Forever Pirates -- Monique Sweet
This week's Forever Pirates feature is from former women's basketball player Monique Sweet, who played for the Pirates from 1992-94.
As a kid growing up in Costa Mesa, I played basketball wherever I could, mostly with the boys … dunk ball at Taganger Park, the blacktops at California elementary and TeWinkle junior high, and countless hours at the courts across from Edison in Huntington Beach. The goal was always to play in college. The dream was UCLA or UNLV back in junior high, a full ride of course.
As a sophomore at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, I played for a young and talented team that reached the quarterfinals of CIF. I received my first recruiting letter from Mike Thornton at Coast in 1990 at 15 years of age. It was a thoughtful handwritten letter that brought me much hope of a future as a collegiate player. As my high school career unfolded, coach Thornton came to watch me a few dozen times, more than any coach. He expressed his interest in me via phone calls and through my coach and eventually we met and he asked me to play for Coast. I had my sights set on a four-year and let him know that going to Coast was not my goal. Thornton continued to come watch me play and told me that he already knew I could play basketball at the college level, he just wanted to see how I was as a leader my senior year. That dedication and loyalty made an impression on me. He stayed in touch and invited me to watch the Pirates play. My dad and I spent many nights in the gym watching them and I was particularly impressed by guard Michelle Henessy and the style of play. I thought, "I'll make OCC the backup plan." Little did I know that the backup plan would end up being one of the BEST decisions of my life!
As a senior, I made my first grown-up decision, and it was a tough one. So many of my friends, peers and local players were going away to big colleges. I turned down an offer to Cal Poly Pomona and decided to go the JC route to further my basketball career. This single decision set the trajectory of my life path. I can look back and see that had I chosen somewhere else, anywhere else, my life would be completely different! I can honestly say that aside from my family, I wouldn't have the MOST important people in my life had I'd gone anywhere but Coast.
My teammates have become my lifelong friends, my BEST friends. Never mind that we made the state playoffs both years and the talent on those teams were made up of several Division I players … we wanted to be together off the court as well. After we lost to eventual state champion, L.A. Harbor, we bawled in the locker room for a long time, not because the season was over, but because this meant our time at Coast together was coming to an end. Some of us were going onto universities to play and others were staying behind to continue at Coast. Either way, we would never be together every day like that again and we knew what that meant.
Two years of sweating, lifting weights, long van rides, road trips up north, parties, hanging out has turned into 28 years of friendship. My girls -- LeAnn Kazmer, Stephanie MacNamara, Lisa Ripley and Flo Luppani -- are my BEST girls. We have experienced and shared our lives together. Weddings, pregnancy, children, hall of fame, birthdays, divorce, cancer and even death. Last summer, we lost our girl Kaz to cancer. She was our MVP, our Captain and my best girl. Our children are friends, GOOD friends and they look forward to their time together just as we do. So far, two of our combined eight children are playing collegiate sports, with one more committed. The rest are youngsters and their place in sports is to be determined. I can only hope they will be able to make the type of lasting friendships their mothers did many years ago.
From an academic standpoint, going to Coast created a path for me that I had never considered exploring. At OCC, I became a student and more focused on my academics and grew as a student-athlete. Those two years led me to Chapman University where I continued to play on an academic scholarship. I share this because many look down upon the JC route for several reasons. For me, it was the pathway that allowed me to come into my own in many areas, establish a work ethic and realize that I could go to school not just for basketball. By doing well academically those two years, I had more choices available to me than I did coming out of high school.
Two people on campus had an impact on my educational experience that have led me to where I am today. The first was my English professor Herb Livsey. He was a firecracker. Livesy was the men's assistant basketball coach and he was a tough old guy! His English classes were paired with the psychology and sociology of sport. We were all athletes in those classes and he ran a tight ship. He taught me how to write like a college student and would tell me, "You're a university girl." He pushed me to do my very best work and not settle for being average. Livsey also kept my focus in class, especially when my eyes wandered to the hottie baseball players sitting next to me.
The second, yet most influential person, was my coach Mike Thornton. Thornton recognized early on that I had an aptitude for working with children. His two young sons, Brian and Keith, were our ball boys. They were at every home game and often traveled with us. I spent a lot of time with them before and after games and rode with the family on our road trips up north. When I started at Coast, I thought I wanted to be a psychology major and work with children. I realized after my first psych class that in fact did not want to pursue that major. During my sophomore season, Thornton asked me what I wanted to do as a career and I didn't have a clue. I told him I just wanted to work with kids. He suggested a career in teaching and gave me a job working basketball camps and recommended me for a summer camp run by another professor on campus. Never did I think I wanted to be a teacher at 18 years old, but that's exactly what I ended up doing. Currently, I am in my 24th year of teaching. Mike Thornton was more than my basketball coach, he was a mentor and someone who looked out for my future both on and off the court.
Being an athlete at Coast was a privilege. You were special and looked after all over campus. I would certainly be remiss if I didn't mention some of the constant, often overlooked people, who made my time at Coast special. As an athlete we had our own academic counselor, Mike Copp, who made sure we were registered for all of our classes and made sure we stayed on track academically. He always made time to answer my questions and help me through the registration process. He passed away suddenly my second year and was greatly missed. Each team also had a student trainer. They taped us before games and traveled with us. Dan and Jen in the training room always made sure I had my ankles taped and helped me through an awful bout of plantar fascitis. Our student trainer, Warren Comstock, is still one of my good friends today. He is now a physical therapist and he takes my calls and helps diagnose both mine and my daughter's sports injuries to this day. Dave Gleason in the weight room was a huge help to me as I trained for basketball. Always smiling and willing to design sport specific training programs. I became fit and strong in that fieldhouse.
The athletic department at Coast was like a big family. Coaches all had doors open and so many of the admin gave us jobs for work study. There were two really great women that managed the equipment room. Kathleen and Rachel. Rachel was like a mother to us. She let us keep our basketball bags and backpacks in her office. She let us girls hang out in between class and practice. I spent countless hours there studying between classes and taking naps. Rachel was there for birthdays, breakups, misunderstandings and whatever else was going on in our lives. She fed us when we forgot food or lent us a couple bucks if we needed it. I always knew I had a place to go on campus thanks to Rachel.
Doug Bennett was another part of the Coast athletic family. I don't really know how Doug ended up announcing our games, but he was a face you always saw at every home game and often at away games. Doug was a true fan and his friendship with Coach Thornton has lasted throughout the years. Doug was great at making you smile and feel important. He often brought his little girl to games and was so proud to have her by his side. It was evident that he was a great father and a very unselfish man. He dedicated many hours of his time to announcing our games and following women's basketball. Doug also was a donor of a scholarship to athletes that I was a fortunate recipient of.
Over the years, the Pirate women's basketball family has grown. Many of the women I am friends with today, I didn't play with. As one group left, others were left behind and the bonds formed across the generations of players. It is an absolute testament to the type of program Mike Thornton ran for 30 years.
In two short years, Orange Coast College Athletics laid the foundation to my life. I would've stayed four years at Coast if it were possible, but that's not what Coast is about. It's about preparing you for the future academically, athletically, and socially. I am beyond grateful for the amazing experience OCC gave me and I'm proud to be a FOREVER PIRATE!
We are looking for more Pirate Athlete Alum to share their stories and memories of their time at OCC! Just email your story to Sports Information Director Tony Altobelli at aaltobelli@occ.cccd.edu. Please include any pics you'd like to share as well.
