Detmer Now Enjoying Well-Earned Vacation

After a small chase, the media found Jenn Detmer vacationing at her family’s summer home in Bass Lake.

Water-skiing, swimming, riding Wave Runners.

Wave Runners?

“It kind of hurts your back,� Detmer said. “You hit a lot of waves--it’s probably not very good for you.�

Somewhere, Thousand Oaks High Coach Robert Haar is cringing.

Detmer will be a senior middle blocker at Thousand Oaks this year and is being counted on heavily.

But she’s not exactly ready to pick up a volleyball.

Last month, she was one of 18 girls invited to an intensive two-week camp sponsored by the USA youth national team.

Players train six hours a day on the court, and participate in weight training and nutrition classes.

Before that, Detmer spent several months playing for the Spoilers club team in Orange County.

And before that was . . . the end of last season.

“I’m getting away from volleyball for a while,� said the 6-foot-3 Detmer. “How long have I been playing, almost a year straight? Really never without a break.�

Detmer’s break ends Aug. 26, the day practice begins for Thousand Oaks.

One distraction is out of the way, however. She recently gave a commitment to play for Stanford, although the most-interesting part of the recruiting process may have come courtesy of USC.

In early July, she received all five of her allotted home visits from collegiate coaches.

Members of the USC coaching staff were 30 minutes late. They went south on the freeway when they should have gone north.

“They ended up in the canyons, up in Agoura,� Detmer said. “They had no idea where they were, so they had to call me from the cell phone. We kept losing them because they were up in the canyons.�

The Trojans finished second to Stanford in Detmer’s book.

She’ll take her 4.0 grade-point average to Palo Alto and might even have a head start academically. She’s taking five Advanced Placement classes this year at Thousand Oaks.

Senioritis? Not here.

Opponents won’t have to study too much game film to find the Lancers’ go-to girl.

“She’ll be a focus and I think everybody will know that,� Haar said. “It will give her a chance to perform in pressure situations.�

Her summer can only help. Wave Runners or not.

“I think she’ll come in pretty good shape and be ready to play,� Haar said. “Anything she can bring back and be ready to pass on to other players can only benefit us. I hope it happens.�

*

Jennifer Joseph would have made Notre Dame High great. Instead, she’ll keep Chatsworth among the elite.

Joseph applied to Notre Dame for her senior year, a move that immediately would have improved the Knights. They would have had a legitimate shot at Mission League power Harvard-Westlake.

But Notre Dame balked.

“They said it would be too much controversy if I transferred my senior year because of athletics,� said Joseph, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter. “It would have been fun for me to go there, but I’m at Chatsworth now and my focus is going to be on winning another City title.�

The only junior named to The Times’ 1995 All-Valley first team, Joseph helped lead Chatsworth to the City Section 4-A Division title match against Roosevelt.

The Chancellors were loaded with talent, but lost some punch against Roosevelt when Joseph went down with leg cramps. Chatsworth lost and failed in its quest to repeat as 4-A champ.

Notre Dame finished second in the Mission League last year and returns several starters.

But Joseph “would have made our team awesome,� Notre Dame Coach Shaney Fink said. “That’s the only position where we wouldn’t have a returning starter.

“It’s not like we ever had her, it just would have been neat.