Prep column: Back home again

Barry Faulkner

Newport Harbor High senior boys soccer star Tyson Wahl did not

spend his junior year abroad. But it may as well have been a world away.

As a member of the under-17 national team, Wahl spent the entire

2000-01 school year at the Soccer Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Four hours a day, he attended what he termed a “not too demanding”

private school. His afternoons were devoted to soccer as the Americans

practiced and played exhibition games in preparation for last summer’s

Junior World Cup, at which they were quickly eliminated.

Devotion, however, was measured more acutely when practice ended and

the restrictive social atmosphere limited team members to the 190-acre

complex that is also home to the Bollettieri Tennis Academy, as well as

academies for baseball, golf, hockey and basketball.

“We didn’t get to go out much, socially,” Wahl said.

The soccer experience, however, including the aforementioned

exhibition matches against Major League Soccer, college and international

teams, helped compensate for the absence of family, friends and, for the

most part, entertainment.

“It was very good,” Wahl said of the experience. “I’m a whole lot

better at soccer and I’ve had a taste of living on my own.”

Wahl, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound midfielder who also plays on the back line

for Newport Harbor, is an imposing force for the Sailors, who are 5-5-1,

1-1 in the Sea View League, heading into Wednesday’s league game against

Laguna Hills.

Also a club standout for the Irvine Strikers, Wahl said the

competition he faced in Florida was the leading factor in his

development.

But, he admits, it’s nice to be home with his family and, once again,

among his circle of friends.

“I got to come home about once a month for a weekend, but I was really

looking forward to coming home at the end of the summer,” Wahl said.

“There was a bit of an adjustment period with my friends when I got back,

but things are back to normal, now.”

Another benefit of competing on a national team was the enhanced

exposure to recruiters.

Wahl was courted by North Carolina, Portland, SMU, Virginia and Santa

Clara, before eventually choosing UC Berkeley. He will sign a letter of

intent in February and is slated to receive an 85% scholarship.

“I visited Virginia, Santa Clara and Berkeley and I really liked

Berkeley,” he said. “I just knew that was the place I wanted to be.”

Coach Kevin Grimes has big plans for the Golden Bears program and Wahl

is enthused about the foundation of young talent Grimes has attracted,

including a handful of Irvine Strikers products. Grimes guided Cal to its

first NCAA Tournament appearance in five seasons last fall.

Wahl is not the only Newport Harbor High athletes to broaden their

horizons of late. Coach Larry Hirst said his boys basketball team’s

recent tournament trip to Service, Alaska, near Anchorage, was a huge

success.

“It was awesome,” Hirst said. “We went dog sledding and about half of

us got to drive. You’re on the back of the sled yelling at the dogs and

you have to steer with your feet. We were doing everything a real musher

would do.

“We had some kids who had never flown and some kids who had never seen

snow. If you went 10 minutes out of town, you were in the wilderness. It

was the best trip we’ve ever taken. The hospitality was great and so was

the environment. We’ll go again, but not for a couple years.”

Though Costa Mesa High is leaving the Pacific Coast League for the

Golden West League at the end of this school year, Costa Mesa girls

soccer coach Dan Johnston said he hopes to continue to schedule PCL

holdover Corona del Mar.

“I want to keep playing them, because they bring out the best in us,”

Johnston said of Coach Ron Evans’ Sea Kings, who host the Mustangs

Thursday in a crucial PCL clash.

As they did last season, boys and girls basketball teams in the PCL

will play varsity doubleheaders on Tuesday and Thursday the final week of

the regular season.

The Estancia girls team, which typically plays in the girls gym, is

scheduled to host Laguna Beach (Feb. 5) and University (Feb. 7) in the

boys gym.

Estancia Coach Paul Kirby, however, said if a PCL title is at stake

against University, the game will be played in the girls gym.