Rees Gets a Fresh Start in Mission Bay Baseball : Ruling Allows Ninth-Grader to Play Varsity

Less than two months ago, Sean Rees was a ninth-grader at Pacific Beach Junior High who wanted desperately to play high school baseball.

He could not because his neighborhood high school, Mission Bay, is one of a handful in the county limited to students in grades 10 through 12.

Today, because of a battle waged primarily by Rees’ uncle, Jeff, 15-year-old Sean is a member of the 11-2 Mission Bay varsity. He is also a student at Mission Bay, as the result of an unusual compromise measure worked out by the San Diego board of education and its staff.

Was all the struggle worth it? Rees, who was the Buc starting designated hitter until a recent batting slump, thinks so.

“I’m really happy,” Rees said. “I can get all my jitters out this year, then I can come out with a roar next year. Otherwise, I would have all these jitters next year.”

Rees, a 5-foot 9-inch, 160-pound left-handed pitcher, first baseman and outfielder, opened the season with 6 hits in his first 18 at-bats and drove in 7 runs. Twice, his hits were vital to Buc victories. Since then, he has gone 1 for 10.

“It hasn’t really been hard for me,” he said. “It’s a big step up from Pony League. The competition’s a lot better, but I can handle it.”

The tough part was just getting to Mission Bay. The struggle began last summer, when Jeff Rees asked the school board to allow all ninth-graders to play prep sports, whether the students attended a junior high or a high school.

The elder Rees called it a matter of equity, since half of San Diego’s 16 public high schools are open to four grades and freshmen in those areas can play for four years.

Rees and his supporters used the Sweetwater Union High School District as an example. There, ninth-graders at junior high may travel to the area high school after classes and participate in interscholastic sports.

San Diego school board members turned Rees down last August but directed their staff to study the issue for a future report.

“I had given up,” Jeff Rees said. “But Sean was doing well in winter league so we decided to give it another try. I changed my approach. I dropped my condescending attitude, which was kind of like name-calling. It worked. I never saw such a change of attitude.”

He returned to the school board in mid-January, when trustees began to consider a proposal opening prep sports to all freshmen in the district. The board approved the plan in early February, but, because it requires approval from the CIF State Board, it won’t go into effect until this fall. So Rees was back at square one.

He decided to present the matter on an individual basis, figuring the only way Sean would be allowed to play at Mission Bay this year would be if he was a Mission Bay student.

The school board went along with this idea, ruling that freshmen could play prep sports this spring if they met criteria set by Wayne DeBate, the district’s Secondary Athletics Manager.

Chief among DeBate’s six requirements was a B average, since freshmen taking advantage of the plan would become 10th-grade students and would be taking more advanced classes. This was easy for Rees, since he has an A-minus average. In effect, Sean will be a 10th-grader for three semesters.

Although a few other freshmen and their parents indicated some interest, only Rees took advantage.

Since the board did not make its decision until February, Rees was late for the start of baseball tryouts at Mission Bay. Having demonstrated his ability in American Legion ball last summer and also in the informal prep winter league, he earned a spot on the varsity.

“It’s been OK,” Rees said. “I have a lot of good friends on the team. A few of the guys don’t like it. They don’t think I should be up here on the varsity. They tell me, ‘You’re not special.’ ”

Mission Bay Coach Dennis Pugh, who has guided the Buccaneers to co-Western League championships in the past two seasons, says Rees has fit in well with the team.

“Once Sean showed he could play, the other players accepted him,” he said. “But he’s young, he makes mistakes. He’s always been successful, so that’s a little hard for him. He wants to play all the time, which is understandable, but we have a lot of talent on this team. Sean understands, but yet he doesn’t. You know what I mean?”

Ironically, if Rees had been a year younger, this situation would not have developed. This fall, Mission Bay opens its doors to ninth-graders.

He just got there a little early.