Egg hunt ideal at Estancia

ROGER CARLSON

I’ve always agreed with the theory of making do with what you have to

create something that will turn it into a positive.

With that in mind I believe I’ve found something that could bring

not only revenue to the city of Costa Mesa, but a feeling of

camaraderie and recognition with attention from various media.

In the spring when the Easter Bunny arrives, I am suggesting an

annual Orange County Easter Egg Hunt at Estancia High, where there

are enough nooks and crannies to hide thousands of those dyed eggs,

which toddlers could vie for.

There, in the soccer fields which range from west of the junior

varsity baseball diamond, all the way back to the blacktop adjacent

to the girls gymnasium, is an amazing source of little mounds, dips,

valleys, small caves and hideaways to give any little person a real

run for his or her money.

They’ll fall down, a lot, but with little ones it’s only around 10

inches from the seat of their pants to the turf!

The Recreation Department, of course, would run the show, set up

some sort of fee schedule to help pad the city’s bank account and

direct traffic in and about the school. If necessary, of course, just

wheel right up on to the lawns and sidewalks at Estancia.

On an Easter Sunday there should be room for thousands and it’s a

beautiful picnic area, as well.

Maybe it could be the “Daily Pilot Buttercup.”

How else can you make a positive out of such a negative as are the

playing fields at Estancia, where all attempts to right a wrong have

been discarded.

I took a tour the other day at Estancia and as I left the blacktop

near the football’s weight room heading west I was immediately on the

surface of the famed junior varsity girls soccer field, very small in

size, but laden with great stories.

Last year alone two games were in jeopardy.

“The official said our field is horrible and unplayable,” said

Girls Athletic Director Nancy Ferda.

Had the opposition elected, one must presume a forfeit victory

could have been claimed by the visitor. But the games did go on.

Ferda said on another occasion an Orange High girl came up with a

broken arm.

There is also “Lake Estancia” on the varsity field which the boys

and girls use. I didn’t see it, it’s been dry for quite a while. But

when the rains come I’m told the area in and around one of the goals

becomes a lake. The good thing is that no fishing license is required

whether or not it is stocked with fish.

“Fortunately we haven’t had much rain the last couple of years,”

said Ferda.

The march continued toward the varsity soccer fields, through a

valley and up the slope before nearing the junior varsity baseball

diamond. A coach was watering the infield and as I approached you

could see the apprehension in his face. He didn’t recognize me and

I’m sure he was worried he was about to be thrown off his field by a

new face in the recreation department. Because, in fact, it’s not is

field anymore.

From there, on to the old Parsons Field, a soccer site with a

surprisingly flat look, with the resemblance of a World War I field

in France, littered with small craters. In a word, unplayable.

As I walked back with my tour guide, the president of the girls

soccer boosters at Estancia and one of the founders of the baseball

boosters, Mark Gleason, who also manages an elite club soccer club in

Costa Mesa, said, “We got no money from Measure A, you know,”

alluding to the $230 million bond issue which passed a couple of

years ago. Not one dollar.”

Gleason offered to plunk down $50,000 to the district, but it had

baggage. He wanted his club to be able to reserve future field time

to use for practices outside the school’s needs and that the money

would be used to improve the fields at Estancia. The district, which

has heard offers from other clubs in the past, according to Gleason,

brushed the offer aside.

So, he went to St. John the Baptist, a private school in Costa

Mesa, and in no time the school’s field has been dramatically

upgraded with the help of about one-third of the planned $30,000

designated for improvements. The school continues to use its field at

its leisure and the grass just keeps getting greener.

Gleason is a well-known figure among many who are involved -

school board members, district officials, city parks and recreation

officials, city council members, parents, most everyone.

He had mapped out the woes and solutions well before our tour.

Among his comments:

“The joint use agreement [between the city and school district]

provides a perfectly convenient way for the two sets of bureaucrats

to say ‘not my problem,’ and that’s largely what they do.”

He cites a litany of items which makes the current agreement

unworkable, offers a number of things as a solution and wraps it up

very nicely: “Rewrite the entire agreement.”

He said he has made sure everyone in the mix has seen his

worksheet.

One clause [Sec. 3-A] of the current agreement, Gleason points

out, “grants the District the right to use its facilities when they

are being used by the District and when they’re not being used by the

District.”

Huh?

Well, the walk continued under clear, afternoon skies, and then

came the great finish.

There, to the right, very close by to where we had ventured

earlier, lay the girls junior varsity softball diamond.

An atrocity, it’s probably best summed up by simply stating there

is no inmate at any federal or state penal institution in this nation

who could possibly play softball under worse conditions. In a word,

it’s jaw-dropping.

The aquatics program? They still have water for the pool, but

longtime coach Bob Bandurak has been hit with a bill that is triple

what has been the custom. It was in the neighborhood of $10,000 a

year to use the pool for the Splash club program, the one and only

feeder link to the school’s swim program, also coached by Bandurak.

The around-the-year program involves boys and girls ages 5-18 and

Bandurak said about half of the 150 (summer) and 60 (winter)

youngsters hail from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

Now he’s faced with a $30,000 bill, which works out to about $45

per hour’s usage.

The scenario, as it was explained to me by Gleason, is that the

district sets the rate, the recreation department makes out the bill,

then the swim program makes out the check to the district.

I took a drive over to Costa Mesa High to make sure the Mustangs

were not in similar straights, but it is like night and day. They may

never boast of facilities to rival those at Newport Harbor or Corona

del Mar, but they’re light years ahead of Estancia, which simply has

no monetary base to fall back on, as does CdM and Newport.

I asked Estancia boys soccer coach Steve Crenshaw for a comment or

two, but he didn’t have much to say.

A coach who has enjoyed some remarkable success, including a CIF

championship not too long ago, he said: “No, I have nothing to say.

No one has ever listened to anything I have said.”

It was not always like this at Estancia, but about 10 years ago

there was an unusually strong winter storm and a Costa Mesa Classic

Region 120 tournament was conducted throughout the duration of the

storm, according to Crenshaw, and it is his opinion the terrain is

such that only a complete overall grading and resodding will ever put

it back to its original state.

Meanwhile, the beat goes on and the dilemma is common knowledge.

“The District wishes [athletics] would just go away,” said

Gleason. “In spite of that, it doesn’t go away.”

The most recent calamity, according to Ferda, is that there is no

money to buy the chalk-like paint for the practices on the football

field, which begin on Tuesday.

“We get our money from two sources, the sale of ASB cards and the

school district,” said Ferda.

“Each sport gets a little of the ASB cards sales, and the district

has cut our budget from $7,000 to $3,500.

“The cost for boys and girls awards, letters and pins is $1,690

and we still have to pay for referees, trainers, supplies and office

supplies. The referees are $2,700 alone, and we’re out of money.

“We ordered the paint for the football field [$900] and our

secretary on campus called me up and said, ‘You don’t have any

money.’

“I just wish someone would help us.”

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

[email protected].