CHATTER: PAPER-MURK: CITY COACHES FUZZY ABOUT RULE ENFORCEMENT.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer

When the City Section decided this year to enforce a previously unenforced rule, a number of teams in the region immediately felt the impact.

The rule mandates teams must submit paperwork for each tournament they participate in within a certain number of days before the event - 15 days for local tournaments and 60 days for out-of-area events that require overnight stays.

The City Section wants to verify that schools are participating in sanctioned tournaments.

Before last season, section officials didn't stay on top of the rule.

``It's always been in existence, but not followed,'' City Section athletic director Jeff Halpern said.

But that changed, as some local teams discovered the hard way.

In boys' basketball, Sylmar, Reseda, North Hollywood and Van Nuys have been penalized for being in violation, and the penalty is steep: Teams must subtract one tournament from next season's schedule for each time they violate the rule.

``It's a one-for-one deal,'' Halpern said. ``If you are late getting the paperwork in for one tournament, you lose one tournament the following year.''

In all, sports teams from Chatsworth, Taft of Woodland Hills, Grant of Van Nuys, Granada Hills, Kennedy of Granada Hills, North Hollywood, Sylmar, Birmingham of Lake Balboa, Eagle Rock, Poly of Sun Valley and Verdugo Hills were penalized.

In boys' basketball, Reseda was hit the hardest - the Regents lose two tournaments from next season, which accounts for eight games.

And that has Reseda coach Mike Wagner angry.

``The first time I heard about any of this, as far as the City Section all of a sudden enforcing this rule, was in a memo dated Dec. 17, or halfway into the season,'' he said. ``How ridiculous is that? The memo said if you haven't turned your paperwork in, get it in as soon as possible. It was as if they suddenly decided we need to crack down on this rule.''

Cheryl Barkovich of the City Section said coaches were informed of the rule at their individual coaches meetings. But the coaches were not aware the rule would be upheld to penalty until they were notified in a memo Dec. 17 stating the rules committee voted to do so.

``At our coaches meeting they said, `Don't forget to turn your paperwork in,' like they do every year,'' Wagner said. ``But nobody said anything about the rule being enforced to its fullest.''

Wagner admits he was lax with the paperwork, mainly because he never was pressed on the issue.

``OK, fine, I got it in late, but why should the kids get penalized for something a coach or athletic director did wrong, especially when this was thrown at us out of the blue?'' he said. ``You're talking about taking eight games away from these kids. Where is the fairness in that?''

Wagner has offered a compromise by serving a suspension rather than simply pulling his team out of the tournaments. He met with the section's rules committee to make his plea.

``If it's my fault, then I should be penalized, not the kids,'' Wagner said. ``I still haven't heard back from anyone.''

The lack of communication between the coaches and the section is another problem, according to coaches.

``The list of schools in violation is two pages long.'' Sylmar boys' basketball coach Bort Escoto said. ``Obviously we're talking about a major communication breakdown. If you're talking about two or three schools, hey, you get what you deserve for not playing by the rules. But when it's that many schools, there is a bigger problem going on.''

North Hollywood boys' basketball coach Rob Bloom is appealing the ruling, arguing he filled his paperwork out and turned it over to his vice principal in time - ``Just like I've done every other year,'' he said - but that the paperwork was lost when the school went through three different vice principals before it got mailed.

When Bloom was made aware of the problem, he immediately filled out the paperwork again and mailed it in. As it turns out, the section received it 12 days before the Huskies played in the Beverly Hills tournament.

North Hollywood was within the timeline for its two other tournaments.

``So now I'm being told I have to pull out of a tournament I've already committed to next year because I got the paperwork in three days late after everything our administration was going through?'' Bloom said. ``Is that fair? No, it's totally ridiculous. Now my team loses games, and I have to call the coach of the school that's hosting a tournament and tell him we can't play, which totally screws things up for him. It doesn't make any sense.'' ...

Jordan Farmar of Taft of Woodland Hills and Bryce Taylor of Harvard- Westlake of Studio City were named to the USA West Youth Development team, which will compete against three other regions June 25-29 at the Youth Development Festival at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. ...

Jake Laurita, a 12-year old from Chatsworth, was selected to the Junior Area Code baseball team that will travel to Australia on Aug. 9-22 in the Junior Goodwill Series.

Laurita, a catcher, was spotted by an Area Code scout during a recent workout.

``It's quite an honor, and we're very, very excited,'' said Tony Laurita, Jake's father.

Vincent Bonsignore, [phone]

vincent.bonsignore(at)dailynews.com