Coming to America Worth It to Many

There’s no language barrier when it comes to certain elements of sport. A birdie, an ace, a record-breaking swim need no translation.

Come San Diego section playoff time, several foreign students have a chance to take home special memories and championships, to their homes in Asia, Europe and South America.

The precedents have been set:

--Last season, Poway’s Sayaka Kimura of Japan helped Poway win the 3-A girls’ tennis section title.

--In 1987, another Poway girls’ tennis player, Charlotte Skive of Denmark, won the section doubles title with Carla Quaresma (now at UC Santa Barbara), and Poway won the team championship.

--Sweden’s Dick Berggren was instrumental in Torrey Pines winning the team golf championship in 1978.

The possibilities of spring abound. In boys’ swimming, Valhalla’s Markus Labruier of West Germany and Santana’s Jerome Poignard of France are sure to make a splash in the postseason.

Labruier’s 50-yard freestyle time is one of the top five in the county, according to Valhalla Coach Kent Houston, and Poignard, “can swim anything,” said Santana Coach Michelle Farres.

“My goal,” said Labruier, of Duren, near Cologne, “is to go with as many guys from Valhalla to CIF, as a team. For myself, I’d like to reach the finals in one event. But that’s secondary.”

Labruier said he was lucky to come to San Diego. He is impressed with its “typical cliches, the nice weather, the sun, the nice girls,” he said. “American’s are more easygoing. I like the whole American way of life, that’s one reason I’m here.”

Although Labruier’s training here is similar to that at home, he has had to adjust to more intense workouts.

“We go more all out here,” he said, “like doing sprints without a break. But I got used to it.”

Labruier also has had to adjust to swimming yards instead of meters.

“I had no idea what my times were. I couldn’t tell how I was doing,” he said.

Bishop’s Jose Medrano, a member of Bolivia’s Davis Cup tennis team, has a pretty clear picture of how he’s doing. With a 15-3 record, Medrano has a good shot at a CIF individual title.

“I hope I can do well in CIF,” said Medrano, the No. 1 ranked 18-year-old in Bolivia last year.

Medrano comes from a small town in the middle of Bolivia called Cochambamba. In the seven months since he arrived, he said his game has improved greatly.

“Here, you are playing good players all the time,” he said. “You can improve as much as you want. At home, the facilities are not so nice.”

Medrano said playing on hard courts, not clay as he is accustomed, has made him more versatile.

“I’m a baseline player, but now I’m working more on volleys,” he said.

Caroline Rasmussen of Aalborg, Denmark, is competing against boys for the first time, but she is the No. 2 golfer for Mt. Miguel’s Carl Broselle.

“She’s a good little golfer,” he said. “The boys she’s played against have been impressed.”

Rasmussen, 17, said competing against boys has been an adjustment, but being able to play year round has more than made up for it.

“I asked if it was possible to come to a place where I could play year round,” Rasmussen said. “That’s not possible at home.”

Rasmussen said her European coaches stressed basics, but she is learning more about her swing here. “I understand more about how I hit the ball,” she said.

Fellow Dane Christoffer Hansen is University City’s big hope in badminton. According to UC Coach Josie Scanlon, Hansen, at 6-feet-2, 185 pounds, should be the top-seeded player in both doubles and singles at the individual section championships.

“Badminton is very big over there and he has a lot of experience,” Scanlon said.