Although this sign on the wall of the Westwood Rec Center says Girls Play Here, this did not seem to be the case on December 19.
This editor referees high school soccer and was assigned a girls varsity game this afternoon, Thursday, December 19, at the Westwood Recreation Center.
It was a league game between Shalhevet High School and Compton Early College High School. Since many of the smaller schools don’t have stadiums or playing fields, they pay a fee to play at outside fields.
When my fellow ref and I arrived at the field at 2:35 for a 3 p.m. game, there were private coaches on the field. I went to all of them and told them the field was booked and could they please wrap it up and leave the field.
Two of the coaches became surly, one refused to take his equipment off the field. The coach, 6’6” had three standup dummies, multiple nets, and perhaps 25 cones. He suggested we should take the game to a different field. Another coach didn’t move but said he should be done by 3.
That meant the girls had no place to warm up.
I went into the Westchester Recreation Center and asked if someone could come and move the private coaches off the field.
The woman was nice, but said, “there’s really nothing we can do. We call the police, but they don’t come.”
I was starting to get angry that these girls (and their game) were being treated as inconsequential. The girls had the permit, but somehow, they “didn’t matter?”
I went back to the field and started moving the equipment, so the teams could practice by the goal. The larger coach came over to me and told me to stop handling his things.
I went back into the Rec Center and now an employee finally came out, talked to the “big” guy and said, “it’s okay, he’s moving.”
The other coach was still running drills, so I told his students it was time to pack up and they picked up the balls and left. That coach was still hovering over his net, that was now pushed to the side of the field.
I also asked the large man, who had yelled at me to move away from the goal. Anyone who has children who play soccer, knows that no one is allowed behind the goal. And a single male behind the goal, just watching young women was creepy.
Then a man with a dog came onto the field. “But I have him on leash.” Yeah, he gets off and chases a girl and bites her, then who is liable? Another plea went to the rec center to try and get some control on City property.
My fellow referee wondered if we should terminate the game. If we had done that the people who would have suffered would have been the girls.
If private coaches are not properly vetted and are not paying fees, they should not be at a Rec Center, when the field is permitted to someone else.
The workers at a Rec Center are being paid to do a job and unless the job is sitting behind a desk all day and saying we can’t enforce the rules, then they need to be replaced.
This Rec Center is part of Katy Yaroslavsky’s District—maybe she should check it out and make sure girls are allowed to play.
And this viewpoint is also going to Jimmy Kim, General Manager of L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks. Westchester Rec Center is like the Wild West where anything goes. Someone needs to get it under control.
Girls want to play, don’t make it impossible by treating them as insignificant.