Pining for victories

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 11:45 a.m.

Desert Pines first-year varsity records:

Football: 0-7

Girls volleyball: 0-18

Boys soccer: 1-16

Boys tennis: 0-11

Girls tennis: 0-13

Girls golf: No team

Boys basketball: 6-11

Girls basketball: 4-12

Girls soccer: 0-13

Wrestling: No Team

Baseball: No Team

Softball: No Team

Boys volleyball: 0-7*

Boys golf: 0-6*

*Through Monday's games

After just one varsity softball game, Desert Pines coach Felicia Gonzales had seen enough.

Not only had her club just dropped a 20-1 decision to fellow first-year school Centennial, but Gonzales had watched in horror as Jaguars' freshman third baseman Lauren Walter was rushed to the hospital after taking a line drive off her head.

Walter's injury proved to be a minor concussion. But the incident spoke volumes about a Desert Pines softball program with just five experienced players on its roster.

After Gonzales met with her administrators, they settled on what they thought was their best course of action: folding the school's varsity softball team.

"We would have played a lot of games where we were beaten severely," Gonzales said. "And it was also a safety issue. (Walter's injury) was the last straw."

High schools are rarely expected to contend for championships in their inaugural seasons. But at Desert Pines, simply fielding varsity teams has been a significant challenge.

The Jaguars did not participate in girls golf in the fall or in wrestling during the winter and are currently without varsity baseball and softball teams.

Lacking a senior class, the school inherited very few experienced athletes from nearby Rancho, Las Vegas, Mojave and Eldorado. And many of the students who could have made an impact athletically were unable to do so, a result of academic ineligibility.

While Desert Pines struggles with its numbers, fellow new schools Centennial and Foothill have thrived, at least by first-year standards. The Bulldogs and Falcons have each been to the playoffs in several sports, with Centennial's girls basketball team making headlines with a 30-1 campaign and those two schools' softball teams combining for a 16-7 record thus far.

But as administrators and coaches at Desert Pines are quick to point out, their school faces very different circumstances from its fellow newcomers -- a product of its unusual location.

From Green Valley, Cimarron-Memorial and Cheyenne in 1991 to Palo Verde and Mojave in 1995 to Centennial and Foothill last fall, Southern Nevada's recent growth has resulted in a slew of newly opened high schools, all in suburban areas along the outer loop of the city.

Desert Pines, on the other hand, is a new school in an older, less prosperous area of Las Vegas, near the corner of Pecos and Bonanza.

"We have a unique set of circumstances here," Desert Pines athletic administrator Richard Arguello said. "We don't worry about what (Centennial and Foothill) are doing. We're doing the best we can."

Despite the early growing pains, the Desert Pines athletic staff is a confident, upbeat group -- optimistic about their school's chances of competing sometime soon.

"We've got the facilities and opportunities of a new school, with a talent pool that is second to none," Jaguars football coach Gary Findley said. "Plus, unlike the schools on the outskirts of town, our boundaries will never really change."

Eligibility and responsibility

Of course, Findley knows better than anyone at his school that talent does not guarantee success.

When Desert Pines opened last fall, students from the surrounding high schools were given a choice: remain at their old school or enroll in the new one. Most of the top athletes opted to stay put.

"Kids had the option to stay and the ones that were good athletes, their coaches made sure they stayed," Findley said.

Nevertheless, Findley went through preseason workouts with a small but solid core of talented athletes, creating optimism for the Jaguars' inaugural campaign.

But days before the school's football opener, Findley's program lost more than 10 players, including several key starters, to academic ineligibility.

"That was a big blow to us," said sophomore Derek Brown, the team's starting quarterback. "It came right before the first game, and we lost seven starters."

Agreed Arguello, "When you go through your workouts with people you plan on using and then they do the Barry Sanders move and they're gone, that changes the complexion of your plans."

The Jaguars lost their opener to Las Vegas, 67-0. They went on to finish with an 0-7 record and were outscored 302-38.

"In football, we dealt with playing a varsity schedule without a senior class and with a depleted junior class," Findley said. "That's not a formula for winning football games."

Realizing that his program's success would be determined by more than wind sprints and weight training, Findley began a campaign to keep his athletes' focus on the classroom.

The slogan was simple: "Eligibility and responsibility."

"It's been a year of teaching our kids what it is to be eligible and what it means to be responsible," Findley said. "Being responsible means being on time to practice, doing the things we take for granted at schools with tradition."

Many of the coaches on Desert Pines' campus echo Findley's sentiments -- a reflection of Arguello's athletic philosophy.

