A League of Their Own : Girls’ Summer Sports Program Scores Points With Help From Police Officers, WNBA Pros
On Tuesday evenings, 12-year-old Natalie Amaya jumps into the back of a Huntington Park police van and is shuttled 40 miles to downtown Santa Ana.
Her journey isn’t to jail but to the basketball courts at Santa Ana High School, where she participates in a sports league designed to provide teenage girls with meaningful activities during summer vacation.
The program brings teenagers from across Southern California together with police officers as well as WNBA stars from the Los Angeles Sparks in an effort to instill positive values and provide role models.
“A lot of the time, our only contact with people, especially kids, is after something bad has happened,” Anaheim Det. Chuck Alvarado said. “They see us when they are the victim of a crime, to arrest somebody, to take family members away. The league gives us a chance to make positive contact.”
The league has 10 teams and more than 100 players from Orange and Los Angeles counties running and jumping two nights a week. It is separated into two divisions: 11- to 12-year-olds and 13- to 15-year-olds, with police officers serving as coaches.
The program was designed for girls from troubled neighborhoods. But the league is open to all girls, who can sign up at their local police stations.
Members of the L.A. Sparks have been holding a series of summer basketball clinics at the Great Western Forum, taking the teen players through shooting and dribbling drills.
“There’s teen pregnancy and other stuff out there,” said Marylou Youngblood, a Sparks spokeswoman who helped organize the league.
“We wanted to provide another outlet for the girls,” she added. “Little girls don’t have to just idolize Michael Jordan. They can look up to [center] Lisa Leslie or [guard] Tamecka Dixon.”
The Sparks have helped lure corporate sponsors for the league and donated basketballs and uniforms, which the girls can keep at season’s end.
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Some of the camaraderie developed on the basketball court between the teens and police officers is long-lasting.
Depending on what Huntington Park Police Officer Ivane Tua shouts during the game, Amaya will lob a no-look pass into the post or put her head down and drive to the hole for two. Off the court, she is just as likely to listen to Tua.
“I’ve see him driving around in his police car, but I don’t really think about it here,” Amaya said after one game. “I like talking to him. It doesn’t matter to me that he’s a policeman.”
Tua, with his intimidating 6-foot-4, 300-pound frame, said the new friendship is important to him as well.
“It feels good when a kid is not afraid to wave to me,” Tua said. “It helps me a lot when people can come up to me without fear. They don’t see me as an officer here, just coach.”
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Santa Ana Police Officer Jerry Prieto said the league provides him a good opportunity to break down the barriers between police and teenagers. “I have little kids run from me all the time, and when I ask them why they are running they always say, ‘I don’t know,’ ” Prieto said. “There is something about the uniform that scares some people. . . . I get chills up my back when I see a CHP behind me on the road too. I understand.”
The instruction from Spark players has also made an impact. Spark center Leslie, for example, gave the girls a talk about nutrition and hydration.
Sonia Ruiz, 15, of Santa Ana said she is now taking extra care to drink plenty of fluids before games.
Ruiz, a varsity player for Santa Ana High School who chugs up and down the floor of the hot gym wearing an ever-present smile, said she doesn’t give much thought to the social benefits of fraternizing with police.
“I love the game,” Ruiz said. “This league is not as intense as other leagues. We are just here to have fun.”
Ken Walker, Ruiz’s coach and an organizer of the league, said that’s the point. “This league is more like Little League because everybody plays. It’s competitive in that we keep score, but it’s all really for fun.”