Basketball: A Game of Goals : And One That Is Getting Closer for the West L.A. Coach Charlie Sands Is a Gym That His Oilers Could Call Home

Tacked on a wall where the West Los Angeles College basketball team changes into its uniforms is a list of goals for the season. The usual aspirations like victory predictions and hopeful field goal percentages are cited, as is a ceiling on turnovers.

One item is missing on the list, but not in the minds of Coach Charlie Sands and the brass at West L.A. A gym--a home court that is actually home. Because now, the list of goals is hanging on a locker room wall at the Culver City Veterans Auditorium, 1 mile from the campus.

With the passage of Proposition 78, which allocates state funds for construction of a gym at the junior college, Sands has raised an eyebrow, but not much else. When he was chosen for the coaching job in 1969 to lead the first-year basketball program at first-year West L.A., Sands was promised a gym within three years. It never happened.

“(A new gym) was one of the main reasons I took the job,” said Sands, who had coached at Fairfax High for nine years. “I was extremely disappointed. But my philosophy became “it’s my program and their team.’ ”

This new glimmer of hope has more people than just Sands crossing fingers. West L.A. College Athletic Director James Raack is also hoping there is a charm.

“We’ve gone through a lot of highs and lows,” Raack said. “None of us are jumping up and down. But if it is constructed in the fall of 1991, it will open all the doors. We are in a hotbed of basketball players.

“One of the reasons we haven’t been able to get the quality player is because they want to see a gym. And the quality players we do get come here because they want to play for Charlie Sands.”

The 55-year-old coach shucks past stories of new gyms and championships and focuses on a different attitude.

“My main thing now,” Sands said, “is we have maintained a strong program when many others have been dropped.” Sands is more than a coach starving for victories. He derives pleasure from transforming erratic cagers fresh out of high school into university-level players and students.

Although he believes the average junior college player is not prepared for such a regimen of practices and teamwork (Sands said many want to be superstars and not teammates), those who stick with the program appreciate their coach and his philosophies.

Sophomore standout George Copeland, who left WLAC after his freshman season, returned after a yearlong hiatus.

“I didn’t leave because of grades,” said the 6-0 Copeland, who graduated from Westchester High. “I had a 3.1 GPA. But I had a good job, so I left. I came back because I had a desire to play for Coach Sands. He’s a good coach and a good friend and we all respect him. It was loyalty to my coach, that’s why I came back.”

And that respect derives from the development of the program. Sands said he teaches dependability and loyalty, as well as the correct way to pop a jumper. He wants to take the “me” out of his players and put “we” into the game plan. That theory is evident during practice.

With three players racing the length of the court, passing to each other along the way, Sands barks: “Come on, together, together.” If the ball bounces, or the layup is missed, every player must run “ladders,” a sprint from base line to free throw line back to base line up to the top of the key back to base line, and so on.

Mistakes were rare. But when the players ran for those errors, Sands continued to scream: “It’s for the team. Come on, let’s do it together.”

“I think its a perfect program for someone who wants to become a better basketball player,” Sands says. “You can work the rest of your life, but playing basketball is on limited time.

“My goal is for the team to be continually educated. I feel we are never fully educated. As soon as you stop learning you become less interesting in every part of your life, so we emphasize how important it is to have some type of degree.”

Sands drills his players on learning under pressure and quick thinking.

Two lines of players face two other lines. A pair of basketballs move throughout, changing directions and speeds. Heads snap back and forth as if the players are watching a tennis match. Sands shouts directions.

What looks like a passing drill is actually a reaction-under-stress-and-confusion test. It is controlled chaos.

“I believe a coach is an educator,” Sands says. “Coaching is a pure example of teaching. I teach critical thinking every day. They are examined every day and have to do a lot of things they don’t want.

“What we are concerned with is that our players are student-athletes. There are very few players who can get better without a coach working him. That’s why you see pro players hiring private coaches.”

Although Sands works the minds and bodies of his players, victories do not come as often as one would expect. In his 19-year career at WLAC, Sands has coached only five winning teams. The Oilers are 1-5 this season.

“I’m not a winning coach,” he concedes without reservation. “And we are not always the most talented. But I love coaching and I love having players who enter here and leave with a scholarship.

“When the gym is built I think this is going to be one of the best basketball programs in the state.”

But in the event history repeats itself and Proposition 78 turns into another disappointment for Sands and his Oilers, West L.A. will still have a coach to educate its players.

“Like I tell the players,” Sands says, “the floor is a constant and I’m a constant. I’ll coach until I can’t coach any more. If I lose the enthusiasm I’ll leave, but I don’t think I ever will.”