored twice.
While the win puts Coach Andrea Denham's team in round four, the semifinals, Thurs., May 25, Mar Vista's loss puts Coach Tracey Garcia's unit on the verge of elimination in the two-loss playoffs. The Lady Mariners will have to survive a game Tuesday to make it to Thursday.
The Vikings' lineup totaled 12 hits against Mar Vista pitchers Jazmin Gomez and Abi Rivera.
Friday, May 19, 2017
LJ softball: Notebook
Coach Andrea Denham, on her perch
where she transmits pitch calls
to catcher Hailey Ramos.
(Photos by Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
"I've been working their butts off," said La Jolla assistant coach Tracy Brown about the Viking softball team. "I leave hurting. They leave pretty well done."
Brown told his team after a hard-fought, well-played 3-2 CIF win Thurs., May 18, over remote Mission Vista, "Give yourselves a hand...I have one problem: LLOB."
Team members all asked, "What's that?"
Brown: "Ladies Left on Base."
Josie Sinkeldam scored two of the victorious Vikings' three runs, in the fourth and fifth innings. Kyra Ferenczy drove her in both times. Third baseman Linda Brown had the third RBI, knocking in Ferenczy after her hit in the top of the fourth.
Left fielder Ava Verbrugghen, playing smart baseball with no experience outside of her school's team, had a sacrifice bunt in the fourth, a groundout in the following inning. Both moved Sinkeldam, La Jolla's leadoff hitter, ahead a base before scoring.
Brown discussed the late push by his team that has moved the Vikings into an enviable position in the playoffs after a nightmare start to the season. After losing its first six games, La Jolla is playing good softball and moving into the second round of the Division 4 playoffs at Mar Vista Sat., May 20.
"Uh-huh," Coach Brown, Linda's father, acknowledged when asked if the team is playing well. Then his report about working them hard in practice.
Who would have thought the Viking players would be high-fiving off the field, with a jump in their step, after beating a first-round playoff opponent, like they did in solid fashion against the T-wolves--especially in view of their horrendous start back in March?
The team had basically the same players, less some role players, yet they started out with more than a stumble. They couldn't win, period. Vanessa Shaffer, spectacular fielding outfielder, and Kyra Ferenczy, the Vikings' pitcher and a hitter who impressed the elder Brown with her bat as a freshman last year, missed some early games with their involvement on the La Jolla CIF title-winning squad.
Ferenczy came in a little off the mark, having not thrown a softball in seven or more months.
In the Highlander Classic at Helix, the Vikings got pounded by a talented and ready Helix host team, then almost against belief called in to cancel their last two games in the tournament because a few players were going to be out of town.
This year's team, despite the same core as last year's that went to the Division 4 playoff title game, is shy a few subs. Sara Tyrus, who is holding down second base with a confidence built over the last four years, hadn't planned to play her senior year.
Linda Brown, at the hot corner, hurt her throwing arm during a game early in the season and has been nursing it ever since. "About 80 percent," she said after Thursday's win at Mission Vista of the present condition of her valuable extremity. It hasn't affected her average at the plate, though she only has three home runs this season.
LJ softball 3, Mission Vista 2
Viking pitcher
Kyra Ferenczy
(Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
There is joy in Mudville.
La Jolla's softball team, which started out the season 0-6, won a nail-biter come-from-behind first-round CIF game at Mission Vista, 3-2, Thurs., May 18.
The Vikings were keyed by sophomore Kyra Ferenczy's pair of RBI doubles and gutsy pitching performance to induce a game-ending groundball in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and second.
Asked what she focused on in nervous time in the last inning, with her team holding onto a slim one-run lead over the host third-seed Timberwolves, the freckled Ferenczy said, "Focus on the last batter and get her out."
With La Jolla trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth, Kyra doubled off the fence in right-center to bring Josie Sinkeldam around to score from second base. That tied the score, 1-1.
Linda Brown then knocked Ferenczy in with a base hit to right-center that added another run. That made the score 2-1.
Likewise in the top of the fifth, after Mission Vista coach Dan Worley replaced starting pitcher Ayden Brown with 5'11" freshman India Caldwell, Ferenczy again stepped to the plate with Sinkeldam aboard. She smashed a two-batter that bounded to the fence in right-center to score Josie. That put the Vikings ahead, 3-1.
In both innings, senior Ava Verbrugghen moved Sinkeldam ahead on the basepaths. In the fourth, the lefty laid down a sacrifice bunt to get the runner to second. In the fifth, Verbruggen grounded out to short to move Josie to third.
Both pitchers for Mission Vista, which was seeded higher than the sixth-seed Vikings, were hard-throwing. Yet La Jolla found a way.
