LJ b soccer: Heavy rain and wind 'fun but crazy'

Goalkeeper Marley LaFond, a junior, lays out

for a save during practice Wed., Nov. 9.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

A new era in soccer began Tues., Nov. 8, with new La Jolla High coach Pilar Flores directing tryouts for the boys' varsity and JV teams on the field at Edwards Field.

The only thing was that tryouts started out with a bang--heavy rains hit the 35 or so hopefuls, with swirling winds adding to the excitement during a first-day workout from 4 to 6 p.m. (A reporter/photographer wisely stayed away during the inclement weather.)

The next day, Wed., Nov. 9, Marco Lopez, a freshman who has played for Albion, shared the experience. He smiled when asked about the storm. "It was fun at first," the center midfielder said, "till the water got in my cleats."

Lopez was literally walking (or running) on water.

George McCann, likewise a center midfielder, used similar words. "It was fun till everybody's clothes got wet," said the 10th-grader.

But, as we know, soccer gets played in the elements, including rain, even snow. Heck, football/soccer originated in Europe, where pitches often are muddy and get dampened with precipitation. Can you imagine English soccer without rain?

Ollie Traver, 15, a ninth-grader, took it even further. "The rain was really crazy, but really fun," said the center midfielder. "It was just hard to run with a heavy (weighed down by rain) shirt."

New coach Pilar Flores,

an LJHS Class of 1993 grad.

At Wednesday's workout, Flores, running the drills, was already looking ahead. "We've got to get ready, because we play Monday (Nov. 14, a scrimmage at Lincoln), and we have Bishop's next Thursday (Nov. 17, at Bishop's).

The new coach had 34 individuals Wednesday stretching, then forming passing lanes, followed by 3-on-2 drills plus a goalie at each end of the field--junior Evan Krebs defending goal on the south end, junior Marley LaFond on the north end toward Rushville St.

Pilar explained to a visitor that the varsity will have new uniforms this season, with red shirts, black shorts, and black socks at home. "The main thing was to get back to red and black," the serious Flores said. "We'll change shirts between home and away. White shirts will be part of the away uniform."

Flores had some returners from last year's CIF semifinalist team in practice. Koji Sakamoto participated, as did senior Roman Altamirano, 17, a center midfielder. Altamirano's brother, freshman Dante Altamirano, 14, also a center midfielder who has played for Surf, was also present.

The younger Altamirano has never played a game under the lights, so during Tuesday's rainstorm, he also had the experience of dealing with the stadium lights, as well as the wind and rain. "They had me play somewhere else (beside my normal position), on the wing," Dante said.