Summer brings talent showcases

From combines to showcases, from camps to tournaments, the months of June and July can be the most hectic time of the year for high school athletes. Anyone who doesn’t have a calendar posted on the refrigerator door is destined to run laps for being late to an event or face the wrath of an angry parent for forgetting to explain why he has football lifting in the morning, a baseball game in the afternoon and a basketball game at night.

For a sportswriter, however, summer is heaven. Every weekend, there’s someone to see, so here’s a peek at my upcoming schedule.

The football seven-on-seven passing season begins Saturday with perhaps the best tournament of the summer at Dana Point Dana Hills and San Clemente. There’s star power everywhere, with Long Beach Poly, Santa Ana Mater Dei, Ventura St. Bonaventure, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, Huntington Beach Edison, Lakewood, Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro, Harbor City Narbonne and Encino Crespi.

Of course, someone will inevitably anoint the winner of the tournament No. 1 in Southern California for 2009. That would be a mistake because there’s one big missing ingredient from passing tournaments: linemen.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, which returns quarterback Ryan Kasdorf, the Gatorade state player of the year, has three top senior linemen in Ben Gottschalk (6-foot-4, 260 pounds), Daniel Munyer (6-3, 265) and Tyler Sulka (6-5, 270). Asked what they will be doing this summer, line coach Jeff Kraemer said, “They’re eating raw steak while pancaking people in practice.”

That’s the warning on passing tournaments, but they are important in revealing which teams have the best skill-position players, and that’s why I’m going all out on attending passing competitions.

Also on Saturday are tournaments at Pierce College and Moorpark High.

Here are other passing competitions to watch:

On June 20, Beverly Hills and Crescenta Valley host competitions. Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, which returns several starters and hopes to compete for a Division II state bowl berth, is the team to watch at Beverly Hills. There’s also the Conejo Classic at Westlake, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park.

On June 26-27, La Verne Bonita is the site for a large tournament that brings together teams from the Inland Empire, San Gabriel Valley and San Fernando Valley. The Saugus tournament will take place on the same days at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Oaks Christian and Notre Dame are entered.

The College of the Canyons tournament is June 29, 30 and July 1.

On July 11, Edison is the site for the best late-season tournament. Corona Centennial, Notre Dame, Mater Dei, Los Alamitos, West Covina South Hills, Oaks Christian and Tesoro are all entered. This is the tournament that should crown the seven-on-seven summer champion. Oxnard Rio Mesa and Los Angeles Valley College are also hosting tournaments on July 11.

As for basketball, the Crespi tournament on June 20-21 brings together five defending league championship teams: Mater Dei, Thousand Oaks, Huntington Beach Ocean View, Los Angeles Loyola and Los Alamitos.

On June 23-28, the Fairfax tournament takes place, with City Section powers Westchester, Woodland Hills Taft, Fairfax and Dorsey taking on Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran, Lawndale Leuzinger, Loyola, Long Beach Poly, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, North Hollywood Campbell Hall and Gardena Serra. The championship game is June 28 at 6 p.m.

Finally, the summer ends with baseball’s Area Code Games on Aug. 5-10 at Blair Field in Long Beach. This is where the professional and college scouts get to see the future bonus babies. Pitcher Jesus Valdez from Hueneme is my pick to become the summer sensation among scouts with his 92 mph fastball.

So put away some money for gas and hit the road to get a sneak peek at the players and teams to watch for the 2009-10 school year.

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eric.sondheimer@latimes.com