Southern Section Might Eliminate Contact Rule

The Southern Section will vote today in Long Beach whether to strike down a rule that limits the amount of off-season contact high school coaches are allowed to have with their players, the so-called “association rule.”

A current Southern Section rule curbs the amount of year-round interaction coaches can have with players, although some school administrators have proposed a repeal of the rule.

The Southern Section is the only one of 10 sections in the state to have the association rule. The City Section, for example, allows its coaches to have year-round contact with players with few limitations.

The proposal to strike down the rule is sponsored by the Almont League and was originally scheduled to be put to a vote in February but was tabled to allow supporters more time to lobby their cause.

“If all the other sections have done away with it, why isn’t our section willing to do away with it?” said Vice Principal Jim Valentino of San Gabriel High, a school in the Almont League. “If you’ve got coaches who are running 12-month programs, it should be fair for everybody.”

Similar proposals have been soundly defeated three times in the last five years, said a Southern Section spokesman.

Currently, Southern Section coaches are not allowed to coach their players on club teams.

-- Mike Bresnahan

Ron Manalastas, longtime assistant girls’ basketball coach at Saugus, has been selected to take over the program from Eric Olsson, who resigned at the end of the season.

Sara Radabaugh, a softball pitcher for Westlake Village Oaks Christian, has committed to UC Riverside.