Athlete-Tutors at Granada Hills Keep Team Intact

Henry Shim is a 6-foot-1 1/2, 225-pound defensive tackle at Granada Hills High, the kind of player opposing coaches have to address during chalk talks, a guy who would be represented by a large X on the blackboard.

For the past several weeks, in a role reversal of sorts, Shim has helped his teammates add, subtract, multiply and divide more than a few Xs as part of a first-year program to assist players with academic problems.

Shim, a senior, has tutored teammates who were struggling in geometry and science courses and is one reason why Granada Hills, the North Valley League champion, has been relatively unaffected by eligibility problems that have hindered other City Section playoff teams. Mid-semester progress reports were released last week and the playoffs began Wednesday. The undefeated Highlanders will play El Camino Real in second-round of the 4-A Division next Friday.

Co-Coach Darryl Stroh said at the semester’s five-week mark that about 35 of 65 Granada Hills players were in danger of losing their eligibility. In the L. A. Unified School District, students involved in extracurricular activities must maintain a 2.0 grade-point average and receive no failing marks to remain eligible.

Stroh said that the five-week report served as a red flag, prompting him to help establish the first tutoring program for football players in his tenure. And while 10 Granada Hills players were declared ineligible, no starters were lost, he said.

“If we were going to have any chance of survival, it had to be done,” co-Coach Tom Harp said. “It’s an additional burden for the coaches, but we had to do it.”

Using players as teachers, Shim said, turned out to be a boon. Sometimes, it helps to speak to someone in their own language. Shim found some players particularly receptive to his ideas and methods, however rudimentary.

Square one: the square-out.

“Jermaine Love, a receiver on our team, was having trouble with a geometry problem,” Shim said. “He was really confused about angles. So I drew him a football diagram with a quarterback and two receivers.”

And Love, who leads the team with 27 receptions for 410 yards, soon caught on.

“I showed him that when a receiver ran a square-out that it was a right angle,” Shim said. “All of a sudden, he understood.”

Other players serving as tutors included Jordan Fisher, Alex Villa, Charles Carpenter and Kirk Langer. The experience of having peers as teachers was a constructive one for the entire team, Stroh said.

“We had kids who excel in certain subjects teaching the others,” Stroh said. “It worked out real well.”

Granada Hills Principal Anne Falotico said that she was surprised at the ease with which the players adapted to the role of teacher. Talk about your scholar-athletes--this has been double duty redefined.

“It’s thrilling to see a Charles Carpenter or Kirk Langer up there,” she said. “They teach better than some of the experienced teachers we have. Some (players) are just sensational.

“They have an easy way of presenting things and the kids aren’t afraid to ask questions. It’s fun to see the kids sitting down helping one another.”

Stroh scheduled the tutoring sessions on Mondays and Thursdays, when practices are typically shorter, so that players who are bused to the school from the inner city could attend and still catch their ride home. Most bused players chose to stay over with friends in the Valley, however. As part of the program, Stroh arranged for each bused player to have the option of staying overnight at the home of a Valley teammate.

“(Stroh) did a really good job of setting it up,” said Shim, who was born in South Korea and immigrated to the United States in 1980. “It’s been interesting and a lot of fun.”

Under the tutorial plan, players on shaky academic ground were asked to attend the tutorial classes. Stroh attended the classes and members of the Granada Hills faculty also volunteered time, Falotico said.

Some playoff-bound schools didn’t fare as well when grades were released. Taft, the West Valley League champion, lost 15 players, including four starters. Reseda and Van Nuys each lost four starters. El Camino Real lost three non-starters, Kennedy lost 10 players--only one was a starter, Cleveland lost two starters and San Fernando lost one.

Stroh said he believes that starters fared better than reserves because the starters might have felt more pressure from teammates to remain eligible. Reserves, he added, might not have been as inclined to study as hard because their playing time was limited.

“On a given night, we had 25-40 kids in there,” Stroh said. “Of the 10 guys that we lost, I’d say only one of them really attended the tutoring regularly. No special treatment was given to starters.”

The academic successes of this season are underscored by what nearly happened in 1988. Last year, without the after-school program, the Highlanders would have lost four or five starters to eligibility, Stroh said. Granada Hills lost in the first round of the playoffs, before the 10-week eligibility rulings were handed down. Had the Highlanders won their playoff opener, the academic ax would have swung the following week.

“We would have lost some big-time players, that’s for sure,” Stroh said.

Langer, a team captain and a starter at inside linebacker, said that the tutoring idea was conceived after a recent trip to San Diego State. While visiting former Granada Hills football players Sebastian Glaze and Dave Kim, Langer learned that the pair--both are redshirting as freshmen--were required to attend two hours of study hall each day after practice.

Langer and teammate Terrance Bito approached Irv Burch, the administrator in charge of athletics at Granada Hills, and suggested that a tutoring program be established for players in academic straits. Because practices normally run until 5 p.m. or later, players were unable to take advantage of previously established after-school tutoring programs at the school. Players felt that something needed to be done to address their needs, Langer said.

“I think it worked better than anyone thought,” said Langer, who tutored teammates in algebra and trigonometry.

Langer said that the sessions were not a one-sided affair.

“You learn it better yourself when you’re teaching it,” Langer said. “It forces you to break it down so they can understand it, and it also helps you.”

There were also unforeseen benefits. Sure, the team GPA soared like a punt catching a thermal, but so did morale.

“We were supposed to be working on school, but we ended up talking about other things,” Shim said. “It really ended up being a bonding thing too.”