PACOIMA : Games Carry Message Against Gangs, Drugs

Dressed in black, about 750 kids from Pacoima and Lake View Terrace met in a heated showdown outside Pacoima’s Maclay Junior High on Thursday with one thing in mind: kicking butt.

But instead of engaging in a bloody rumble over gang turf or drug profits, the sixth-grade students dribbled soccer balls, ran 50-yard dashes, jumped rope and competed in other ways in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Sports Festival.

Six elementary schools participated in the daylong event, which was meant to foster good sportsmanship and an awareness of the dangers of the drug and gang life. Fenton Charter School, the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center and Brainard, Pacoima, Montague and Broadus elementary schools all send their sixth-graders to Maclay Junior High, which means the competitors will all be schoolmates next year.

“Our message here today has been games, not gangs and drugs,” said LaTanya Dearborn Smith, a teacher from Fenton who organized the event. “I felt this would be a good way for them to come together before next year.”

The students competed in 14 events, 24 students at a time. There were eight heats for each event, and the first-, second-, and third-place finishers received honorary ribbons. About 10 Los Angeles police DARE officers were present, handing out balloons, T-shirts and banners to kids while reminding them about the dangers of drugs.

Most students just saw the festival as a way to show off their athletic skills, but a few admitted that thoughts of gangs, drugs and other possible hardships at their next school were in the back of their minds.

“Gangs are a big problem,” said Fenton’s Steve Carrillo, 12, who came in second in the volleyball serve and relay race competition. “There’s nothing nobody can do about it. We need more things like this. There’s some (students) that are bad sports, but they’re mostly all right once you get to know them.”

Gladys Perez, 12, didn’t win any events, but she still enjoyed herself.

“I learned that being in school, being a good student and doing fun things is better than doing drugs,” she said.

Jerry Nunez, 12, said he came in second in the obstacle course competition, although friends said it was third. He thinks the event could help ease tensions between cliques from the old schools at the beginning of the new school year.

“You get to do things here you don’t usually get to do,” he said. “Some kids wanted to fight and stuff, but I’m sure we’ll all be friends next year.”