Should coaches focus on winning, or about helping kids through sports?

FROM THE ARCHIVES OF LA PRENSA, SAN DIEGO:
March 8, 2002
Vista School District Strikes Out with Family:
Baseball Program Gets Oversight Committee
By Yvette tenBerge

In March 2001, after a heated exchange with his coach during the fifth inning of a game, Isaias "Ziggy" Luna was kicked off Vista High School's junior-varsity baseball team. Unlike most families who find themselves in this situation, the Luna's fought back...

When their elder son, Ziggy, began playing baseball at Vista High, though, the Luna's realized that they were in the middle of a system that revolved less around a simple love for the game and more around politics. After a year-long battle, their complaint has resulted in the Vista Unified School District's (VUSD) creation of a still unnamed committee whose job it will be to "clarify codes of conduct and procedures of discipline" for both students-athletes and coaches.

At a February 28 meeting, almost one year after Ziggy, now 17, was ousted from the team, the VUSD board voted to establish this committee, which will be made up of athletic directors, coaches and parents. Its job will be to ensure that the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) rules are followed. These rules are based on the premise that "the essential elements of character-building are embodied in the concept of sportsmanship and its six core ethical values: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and good citizenship." The district hopes to have it up and running by the fall of 2002.

Although her son, Ziggy, was unable to benefit from the counsel of such a committee, Ms. Luna, 38, calls it's founding "promising."

...March 22 Incident

A May 28, 2001 letter from Ziggy's parents to the Superintendent of VUSD, David Cowles, outlines an incident that occurred on March 22 during a baseball game between Vista and Orange Glen High Schools. Ziggy attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt - a common strategy that allows a runner to be advanced into a scoring position - but struck out in the process.

The letter states that the coach, Paul Frey, "went completely out of control," yelling, "Jesus Christ, can't you even execute a bunt?" The letter continues, saying that the coach was "waiving his hands in the air ... kicking the dirt ... and stomp[ing] around the third base box." Ziggy proceeded to "toss his helmet into the dug out" and say, "That's not the way you play baseball." At that point, the letter alleges that the coach left the third base box to scream at Ziggy while standing only inches from his face. Parents and players from both teams witnessed the outburst.

At the parent's request, a meeting was held on March 23 with Varsity Baseball Coach Rick Lepire, Vice Principal Dan Paquette and Athletic Director Pat Moramarco. According to Ms. Luna, she and her husband informed these men that they would be filing a complaint against Paul Frey for "verbal abuse perpetrated to their son during a school sponsored activity." The vice principal agreed to get Ziggy's "point of view," and stated that he would call the parents later. Within four days of the March 22 incident, Ziggy Luna, an 11th grader who had played baseball since he was five years old, was kicked off of the team.

"I love baseball; it was life to me, and it made me happy. They took this all away from me," says Ziggy, who admits that it "really hurt" when the coaches and administrators did not believe his version of the incident. "It seemed that they wanted to help out their staff, rather than listen to a student. That's not the way you treat kids."

Ziggy, a high school senior who plans to continue with baseball and study architecture, gets to the root of what he feels is really wrong with coaching at the high school level. "Baseball is supposed to be about developing the kids and about having fun. With Coach Frey, it felt like a job," says Ziggy. "These coaches are taking it overboard."

Mr. Frey, now a teacher at Lake Elsinore High School, left Vista High after the 2001 school year to accept a "better position to teach and coach another sport." He is hesitant to discuss the complaint, but points to the "thorough investigation done by both site and district administration," which resulted in the punishment of only the player.

According to a February 2002 Union-Tribune article, though, the Luna complaint did not reach the school board until July 2001. Since Mr. Frey had already left the district, the board "did not determine whether the coach was at fault."

...In most instances, complaints such as the one filed by the Luna's die out when parents try to navigate district channels...

At the February 28 board meeting, though, the politics involved in the VUSD system made itself glaringly obvious. The Vista Teacher's Association claimed that Dr. Guffanti pressured then Principal Graeff, who now works for the Ramona Unified School District, to fire the varsity coach. The teacher's union also alleged that Dr. Guffanti overstepped his bounds by procuring an "un-earned" certificate for an athlete...