New High School Already Worries Other Coaches

The new Oaks Christian High in Westlake Village is set to open in the fall, and girls’ soccer co-coaches Aerick Brown and Victor Sanchez of Westlake High are understandably worried.

The coaches, who led Westlake to a 9-1-2 record this season and to the Marmonte League title last year, believe they are going to lose prospective players to Oaks Christian, a private school that will have state-of-the-art athletic facilities.

“If I had the money, I would send my kids there,” Brown said. “I think we are going to lose some players to the school. We can’t offer the same things they can.

“It’s one more choice for the students in the surrounding area. Westlake is a great public school, but it’s not a private school.”

With the exception of La Reina, an all-girls school in Thousand Oaks, Oaks Christian will have no competition for athletes from other private schools in the Conejo Valley. Oaks Christian also figures to draw athletes away from other schools, considering it is only a short drive from Calabasas, Agoura, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Moorpark, Malibu, Camarillo and Simi Valley.

And don’t be surprised if Oaks Christian draws athletes from an even larger area.

“From what I’ve seen and heard, they are going to be the premier school in the area,” said girls’ soccer Coach Bud Dain of Crescenta Valley. “Living in Tarzana, I would send my daughters to [Oaks Christian]. They are going to become a powerhouse. Public schools can’t offer what they can.”

Tom Konjoyan, director of development for Oaks Christian, said other schools have nothing to fear.

“They shouldn’t be worried,” Konjoyan said. “There is plenty of talent to go around. We don’t want to be competitive with the public schools. Westlake is a great school and they have a lot of great teams. It’s going to take us a while to be a threat.”

But Sara Silver-Hill, a 1999 Times’ all-region soccer player for Westlake, predicts a dominant future for Oaks Christian, which will have separate soccer fields for games and practices.

“It’s going to be an awesome school, but it’s going to take a while to build up,” said Silver-Hill, who said she wouldn’t attend Oaks Christian because of its religious affiliation. “I don’t think the impact is going to be immediate, but they are going to become just like Harvard-Westlake eventually.”

Oaks Christian will accept only ninth- and 10th-graders in the fall. Athletic Director Jan Hethcock said he plans to field boys’ and girls’ soccer teams, but is unsure at which level they will compete.

The school will compete as an independent in its first year before moving to a league in 2001-2002. Hethcock said the Mission and Frontier leagues are the top candidates.

Hethcock said he probably will coach the girls’ soccer team, but applications are being accepted for coaching positions on the boys’ and girls’ teams.

Steve Sampson, former U.S. national men’s coach and technical director of the California Youth Soccer Assn., is said to be interested in coaching at Oaks Christian. Sampson lives in Agoura Hills.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Steve Sampson ended up getting the job, and that man can coach,” Brown said. “I’ve heard that he may be throwing his hat in the ring.”

Hethcock declined comment on whether Sampson was an applicant, but he said the school has received an application from a former U.S. Olympic coach. Sampson coached the U.S. team in the 1996 Atlanta Games.

“We have had applicants from all over the country,” Hethcock said. “We have not gone out and recruited other coaches. Every coach we have looked at has come to us.”

Hethcock has coached soccer for 25 years, most recently at Christian High in San Diego. In 11 seasons, his teams have won eight Harbor League championships. Christian is 9-0-2 this season.

Hethcock also coached at Point Loma College and played at Southern California College.

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The Top 10

Rankings of region soccer teams

BOYS

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RK LW School (League) Rec. 1 1 St. Francis (Mission) 13-2-3 2 2 El Camino Real (West Vly) 11-2-4 3 3 Buena (Channel) 10-4-2 4 6 Birmingham (Vly Mission) 8-4-2 5 5 Ventura (Channel) 14-1-3 6 4 Reseda (Valley Mission) 5-3-1 7 7 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 9-2-3 8 8 Calabasas (Frontier) 12-0-1 9 9 La Canada (Rio Hondo) 9-1 10 NR Chaminade (Mission) 9-3

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GIRLS

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RK LW School (League) Rec. 1 1 Buena (Channel) 18-0 2 2 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 9-2-3 3 3 Westlake (Marmonte) 9-1-2 4 4 Louisville (Mission) 9-2-6 5 5 Chaminade (Mission) 11-4-3 6 6 Hart (Foothill) 6-5 7 8 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 9-2-2 8 9 Quartz Hill (Golden) 11-1 9 10 Chatsworth (West Valley) 5-3 10 7 Ventura (Channel) 11-5-1

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