Breakers’ gym dandy

Mike Sciacca

In every sense of the word, Laguna High’s boys’ and girls’ basketball

teams finally will get to be dubbed the home team in the upcoming

week.

Sure, the Breakers have worn their home jerseys the past few weeks

during holiday tournament action, but beginning Tuesday, they truly

will be wearing their home colors.

That’s because Dugger Gymnasium, which has been under renovations

the past six-plus months, is scheduled to finally open its doors for

action on Tuesday.

That’s when Laguna will host Newport Harbor in nonleague girls’

basketball action.

Three days later, Laguna’s boys will entertain rival Corona del

Mar on Jan. 9, in their first game at Dugger.

“It will probably seem like a foreign court to us, even though

we’ll be playing at home,” said Laguna boys’ coach, Mark Hill who, in

addition to this being his squad’s first home game of the season,

will be coaching his first-ever game in Dugger.

The 2003-04 season is the first at the school for Hill, who

previously coached at Esperanza.

“Typically, a team is supposed to have a little bit of an

advantage playing at home,” he said. “We’ll see if that factors into

things against Corona del Mar.”

Among the renovations at Dugger Gym included replacement of

“antiquated” electrical equipment, new lighting, electrified

bleachers, a new floor, work on the locker rooms and “other minor

renovations,” Hill said.

For the first part of the season, the Laguna varsity teams have

been displaced. Yet, they have found comfort in a

“home-away-from-home,” in Thurston Middle School.

The varsity teams have used the new gymnasium at the “school up

the street” for practices since official basketball practices began

in mid-November.

The lower level teams, Hill said, have practiced at the small

North gym on Laguna’s campus.

All preseason games have been played on the road, which, Hill

said, has been a “huge detriment.”

The mark of the new year, however, marks a new start for the

basketball program.

“Not having Dugger to practice or play in, really hasn’t been that

big of a deal for us,” Laguna girls’ coach Stacy Howard said. “I

think that since the summer, we all knew that the gym time was going

to be scarce and that all of our preseason games were going to be on

the road. So, nothing that has happened this fall has been a surprise

to anyone.

“I think that our girls have taken it all in stride, just like

they have everything else in the past six months. They aren’t rattled

about late buses or bad refereeing or locked gyms or no air in the

basketballs. They just play. They laugh things off and find a way to

get ready come game time.”

Howard praised the efforts that Thurston Middle School put forth

in offering their gym to the Laguna teams.

“They have been incredibly accommodating,” Howard said. “Our kids

really feel at home at Thurston. Almost all of our kids went to

middle school there and they are comfortable practicing up on that

campus.

“It is home to them in a lot of ways and I don’t think that we

have felt overly displaced not being on campus at Laguna Beach High.

We are still in Laguna and still at a place that is very familiar to

our kids.”

Still, the players are looking forward to a home game -- and

seeing the new digs at Dugger.

“I’m pretty excited,” said senior Deana Awadalla, a starter on the

girls’ varsity squad. “It’s going to seem a bit strange, though,

playing at home. I think our team has learned a lot from playing on

the road. It doesn’t matter where you play, you just need to play

tough and stay focused.”

Awadalla and the Breakers will get another chance to stay “tough”

and “focused” tonight when they play -- on the road -- a nonleague

game against Sunny Hills.

Laguna’s boys’ team was scheduled to host Edison in a nonleague

game Saturday at Dugger, but the gym was not ready and the game was

switched to an Edison home game.

Following the Edison game, the Breaker boys will have four days to

practice and become accustomed to new-look Dugger, all in preparation

for their key, Jan. 9 Pacific Coast League opener against rival

Corona del Mar.

“Having four days to practice at home before that game will be

really nice,” Hill said. “It’ll be great to finally play at home.”