The High Schools : No-Show Deflated Westlake Enthusiasm

Motivating a young basketball team through the dog days of summer can be a difficult task, so Westlake Coach Greg Hess gave the Warriors something to work toward. Instead of playing in a local tournament to start the season, Hess entered his team in the St. Monica tournament in Santa Monica and requested none other than basketball-power Crenshaw in last week’s first round.

“I used that as a motivating force,” the second-year coach said. “My strategy was to get the team pumped up to play the best.”

Alas, when Hess received the tournament pairings in the mail, not only was Crenshaw not Westlake’s first-round opponent, it was not listed among the entrants. The Cougars had pulled out.

Needless to say, Hess was disappointed, as was his team.

“I think that’s kind of hard,” he said. “That’s the reason I wanted to go to that tournament.”

Last weekend, Westlake played in the tournament anyway and placed second. All’s well that ends well? Perhaps.

“It probably worked out better for us,” Hess said in hindsight, “because our confidence just went up.”

Tournament time: Thousand Oaks will not play in the Beverly Hills tournament, opting instead for the Pepsi Northwest Prep Classic, a 16-team tournament that starts Dec. 26 at the Seattle Sports Arena.

The Lancers will be the only California representative.

Camarillo also has forsaken the Beverly Hills tournament and will head out of state to play in the Page, Ariz., tournament Dec. 15-17. Teams from New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and, of course, Arizona will compete.

“There are so many local teams at the Beverly Hills tournament,” Camarillo Coach John Harbour said, “I thought we’d experience something new.”

Soccer elite: Craig Hampton, a junior soccer player at Simi Valley, has been selected for the U. S. Junior National team and may travel to the Soviet Union to compete. Of the 20 players chosen on the 18-and-under team, 16 will make the final cut.

Hampton started for the Pioneers as a sophomore and was named to the All-Southern Section second team as a defenseman. He has 2 goals in 2 games this season.

Special Southern Section permission was granted for Hampton to engage in high school and international play during the same season.

Said Coach Andy Silva: “We covered our tutus and took steps to keep him eligible.”

A year ago in the same city, Royal nearly forfeited its Southern Section 4-A Division championship for failing to gain Southern Section approval when Highlander Cam Rast played in the Soviet Union. The controversy resulted in the disciplining of 3 Royal administrators, including former Athletic Director Glenn Lipman, who now holds a similar job at Channel Islands.

Add soccer: Junior halfback Rachel Gagliano, who plays on the Monroe boys’ team, has been included in the the pool of players who will compose the under-19 girls’ team, sponsored by the Olympic Development program. Gagliano, who transferred from Alemany this season, has set her goal for the 1992 Olympics when women’s soccer may become a demonstration sport.

Fundamental issue: Gary Shair has seen his share of teams and formulated an opinion or two along the way. After all, he has been coaching basketball at Chatsworth for 24 seasons. Certain phrases, even after all these years, still make him bristle.

This year, Chatsworth will attempt to play a more up-tempo game than last season.

“I figure we’ll go shoot it--what the hell,” he said.

Just don’t call it that well-used cliche, the one universally used to describe caution-to-the-wind basketball.

“I don’t like the run and gun, not at all,” Shair said. “I mean that term just drives me nuts.”

Wondering why? For most people, the fast-paced style of play is exciting. For Shair, it is closer to nauseating.

“Last year I watched Loyola,” he said in reference to Coach Paul Westhead’s college team. “They ran all over the place, they averaged 110 points a game, and it was still terrible. Their team defense was the worst I ever saw--it absolutely turned my stomach.”

“I’m still a fundamentally oriented guy.”

Moniker mania: The Taft basketball team, which last season brought us players nicknamed Q, Bobo and Mo, is back at it.

Tony (Mo) Moten graduated, but junior guard Aubrey (Tosh) Williams fills in capably. Quincy (Q) Watts is now running track at USC, but junior center Jason (Yo) Deyoe takes his place. Another name coined by Coach Jim (Fill in the Blank) Woodard is Dave (No) Seranow.

“The only real nickname is Tosh,” said Woodard, who invented most of the rest. “I have no idea what that means. Maybe he’s into reggae or something.”

Senior forward Tony (Bobo) Middleton returns, unfortunately, appears stuck with the same nickname.

Attraction reaction: Because of the success of its basketball team, Cleveland gets it share of transfer students. Over the summer, for instance, the Cavaliers picked up 6-0 guard Eddie Hill from Burroughs and 6-6 junior Brandon Battle from Canoga Park, both via transfer.

Sometimes, however, magnets repel. Gilbert Ruff, a 6-7 senior, transferred to Taft from Cleveland a month ago, Woodard said.

“He’ll definitely get a chance to play here,” Woodard said. “We can use him.”

Staff writers Tim Brown and Steve Elling contributed to this notebook.