Acalanes High School - Aklan Yearbook (Lafayette, CA)

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Captains ' conference. Frosh-Soph team captain Clay Ramsey meets with the referees and the two Miramonte captains before the start of the game. Captains were expected to call the coin flip and to be spokesmen for their teams. Tip-toe. Eric Sponzilli pushes the ball b a Las Lomas player up to his wing. Soccer players were characterized by the bruises on their shins, and Ernie was renowned for the fantastic amounts of abuse his legs could tolerate. Fast feet. George Pastor tries to fake out jason Catalano of Campolindo in an FAL Cup game. George had excellent ball control and was able to thread his way through opposing defenses with his fancy footwork. 52 SOCCER

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Paralleled practice. Barbara Persons and Chris Cunan review their identical beam routines together prior to their actual performances at a Miramonte meet. Since the team was divided into different levels, many girls performed the same routines. Wrapping it up. Lisa Barton helps Kathy McFetridge wrap her hands in adhesive tape in preparation for her upcoming routine on the uneven parallel bars. Many gymnasts used adhesive tape to prevent blisters when working on the i parallel bars. Poise Under Pressure Peering into the small gym on a warm spring day, one would expect to see a flurry of tumbling figures cartwheeling and somersaulting. However, when March rolled around, the gym stood empty and silent. The gymnastics ' team did not practice in the small gym, as previous teams had, but rather in the spacious Del Valle Gym. Driving over to Del Valle was inconvenient, but we had it all to ourselves and there was plenty of room for all the equipment, said Michelene Causing. Coach Blanche Farnum scheduled practices from 3:30- 5:30 every afternoon. Gym- nasts had to train many hours to perfect their combination of talents; not only did gymnasts have to memorize routines, but they had to work on grace, con- trol, endurance, and physical strength as well. Practices were tiring and time- consuming, explained Karen Kwecien, but they were nec- essary to learn each routine thoroughly. I was grateful for the hours I had spent practic- ing when competition time ar- rived, because I felt satisfaction when I performed an almost flawless routine. New routines provided a twist to gymnastics ' competi- tion. Annie Miller explained, The most difficult aspect was learning the different routines — the moves were the same but they were joined together uniquely. I ' m glad they intro- duced us to the revised rou- tines because the old ones had been around for several years. They needed to be replaced by something more challenging. The relatively small team consisted of 16 girls and was divided into three different levels: novice, beginner, and intermediate. These divisions not only provided a variety of skill levels for competition, but also allowed Mrs. Farnum to work with each individual group during practice. Of the basic squat over the vault. Gymnasts No-fault vault. Julie Brown executes a 16 girls on the gymnastics ' team, only two, Barbara Per- sons and Kathy McFetridge, were ranked at the intermedi- ate level. Barbara said, The in- termediate routines were a lot harder than the others, and they required a lot of strength, practice, and natural ability. Kathy added, Gymnastics, at any level, combined grace and poise with physical endur- performing on the vault needed strong arms to support their total body weight during the stunt. 51 GYMNASTICS

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Foul play. Todd Morrish gets a Balboa plaver ' s knee in his ribs as he moves the ball up the field. Soccer was a non-contact sport, but some teams often got belligerent late in the game when thev were losing badly. Our practices consisted mostly of complicated drills. Mr. Kleir would have a new one each day: he ' d try to ex- plain it to the team, and then he ' d get angry when we didn ' t understand him. Many of the players disliked drills, but I think in the end they definitely helped us. Drew Peterson Firm foothold. Effective passing and ball control were marks of a good team Ron Hansen dribbles at midfield to create openings in the Las Lomas defense while laime Ponsford follows in support. Varsity We They Opponent 8 Las Lomas 5 Campolindo 3 Miramonte 6 1 Las Lomas 3 1 Campolindo 3 1 Miramonte won 6, lost FAL Champions Frosh-Soph We They Opponent 3 1 Las Lomas 1 Campolindo 2 1 Miramonte 5 1 Las Lomas 3 1 Campolindo 2 Miramonte won 6, lost FAL Champions Goal-Oriented Up until their last game, the soccer team looked back upon their season as an indistinct succession of mild practices and easy wins. They effort- lessly achieved a perfect record in league play, won the FAL Cup for the fourth year in a row, won the Montgomery Tournament in Santa Rosa and built up a thirty-five game win- ning streak. Team co-captain Ron Hansen said, We never really had trouble with any of our games, even when we scrimmaged the Cal Junior Varsity. After advancing to the finals in the Tournament of Cham- pions, several team members planned a massive party to be held at Ernie Sponzilli ' s house. Historically, soccer parties had always been rather wild, and the attitude was, Let ' s win the game and go celebrate. But it was not to be. Matched against Montgomery, a team which they had beaten at the begin- ning of the season, we managed to overcome a two goal deficit late in the game to achieve a tie. The game went into overtime, then into sud- den death, and finally into penalty kicks, a rather arbitrary way of deciding a game. Mont- gomery triumphed, the Dons went home with intense feel- ings of frustration and dissatis- faction, and the party never materialized. We didn ' t dwell on our one loss, since there was no question that we out- played them, commented (continued) Beheaded. In the FAL Cup semi-fina Scott Hoetker beats his Campolindo opponent and slams the ball to a went on to win the game, 5-1 , and the Cup for the fourth consecutive vear. 53 SOCCER