HIGH SCHOOLS : Watts Waiting, Healing For Track Season

Quincy Watts sat on the front steps of his family’s new home in Woodland Hills and tapped his feet impatiently. The nervous footwork revealed the restlessness in one of the nation’s fastest moving 16-year-olds.

Sitting still comes hard for Watts, a junior at Taft High who led the track team to the state title last spring. He won the state 200-meter championship, was second at 100 meters and ran anchor on the 400 relay team that finished second. He holds a national age-group record, running a 20.97 in the 200 meters at age 15.

At 6-3, Watts is also a basketball player. He started for the varsity as a sophomore and figured prominently in the team’s plans this season. But a stress fracture in his left foot has ended his season barely before it began. Injured during a preseason scrimmage, Watts played in just two games and started a third before persistent pain drove him to the sidelines. When he left that game against Cleveland earlier this month, he may have walked away from basketball for good.

“I don’t think I’ll play basketball next season,” Watts said Saturday, “but I won’t decide until after track season. Why should I keep getting hurt in basketball?”

The injury has frustrated Watts, who has been unable to run for three weeks, the longest period of idleness he can remember. “I weigh 196 pounds, 11 more than last year. I’m in terrible shape,” he said.

Watts wears no cast and must resist the urge to run. He visits the doctor again Friday and may get permission to start jogging. Watts probably will miss the Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena on Jan. 16, but figures to be ready for the start of the Taft track season in March. Still, what he first thought was a minor sprain has turned into the worst injury of his short career. Worse even than when he was hit by a motorcycle two years ago.

“It was during basketball season in the ninth grade,” he said. “I was crossing the street and this motorcycle knocked me down. I had bumps and bruises, but I was back playing in two days. But this little-bitty crack in my foot has been worse.”

The injury also has humbled Watts, who experienced an odd sensation: running behind someone else.

“I tried to play but I couldn’t even run up and down the court,” he said. “I couldn’t rebound or jump. When we get the ball, I’m used to going down court. But every time I tried to sprint, I had to stop. I had to step back a notch. You could tell I was limping. My father said I was limping so bad even he could beat me.”

Even at half speed, Watts played well. He made 10 of 11 shots against North Hollywood and scored 37 points in the team’s first two games. But his rebounding and defense suffered.

“He’s a quick leaper. I can never remember him losing a jump ball,” Taft Coach Jim Woodard said. “We miss his interior quickness. We’re scoring enough points, but we miss him on defense.”

Taft (6-3) is 4-3 since Watts left the team, and his teammates have felt his absence.

“It’s a big loss, but we understand that we can’t bow our heads and think our season’s over,” said Kevin Franklin, the team’s leading scorer. “We’re trying to bring Quincy a championship.”

Although they want him back on the team, his teammates understand that track comes first for Watts.

“His injury hurt us a lot but we understand about track,” said Sean Roberts, who also runs track. “I tell him to stay away from stuff that gets him hurt.”

Said Franklin: “I think he should sit out until he’s healed all the way. He has a great career in track and it would be a shame if he was impatient and came back too soon.”

Christmas present: The 1986 winner of the unofficial award for the most demanding coach goes to Bob Hawking, who narrowly beat the year-end deadline by conducting a practice about 10 hours after his Simi Valley basketball team arrived home from its trip to Hawaii.

The Pioneers won the consolation bracket of the Iolani tournament in Honolulu with a 75-59 victory Monday over McClancy of East Elmhurst, N.Y. They then spent most of Tuesday traveling back to Los Angeles and didn’t arrive at the high school until midnight. At 10 the next morning on Christmas Eve, the Pioneers returned to school for a two-hour practice.

“We’ve been playing a lot of basketball but we haven’t been practicing a lot,” Hawking said. “If you don’t work on special skills, you have a tendency to fall into bad habits. And we routinely have to work on fundamentals, and things we didn’t do well in the tournament.”

Asked what areas the Pioneers need to work on, rebounding, shooting or defense, Hawking said, “Yeah, all of them. The whole package.”

The Pioneers didn’t seem to mind the practice, although they objected at first.

“We heard about it on the plane home and we moped then,” said Shawn DeLaittre, a 6-5 junior forward. “But there was some enthusiasm at practice. We knew we needed it.”

DeLaittre had a rough time in Hawaii. He scored only three points in the team’s opening-round loss to University High of Honolulu before coming back with 22 points and 12 rebounds in the second game. He didn’t play in Monday’s game, serving a one-game suspension after he missed curfew Sunday night. He said he was out past midnight with a cheerleader from Flint Hill Prep of Oakton, Va.

“Coach Hawking and I had a talk Sunday night and then again Monday,” DeLaittre said. “He sort of went over everything. He told me I have to work harder and that he’s going to get on me more.”

Hawking was reluctant to talk about the suspension, saying it was all forgotten.

“It’s nothing unusual for me to sit down and talk to players about their goals and where they’re headed,” he said. “That’s basic stuff. We’re not dwelling on this. We want to go forward from here.”