1992-93: The Prep Year In Review : Nothing Wrong With Fun-First Policy of Girls’ Soccer Team

The memories from a high school sports season are limited only by the number of people taking it all in. The members of The Times Orange County prep sports staff have provided the commentaries on these two pages about the people, events and issues that made the greatestimpression on them in the last 10 months.

It was silly, laughable and altogether unnecessary.

In other words, a typical Orange County sports scandal.

The Laguna Beach girls’ soccer team--entering its final week of play with a 1-6 record in the Pacific Coast League--forfeited its final two games in order to go skiing.

Yes, skiing --a crime so heinous, so wicked, Satan himself must have lured these girls to the slopes. How else could you explain this brazen show of irresponsibility, this la-di-da lack of commitment, this snub of Serious Athletics?

At least, that’s what some Laguna Beach opponents wanted to know. Especially Laguna Hills. Going into the final week of league play, the Hawks were tied with Estancia for first place. To win the championship, Laguna Hills needed more than a victory in its league finale--it needed Laguna Beach to upset Estancia.

But those diabolical little Artists went skiing instead.

Why? Because it was Spring Break--”Ski Week” at Laguna Beach High--where much of the student body heads to Mammoth Mountain for an annual fun-fest. And because, months earlier, members of the Artist soccer team told their coach that the only way they would play soccer was if they were allowed to participate in Ski Week like everybody else.

Artist Coach James Gapp didn’t like it, but he didn’t have much choice. Laguna Beach, with about 650 students, is the smallest public high school in Orange County. Had Gapp not made the ski-for-soccer trade, “We wouldn’t have (had) enough girls for a team,” he said.

Apparently, Laguna Hills Coach Kevin Macare didn’t want to hear it.

“You either have a program, or not,” Macare said. “If you have a team, you’ve got to be there for your games. It doesn’t make any sense. What’s the point?”

The point? Well, let’s see. Let’s go back to the archives, the original rules of high school sports, and see for ourselves. Yes, hmmm. What a concept! The original point--believe it or not--was to have fun.

Yes, fun. That silly little word that has nothing to do with gaining college scholarships or winning league titles or making the cover of Sports Illustrated before you’re old enough to drive. Fun isn’t getting your picture in the paper more than your teammate. It isn’t something you can break down into neat statistical categories for all the scouts to see.

Fun is playing sports for the sake of playing. And maybe, just maybe, that’s what those Artists were trying to do. When they made the deal with their coach, they weren’t making threats or being manipulative. They were being honest. Skiing with their friends--on that particular week--was, for them, priority No. 1. And for Laguna Hills to gripe about it? Well, grapes don’t get any more sour.

One reader wrote The Times complaining of the Artists’ decision, condemning the Laguna Beach administration and labeling the team “a disgrace to the community.” The reader wrote how the youth of today must learn to accept “commitment and responsibility”--then, appropriately, left the letter unsigned.

The Artists didn’t break any rules. They didn’t cheat. They didn’t fight. They simply opted, for one entire week, to put fun first.

We hope they had a scandalous good time.