OC Register: Girls, coaches react to potential elimination
March 3Lacrosse players and parents brace for battle
District’s cost-savings plan includes eliminating newly sanctioned sport.
By CAMERON BIRD and ALEJANDRA MOLINA
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
MISSION VIEJO – As varsity girls scrimmaged Saturday, parents and others wondered if they were witnessing the beginning of the end for local high school lacrosse.
Saddleback Unified School District this week included the sport in a list of potential budget cuts, along with roller hockey. Districtwide, every assistant coach could be let go.
These plans don’t sit well with Karen Paliska, who kept score at field’s edge during the preseason weekend game between Mission Viejo and Trabuco Hills high schools. Her daughter Allie, a senior, will be picking up lacrosse in the fall at Maryland’s Salisbury University.
Lacrosse, North America’s oldest team sport, is relatively new to Southern California. Laguna Hills and El Toro high schools also offer the sport, but club teams are sparse in the area.
Three years ago, Mission Viejo boosters raised $66,000 in two weeks to seed the lacrosse program.
“To cut it would just be a tragedy,” said Karen Paliska.
Lacrosse’s newness is also a liability when it comes to cutting costs, said district spokesman Tom Turner.
“It’s growing in popularity but it was also the last sport that the CIF sanctioned as an interscholastic sport,” he said. “By just objective criteria, it would be the first to look at to be cut.”
In response to the state budget signed last Friday, the district will need to cut $10 million from next year’s budget and about 134 jobs, including 33 classroom teachers.
By eliminating lacrosse and roller hockey, along with letting go assistant coaches, Turner said the district would save a total of $244,000.
For lacrosse, district funds have gone toward coaching stipends, field maintenance and utilities.
Some parents said they would be willing to self-finance the program if the district withholds money. Players are already responsible for paying hundreds of dollars for equipment, travel and other fees.
Sara Haase, who coaches junior varsity girls at Trabuco, played for the varsity team last spring. She remembers fighting alongside others to get the sport sanctioned, and said boosters would bring that same vigor to bear now.
“We’re not ready to lose it,” she said.
The next school board meeting is on March 10 at Mission Viejo High School. Turner said the board will continue to consider the proposed cut list as they learn more details about the state budget and incoming federal stimulus money.
Drew Yasbek, assistant junior varsity coach at Trabuco, said the team plans to go straight from a game to the next meeting to express their opposition to the district cuts.
A player on the same team, freshman Alyssa Ransom, said she enjoys the challenge of the sport, which is greater than any other she’s experienced.
Likewise, a cross-section of parents said the battle to get lacrosse sanctioned has been worth it. Some, like Heather Armes, under the shade of a bright red umbrella on Saturday, said they’re staying optimistic.
“Like everything, they feed you the worst news,” said Armes, whose sophomore daughter plays on Mission Viejo’s varsity team. “We still have hope it’ll be a different story in the end.”
My daughter is playing her second year of JV Lacrosse at Trabuco Hills. She has played Soccer for years, but could not make the ultra-competitive soccer team in SoCal. Lacrosse has exposed her to a great group of friends, given her more self-confidence, and improved her fitness. Last fall, when playing AYSO Soccer, her coach asked “what have you been doing? Your speed is much better than last year.”
I understand that budgets are tough. But it is not fair to pick on Lacrosse and Roller Hockey because they are new to CIF. Either spread the cuts equally across all Sports, or do an analysis to compare the money spent against the participating students.
Bill Noyes