High School Athletics

It is as essential to football today as a helmet and shoulder pads, a necessity that keeps players healthy, coaches will tell you. It's the weight room and preparation to play football begins there. Although it hasn't always been this way, its importance seems ingrained in the minds of today's coaches. "If you want to be a good football player, you have to train hard in the weight room," Grant High Coach Bill Foster said. "There's just no way around it."

Football players almost never discuss fear. The sport demands a confidence that borders--and sometimes crosses that border--on arrogance. Irvine High graduate Joel Sugg, one of six county athletes participating Saturday in the second California-Texas Shrine all-star football game, is definitely a football player--all 6 feet 5, 275 pounds of him. But his motivation is not domination, it's fear. The fear of not being good enough.

Renegades, indeed. The Westlake-based girls' club team known as the Renegades went to the recent Volleyball Festival in Davis, Calif., with one objective. "To play at center court and, obviously, try to win it," Coach Bill O'Neill said. They did and, well, they did. The Renegades topped Laguna Beach in the final of the 16-and-under division, played before more than 8,000 fans. "There wasn't a dry eye in the place for the parents," O'Neill said. "And the kids were ecstatic."

Narrow losses eliminated area favorites Larry Johnson of Antelope Valley High and Jacob Waasdorp of Quartz Hill from championship contention in the State wrestling finals Friday at University of the Pacific. Johnson (160 pounds) and Waasdorp (215), each Southern Section champions with only one loss in more than 50 matches before Friday, remain among six area competitors in contention for third place.

You are coming off a season in which everyone doubted you. Critics initially said the softball team had one weakness: you. But you were the only pitcher the team had. And what did you do? You won 26 games. Only one player in county history has won more. You showed 'em. And you showed yourself. You spent your freshman year on the bench and pitched only a handful of games as a sophomore. You bided your time. When you got your chance, you pitched your team to the section title game.

It's often referred to as high school free agency, athletes moving between schools that best suit their extracurricular agenda. A growing number of student-athletes in the Southland are taking their show on the road, stopping at the school that offers the best opportunities for playing time, exposure and winning a title. No sport has been affected more than basketball, a game in which the addition of one or two players can have an immediate impact.

It's as predictable as the rain. A kid is recruited or corners are cut to make him eligible. Grades are changed or he gets the A in athletics that takes the edge off that D in English and keeps him in the lineup. He changes schools--if not always homes--to play for a coach with a reputation of turning out athletes who lure college recruiters, scholarships in hand.

Since he first put on a pair of track spikes when he was 6, Obea Moore has been different from other kids. When his peers went to a nearby playground, Moore locked himself in his bedroom and did push-ups and sit-ups. For fun, he made a game of running to the grocery store to pick up something for his mother. He tried to master a steep hill near his home. Football and basketball became the sports of choice for most of his friends, but Moore stayed loyal to track and field.

There's something about Steve Ronson's demeanor that makes you believe he can accomplish anything he sets out to do. His actions, however, speak louder than his words. His deeds, in and out of the swimming pool, are a testimony to his determination. As the top swimmer at Irvine High, Ronson, a senior, has broken nearly every school record. And where the Vaqueros finish this season depends primarily on his performances. Ronson, of course, insists he's just one of many who swim for the team.