By Ed Piper
Ryan Lennard, who for the last three years has served as Strength and Conditioning Coach at La Jolla High, leaves for a one-year coaching assignment with the Chinese Summer Olympics team in China at any moment.
Lennard, who starred at La Jolla High in his prep days as a standout wrestler, received the one-year contract through a networking that helped him apply for, then land the job.
During the Vikings-Cathedral Catholic boys basketball game Jan. 9, Lennard came over to tell me the news and to say goodbye.
I told him, from my experience visiting China in 1987, "It's really smoggy" in large cities there. He said he was aware of that.
I also encouraged him, "It's going to be a life-changing experience."
He was visibly excited.
His original date to fly to the Asian world power was Fri., Jan. 12. But a source said Tues., Jan. 16, at the Vikings-Mission Bay boys basketball game that Lennard's departure date had been postponed.
The former LJHS head wrestling coach, whose close friend and former roommate Kellen Delaney is present head coach in that sport, oversaw the setup and operation of the new weight room that was part of the renovation and makeover of athletic facilities on the campus two years ago.
"I got everything I asked for," the elated and somewhat surprised Lennard said after the new facility opened. It is stocked with full sets of hand weights, weight machines, and many other pieces of equipment that constitute a major upgrade from the previous equipment.
The strength coach formerly led workouts in a tiny cubbyhole of a room tucked into the corner of an aged building a distance away from the present facility situated along the western sideline of Edwards Stadium on campus. When former football coach Jason Carter came into the program five years ago, operations coach John McColl and others helped in having an interior wall knocked out to enlarge the old room to house the weight equipment at that time.
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