From left, Hilltop High players Erick Morgan, Andy Diaz and Nick Donahue vie for best dressed honors with coach Paul Newell.

Metro's young lions receive new challenges 

By Phillip Brents
Posted Dec. 2, 2003

They were legends in their own right during their playing days: Chula Vista High grad Oscar Mendoza, Bonita Vista alum Doug Lentz, Eastlake High grad Erick Syktich and Hilltop alum Paul Newell. They have now embarked on their newest challenge: as coaches in their old playing circuit.

It’s a step that could prove as much a learning experience for them as well as their student-athletes.

"I like it. It’s a lot different. I wish I could put on the skates to go out there to help the team," Syktich said, chuckling.

"That’s the most difficult part — watching them make mistakes and you can’t go out there and correct them," Lentz said.

Lentz and Syktich (pictured at right, working on equipment prior to their team's season opener) played in the first-ever CIF/Metro Conference game three years ago, though on opposing sides of the puck. Syktich scored the first-ever goal and registered the first-ever hat trick in Metro Conference history.

Both are now coaching an inexperienced Sweetwater High program that has tested their resolve and made both rethink their approach to the game.

Both Mendoza and Newell have taken over bench duties at their alma maters.

During their high school playing days, their biggest worry may have just been getting to practice on time so as not to evoke their coach’s ire. That has all changed now. They get to find out what responsibility for more than a dozen individuals is all about.

They all must now have to arrive for a game or practice session well before the rest of the team, make sure all the equipment is accounted for, hand out said equipment and jerseys, fill out a game lineup for official scorers, make any last-minute phone calls to locate missing players and/or equipment, and find time in between all those time-consuming duties to give a pre-game strategy talk.

Then there is the game itself, which can last an eternity if on the short end of a lop-sided score.
After the game, it’s time to retrieve and account for all the equipment and jerseys, give a post-game talk and mete out any appropriate disciplinary action and make arrangements for ensuing practice sessions.

"I think coaching might actually be harder than playing," Mendoza said prior to Monday’s season opening game against Bonita Vista.

After the Spartans absorbed a 23-0 defeat, Mendoza realizes this first season is going to be taxing in many areas. However, he feels he has placed the team’s priorities in the right places.

"We have a young team. What I want to accomplish this season is to build a solid base and everyone to have fun and hold their own," he said.

Mendoza (pictured at left, playing for SDSU) has emotional ties to the Spartans, which may help make it easier to deal with adverse situations where his team is concerned. He and his father Carlos helped found the team when it first competed in the club-based San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference. In those early years, it was sometimes difficult to find enough players to even fill out a team.

When the Metro Conference was finally born in 2000-01, he became one of its instant marquee players even though Chula Vista finished somewhat poorly as a team its inaugural year in CIF-sanctioned play.

If anything, he is looking at the current situation as a challenge.

Like Mendoza, Lentz and Syktich got an early indicator it will be a rebuilding season after Sweetwater dropped a 15-1 season-opening contest to Montgomery.

Lentz, a 2002 BVHS graduate, also bridges the club and CIF eras of play. Normally a defender, he went between the pipes in key games to help his team to victory. The Barons won two Kiwanis Cup titles while he was there. He backstopped underdog Bonita Vista to a thrilling overtime win against Scripps Ranch in the 2002 Kiwanis Cup Division I championship game that inarguably stands as the greatest high school roller hockey game ever played in South County.

The former BVHS standout is suddenly finding out he must temper his overly competitive nature.
"I’m a poor loser. I hate to lose," he said.

Lentz and Syktich are teammates on Southwestern College’s fledgling team in the first-year San Diego Collegiate Roller Hockey League. Mendoza plays for San Diego State University. Playoffs in the five-team circuit are Dec. 7 and 14 at Skate San Diego.

Besides coaching, the trio is continuing to deal with other stresses.

"There’s a lot of pressure. I’m trying to do a lot of things at once. It’s frustrating," Lentz said. "I’m worrying too much. I need to calm down."

Lentz also received a quick introduction to the hazards of coaching. After a preseason scrimmage game, he was inadvertently struck on the nose by a stick swung by one of his own players.

He managed to take that in stride, keeping his emotions under control.

"The next thing I’m going to teach them is to keep their sticks below the waist," Lentz said, flashing a good-natured grin.

Lentz said one of the difficulties he is facing as a first-year coach is just getting the team together. In doing that, he’s had to approach the game from a different standpoint than that at which he has been used to playing.

"The problem is that they’re not as disciplined as most people I’ve played with and coached," he said, adding a sigh. "I can only get ‘em out there and let them play."

Newell, who now attends UCSD, graduated in 1999 — a year before official CIF/Metro Conference play began. He was among the first pioneers in the sport in the county, leading Hilltop to the semifinal round of the 1999 San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference playoffs and three South Bay League club championships.

Since graduation he has helped out with the Lancers in some way while also pursuing his own independent playing and coaching career. He won a championship title as a player in the 23-and-under division at the 2002 North American Roller Hockey Winternationals championship and coached the Chula Vista Golden Eagles Bantam Division team to a runner-up finish in the 2002 NARCh Finals, the largest amateur roller hockey tournament in the world.

Said Newell: "If the team is successful, then you’re the hero. If it’s not, then ..."

Despite the Lancers’ 0-2 start to this season, Newell remains at the top of his game. Given his many years now as a professional coach and trainer (and employee in the business world), he is well aware when to deliver gentle encouragement instead of fiery sermons. If he is ever brought to perform the latter, at least he'll likely be the best dressed coach in the league to ever do so.

Lentz, who may have gone from the "champagne" to the "beer" end of the playing circuit, according to a former SuHi player, is rapidly discovering how to put things into perspective.

Case in point: When his projected starting goaltender became academically ineligible to start the season, Lentz — with his will to win — suddenly had to contend with inserting a player in the net who had never played the position before. As a result, Lentz had to take time out to provide personal instruction.

At left: SuHi co-coach Doug Lentz goes over strategy during an intermission break.

Getting players cleared has been another unexpected hurdle with which to deal. The prospect of arranging rides for players to complete their physicals has likely caused his blood pressure to rise.

Syktich, who is less vocal than Lentz but no less competitive-oriented, provides the balance behind the bench. "We’ve got to make them work together a little more, pass the puck. We’ll see what we can do," Syktich said.

By the time the season is over, Lentz may learn something equally valuable from his players: patience.