College Prep

Matt Moore is devouring the UCLA playbook and his mother’s cooking in equal helpings to prepare for his first football season in Westwood.

Willnett Crockett is jumping into a demanding exercise regime before making the leap of playing for Connecticut’s national championship women’s basketball team.

Pieter Berger is focusing on his schoolwork to avoid the pitfalls of “senioritis” in anticipation of the academic rigors he’ll face as a soccer recruit at California.

Staci Venski is training alongside Olympic-caliber weightlifters to strengthen her chances of playing volleyball as a freshman at USC.

Several weeks before graduation, these Southland high school seniors are among many top athletes already turning their attention toward college and competing at the next level.

Scholarships in hand, they have no intention of letting their dreams slip through their grasp by showing up unprepared.

“You have to be prepared in case they call your name,” said Moore, a quarterback from Newhall Hart High who is being given the rare opportunity to compete for a starting spot as a freshman at UCLA.

“You have to be able to act on the spot, whether it’s starting the game or coming in with 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter.”

Moore was a regular visitor at UCLA’s spring practice sessions, which concluded Saturday. He chose not to play baseball for Hart this season so he could devote more time to his studies and be able to drive to Westwood after school to begin learning the nuances of playing quarterback for the Bruins.

“I miss baseball a lot, but I think I made the right move,” he said. “If I was playing baseball, I wouldn’t be able to go [to spring practice]. This is educational in the long run.”

By observing spring practice, Moore was able to get a jump on learning UCLA’s intricate playbook and pick the brain of returning senior quarterback Cory Paus.

“Cory has been great,” Moore said. “Any question I have, he’ll answer and tell me more. Hopefully I can take what he’s telling me and use it.”

Although UCLA Coach Bob Toledo has opened the quarterback job to allow Moore and fellow incoming freshman Drew Olson to compete for the starting spot in the fall, Moore knows it will be tough to beat out Paus, who is being forced to earn back his job after angering Toledo by not informing him about two drunk-driving convictions.

“I’m looking at it as an opportunity, whether I’m the backup or the starter,” Moore said. “Knowing that I can play [as a freshman] makes me want to work that much harder.”

In addition to lifting weights, Moore has been eating a lot of his mother Mindy’s cooking and drinking protein shakes to try to bulk up his slender 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame. He’s hopeful of having a late growth spurt like his father, Don, who is 6-6 and 270 pounds and still pumps iron.

“My dad didn’t get his size until he was 19 or 20,” Moore said. “I want to be a little bigger.”

For Crockett, the goal is a little different. The 6-3, All-American forward from Harbor City Narbonne wants to firm up and be in better shape when she starts summer school at Connecticut on July 1.

Five days a week, she is following an exercise routine drawn up by Narbonne Coach James Anderson that incorporates running, weightlifting and basketball drills. Afterward, she goes to Harbor City Park near her home for full-court games. She also is cutting back on fast food, sodas and candy.

“I’m working on my fitness more so than ever,” Crockett said. “In past years, I just [relied] on talent.”

She got a taste of what to expect in college by playing in the McDonald’s and Nike all-star games the first week of April. Playing with and against some of the nation’s top seniors, including four of her future Connecticut teammates, Crockett said she realizes what it will take to excel in college.

“Some of those girls were quicker than I thought, stronger than I thought,” she said. “[But] I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I have no problem working hard for something I really want.”

With Connecticut graduating several post players from last season’s 39-0 team, Crockett is confident she will get playing time as a freshman.

She is less sure what to expect from college life on a campus 3,000 miles away from family and longtime friends.

“Being away from home, that’s the scary part,” she said. “But it’s a new chapter in my life. We’re going to have fun. We’re going to have a ball.”

Berger also wonders how he’ll fit in at college. The soccer standout from Irvine Woodbridge accepts that living in Berkeley, a hub of liberalism and open-mindedness, will be a big change after growing up in conservative Orange County.

Berger, who has a 3.6 grade-point average, is preparing for Cal in the classroom and on the soccer field. At a time when many seniors are skating through their final weeks of high school, Berger is taking a demanding class load that includes calculus.

After school, he spends much of his time practicing and playing with the Irvine Strikers, his 19-and-under club soccer team. Berger tied Woodbridge’s season scoring record with 28 goals this year and was recruited to add punch to Cal’s forward line.

“I know what I’m doing in soccer, I can handle that,” he said. “The thing I’m worried about is fitting in at school from an academic standpoint.”

Though he is big for a soccer player at 6-3 and 200 pounds, Berger worries about being physical enough to play in the competitive Pacific 10 Conference. He said he might start lifting weights to improve his strength.

Fitting in with Cal’s soccer team probably won’t be a problem. Berger said four of his former Irvine Striker teammates already are playing for the Golden Bears, and one of his current teammates, Tyson Wahl of Newport Harbor, is also headed to Berkeley.

Venski seemingly has been preparing for USC since she moved out of her parents’ home two years ago for athletic and academic reasons.

She relocated from the desert town of California City to Calabasas, where she lives with a family she met through volleyball, to be closer to her club volleyball team. The move allowed her to gain access to a more well-rounded curriculum at Calabasas High than was available at her previous school, Mojave.

Venski then showed how seriousshe was about her future when she decided not to play on the Calabasas girls’ volleyball team, choosing instead to concentrate on training and playing club volleyball.

“My main reason for not playing high school [volleyball] was because I was selfish,” she said. “I wanted to get stronger and faster. Training five days a week is what it took.”

Venski is pleased with the results. The 6-3 middle blocker has added six inches to her vertical leap and improved her strength in the 18 months she has been working out at Van Nuys High under the guidance of Bob Takano, a teacher at the school who conducts weight-training sessions for Olympic weightlifting prospects and athletes in other sports.

“His training has helped me so much,” she said. “I feel so much stronger on my feet.”

Venski splits her week between weight-training sessions and playing or practicing with the Redondo Beach-based Southern California Volleyball Club, whose season lasts from November to July. She says the ultra-competitive club competition has prepared her for college more than playing high school volleyball would have.

Still, she knows there’s more work to do.

“People congratulate me after a club match, but in the back of my mind I ask myself, ‘Is that going to get the job done in college?’ Probably not. So I need to change something.

“I look forward every day to getting better.”