Payne primed to make impact at CdM

Barry Faulkner

Having just completed her first year as girls athletic director at

Corona del Mar High and still early in her educational career,

27-year-old Dawn Payne meets dire forecasts for the future with

refreshing idealism.

In the face of collapsing budgets, the proliferation of club

sports -- which some say may eventually marginalize the importance,

even existence, of high school athletics -- and the increasing lack

of parental perspective, Payne, armed with a list of ideas, as well

as the enthusiasm to implement them, is just rolling up her

administrative sleeves.

“I’m excited to have this opportunity so young in my career,” said

Payne, who came to CdM before the 2001-02 school year after teaching

one year at Irvine High. A physical science teacher at CdM, she

coached the girls volleyball junior varsity in 2001 and the boys

frosh-soph volleyball team the spring of 2002. She then shifted to

varsity assistant last fall, after being named girls athletic

director.

Payne, a former volleyball player at Peninsula High, said she is

proud to be in a position of leadership and is also keenly aware that

her title helps position her as a role model for her athletes.

“It’s important for girls to have role models,” said Payne, who

believes athletics is a crucial part of the educational experience.

“I think athletics are invaluable,” she said. “What we’re trying

to do in the schools is teach students how to contribute to society.

All the skills that are functional in life can be represented in

athletics. Athletics teaches kids to set goals, overcome defeat and

work hard.”

Hard work is something that comes in handy for Payne, who said it

took her until about midway through the school year before she was

fully versed on her various responsibilities.

“It’s a huge learning curve,” she said.

Those duties include coordinating transportation, officials,

scheduling, hiring coaches and trying to emphasize with her coaches,

athletes and parents, the ideals she values.

“This was the first year all of our coaches went through the

Victory with Honor program and it has been good for everyone,” Payne

said.

Payne said she benefited greatly from the experience of boys

athletic director Jerry Jelnick, as well as the valuable assistance

of athletic secretary Rikki Cox. She is also generous with praise for

her coaches.

“Our coaches are great, amazing,” she said. “Just by definition,

coaches have to be special people, because they are in this for the

love of the kids. I really admire the leadership qualities I see in

our coaches.”

One of her biggest challenges is to help hire coaches.

“The hardest part about hiring coaches is that you can’t always

see on paper the type of attributes you want in a coach,” she said.

“A lot of it comes down to the feel you get from a person during the

interview process.”

Payne said she can occasionally feel overwhelmed by the job,

particularly with the time constraints involved, having to balance

teaching four classes a day with her administrative role.

But, having settled in during the spring, she appears anxious to

begin implementing some of her ideas, beginning in the fall.

“One of the things I want to do more of is hold meetings for all

athletes and bring in guest speakers,” Payne said. “This could be

especially valuable for girls to get exposure to future opportunities

in athletics and female role models.”

Another area she wants to focus on is using athletics as a

catalyst to build school spirit, both on campus and within the

community.

“I think we have very little ties with the community itself,” she

said. “It’s a problem and it’s sad. The school spirit here is

terrible. When I was going to school, everyone went to the football

game. I’d like to see if we can make attending athletic events more

of a social event.”

Whether apathy does or does not exist in the stands, Payne

believes there is no such problem among the competitors at CdM.

“There is a history of success here,” said Payne, who believes

proof positive exists in the stream of CIF Southern Section, CIF

State and mythical national championship banners that hang in the

school gymnasium.

“I think [success] motivates people to continue on with that

legacy,” she said. “When the standards are set high, there’s an

expectation of success. Kids come in as freshmen, they see the

varsity level of play and they want that. I don’t think we have kids

who are that much more athletically gifted than other schools. But

our kids have high expectations and they have a strong work ethic.”

Those qualities have helped produce 24 CIF Southern Section titles

and seven CIF State crowns.

The fall sports of volleyball (six section and four state titles),

cross country (five section, three state) and tennis (seven section

titles) clearly set the pace.

Track and field (three), water polo (section titles the last two

seasons), and basketball (one) round out the CIF championship honor

roll.

Even more impressive, most of these spoils have come with walk-on

coaches. Of the 10 girls programs now in place, only three, Mike

Starkweather (golf), Bryan Middleton (soccer) and Doug Volding

(swimming) are led by coaches who are full-time teachers or

counselors at CdM.

Despite not having more on-campus coaches, Payne said she

experiences great cooperation with her coaches.

“An athletic department is like a family,” she said. “Coaches know

they can count on other coaches for support and so do I.”