Santiago Coach Still Fielding a Dream : Field hockey: Kit Snider has led the Cavaliers to six consecutive Garden Grove League titles in a sport that has been on the decline in Orange County since the 1970s.

During her 15 years as field hockey coach at Santiago High School, Kit Snider has watched programs at other Southern Section schools erode.

Although still popular in the East and Midwest, the number of field hockey programs has declined in the Southern Section. Of the 80 Southern Section schools that offered the sport in 1974, only about 60 fielded teams in 1978.

Only 17 Southern Section schools--including 11 in Orange County--currently have programs.

Because of budget reductions made after the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, schools cut athletic programs, and minor sports such as field hockey were hit hardest. Then the colleges started doing away with their programs, reducing the options of players after high school and trimming the pool of coaches and officials.

Still around are a number of veteran coaches such as Snider, trying to keep the sport alive in the high schools. They also realize there likely won’t be anyone to replace them once they move on.

“I think that’s probably true with a lot of us older coaches,” Snider said. “We have the program because of us and when we go on to something else it probably will not be (maintained), which I think is a real shame.”

Despite the bleak scenario for the future, Snider’s program is thriving with 35 players, enough to field a varsity and two junior varsity teams.

“She is the exemplary model,” said Sandy Ruller, Santa Ana Valley coach and a former student of Snider’s, “because everything she does sets the standard: in her dealings with other coaches, in her dealings with the officials, with other teams, other athletes.”

At a school starved for athletic success, Snider’s teams have won six consecutive Garden Grove League titles and are 126-19-17 through this season.

In 1984, the Cavaliers won the final Southern Section-sponsored championship and have twice won the Tournament of Champions, which replaced the Southern Section playoffs.

Last season, Santiago was 19-0-5 and won the championship. This season, Santiago is 18-2-1 overall and in first place in the league at 5-0-1. The Cavaliers have scored 66 goals and allowed only five.

Junior Leanne Stoneking has scored 25 goals and sophomore goalkeeper Nellie Silveria has 16 shutouts this season after recording 19 shutouts last year.

“We’re not out there just to play,” Snider said. “If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it the very best we can. So the kids expect that from themselves. They think they are winners and they are.”

Beyond the victories and the championships, Snider is trying to instill the ethic of success, which she hopes will carry over into other aspects of her players’ lives. Before joining the team, her players, along with their parents, must sign a contract pledging to “devote oneself unreservedly” to the team.

Snider said her players are allowed to play only after they have handled their responsibilities at home and school.

“I expect my girls to be fierce competitors but gracious ladies on and off the field,” Snider said. “And I expect them to be responsible.”

Kris Rote, a former Santiago player and now a Cavalier assistant coach, said the players’ commitment makes the team unique.

“She can kind of get you going in the right direction without saying, ‘do it,’ ” Rote said.

“There aren’t enough people who are concerned with the athletes. Here they have to be well-rounded people and I think that is lacking in a lot of sports (programs.)”

Snider needs that sort of commitment from her players, who have little, if any, exposure to the sport before high school. Similar to soccer, field hockey is a noncontact sport without the hard checking of ice hockey. The object is to get the hard, baseball-sized ball into the opponents’ goal using blunt-ended sticks.

One of Snider’s players, junior Evelyn Jimenez, commutes from Corona because the high school near her home doesn’t offer field hockey. Jimenez said she isn’t the athletic type, and probably wouldn’t be involved in sports if it weren’t for field hockey and Snider. Snider said sports such as field hockey offer students an opportunity to contribute to a constructive program.

“I think the community of Garden Grove should take a real look at their sports programs at the intermediate level,” Snider said. “Here we (are) saying, ‘Ooh, gee we have gang problems, what can we do to solve that problem?’ It seems like it might be a good idea to get those kids involved in a supervised program and then they would have something constructive to do.

“I think our sports program has a real value at whatever level it is, and going beyond to play college level or professional ball shouldn’t even come into the picture.”