Sturgeon in control

CHRIS YEMMA

With a man coaching the frosh/soph girls basketball team at Corona

del Mar High and a woman coaching the freshman boys team, things can

get a little confusing at the school.

The girls team, coached by Lou Silverman, was featured in this

column last week. This week it’s the boys team that’s in the

spotlight. The boys team has compiled an even greater record than the

girls.

The boys team is 19-2, 8-0 in the Pacific Coast League, 31-3 over

two seasons, and doesn’t have much competition from the other league

schools.

It is a team that is coached by Yvonne Sturgeon, a woman among

boys.

“Odd or not, I’m pretty sure I’m the only female coach in the

county,” Sturgeon said. “It’s kind of a novelty, but I’ve been

playing this game for 30 years, so it doesn’t register to me. Man or

woman, it’s about how much do I know about the game.”

Sturgeon, 34, has been involved in basketball for quite some time.

She said she has played since she was 5, played through high school

and played through college at Old Dominion in Virginia.

Now she has made her way to Corona del Mar to lead the freshman

boys team, the same group of players she coached last year at the

eighth-grade level and lost only one game.

This season, the freshman Sea Kings are averaging around 60 points

a game and have never defeated an opponent by fewer than 10 points.

Their only two losses were by four and three points, respectively.

The starting five -- Joe Eberhard, Erik Rask, Ali Meshkin, Chase

Pinesett and Omeed Alemi -- all played on the same team last season,

along with a couple of others. And they all aim to stick together

until they eventually land on the varsity squad.

Although, when you’re really good, it’s tough to be held off the

varsity. One of Sturgeon’s former players, 6-foot-7 freshman Stefan

Kaluz, was moved up to varsity in the beginning of the season and

plays a key role for Coach Ryan Curry’s.

But Sturgeon has plenty of other firepower to defeat opponents

with. And being a woman on a boys team could also prove to be a bit

of an advantadge.

“Mom’s love the fact that there’s a female role model out there,”

Sturgeon said. “I think it adds more to the game. There’s more than

just basketball skills these kids are learning.”

And sometimes it’s more than just moms that take notice.

“I get approached by coaches and referees all the time,” she said.

“One ref told me that it didn’t matter if I was a man or woman -- I

was the best coach he’d seen in that tournament.”

Sturgeon said she hopes to be back next season to coach the same

boys on the junior varsity level.