Not Just a Bunch of Computerheads : Athletics Take a Place With Academics at La Jolla Country Day School

Rightfully or not, La Jolla Country Day School has built two distinct reputations since it opened in 1926.

One is that of a strong, college-preparatory school that provides its students, who range in age from preschool to high school, with one of the best educations in San Diego County.

The other is that of an athletic doormat for other 1-A Coastal League schools.

It seemed that academics and athletics didn’t mix.

But the Torres boys’ basketball team is helping to change that. They are proving that they are not just a bunch of bookworms. They can do more than recite Shakespeare and rattle off the square root of pi .

La Jolla Country Day has the only undefeated team in San Diego County.

“That shows we don’t have a bunch of computerheads walking around campus,” said football Coach Rick Woods, who also serves as an assistant basketball coach. “The school is based on academics, but we want to have student-athletes here as well.”

Interest in sports began to increase last year when the girls’ basketball team went to the final of the State Tournament. The spirit continued to mount this past fall when the football team had its first winning season and won its first league title in 13 years.

But the excitement has climbed higher this winter. The basketball team is 8-0 in the league and 17-0 overall, including a 59-44 defeat of 2-A Coronado.

“Everybody is really psyched about us now,” said junior forward Phil Holoubek, who came to La Jolla Country Day in the sixth grade. “Three years ago, there was no school spirit. But the last two years have been great.”

Said Woods: “It’s good to see that happening here, and with no loss of academic standards.”

Holoubek said he has an average of three hours of homework a night following practice at 7:30 p.m. Of the 45 students who graduated last June, 44 went to four-year colleges. The other went to a junior college. Every senior meets with a college adviser five times a year and tours several college campuses.

The basketball team competes well academically, as well as on the floor. The average grade-point average among the six seniors and five juniors is 3.3.

These kids don’t play for free, either. High school tuition is $3,250 plus the cost of books.

Senior Mike Niggli, a 6-foot 6-inch forward, could become the first Torre to earn an athletic scholarship. He has applied to six schools, but is most interested in attending the University of San Francisco, the University of the Pacific or San Diego State. He said the coaches at each school have expressed interest in signing him.

Niggli participated in a basketball camp at SDSU this summer, and was among the 15 players invited to attend a second camp by Coach Smokey Gaines.

“I wasn’t a star,” Niggli said, “but I averaged about 10 points a game (during the second camp).”

If Niggli has a future in major college basketball, he will be a rarity at La Jolla Country Day.

“Most of the kids on the team know that they are not going to play in college; they’re here for the academics,” Niggli said. “But we all like to play basketball, too.”

In practice, Coach Bill Cahoone runs his team through a tough set of drills, but there is more laughing and hand slapping than complaining about having to run lines. Cahoone has some fun, too, using a nine-foot pole he calls “Manute” to block shots inside. He even drills a few long-range jumpers in a scrimmage.

But once game time rolls around, the Torres are all business.

Through 16 games, La Jolla Country Day was averaging 64 points per game while allowing its opponents only 40.4 points per game. The Torres had blocked 132 shots--an average of 8.3 a game--and their pressing defense had created 230 steals (14.4 per game).

“That doesn’t count the times when a team has thrown the ball against the wall or out of bounds against our press,” Cahoone said. “That’s 362 shots we haven’t allowed the other team to take. And when you consider that the average team takes 50 to 60 shots in a game, that’s about six games’ worth of shots we have stopped.”

Rival Army-Navy Academy, the Coastal League’s second-place team, almost spoiled the Torres’ perfect record Tuesday afternoon in Carlsbad. But guard Eric Norberg’s layup at the buzzer gave La Jolla Country Day a 55-53 win and keep the streak alive.

But the team couldn’t savor the victory too long. The streak was still intact, but they had to quickly shift their attentions to finishing the night’s homework.