Back to school, back to sports

Mike Sciacca

The return to school this week has students adjusting to new

classrooms, new teachers and new campuses, but one extra curricular

activity that remains the same is after school sports.

Within the Huntington Beach Union High School District, the fall

sports schedule is loaded with afternoon and evening games spread

throughout the week at each of the four high schools -- Edison,

Huntington Beach, Marina and Ocean View.

The schedules will be played out over the next three months until

the winter sports season arrives in December.

Schools will field varsity, junior varsity and freshman/sophomore

teams in the following fall sports programs: football, girls’

volleyball, girls’ tennis, boys’ water polo, boys’ and girls’ cross

country and girls’ golf.

Winter sports offers competition in boys’ basketball, girls’

basketball, girls’ water polo, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer and

wrestling.

The spring sports schedule includes baseball, boys’ volleyball,

boys’ tennis, softball, boys’ and girls’ track and field, coed

swimming and diving, badminton, boys’ golf and field hockey.

Athletic teams at Edison, Marina and Huntington Beach compete in

the Sunset League. Ocean View, meanwhile, competes in the Golden West

League.

The California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section

playoffs for each sport will be held following the conclusion of

their respective regular seasons.

The prep season officially begins Thursday, Sept. 12.

Athletic competition is strong within the Ocean View School

District and while the sports programs offered this school year are

the same, the order in which they will be played has changed.

With the gymnasium/auditorium projects now under construction at

the middle school campuses of Marine View, Mesa View, Spring View and

Vista View, the sports calendar has been juggled.

Cross country will launch the 2002-03 middle school sports

campaign, followed by basketball, volleyball and track and field.

The gymnasium project is scheduled to be completed on Nov. 7,

district officials said.

“These gymnasium/auditoriums are the most important things to

happen to our physical education and music departments in the 29

years I’ve been teaching in the district,” said Kelly Painter, a

teacher at Marine View and the sports coordinator for the Ocean View

School District.

“The district’s four middle schools are looking forward to the

2002-03 school year with great anticipation,” Painter added. “This

enthusiasm stems from the gymnasiums being completed at each campus.”

A coveted piece of hardware for each middle school is the Olympus

Trophy, given annually to the one boys’ and one girls’ middle school

sports program for overall competition excellence.

Mesa View’s boys’ sports program has won two consecutive Olympus

awards, snapping Marine View’s eight year grip on the trophy.

Marine View’s girls’ program has won the Olympus Trophy for the

past decade.

Mesa View will be looking to defend its cross country title and

the school’s eighth-grade girls’ team, Painter said, “should show

their heels to the other schools.”

In the Huntington Beach City School District, surfing is a

year-round sport at both Dwyer and Sowers middle schools.

Both schools offer surf clubs and surf teams. Sowers holds its

surf club outings on mornings before the start of the school day

while Dwyer’s surf club meets after school, traditionally on planning

days, said Principal Duane Cox.

Each school’s surf team enters local, state and national

competitions throughout the school year.

Dwyer’s surf team finished second nationally last June, and won

the national middle school title in 2001.

“We have a strong sports program here and it allows students the

opportunity to get involved with school and enjoy their time here at

Dwyer,” Cox said.

The district’s sports schedule begins with fall competition in

boys’ volleyball and girls’ basketball. In winter, it’s boys’

basketball, girls’ volleyball and soccer. The spring sports schedule

features track.

The athletic teams at Dwyer and Sowers compete in the Intermediate

Schools Athletic League along with Corona del Mar, Harbor Day,

Ensign, Costa Mesa and TeWinkle.