Sable Is Back With New Goal

The decision by Danny Sable to quit the Harvard-Westlake High boys’ soccer team midway through last season qualified as only minor news. The Wolverines were struggling and the book on Sable was that, although motivated in the better competition of club soccer, he was self-centered and considered high school soccer a drudgery.

But flash forward a year and Sable is not only back, but he has helped the Wolverines become one of the region’s best teams. Harvard-Westlake is a half-game ahead of powerful Loyola in the competitive Mission League.

A central midfielder, Sable and second-year Coach Josh Budde have compromised, and the results speak for themselves.

“He and I did not understand each other at all,” said Budde, who guided Harvard-Westlake to a late run last season and a 9-8-3 record. “I saw him as lazy when really he’s just a closet perfectionist. When he makes a bad touch [of the ball], he tends to stop playing because he doesn’t want to make another one.”

Sable, a 17-year-old junior from Sherman Oaks, has six goals. But more importantly, he has the skill to spark the team’s possession game. Last season, he played forward but chafed under the system introduced by Budde, the team’s third coach in three years.

“Last year we tried to play pretty soccer and pass it around in the back but it was going to take more than a few weeks to understand,” Sable said.

“I was frustrated because we didn’t have very many scoring opportunities. I didn’t even get the ball in practice.”

Sable was also troubled by injuries to his calves, which were corrected by surgery last summer. He returned this season feeling better and with newfound maturity.

“I have a new perspective and I’m more realistic,” Sable said. “I understand when Budde says that by giving up the ball and trusting that I’ll get it back, then we’ll all do better.”

Budde, 31 and a former low-level professional player in Tulsa, Okla., has changed as well, giving Sable some space to blow off his frustrations and interjecting humor into his relationship with the team.

Sable, 5 feet 8 and 140 pounds, hopes to help the Wolverines earn their first playoff bid in three years and boost his image with college recruiters.

“Coach Budde and I really get along well and we’ve worked a lot on my mental game,” Sable said. “He says the difference between players [at the college level] isn’t in their feet but in their heads.”