Coach Andrea Denham's squad, in the double-elimination Division 4 playoffs after winning a 6-3 do-or-die victory in the play-in round Tuesday over Tri-City Christian, now plays its next game at 10 a.m. Sat., May 20, at Mar Vista, the second seed in the division.
La Jolla is now 11-15 overall. Without the winless start to the season of six games, part of which the Vikings were missing some players, the Vikings would now be a respectable 11-9.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Musings
By Ed Piper, Jr.
There are so many positive qualities of high school sports, which are the focus of this blog from an academic/athletic viewpoint. Having been away from the local scene for the past month, I have had the opportunity to step back, get some distance, and maybe get some perspective that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
I state there are many positives, because sometimes in the complicated world of prep sports today we can lose sight of some of the good: Students now have the choice--and pressure--in many sports to choose to either play for their high school team or a club team, or both.
With the "professionalization" of sports for young people--did you see the ridiculous news note about Lane Kiffen at Florida Atlantic offering a football scholarship to a middle school student?--there is much more pressure on our teens to train, perform, and produce, all in the name of a potential future college scholarship.
So, before I completely go off the rails on this athletic/academic divide, I want to affirm the good qualities of our young people, at La Jolla High and other local schools, and the sincere care and concern their families show for them.
When I am around the Viking student athletes, or subbing at a local high school, as I am at the moment (Westview), I am always astounded at the excellent way in which they present themselves, act courteously and with consideration for adults, display an attitude of commitment to hard work and not taking the easy way or the way of compromise toward their goals.
Mind you, I taught court school students for two decades, and while I loved them dearly and advocated strongly for their welfare and needs, I was also realistic about the gap in people skills they exhibited and their need to overcome long-ingrained bad habits--like only addressing me personally and politely, at times, when they needed something from me (like a letter of recommendation, or support in talking with a probation officer after a bad choice).
A coach said recently that the boy athletes this coach works with aren't receptive to input, whereas the girl athletes eat it up. Another disappointment I have that I mention to others is the few number of young people who express a desire to make the world a better place, rather than just take a business major in college to make money.
I have to say, in defense of the 60's, that at least in my neck of the woods in Southern California, my best friend in high school and I both were greatly influenced by the altruism of the age and sincerely wanted to work for the betterment of humankind--that's why I went into both journalism (to call out racism and other ills) and teaching (to help struggling kids in the juvenile court system).
Now, back to the present out of my "nostalgia" dip: I see family and influences so key in how well a student athlete these days handles their participation in sports. Parents who are on the same page together and who foster relationships with their kids that lead them to be well-rounded, healthy individuals--without being the "ugly parent" who rants at the coach about why their kid isn't playing more--make all the difference.
I think it's true in many cases that participation in sports can foster positive values, like a team attitude, a commitment to finish things one starts, and so forth. I don't think it's always the case.
"We believe that sports foster personal growth and other positive values," says the website of one school. That is often given as a justification for the huge expenditure of resources on school teams. Maybe. As you know if you read my blog, I am very pro-sports participation.
Where young people and families are getting off the track is in the at-all-costs, head-long push for personal coaching and club/travel team participation in the name of the almighty college scholarship offer.
As a speaker recently said, sports are a healthy outlet if done in the proper spirit. I think Lonzo Ball's dad is extreme. He's trying to make millions off his three kids. More power to him. You're free to shoot for that in our capitalistic economy. But I don't agree with some of his values.
Back to the altruism value, our young people would aim toward majors and careers in preparation for serving their fellow humankind, righting social wrongs, and addressing the ills of our society--if it were modeled and encouraged by us parents, teachers, and other role models. It's badly needed. Aiming to be "successful" by making a lot of money does not make a person significant, in this humble view.
There are so many positive qualities of high school sports, which are the focus of this blog from an academic/athletic viewpoint. Having been away from the local scene for the past month, I have had the opportunity to step back, get some distance, and maybe get some perspective that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
I state there are many positives, because sometimes in the complicated world of prep sports today we can lose sight of some of the good: Students now have the choice--and pressure--in many sports to choose to either play for their high school team or a club team, or both.
With the "professionalization" of sports for young people--did you see the ridiculous news note about Lane Kiffen at Florida Atlantic offering a football scholarship to a middle school student?--there is much more pressure on our teens to train, perform, and produce, all in the name of a potential future college scholarship.
So, before I completely go off the rails on this athletic/academic divide, I want to affirm the good qualities of our young people, at La Jolla High and other local schools, and the sincere care and concern their families show for them.
