Going Study : Academic Decathlon Coaches Share Work, Romance Preparing El Camino Real Team for U.S. Finals

Out on a top-secret reconnaissance mission, David Roberson maneuvered his car off the Ventura Freeway and headed south on Winnetka Avenue, pulling into the parking lot of Taft High School.

Under cover of darkness, Roberson and his partner, Sharon Markenson, prowled the lot for clues. What they discovered sent Roberson into a convulsion worthy of the Cold War. A lighted classroom full of rivals were hard at work.

Roberson and Markenson may not be professional spies, but checking up on the competition is just one of the many tasks they have tackled together during the past year while coaching the team from Woodland Hills’ El Camino Real High to victory in the annual Academic Decathlon.

It’s a challenging job that has consumed their lives, but the payoffs have been big: a chance for their team to compete this week for the national title in Atlanta, and a shot at romance.

In a union conceived in academic heaven, Roberson and Markenson began dating about a year ago while coaching the kids, some of whom confess to trying to play Cupid. They and their parents agree that the relationship has contributed to the team’s success.

“I think it’s great,” team member Jenny Stefanotty said. “Ms. Markenson used to get flowers on her desk and she would just smile, but everybody knew they were from Mr. Roberson.”

“The fact that they’re a couple makes this work,” said Jenny’s mom, Sue Stefanotty. “They keep each other’s enthusiasm up.”

Together, Markenson and Roberson have created a comfortable atmosphere in which students feel part of a large, surrogate family rather than an academic team.

Markenson is viewed as a nurturing force who has coached them on the finer points of writing and speechifying.

“She is considered one of the cool teachers at school because she is so easy to relate to,” Jenny said. “But she is also very good at what she does. She can take one of my drafts and make it perfect.”

Roberson, on the other hand, is perceived as the motivator to whom the kids can turn for countless pep talks, guidance in organizing their study of 10 topics, and perhaps no less importantly, endless snack runs to Costco.

“I’m head coach gofer,” Roberson said with a grin. “I supply their needs.”

Team members describe Roberson’s contributions differently. They particularly appreciate his ability to rally their spirits.

“When he talks to us, it gets the fire burning within us,” team member Eldar Brodski said. “I’ve never really encountered a person who could invoke so much motivation.”

The reasons that motivated each coach to dedicate hundreds of hours to the team for very little extra pay are in some ways as diverse as the team itself.

For Roberson, 43, accepting the position of head coach three years ago was a chance to work with some of the brightest kids in the country, and it also helped him land a full-time job at El Camino, where he had been working as a substitute.

Markenson, on the other hand, had been involved as an assistant coach at El Camino for eight years, parachuting in each season to help the kids with writing and speeches. But it was only last year that the 47-year-old literature teacher agreed to take on the increased responsibility of becoming co-coach.

“I saw it as a chance to work with these highly developed kids with no end in sight of opportunities to develop them,” Markenson said. “To me, this goes back to why I became a teacher in the first place.”

They began their cerebral march toward victory a year ago this month, when Roberson began searching for a new team. Though he looks for candidates who possess a combination of motivation and talent, his decisions are also based on a complex network of tips from team members and teachers.

“David recruits zealously,” said Markenson.

Sometimes shamelessly. He wooed some current team members by promising to supply them with a coffee maker and sleeping bags.

As Jenny recalls it, she was reluctant to join the team because she was enjoying an active social life and had been elected student body president.

“I told him I wasn’t going to do it and that I wanted to enjoy my senior year,” Jenny said. “I saw his face fall. I felt his disappointment. And at that moment, I realized all the potential he saw in me. . . .

“The next day, I told him I’d do it.”

Once the team was selected, bringing nine kids from different backgrounds together was the next challenge. The students ranged from the social Stefanotty to the intense Brodski, a tennis buff, to the supernaturally bright and eclectic Dale Shuger, who earned top honors at last year’s district competition.

There’s also Matthew Backes, a low-key computer whiz; Arabella David, a gifted writer who is also the team’s historian; Isis Okowita, an energetic thespian; Sarah Sabolek, described as sweet yet extremely driven; Kasra Torabi, known for a unique sense of humor; and Justin Weaver, admired for his exceptional intellect.

Despite managing such a diverse group, Roberson and Markenson learned to coach the kids both as individuals and as a team. During the past year, they have boosted some egos while reining in others and have tried to teach the students how to win, and lose, graciously.

The team began studying together last summer. Once school began, they started meeting a few hours each day after classes. They jacked up the study session in the weeks before the Los Angeles Unified School District competition in November, usually starting at 2:30 p.m., when classes recessed, and staying until 10 at night. On Saturdays before competitions, the coaches and kids put in more 12-hour days.

For the kids, the all-consuming study sessions meant giving up time with their friends, after-school jobs, the drama club and sporting events.

For Roberson, it meant going without hunting and fishing. “The decathlon demands that time,” he said. “You have to put it in to be competitive. That’s what earns the couple of thousand extra points that distinguishes championship teams.”

Markenson has perhaps paid the highest price for her commitment. Not only has she forfeited gardening and hiking, but she has missed spending time with her daughter, a high school senior who will go away to college next year.

“Every so often I’m torn,” Markenson said. “But who would have known this would go on all year?”

As a result of all the hard work and sacrifices, El Camino swept the district competition and advanced to Fresno, where they captured the state championship in March, edging out an ultracompetitive team from Orange County. This week, it’s on to Atlanta to compete for the national title.

“As far as I’m concerned, they are already champions,” Roberson said. “They are truly a class act.”