"Our emphasis is on the student-athlete," Arguello said. "Our coaches give the right message, that academics are a priority. I haven't had one coach come in and say, 'How can we get this kid eligible?' They know for a kid to play, they have to do it right in the classroom."

The emphasis on eligibility began paying dividends during the boys basketball season. Several of the sidelined football players improved their grades and hit the court for a Jaguars squad that went 6-11 and missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker.

"When I saw the athletes we had, I felt we could go out and compete," boys basketball coach Freddie Thompson said. "We were happy with the way we played, and we're looking forward to next year."

Coaches as teachers

Keeping athletes eligible has been just part of the equation for Desert Pines' coaches this year. Their biggest challenge has been educating a student body that is largely inexperienced when it comes to sports.

"I have kids who have never played sports before, kids that didn't have the opportunity at other schools that are now playing for us," Jaguars girls volleyball coach Gertha Robertson said.

While most schools reap the benefits of youth and club programs in their area, many of Desert Pines' students have never had opportunities to participate in those types of learning environments.

"There aren't a lot of programs for our kids to play club ball around here," said Gonzales, who came to the school from Cheyenne. "The inner city doesn't have as many opportunities."

As a result, Gonzales' players are far less familiar with the basics of softball.

"We're constantly working on fundamentals, teaching the kids the game," Gonzales said. "At Cheyenne, the girls walked on the field and already knew the game. For my kids, it's not mechanical yet."

Agreed Findley: "We get very few kids that have stepped out under the lights on a Friday night and have played in a situation where they had to participate in an organized performance."

So at Desert Pines, coaches must work from the ground up, teaching their athletes not only how to perfect their batting swing or tackling technique, but also the proper way to hold a golf club or serve a volleyball.

And that, according to the Jaguars' coaching staff, is what makes their job so rewarding.

"We didn't win a game this year, but from a skill level standpoint, our players improved 110 percent," Robertson said. "That's something for them to be proud of."

Gonzales, who also coached the school's girls tennis team last fall, remembers the joy she felt after junior Julie Damby won her first-round match in the 1999 4A Sunrise Region Tournament.

"It was pretty incredible," Gonzales said. "She had never played tennis before, and to win a match at zone. I was on a cloud for a while after that."

Though the school went without a girls golf team in the fall, the Jaguars have a full boys squad this spring, despite the fact that many of their golfers had never stepped on a course before, to say nothing of owning clubs.

"Only one of our kids owned clubs, so the school bought six sets for them," Arguello said. "And Desert Pines Golf Course has been very accommodating to our kids. Their staff has come out and given lessons without charging. We appreciate their consideration toward promoting golf here."

Arguello recalled leaving campus one night and stopping by nearby Desert Pines. One of the Jaguar golfers was still there, working on his game.

"Our kids have never been exposed to this, but they like it," Aruello said. "You look at the socioeconomic level of golf and tennis, and we don't fare well in a competitive situation in those sports. But we're exposing kids to something they can pursue as they grow up.

"I'd rather have my kids on the golf course than on the streets."

A bright future

With year one winding down, Desert Pines coaches and athletic administrators are confident their programs are headed in the right direction. They are also realistic that they won't be winning state titles overnight.

"It's going to take time, but there's no pressure from this office to say we've got to win now," Arguello said. "We're making an attempt to become competitive. It's just a matter of patience and teaching."

Findley, for one, believes his squad can be a factor soon, with a promising freshman class providing hope for the future.

"We had a hard time getting 25-30 players a week we could put on the field. Now that we've got this year behind us, we've got over 100 freshmen in the football system," Findley said. "I don't foresee numbers ever being a problem for us again.

"If we go 5-4 (next fall) I'll be ecstatic. But the year after that, we'll compete with anybody."

Best of all for the Jaguar athletic program, freshmen and sophomores have had on-the-job training -- something their coaches hope will translate into success when they are juniors and seniors.

"We lost games, but the flip side is all our kids got valuable experience," Thompson said. "These kids will be leaders for two, three, four years."

Brown, a starter on the school's football, basketball and volleyball squads, is a perfect example -- a sophomore who has stepped into a leadership role he may never have considered at a school with full junior and senior classes.

"I picture myself as a natural leader," Brown said. "Coach didn't have to ask or anything. It just showed through."

So despite Desert Pines' humble athletic beginnings, its coaches are confident the future is brighter.

The key, they all agree, is staying focused on that bright future, rather than on their team's losing record this year.

"You've just got to keep the big picture in mind and not how badly you got beat last night," Findley said.

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