PREPS / ROB FERNAS : City’s Calendar Proposal Is Not a Winner With Coaches

Imagine that prep basketball season has already ended. The playoffs were completed early in January, more than a month sooner than usual.

Then imagine not having boys’ and girls’ soccer.

And no B and C basketball.

Sound unreasonable?

Now you have an idea what it might be like next winter at L.A. City high schools.

Because of the trend toward year-round schedules to ease overcrowding, the board of education has proposed that all L.A. City high schools adopt a common calendar starting in July to prepare for the day that all schools will operate on year-round formats.

High schools not presently on year-round or “multi-track” schedules will change to what is called a “90/30” calendar. But because overcrowding is not yet a wide problem, fewer than 10 of the district’s 49 high schools will be open all year. Most will be closed for eight weeks from mid-December to early February under the new calendar.

Since the break falls in the middle of the winter sports season, the school district is considering moving up the start of these sports--boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ soccer and boys’ wrestling--to the fall, so they can end before the winter break.

Coaches at schools with traditional single-track schedules say switching to a common calendar before it is necessary will have a damaging effect on winter sports programs.

“It will be a mess,” Carson basketball Coach Rich Masson said.

“It’s going to destroy athletic programs,” Westchester basketball Coach Ed Azzam said.

Coaches and others will have a chance to express their opinions this week prior to the board’s final adoption of the new calendar.

The Games Committee of the L.A. Unified School District’s Interscholastic Athletics Committee (IAC) will hold two public hearings Tuesday and Wednesday to listen to suggestions regarding athletic scheduling. Tuesday’s meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Senior High Schools Division office, 644 W. 17th St., Los Angeles. Wednesday’s meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Grant High in Van Nuys.

The committee is likely to hear plenty of complaints.

For starters, there’s basketball. Under the new calendar, the season will start Oct. 15 and end Dec. 15, with the playoffs beginning after Christmas during the eight-week break period. Presently, the City basketball season runs from the last week in November to early March, including regional playoffs.

“You’re going from a season that’s almost four months to a season that is a little over two months,” Masson said. “And it’s going to be totally out of line with the rest of the state.”

Masson makes a good point. Let’s say, for example, that Manual Arts wins the L.A. City 4-A basketball title in the second week of January. Because the state regional playoffs don’t begin until early March, that means Manual Arts would be inactive for two months before the regionals.

“What are they going to do waiting all that time?” Masson asked.

Having basketball season moved up will also create problems for multi-sport athletes. Because the seasons would overlap, a student would no longer be able to compete in football and basketball.

The same goes for girls’ volleyball, a fall sport, and basketball.

“I foresee a lot of things being hurt,” Masson said.

And not only basketball. Because of the unavailability of facilities and officials during the fall with so many sports going on, there is a threat that boys’ and girls’ soccer and B and C basketball--for players who cannot compete on the varsity level--will be scrapped.

“One of my big concerns is what affect it’s going to have negatively on the kids,” Masson said. “The dropout rate is already at an all-time high. Let’s face it, some of these kids go to school to be part of these programs.

“A lot of kids play soccer. Now they’re going to cut it out totally? It’s not right.”

Masson, the dean of students at Carson, also worries about the affect an eight-week vacation period in the middle of winter will have. Schools not on year-round schedules will also be closed for six weeks in the summer.

“I don’t want to see kids with more idle time,” he said. “With the gang thing, I don’t think that’s what school is all about. Why impact programs now and screw situations up when there is no need for it?”

Azzam, Westchester’s longtime basketball coach, said a shortened season and the possibility that City schools will be prevented from competing in state competition, could be a death sentence for his sport.

“City basketball will continue to go down,” he said. “I can’t see it staying at the level it is now.”

The solution, it would seem, is an easy one.

Maintain traditional calendars at schools until it is necessary that they switch to year-round formats. Then everyone will be on the same schedule.

Coaches, however, are skeptical the board would agree to such a proposal.

“The bottom line is that this is being done for the convenience of the board of education,” Masson said. “Ultimately when overcrowding occurs at all the schools, the calendars will already be set.”

Until then, though, many fine sports programs may suffer.

San Pedro strengthened its hold on first place in the Pacific League basketball race Friday night by edging host Carson, 64-62, on Devon Hamilton’s two free throws with four seconds left.

The victory avenged San Pedro’s loss to Carson in the Pacific Shores Tournament in early December and improved the Pirates’ record to 16-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play. Carson slipped to 10-9 and 2-3.

“It seems like every time we play it’s a two-point game,” said Masson, who has had his share of close battles with San Pedro Coach Jack Kordich in past seasons. “San Pedro has a nice little team.”

Hamilton, a senior guard, paced the Pirates with a game-high 23 points.

Masson said Carson has been struggling to find a replacement for point guard Tyrone Daniels, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Jan. 11.

Inglewood continued its remarkable turnaround this season by pulling out a 51-50 Bay League basketball victory Friday night over visiting Leuzinger on two free throws by point guard Codi Evans with two seconds left.

The free throws capped a furious comeback by the Sentinels, who wiped out a three-point deficit in the last 27 seconds to open a two-game lead for first place. They are 12-8 overall and 5-0 in league play after finishing 6-18 last season.

Leuzinger, which played most of the game with 6-foot-8 center Frank Willis (sprained ankle), fell to 11-4 and 3-2.

In a meeting of Ocean and Pioneer league leaders, senior forward Arthur Savage and sophomore guard Stais Boseman each scored 15 points to spark Morningside past host Centennial, 72-65. The South Bay’s top-ranked team improved to 18-2.