The town of Temecula, Calif. is a city of about 110,000 people about 10 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.
In the area is a small cluster of three scholastic field hockey teams — Temecula Great Oak (Calif.), Temecula (Calif.) Valley, and Temecula Chaparral (Calif.) that compete in the CIF Los Angeles Section. But that competition may be no more if school officials have their way.
Following on the news that Chaparral would not be fielding a team next fall, the athletic administrators and principals of the other two schools have served notice of that the teams would be phased out.
According to a published report, the plan is to make different offerings such as girls’ flag football and girls’ beach volleyball at city schools.
Opposition to this plan has mobilized. A website has been created, one with talking points for people looking to debate the school board.
That debate is likely to come to a head next Monday. That’s when the next school board meeting will occur at Great Oak’s Performing Arts Center.
Now, we’ve seen a number of field hockey programs that have been on the chopping block the last few years.
Thing is, what the school board brings to the fore is a false choice between field hockey and newer sports on the varsity level. Sure, the NFL has funneled millions of dollars into promoting flag football in the last decade, to the point where there are a number of states offering it as a girls’ varsity sport. And beach volleyball, while starting in Hawaii, grew through competitions in Santa Monica beginning in the early 1930s.
It makes you wonder why the Temecula Valley Unified School District cannot find room for all three athletic competitions on their campuses.