Some of the county’s top soccer players do not play for their high school teams because of commitments to high-level clubs or national programs.
Tesoro senior Indigo Gibson is on the U.S. national women’s 18-and-under team. She has not played for Tesoro’s team since her All-CIF freshman year.
High school athletic departments are concerned about the growing trend in which elite athletes in club-heavy sports, especially soccer, are not playing for their high school teams and are devoting themselves to club or national groups. U.S. Soccer’s academy trains during the sport’s high school season.
The concern sometimes becomes tension, and a few athletes are forced to make decisions that are unpopular with either camp.
Gibson’s mother, Paulette Gibson, was dismayed when she learned such friction would lead to Indigo not being invited to take part in Tesoro’s letter of intent signing day celebration Wednesday.
“I would like to have this moment in her memory book,” Paulette Gibson said.
Tesoro, though, did the right thing and included Gibson in its signing day celebration. Also included was Hannah Lopicollo, a Tesoro student who plays club soccer but does not play for the school. Gibson signed with Cal, Lopicollo with Northeastern.
A student who excels in an activity outside of school still is part of the school community and should be applauded by the school community.
Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts often are not school organizations — scouts’ charter organizations many times are local churches — but a Girl Scout earning her Gold Award or a Boys Scout getting his Eagle should be celebrated by the high school.
And that’s what Tesoro did with Gibson and Lopicollo.
“These girls are part of our school,” Tesoro athletic director Gil Ramirez said. “They deserve to be recognized.”
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• So the recruiting process did not work out for Costa Mesa linebacker Oronde Crenshaw, who did not get an Arizona State offer he sought. Crenshaw, who was a first-team All-County selection, and others might want to check this out: Ex-UCLA football coach Terry Donahue and the National Football Foundation on Feb.22 will host the second California Showcase, a combine for high school seniors at which many NCAA Division II, III and NAIA coaches will be in attendance. It is a free event at StubHub Center in Carson. Last year’s event had 500 players and 70 scholarships were offered. For more information go to cashowcase.org.
• County athletes in all sports should examine the community college option. County community colleges offer outstanding academic and athletic programs, and often are a better choice than going to a Northeast Tech A&M State where the athlete is miserable and comes back to Orange County after a year there. Fifty-two community college football players signed letters of intent with four-year schools during this signing period.
• Servite junior football players Equanimeous St. Brown, a receiver, and quarterback Travis Waller have received several scholarship offers. St. Brown has offers from Arizona, Stanford, USC and many more. Waller has offers from BYU, Colorado and Washington.
• The Open Division that this year makes its debut for the CIF-Southern Section basketball playoffs will be a 12- or 16-team bracket for boys. There is some concern the committee that selects which teams go to the elite Open Division will identify only eight worthy teams. An eight-team bracket spread over three weeks would create too many days off between games for teams trying to maintain momentum.
• Former Fountain Valley and Laguna Hills basketball coach Dave Brown got his 700th career victory last week. He is coaching at Horizon Christian, a school of 130 students in Tualatin, Ore.
• Coaches of spring sports can download surveys at ocvarsity.com at the “coaches” tab. Those surveys are essential to the OC Varsity team preparing the season previews. We don’t want any worthy teams or players excluded.
• Baseball’s Loara Tournament bracket, featuring 32 teams, can by found at loaratournament.com. Information about the county’s other big tournament (in this case, massive), the 66-team Newport Elks Tournament, can be found by doing an Internet search of “Newport Elks Tournament” and follow a couple of links. Both tournaments begin March 6.
• Edison baseball has its alumni game Saturday at 1p.m. on the school’s baseball field. David Huff of the San Francisco Giants is expected to play, and Boston pitching prospect Henry Owens is a possibility. Contact Cameron Chinn at cchinn@hbuhsd.edu for information.
• Savanna will induct girls tennis coach Eric Hansen to its athletics hall of fame tonight at halftime of its boys basketball home game against Santa Ana Valley. Hansen has been coaching Rebels tennis since 1969.
• Follow me at twitter.com/stevefryer for updates on boys basketball on game nights and all else related to Orange County high school sports.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
