Be Loud. Be Proud. Be Positive.
Student cheering sections are becoming more commonplace at high school sporting events. This is a great trend.
But the cheering occasionally gets out of control. Instead of cheering for their team, student sections sometimes denigrate the other team, the other school and the other student section.
Older people who are responsible high school administrators will do what we older people do. Warnings will be voiced to the student section. If warnings go unheeded, the student section will be shut down.
Orange County athletics are in league play in most leagues and in most sports. League play often brings together rival schools. The cheering can get confrontational and tasteless.
If student sections want to keep the fun going, they must keep the cheering at a high-quality level. Student sections should represent their schools and their communities in such a way that they make observers say, “That is a first-class school.”
Be Loud. Be Proud. Be Positive.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Dana Hills pitcher Hans Crouse struck out 11 over seven shutout innings for the USA National 18u team in its 6-1 win over Cuba in the gold-medal game of the Pan American AAA Championships on Sunday in Mexico. Other Orange County players on the team were Hagen Danner and Nick Pratto of Huntington Beach, and Royce Lewis of JSerra.
• The one-week early letter-of-intent signing period for most sports begins Nov. 9. That period applies to basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, track and field, cross country, women’s water polo, wrestling, golf, tennis, lacrosse and swimming.
• Woodbridge swimmer Katie Krolikowski, defending CIF-Southern Section Division 1 champion in the 500 freestyle, committed to Michigan, which already has former Crean Lutheran star swimmer Emily Eastin in the program. Marina swimmer Jacquelyn Harris, one to watch this spring in the 100 butterfly, committed to UC Santa Barbara.
• Much of the time when a team forfeits a game it is because an adult in a leadership position made an error. Orange forfeited its football win last week over Santa Ana because it allowed one of its players to play in the freshman game Thursday afternoon and in the varsity game that evening. Somebody either did not know the rule, or knew the rule and was not paying attention, or was trying to pull a fast one – all of those reasons are inexcusable.
• • El Dorado’s girls volleyball team pushed is winning streak to 11 matches Wednesday with a three-game win over Foothill.
• Santa Magarita plays at Mater Dei in girls volleyball on Thursday. In the rankings for Orange County and CIF-SS Division 1, Santa Margarita is No. 1 and Mater Dei is No. 2. Santa Margarita defeated Mater Dei in three games at Santa Margarita on Sept. 28 and in a best-of-3 match (15-25, 25-18, 15-9) on Saturday in the California Challenge.
• Tickets for the massively anticipated Mater Dei-St. John Bosco football game next Friday at Cerritos College will be on sale at Mater Dei’s athletics ticket window Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens (65 and older) and $3 for children (5-14). These will be cash only transactions. The ticket booth lines might be long and slow on game night.
• An interesting freshman football score from last week: Tesoro 22, Mission Viejo 6. Sometimes, freshman scores portend the future. Sometimes not.
• Their losses last week dropped JSerra, Santa Margarita and Servite from the state football top 25 compiled by CalHiSports.com. Two O.C. teams are still in it, Mater Dei at No. 3 and Mission Viejo at No. 4. Centennial of Corona is No. 1 and St. John Bosco is No. 2.
• Officials are needed in a variety of sports, including basketball. Being a basketball official is a fun way to get some exercise, stay in the game and make extra cash. To learn more about becoming an official contact Speed Castillo at bigspeed@att.net and 714-778-4421.
• Track and field needs starters for this coming spring. As in basketball and other sports, training is offered. Contact Jim Conley at 714-345-7383.
• The annual O.C. retired coaches luncheon is Jan. 18 at the Santa Ana Elks Club. It is a growing event for men and women who coached in county high school athletics. Contact Frank Alvarado at falvar21@yahoo.com for information.
• State champion football teams from Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Utah will play in a two-game series Dec. 23 in Texas. The National Federation of State High School Associations should do all it can to put a stop to this, and to the state bowl games in California. If the CIF State officials and others truly want to reduce concussions they will reduce the number of games and thus the number of opportunities for concussions to occur.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
