It’s all coming to an end.
The summer is waning, and there’s about a month before school starts and UCLA students jump back into the fast lane. There is one clear sign that things are almost back to normal in Westwood.
Sports are back.
Yes, the UCLA athletics machine cranks up again this week. This weekend the women’s volleyball team travels to Nebraska, the men’s soccer team goes to North Carolina, and the women’s soccer team heads to Texas.
All those Bruin teams are ranked in the top five nationally, and they all will aim for title No. 101 for UCLA and No. 1 for the 2007-2008 school year.
And that’s the beauty of it all.
The teams’ dominance lets the UCLA community begin its school year on a positive note. They bring everyone back together after a long summer at home without UCLA sports.
The athletes never really stop, though, so there were some highlights from summer competition.
Two Bruins got the opportunity to earn a living through sports. Soccer star Sal Zizzo parlayed a brilliant performance with the United States Under-20 national team into a professional contract with Hannover 96, a professional club in Germany. Former basketball standout Arron Afflalo landed with the Detroit Pistons, a franchise that seems to do everything right. Because Afflalo was taken in the first round he was awarded a guaranteed contract.
Plenty of returning UCLA stars enjoyed successful summers, as well. Jermaine Curtis, the junior third baseman who will lead a stacked Bruin baseball team this spring, was an All-Star at the Cape Cod Baseball League. Danesha Adams and Christina DiMartino played on a US Under-21 women’s soccer team that toppled Germany at the Nordic Cup.
As for new Bruins, incoming freshman Maria Jose Uribe won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the top prize in women’s amateur golf.
But none of them was wearing blue and gold.
There wasn’t much to cheer for on campus, either. The summer sports calendar in Westwood was barren. The Countrywide Classic was a dud, without a true star beyond James Blake. Chelsea was back again on campus, but they came during a period when American soccer fans were fixated on David Beckham, not the star-studded English Premier League team. Sports-wise there just wasn’t much to see.
That’s all about to change, too.
The women’s soccer team, led by Adams, DiMartino and sophomore Lauren Cheney, kicks things off at Drake Stadium against Illinois on Sept. 7. The squad enters the year as the No. 3 ranked team in the country, and is just a year removed from a trip to the College Cup semifinal.
Karl Dorrell’s football team will play its first game at home (technically not on campus) a day later against BYU. The team is ranked No. 14 in the latest Associated Press poll.
The men’s soccer team will embark on a serious road trip: North Carolina State, then Indiana and Notre Dame, then Creighton, before facing Ohio State at Drake Stadium on Sept. 14. The team enters the season ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Women’s volleyball starts its home season on Sept. 20 against Arizona. Men’s water polo will begin its final year at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center on Sept. 22 against UC Irvine.
All those teams begin their season before UCLA begins its school year. That’s one more quirk of the quarter system the school runs on.
The football team will have played five games before it first plays at the Rose Bowl during fall quarter. That’s almost half of a season for the Bruins before most students arrive on campus.
While it may irk some students that they aren’t on campus for the first games of the season, it’s a situation that probably benefits UCLA. It allows teams to travel without worrying about academics.
Ask the women’s volleyball team if they mind spending a week in Hawaii in early September without having to fret over exams when they return to campus.
The late school start gives the students a month of tailgates and eight-claps without Monday morning class to stress over.
And after that it really begins.
If you’re waiting for October, e-mail Allen at sallen@media.ucla.edu.