When I am around the Viking student athletes, or subbing at a local high school, as I am at the moment (Westview), I am always astounded at the excellent way in which they present themselves, act courteously and with consideration for adults, display an attitude of commitment to hard work and not taking the easy way or the way of compromise toward their goals.
Mind you, I taught court school students for two decades, and while I loved them dearly and advocated strongly for their welfare and needs, I was also realistic about the gap in people skills they exhibited and their need to overcome long-ingrained bad habits--like only addressing me personally and politely, at times, when they needed something from me (like a letter of recommendation, or support in talking with a probation officer after a bad choice).
A coach said recently that the boy athletes this coach works with aren't receptive to input, whereas the girl athletes eat it up. Another disappointment I have that I mention to others is the few number of young people who express a desire to make the world a better place, rather than just take a business major in college to make money.
I have to say, in defense of the 60's, that at least in my neck of the woods in Southern California, my best friend in high school and I both were greatly influenced by the altruism of the age and sincerely wanted to work for the betterment of humankind--that's why I went into both journalism (to call out racism and other ills) and teaching (to help struggling kids in the juvenile court system).
Now, back to the present out of my "nostalgia" dip: I see family and influences so key in how well a student athlete these days handles their participation in sports. Parents who are on the same page together and who foster relationships with their kids that lead them to be well-rounded, healthy individuals--without being the "ugly parent" who rants at the coach about why their kid isn't playing more--make all the difference.
I think it's true in many cases that participation in sports can foster positive values, like a team attitude, a commitment to finish things one starts, and so forth. I don't think it's always the case.
"We believe that sports foster personal growth and other positive values," says the website of one school. That is often given as a justification for the huge expenditure of resources on school teams. Maybe. As you know if you read my blog, I am very pro-sports participation.
Where young people and families are getting off the track is in the at-all-costs, head-long push for personal coaching and club/travel team participation in the name of the almighty college scholarship offer.
As a speaker recently said, sports are a healthy outlet if done in the proper spirit. I think Lonzo Ball's dad is extreme. He's trying to make millions off his three kids. More power to him. You're free to shoot for that in our capitalistic economy. But I don't agree with some of his values.
Back to the altruism value, our young people would aim toward majors and careers in preparation for serving their fellow humankind, righting social wrongs, and addressing the ills of our society--if it were modeled and encouraged by us parents, teachers, and other role models. It's badly needed. Aiming to be "successful" by making a lot of money does not make a person significant, in this humble view.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Hail, Spring sports!
By Ed Piper, Jr.
There have been so many happenings in the spring sports of my beloved La Jolla High since this blog last checked in: The girls' beach volleyball team had a champion pair. The girls lacrosse team came within one goal of going to the Open Division finals. And on the other end of the stick, the Viking baseball team took a complete nosedive the second half of the season, from an 8-7 won-lost record to the present horrendous 9-17 with two league games against Cathedral Catholic to finish off the regular season before the CIF playoffs.
It was kind of a beautiful feeling at the end of last week, recovering from trip (see previous entry) and back troubles, to feel overwhelmed with the number of events since my last reporting.
Dave Jones' volleyball team, seeded number one for the playoffs, has enjoyed outstanding success this spring.
And, on this middle day of May, we are one month shy of recognizing our latest graduating class, who has been with us the past four years for achievement in the classroom, success and learning lessons on the field and court, and growth as young people who will be our future leaders.
You have to remember I am/was a public school classroom teacher, so the ethic upheld here is kind of the classic Greek one: the well-rounded individual, groomed for success in her or his field of giftedness and interest, further readied for participation in the affairs of the community and world around us.
There have been so many happenings in the spring sports of my beloved La Jolla High since this blog last checked in: The girls' beach volleyball team had a champion pair. The girls lacrosse team came within one goal of going to the Open Division finals. And on the other end of the stick, the Viking baseball team took a complete nosedive the second half of the season, from an 8-7 won-lost record to the present horrendous 9-17 with two league games against Cathedral Catholic to finish off the regular season before the CIF playoffs.
It was kind of a beautiful feeling at the end of last week, recovering from trip (see previous entry) and back troubles, to feel overwhelmed with the number of events since my last reporting.
Dave Jones' volleyball team, seeded number one for the playoffs, has enjoyed outstanding success this spring.
And, on this middle day of May, we are one month shy of recognizing our latest graduating class, who has been with us the past four years for achievement in the classroom, success and learning lessons on the field and court, and growth as young people who will be our future leaders.
You have to remember I am/was a public school classroom teacher, so the ethic upheld here is kind of the classic Greek one: the well-rounded individual, groomed for success in her or his field of giftedness and interest, further readied for participation in the affairs of the community and world around us.
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