Look What Happens When Kids Dress Dad

In six seasons as boys’ basketball coach at Oak Park High, Rob Hall has 89 victories, 53 losses and six ties.

Dress ties, that is. With a children’s theme.

About every other game, Hall, 33, dons one of the ties given to him by his three children: daughter Brett, 5, son Jackson, 2, and daughter Summer, 18 months.

One tie is covered with Sesame Street characters. One features a cars-and-trucks motif. And another is dotted with cartoon animals--all wearing ties.

“I get a lot more attention when I wear one of the kids’ ties,” Hall said. “Without fail, someone comments on them.”

During a nonleague game against Montclair Prep on Jan. 18, Hall was heckled about his childish neckwear by a Mountie fan, who suggested loudly that the coach be issued a technical for poor fashion judgment.

“It was good-natured,” Hall said. “[The heckler] came down afterward. He complimented me on our team. And on my tie.”

Add Hall: A coach’s kids often love to be involved with their parent’s team and Hall’s have gotten an early start as gym rats.

Daughter Brett was born on a game day. Hours later, her father arrived unshaven and in sweats to coach his team.

A week later, Brett attended her first Oak Park game, and she has been to hundreds of them since. Jackson and Summer are following in the same tradition.

“The two older kids know all the players’ first and last names,” Hall said. “My son runs around the house shouting that he’s [senior guard] Josh Rattray.”

In charge: Gina Hairapetian has been named Calabasas softball coach, replacing Debbie Thomas, who resigned last month.

Hairapetian, 25, was originally hired as junior varsity coach, but reapplied for the varsity position after Thomas stepped down. Hairapetian is a 1989 El Camino Real High graduate who played one varsity season for the Conquistadores and for Pierce College in 1990.

Soaring Parrots: Coach Jay Werner is in his ninth year at Poly.

So far, it’s his best.

The Parrots (14-5, 5-0 in the Valley Pac-8 Conference) have defeated four boys’ basketball teams in the City Section 4-A Division, and last year’s 6-17 effort is becoming a distant memory.

“This is a new thing for me, to tell you the truth,” said Werner, whose 3-A team has beaten Canoga Park, Grant, North Hollywood and Monroe. “This is definitely the most talented team I’ve had here. They’re hyped.”

Streak snapper: Drop two guys back on defense after each shot and hit the boards hard.

That strategy helped visiting Hueneme to a 40-39 victory over Dos Pueblos in a Channel League boys’ basketball game Wednesday. By snapping a nine-game losing streak, the Vikings (4-14, 1-8) won their first league game in 23 tries and avenged an earlier 77-45 loss to Dos Pueblos.

“We had given up a lot of easy points on fast breaks and they had scored a lot on second shots in the first game,” first-year Hueneme Coach Tom McCollum said. “So we tried to take those things away from them this time.”

Zzzzzz: Stalling in soccer? It happened Thursday when the Chaminade girls’ team killed the final five minutes in a 1-0 Mission League victory at Notre Dame.

To protect their lead, the Eagles (14-2-3, 4-1 in league play) repeatedly dribbled the ball into a corner of the field near the Notre Dame goal. There, a Chaminade player would place a foot squarely on top of the ball and wait.

“The only way to get it out is to kick it and it goes out of bounds and they get the throw and do it again,” Notre Dame Coach Neezer McNab said. “What are you supposed to do?”

Chaminade Coach Mike Evans said his team could have tried to score again but risked a counter-attack by the swift Knights (8-8, 2-3). McNab isn’t buying that reasoning.

“I was disappointed that a team in our league would do that,” McNab said. “It was very poor sportsmanship.”