OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : Fawcett Goes From Coach to Player

Joy Fawcett knows the drills.

She ought to.

She usually is in charge of them, as coach of the UCLA women’s soccer team.

Here, when she participates in drills, she usually is the best at them, which isn’t surprising when you know that she is also a member of the U.S. national soccer team, and for the last two weeks, a member of the Olympic Festival’s West team.

“It’s kind of nice, not to have to coach,” Fawcett said with a laugh. “I wasn’t looking to go into coaching, when I started at Long Beach (City College). I thought it would be a good way to go to school, earn my teaching credential and make a little money.

“I ended up loving coaching.”

At UCLA, Fawcett has been a feet-on coach.

“Sometimes I jump in to show them how to do something,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just easier than explaining.”

But she can’t explain her good fortune at drawing coaching jobs.

Fawcett started coaching at Long Beach CC after a parent of a player suggested she apply. The team went only 5-9, but that was a school best.

A year later, Sigi Schmid, UCLA men’s coach, suggested she apply at UCLA. She did, got the job and guided the Bruins to a 10-6-1 record in 1993.

Although soccer seems to come easily to Fawcett, she maintains that she always has more to work on, another step to go.

Playing for the Festival team might be construed as a step back for a player on the national team--usually the Olympic Festival is for younger players to gain experience--but because women’s soccer will become a medal sport at Atlanta in 1996, competition for spots on the national team has intensified.

Fawcett, 26, of Huntington Beach, has been part of the national team for seven years and was selected as female player of the year by U.S. Soccer in 1988 and 1989. This is her third Festival.

“This is one of the best places for a woman soccer player to train,” she said. “There’s not that many opportunities for women’s soccer.”

But other circumstances as well prompted her to join the Festival team.

She became pregnant with her daughter, Katelyn, 10 1/2 months ago, so she was concerned about staying on top of her game and how the pregnancy might affect her fitness. So, Fawcett is using the Festival to get back into the swing of things.

Not that she was ever really far out of it.

Through her seventh month, she ran two miles three times a week. She continued step-aerobics right up to May 17, when Katelyn was born.

After a two-week workout break, she started running again with Katelyn in tow. Actually, her daughter was being pushed in a contraption that looks more like a go-cart than a stroller.

Fawcett has lost all of the 22 pounds that she put on during pregnancy and still takes Katelyn on her exercising excursions, whether practicing or running.

Instead of living in the athletes’ village here, Fawcett is staying with a family that watches Katelyn during games. During practices, friends and teammates help with Katelyn.

West Coach Lesle Gallimore, who played with Fawcett at California and still does on the national champion club, Ajax, said that Fawcett proves that aspiring Olympians can have a life outside athletics.

But it isn’t easy.

“Well, I don’t get as much sleep as I used to,” Fawcett said. “(Katelyn) likes to stay up late and get up early. But it is fun.”

Olympic Festival Notes

Joy Fawcett’s West team lost to the East, 2-1, in the gold-medal game. Julie Harris of Los Alamitos scored for the West. . . . In cycling, Meghan O’Brien of Tustin finished third in the women’s 60-kilometer road race. Cori Book won and Ryan Kelly was second. . . . In the men’s 110 kilometers, Norman Carter of Redlands had a lead that provided his Southwest squad with an edge of nearly five minutes before faltering. Carter finished 10th. Cory Domingues finished first and Damon Kluck was second for the West.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee won the 100-meter hurdles in 12.69 seconds, the fastest time in the United States this year.

Her time also was a Festival record, breaking the mark of 12.76 set by Gail Devers last year.