There’s no dodging this issue

ROGER CARLSON

The emergence of dodgeball on television and the movies stirs the

imagination during these summer days and you have to wonder if one

night we may see a halftime battle of dodgeball at a Corona del

Mar-Newport Harbor high school basketball game.

Hey, Judy Ayers, just kidding!

Club sports have been around for a long time on a come-and-go

basis and Ayers, the athletic secretary at Newport Harbor, along with

her peers at Corona del Mar, Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools,

has long been saddled with dealing with various logistical problems

over and beyond the call of duty.

When it comes to club sports there are some good points, and,

other points which can tax the tasks.

First, let’s get it up front ... there are a lot of good things

about club sports.

Always, it’s good to keep 16-year-olds busy. Very busy. So busy

they collapse after an 8 o’clock dinner and don’t wake up until

breakfast is served, or, better yet, until you can see the first wave

come in at 56th Street.

There are only so many spots open for most athletic teams, and

unless you’re a two-miler in track and field or really enjoy swim

workouts, there is often the specter of “cut day.”

Lacrosse, surfing, roller hockey, sailing, equestrian, ice hockey,

rugby, they’re all legitimate sports within themselves, although they

do not fall into the same category as the 20-some-odd different

sports under the banner of the California Interscholatic Federation.

Why? There’s just not enough programs to make up a legitimate,

across-the-board schedule, so they must settle for the status quo.

Volleyball and soccer were club sports before so many schools

fielded teams they were accepted on the CIF level.

In the early days of college athletics there were two

classifications on campus.

You had the university team, known around Harvard as the

“vahrsity” team, and the club teams, which were very popular because

everyone else could play the game, as well. As in fraternity versus

fraternity until things probably got out of hand, especially in the

injury department.

Harvard’s “vahrsity,” as it was pronounced in New England circles,

became everyone’s varsity, the school’s legitimate representative,

for all colleges, as well as the high school level.

There were still some major management problems, such as “ringers”

and other forms of advantages. Just as it is with the NCAA, without a

“CIF” to govern them, who’s to make a ruling? Who brings the

officials? Who keeps score?

It’s one of the inherent problem of club sports, simply because

often there is little, if any, management to rule on situations.

Additionally, there is the matter of funding. Who pays? And how

much?

The club circuit’s only source for support comes from the athletes

and their families.

Sailing is one of the few “club sports” which has an on-campus

adviser (Bill Wakeman) in the Newport-Mesa District and he’s been

here on a voluntary basis for a long time with distinguished results

on a national level.

Equestrian would seem to fall into the same category of sailing as

one of the more “civil” competitions.

Nearly always the coach is an “off-campus” coach with no ties at

all to the school’s athletic department. And, often, there are

communication gaps, which brings us back to Judy and the other

beleagured secretaries who find themselves with last-minute

adjustments to schedules to deal with.

“Off-campus” coaches are a fact of life in nearly all high school

sports these days, but many club sports coaches (or advisers) are

often in a category of their own in terms of the ins-and-outs of

management.

There’s also the matter of liability.

Is a school district really off the hook if one of its students

suffers a tragic accident, especially on campus, regardless of signed

waivers and such? You won’t really know the answer to that one until

the day comes when you’re in court wondering just how can you be in

court when you’ve followed all the rules. It seems amazing, gauging

from stories in the newspaper and television, how things can be

twisted.

Presently club teams are generally welcome to utilize school vans,

to have a meeting area on campus and are able to use school

facilities for competition when the schedules will accommodate.

Parents often believe their “club teams” should be given “P.E.”

credit, that a “varsity letter” should be available, and from time to

time, come up with other demands.

Over the years I found myself on the other end of the telephone

fielding complaints that not enough credit was being given in the

form of stories and pictures. It wasn’t often the same person who

would be calling because far faster than the usual cycle of high

school athletics, not only was the caller soon gone, but the sport

itself was gone, to be reborn a few years later when new blood would

resurface.

At any rate, dodgeball was on the agenda for myself as a

second-grader. And it’s certainly getting its day on television and

in the movies these days.

And who knows? Maybe it will surface as a club sport. But for

sure, I don’t think it’ll ever disappear as “rainy days” recreation

in the school’s gyms.

*

They made it official a few days ago at the home of George

Yardley, our Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer from Newport Harbor

High who has been battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease for the past 18

months or so.

Proceeds from an April 29 dinner for the former Sailor, Stanford

Indian and (mostly) Piston in the NBA resulted in a $110,000 gift,

$90,000 for the National ALS Association specifically for research,

and $20,000 for patient services at the Orange County Chapter.

ALS, which affects 1-in-100,000, is a fatal degenerative

neuromuscular disease that attacks nerve cells and pathways in the

brain and spinal cord, which ultimately leaves the patient unable to

move, speak, swallow or breathe on their own, while the mind is

generally unaffected, according to the ALS Association.

George Yardley’s duel with this terrible disease, Amyotrophic

Lateral Sclerois, continues on an even trend, physically and

mentally.

George’s latest quest is to return to Hawaii for a holiday, and

his daughter, Anne, said they’ll be booking the flight shortly.

*

In a related event, the ALS Association is planning a “Walk to

D’feet ALS 5K walk at Mason Regional Park in Irvine.

The fifth annual walk to help raise money to fund research and to

care for those stricken, is scheduled for Oct. 23 at 8:30 a.m.

For more on this, contact Denise at (714) 938-1080.

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

rogeranddorothea@msn.com.