COLLEGE DIVISION : Cal Lutheran’s Lee Fights Fires to Stay in Shape

As summer jobs go, Brenda Lee’s is anything but run of the mill.

It is far removed from the basketball court, where she has starred as a 5-foot-8 guard and forward for California Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks the past four seasons.

In fact, it is about as distant from basketball as a player could get during the off-season.

She has spent her past four summers as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service and expects to work in the same capacity next summer.

She became a firefighter at the suggestion of one of her teachers at Quincy (Calif.) High near Lake Tahoe.

“One of my high school teachers, Norm White, was with the forest service over the summer, and he said maybe I could get into it because it’s a good way to stay in shape and the pay is good,” Lee said. “So I applied and went through the tests you take to get in.”

To become a firefighter, Lee, a 21-year-old senior, had to pass written tests on chain-saw safety, the care and use of tools and a safety exam. The easiest part, for her, was having to run a mile and a half in less than 10 minutes.

At first, Lee had doubts about the work, which can be long and tiring.

“After the first summer I thought, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this again,’ because it’s tough work,” she said. “But then I thought it’s a good way to stay in shape and the money is right.”

Lee says that she probably makes more money during the summer than most of her teammates and friends.

“It’s great for students because you get a lot of work in the time you’re there,” she said. “It’s a lot of work but you get a lot of money for a college student.”

The work is both mentally and physically stimulating to her, she said.

“It helps you a lot mentally because you don’t just look out for yourself, you look out for your crew,” Lee said. “Your mind always has to be on it or something (bad) can happen.”

She said the physical benefits factor into her success on the court for the Regals. Lee is the team’s offensive leader, averaging 14.3 points and 11.3 rebounds. She also has 633 rebounds in her college career, which put her in good position to surpass the school record of 753.

Staying in peak condition is especially important to Lee, who competes in three sports for Cal Lutheran. She also plays volleyball and softball.

In limited playing time as a utility player in softball last season, she batted .308. And she was a starting middle blocker in her first season on the volleyball team this season. She also competed on the school track team as a hurdler during her freshman year.

At times, Lee said, the transition from one sport to the next can be difficult.

“I think it’s hard to leave a sport behind because you’re used to working with certain people and going through a certain routine,” she said. “It’s hard to just walk away from it and go on to another sport.

“It’s difficult because you want to be out there playing, but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself. It’s something you always have to be prepared for. You have to be ready at any time to go on to the next sport.”

She said it is a particularly difficult transition when a team struggles through a losing season, such as the nightmare of a 0-21 season the Regals recently completed in volleyball.

But even in a dismal season, Lee said there is much that can be learned.

“You learn that winning isn’t everything,” she said. “You might not like (losing) but it helps you build character and that’s important.”

Fortunately for Lee, the basketball season has started on a brighter note. Cal Lutheran is off to a 4-1 start after finishing 7-18 last season.

Lee said that a lot of the team’s early success can be traced to Cal Lutheran’s having all five of its starters back from last season.

“It’s so nice having people on the team who you’ve played with before,” she said. “The people we have now know each other well. And we’re tired of losing, and now we want to get used to winning. I think we can go into games now with confidence, but it’s not because of our record but because of the confidence we have from being with each other for so long.”

She has also seen marked improvement in her play since she started at the school.

“I think I’ve improved from just being a one-dimensional player to one who can adjust to different situations,” Lee said. “Coming into Cal Lutheran, I was just a guard, and since I’ve been here I’ve played guard, forward and center. Playing all those positions helps you understand the game better and know what you have to do out there.”

Her growth has not been simply limited to the basketball court.

“I think I’ve grown as a person and I’ve grown as a player,” Lee said. “As far as achieving something for me, I think I’ve achieved about everything except one thing and that’s to make All-American in basketball.”

It’s the desire to make the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ All-American team that drives her.

“In practice, that’s what I always think about because that makes me work harder,” she said. “But in the games I just think about what I can do to help the team. That’s what I think about then.”

After her college basketball career, Lee hopes to continue in the sport as a coach.

“I know I definitely want to work with basketball because that’s the sport I love and I think I could do well with that,” she said. “I think I could do well with that but I wouldn’t mind coaching in any of the sports.”

Lee says it will probably take another year after she graduates in May to complete work on her teaching credential.

In the meantime, she has some unfinished business to attend to on the basketball court and softball diamond.

Not to mention one more summer of working as a firefighter for the forest service.

Since the NCAA first held a Division II championship for women’s volleyball in 1981, the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. has been the dominant force in the division. In eight seasons of competing, CCAA teams have won four titles.

The tradition could continue when the Division II Elite Eight Tournament is held Thursday through Saturday at Cal State Bakersfield.

UC Riverside, which began the playoffs as the No. 4 seed and has a 26-4 record, is regarded as one of the teams to beat, and Bakersfield, 18-15, is also competing. The favorite is top-seeded Sacramento State, 38-4.