BY JERRY WOLOWICZ

Most of the sports teams here at Maine West have not been able to put together consistent winning records. Why is it that many teams at Maine West have so much trouble when it comes to winning?

Why has it become the basic pattern for Maine West to come up on the short end in so many sporting events?

Basketball is a sport in which the teams have had trouble winning consistently throughout the years. Every now and then the team does have a winning season; however, those winning seasons do not come often enough. The example of the basketball team only illustrates one sport, but past records indicate that Maine West has done anything but excel in other sports also. The football teams of the past are an accurate illustration of another team that can not buy a winning record. The facts clearly show the teams' records; however, the arguable point is the reason for these almost always poor seasons.

Is it possible that boys from Park Ridge and Niles are that much more talented than boys from Des Plaines? If not, then why does Maine South and Maine East come up with teams that are so much better than our teams? Football, wrestling, and gymnastics are usually ruled by Maine East; and not many teams can even compete with Maine South when it comes to basketball. There must be some reason why our teams are not equal to the teams of South and East, but to say that Park Ridge and Niles boys are born with more talent is totally absurd.

Well, if that's not the reason for Maine West's losing records the last couple of years, there must be another reason. One reason that has been talked about here at Maine West is the lack of parochial school talent. Some people have said that the parochial schools in Park Ridge play more games than the parochial schools in Des Plaines do. Consequently, the boys going to Maine South have more experience than the boys going to Maine West. St. Stephens School on Prospect and Ash, proves this statement inaccurate. St. Stephens has one of the most tremendous basketball programs in the entire archdiocese. However, Maine West coaches would not know this because they only scout the public junior high schools in the area.

About six or seven years ago it became a tradition for St. Stephens to play Iroquois and Algonquin in basketball games every year. These games would give everyone at Maine West a chance to see players from St. Stephens as well as from the public schools. At that time St. Stephens sports program was not that strong; it was still on the rise. The junior high schools really liked these games because they generally defeated St. Stephens. However, in 1976, St. Stephens defeated Iroquois by 24 points in a game that was never close. They also defeated Algonquin by a score of 48‑40. Ever since these two games, the junior high schools refuse to play St. Stephens. They realized that these games were an excellent opportunity for the Maine West coaches to see all the talent from St. Stephens. Consequently, they figured they would be better off not playing St. Stephens.

At the present time, St. Stephens eighth grade boys basketball team plays about 50 games a year. The sixth and seventh grade teams play anywhere from 35 to 45 games. St. Mary and Our Lady of Hope play as many games as the public schools do. St. Stephens alone clearly excludes the lack of parochial school talent and experience reason that some people feel is one of Maine West's problems.

Now that those two reasons have been mentioned, what could the real reason for Maine West's inability to put consistent winning teams together be? Another reason that might be considered is the methods of coaching. This statement is not trying to make it sound like all the coaching here at Maine West is poor. It simply leads to a few questions that could be a major part of the problem. First of all, do the coaches here at Maine West put enough accent on winning? Secondly, do the coaches work the athletes hard enough? By this, I mean do the coaches make sure that the athletes are drilled and conditioned for all the games? For coaching not to be the reason for the some of the poor sports records, the coaches must be able to answer "yes" to those two very important questions. If any coach was to say "no" to either of those two questions, then it is very possible that these are the underlying problems to a particular team's lack of success.