He Gets a Kick Out of Two Sports

Patrick Marion is one of the most skilled boys’ soccer players in the Southland. He’s an artful passer and sneaky defender, and he’s especially dangerous around the net.

He also rebounds pretty well.

Each winter, the club soccer standout trades his cleats for sneakers so he can play basketball for Santa Margarita Tesoro High.

Marion doesn’t dominate on the court as he does on the soccer field, where his athletic ability is enhanced by his 6-foot-2, 185-pound frame. But he is good enough to lead the Titans in scoring, rebounding and steals.

“He’s not a true basketball player, just a hustler who has a nose for the ball,” said Steve Garrett, his basketball coach. “Out on the soccer field, he’s a beast. He just dictates the whole game.”

Marion, a junior guard, set a school record recently when he scored 36 points against Santa Ana at the Santa Ana Century tournament. He also had a 11 rebounds and five steals in the victory.

As the center midfielder for the Mission Viejo Pateadores’ under-17 club soccer team, his role is not much different. He possesses polished offensive and defensive skills and the determination and ability to consistently win balls in the air.

Marion is co-captain of the Pateadores, who recently won their age group in the Premier League of the Fullerton-based Coast Soccer League, the largest youth soccer league in Southern California.

Forgoing high school soccer in favor of basketball was not easy for Marion. He’s on track to earn an athletic scholarship for his soccer play but still has a passion for basketball.

“I wasn’t ready to let it go,” he said.

Don Skaff, boys’ soccer coach at Tesoro, is certainly aware of Marion’s skills, but isn’t about to question his decision. Skaff said that if he were in Marion’s shoes, he probably would try the same thing.

“I think it’s great what he’s doing,” Skaff said.

As do, undoubtedly, fans of the 3-year-old basketball team at Tesoro, which is 11-5 heading into its Pacific Coast League opener Friday against visiting Irvine University.

Marion is averaging 15.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.4 steals. He has proven especially effective late in games because of the conditioning developed playing soccer since his early days in AYSO.

He recently scored 12 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to cap a 14-point comeback for the Titans in a 59-53 victory over Ontario Colony.

“It’s a lot easier running at the end of the game,” he said.

Unlike soccer, where Marion usually has a significant height advantage, he often plays against taller opponents in basketball. But he said that disadvantage provides some of the incentive to keep coming back.

Observers often see Marion using a ploy in one sport that he learned in the other. It’s common for him to set a screen, just as he would in basketball, for a soccer teammate on a corner kick, or discreetly use his hands to slow an opponent on the basketball court, as he would in soccer.

His intensity, however, can get him into trouble, Garrett said. When going for rebounds and loose balls, Marion has a tendency to draw fouls, then can’t figure out why what he did was wrong.

“He has to downshift a little bit,” Garrett said.

And lower his voice.

On the soccer field, Marion said, play is much more physical and exchanges with opponents and referees are often harsher.

“You have to be much more careful with what you say in basketball,” he said. “The referees can hear a lot better.”