Out in the Cold : For Want of a Gym, Players Wear Vagabond Shoes at St. Genevieve

It has become a demented ritual at St. Genevieve High. Each day before basketball practice, three or four members of the Valiant team pile into the 1966 Mustang of team co-captain Dion Contreras and drive to whichever gymnasium Coach Pete Cassidy has managed to finagle for the day.

A couple of hours later, after their workout, three or four smelly Valiants pile back into the same Mustang and roll the windows down for the aromatic drive back to school.

Some of the round trips are longer than others.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the team practices at Valley Plaza Recreation Center in North Hollywood, located three miles from school. On Thursdays, the team works out at Fernangeles Recreation Center in Sun Valley, about five miles from campus. Every other week, if the gym is available, the team practices at Byrd Junior High in Sun Valley.

On manic Monday, Dion and the Wanderers practice on the school’s outdoor courts. On blacktop. In the cold .

They don’t like Mondays, which not only mark the start of another week of school, but the beginning of another logistical nightmare: The Valiants are among the Valley homeless, with no gymnasium or indoor practice facility on their Panorama City campus.

As a result, the vagabonds follow a weekly regimen that reads more like a travel itinerary than a high school practice schedule.

“We’ve definitely gotten to know each other better,” Contreras said of the practice caravans, “But there have been some mean elbows thrown inside the car.”

When Cassidy talks of passing lanes and mapping team strategies, the team must wonder whether he’s referring to court time or driving time, since the Valiants spend about as much time on the road as they do on the court. When they can find a court.

Few other schools in the Valley are as hard up for hardwood. Some private schools, including Village Christian, Bell-Jeff, Campbell Hall and Faith Baptist, recently have constructed new gymnasiums to remedy their situations. The Valiants, however, are still on the outside looking in.

St. Genevieve, a four-year parochial school of 400 that plays in the Southern Section’s 1-A Santa Fe League, has had more than its share of problems in making basketball as successful as its football team, which has made the playoffs eight times in 11 years. This season, the Valiants are 8-11 overall and 4-7 in league. Not a great record, but not bad considering the team plays all its “home” games in the Harvard gym. Harvard, in North Hollywood, is also a member of the Santa Fe League.

“Not having a gym of our own just creates so many other hassles,” Cassidy said. “Things you just don’t think about until you go through it. There are so many logistics. . . .”

There is no team bus, so players’ cars are used for transportation. “We just jump into the cars of the guys on the team that have cars,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy, 42, would be more than happy to drive the team to practice himself, but somebody swiped his pickup last year, and there isn’t much room on the handlebars of his 10-speed.

“Sometimes they forget about me,” Cassidy said. “The guys driving to practice assume the other guys are taking me. They get to practice and there’s no coach, and I have to beg a ride from one of the teachers still at school.

“I hope it’s not their way of telling me something.”

Once the team arrives for practice, there’s always the matter of the condition of the court.

“Byrd Junior High? We’re talking 1950s,” Contreras, a senior forward, said. “You walk into that place with new shoes and when you leave they’re black. It’s pretty bad.”

As if the semimonthly Byrd expeditions aren’t enough, the team gets another coat of black during the dreaded Monday outdoor sessions.

“The blacktop practices really get to you,” Contreras said. “It’s cold, and you have to constantly keep moving. It’s really hard to adjust, to perfect a shot. Like a bank shot. You just can’t get the feel.”

The cold, hard numbers reflect the team’s plight. Said Cassidy: “We’ve had games where we’ve shot 33%, or less. I don’t think we’re shooting anymore than 40% on the year.” To further illustrate the hardship, St. Genevieve has qualified for the playoffs in only two seasons since it started in 1959.

It’s also tough when you can’t feel your own fingers, or when the wind blows a 15-foot jumper into the street. Outside, when Cassidy speaks of warm-ups, he means it literally.

It’s a safe bet that there aren’t many schools that have ever canceled a varsity basketball practice because of wind or rain. In light of recent weather, and not wishing to risk hypothermia, Cassidy decided to blow a Monday practice a few weeks back.

“With the way the wind had been howling outside, I decided it just wasn’t worth it,” Cassidy said. “It’s just been too cold.”

Instead of practicing, the whole team went to see “Hoosiers,” a movie about a 1950s high school basketball team from Indiana. The movie probably reminded the team of one of the Byrd Junior High outings.

Playing on the blacktop might wear on Contreras’ nerves, but it’s just plain wearing down some of the players.

Earlier this season, the Valiants lost junior forward Mike Walker for a month when he fell on the outdoor court and broke a wrist.

Cassidy said others have complained of shin splints and tendinitis.

“That’s that blacktop for you,” Cassidy said. “We definitely don’t practice our take-the-charge drill out there.”

Contreras and Cassidy said fan support has been surprisingly strong but agreed that there is no place like home.

“We’ve got really great fan support, considering,” Cassidy said. “But it’s not the same as having a place of your own. Sometimes, when we lose a tough game, I really feel deep down inside that we could have won if we had a gym. The kids have been great, and it’s agony to see them play so hard and come up empty.”

Earlier this season, St. Genevieve lost to Harvard, 60-59, one of four games the team has lost by three points or less this season.

Cassidy said the chances of getting a gym are slim. “It’s something that’s always been talked about, but nothing has really been done. We don’t need much. Bell-Jeff was in a similar situation a few years ago. The gym they built isn’t the best looking one you’ll ever see, but at least it’s functional.

“And you don’t have to call the paramedics every time you want to practice.”

Zoning laws and financial constraints, according to Cassidy, have prohibited the construction of a gym at St. Genevieve.

“Various people have told me that architects and contractors have offered their services, and that we could basically have the gym built at cost,” Cassidy said. “And there have been fund-raising efforts throughout the years, but the main problem seems to be zoning. There’s just not enough room for parking.”

But even the most basic of gyms carry big price tags. The gym at Village Christian, which opened this season, cost $1 million and the school did most of the construction. The facility at Campbell Hall reportedly cost $2.5 million. Tax-reform legislation passed in 1986 has limited deductions one can make for charitable contributions, so it might be years, if ever, before the Valiants build a place of their own.

“I look around the league, and Chaminade, Bell-Jeff, La Salle and Salesian all have gyms,” Contreras said, “And we’re still waiting for a home with a dome.”