“My dreams are gone.”
Those are tough words to hear come out of a young athlete’s mouth.
But that’s what Marco Orozco, a Salinas High wrestler who had a legitimate shot at winning a Central Coast Section title next month, had to say to the Salinas Californian when he found out about the punishment the Salinas athletic programs received from the CCS Friday.
The harshest in CCS history, the ruling handed down a two-year ban from the playoffs to the football team and a one-year ban to all other sports, both effective immediately.
The penalties were punishment for a list of problems the Salinas athletic program has had over the past few years. Those issues include over the past two years separate occasions players displaying unsportsmanlike conduct at boys basketball and football games to football and girls cross country having to forfeit five games and a Tri-County Athletic League title, respectively, for using ineligible players this fall. Additionally, there have been an alarming number of students investigated for using fake addresses so they could attend Salinas High.
For these reasons and others, the CCS has spoken.
Unfortunately, the vast number of Salinas senior athletes involved in winter and spring sports who have not been involved in any of the wrongdoing just received the equivalent to an undeserved slap in the face, followed by a “Have a nice life” farewell.
It sounds harsh because it is. For most Salinas High athletes, high school varsity sports is where their competitive careers will end before they move on to the next phases of their lives.
It’s tough to tell if the punishment fit the crime. It seems harsh for the incidents that have been made public. But there very well may be many incidents or practices not made public that were discussed between Salinas administration and the CCS panel.
I’ve only been in the South Valley area for about a year. But my limited experience with Salinas sports has been good. I was impressed with the energy of Salinas’ Homecoming game when the Cowboys hosted Gilroy. A skydiver wearing Mickey Mouse ears swooped into “The Pit” before the game to deliver the game ball – something I never thought I’d see at a high school sporting event. The crowd was big and loud, yet respectful, even though the Mustangs pulled off a late game touchdown to win the game. The Salinas football team itself seemed to behave itself like just about any other high school team. Overall, it seemed like a very healthy and robust setting for high school sports.
Now, there’s a group of Salinas athletes who deserve to have playoff experiences, but won’t get them.
I hate to drag my own personal experience into this, but the situation irks me because I know what it feels like to have your sport taken away from you. I was the point guard on my high school basketball team, one of eight seniors who had been waiting three years for that season. In our fifth game of the season, I planted my right foot wrong. My knee popped, my anterior cruciate ligament tore, and that was pretty much it for me and competitive basketball. Something I valued very dearly was taken out of my power and I’m sure many Salinas athletes feel the same way.
Barring an accepted appeal to the CCS, there is no way the adults at the center of Salinas athletics – the coaches, the administrators, the parents ultimately responsible for the problems – can make it up to those seniors.
If for this reason only, Salinas better clean up the mess and never let it happen again, for the sake of future students. To do anything less is just disrespectful to the athletes who have been affected.
As for Orozco, I hope he finishes out his wrestling season the same as if he had a CCS postseason to look forward to.
At least he’ll have that victory.
Ana Patejdl covers sports for the Gilroy Dispatch. She can be reached at [email protected].
