SF Balboa High's coach uses 'sport to teach life'

The only sound louder than the squeak of 10 pairs of high-tops on the Balboa High basketball court is the beating of 10 nervous boys' hearts, scrambling to escape the coach's glare.

"You did it again!" shouts school Athletic Director Val Tintiangco-Cubales, halting play with a shriek of his whistle.

He instructs a player how to throw a more strategic inbound pass.

"You turned your back, that was your demise. Get the ball and open up, face the court. OK, hustle up, do it again, let's GO, let's GO, let's GO!"

Breaks are few and far between in the two-hour practice, as players run for lay-ups, do baseline sprints, and practice free throws and three-pointers. Even the water breaks are timed - 30 seconds to chug down sweet water from green Gatorade bottles.

"He's tough, but we like that," said point guard Di'jon Jones, 17. "He wants everything right, and we give it because he's always here for us."

Cubales, 40, wants it right because as he sees it, he's not teaching a sport, he's developing character - turning his charges into young people who know to take their hats off indoors, relinquish their Muni seats to seniors, and win without gloating or lose without pouting.

"I'm using sport to teach life," said Cubales, who acknowledges that he's known as a "yelling coach."

"I want them to be competitive because they will need to be in college and in their careers, yet they need to know how to handle the pitfalls, too."

Cubales, who also coaches girls volleyball and teaches P.E., says he has a soft spot for his athletes, sharing a similar background others euphemistically refer to as "low-income," or "at-risk."

Cubales grew up surfing and playing basketball in Santa Cruz, and attended a high school with an athletic losing streak that reminded him of Balboa when he arrived in 1997.

Many of his players have parents who work several jobs and can't attend their games. Some live in frenetic homes, without clear supervision.

"I read their files," he said. "I know there are not a lot of them who have someone pushing them."

So Cubales created "Study Hall." All his players must maintain a 3.0 grade point average in order to play. Any athlete below is benched, and must show up 90 minutes before practice with their homework and do it in the lounge adjacent to his office. Players below a 2.5 must additionally report to his private office during lunch and sit on his couch and study.

"The threat of that is usually enough to keep them from falling that low," he said.

Cubales helps with homework and college applications, counsels students through family and relationship problems, and provides extra coaching if asked.

"For the last three years, he's met me an hour before practice to help me with my dribbling and shooting," said team captain Fletcher Brown, 17.

This year, for the first time in the school's history, his volleyball team snagged the Academic Athletic Association of San Francisco championship trophy. Since 1977, it had gone to either Lowell or Lincoln High.

Now it sits on Cubales' desk. With a fresh engraving: Balboa High 2011.

"It was amazing to finally win it," said volleyball captain Shana Prochovnick. "It's something we've been trying to achieve for a long time."

COACHES IMPART WISDOM

Good coaches are adored and detested by their athletes with equal measure.

When you're gasping for air, certain you can't go on, it's the coach who insists you don't know the limits of your own body.

Agony turns to euphoria when it turns out the coach was right. When we fall, it's the coach who picks us up, lets us wallow for a minute, then gives us the perspective and encouragement to try again.

Here are some longtime Bay Area coaches who have used sport to teach generations of athletes how to navigate the world with more grace and humility.

This article appeared on page V - 4 of the San?Francisco?Chronicle

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