LJ FH: Room to grow

La Jolla's Athena Tsai runs through
warm-ups before the Vikings' 2-0 win
over Mira Mesa at home Oct. 19.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"We had 30 girls show up," Amanda Warford, La Jolla's head field hockey coach, said of the turnout for the new youth field hockey program. "Three of those are in the second grade, including Lola. She's going to be good."

Lola is the daughter of Athletic Director Paula Conway, herself the former field hockey coach at La Jolla High and league MVP in her college days.

More importantly, the youth development program is underway. It has been a long time coming, and it requires a lot of time of the coaches. "Yes," acknowledged a smiling Warford, in her first year coaching the Vikings, of the time commitment, "but it's worth it."

Thirteen players at the first youth practice, according to Warford, come from the second through fifth grades. The other 17 populate the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.

Players on the varsity, warming up for their 2-0 win over visiting Mira Mesa Thurs., Oct. 19, agreed that stick skills take time to develop. The La Jolla girls are athletic, and run the field well. That's not the issue. Aggressiveness is not the issue, either.

"I didn't start playing until the tenth grade," said Athena Tsai, now a junior in her second year on the LJHS varsity. "It takes time (to master skills with the stick)."

"You players are going to be the mentors for the young girls coming up," commented an observer. "Now they will be able to start learning those skills earlier than high school."

Serra and Scripps Ranch high schools, the two dominant programs in the area, each have feeder programs that begin the girls playing field hockey at an earlier age. That kind of development is the key to the future of the Viking program.

Meanwhile, La Jolla's junior varsity played well in shutting out their Marauder counterparts, 4-0.

The varsity stands at 9-7 on the season after its win later the same afternoon over Mira Mesa. According to the CIF Power Rankings as of Oct. 22, Warford's team is ranked 14th in Division 1, with a 43.81 rating.

League play begins Mon., Oct. 23, at home against Patrick Henry. Henry stands seventh in the current Power Rankings with 45.21 points.