Commentary: LAUSD puts Contreras students’ safety at risk by allowing school to ban offseason workouts

As a proud graduate of Sun Valley Poly High School in 1976 and someone who has followed the highs and lows of the Los Angeles Unified School District ever since in reporting about its sports programs, I can honestly say the statement sent to me Thursday morning tops everything.

In response to Contreras football coach Manuel Guevara’s resignation in protest of the ban on any football offseason workouts (including weight and speed training), an LAUSD spokesperson reiterated the school’s policy blocking teams from training during their offseasons in an effort to encourage students to participate in multiple sports.

“The decision to limit offseason workouts for football players at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex is unique. It aims to give students the opportunity to participate in multiple sports throughout the year without the pressure of dedicating all their time to one single team,” the statement read. “This limitation applies to all sports and all schools on this campus and was unanimously decided by principals after receiving feedback from students and coaches.”

It’s terrific they want to support multisport athletes, but dictating it and not allowing coaches to help train players who want to get better in one sport is absurd. How can you have a football team that can’t meet until the summer to prepare for a season without weight training to help get stronger, which would help prevent injuries? How can Contreras teams safely compete against other schools that have strengthened their rosters through offseason workouts? And what coach would agree to such limitations?

Guevara said students are welcome to play other sports, so this attempt to deny opportunities to students who want to play and train in only football sounds like the brainchild of someone with ulterior motives to help a favored sport improve athlete participation.

It’s extraordinary that LAUSD hasn’t intervened to stop this nonsense. Any parent would be justified immediately leaving Contreras for another school. Unfortunately, Contreras is in one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles, and transferring is likely too expensive for families in the area to consider. As one parent wrote in a letter in September, “Our students already live in a neighborhood surrounded by gangs and drugs. Just a mile west of this school lies a park infested by homelessness, gangs, violence, in simple words, a sad reality of what we as parents are trying to keep these students away from.

High School Sports

Sondheimer: Contreras High soccer unites as ‘brothers,’ draws strength from coach

Under the mentorship of coach Eder Puga Garcia, a team of players whose families came from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras won the school’s first league title.

Feb. 11, 2024

“Football has been the heart of a school’s tradition of unity and perseverance. High school students aspire to be part of this team

”... Taking away from schools’ sports does not only affect the students and coaches, it affects the grades, it affects the friends, the families, the communities and the school’s overall performance. When you take away from a kid what makes them a kid, you take away their want to strive for better, their creativity, their inner child that allows them to let loose and know that life is not just work.”

Contreras’ fantastic soccer coach, Eder Puga Garcia, resigned after guiding the team to a City Section title last season. He said similar offseason limitations led him to step down.

LAUSD has been losing students for years, and if this is an example of the leadership in place, the future is bleak. Parents need to speak up. Students have started a petition.