Full of heart

The pace has been, at the very least, frenetic, for the past season-and-a-half for the Marina High basketball team.

Running a game strategy called, “The System,” the Vikings have been on the constant go, running and gunning, and substituting freely, from start to finish, come game time.

While the young Vikings, a squad dotted with six juniors and four sophomores among the lineup, continue on with their torrid pace, things had begun to slow down about a month ago for their head coach.

It was at the start of December when Roger Holmes said he first began to feel something was “off” with his heart. It was when his team was playing at the Beckman Tournament in mid-December, when that feeling bothered him during and after games. To find out what the problem was, Holmes went to his cardiologist for a check-up.

Several tests later, including an angiogram that revealed there wasn’t any artery blockage, it was determined that Holmes had a “low ejection fraction.”

An ejection fraction, he said, is the percentage of blood pumped out of a heart chamber during the contraction phase of each heartbeat. The term typically refers to a measurement of the left ventricle which pumps oxygen-rich blood out of the body, through the aorta.

“Normal” ejection fractions are between 50 and 60%, Holmes said, adding his was at 42%.

“What does it all mean?,” he asked. “Being at the games, and getting emotionally and physically involved was very draining. I am not a coach who just sits and watches the games without being involved. So, my body was having a conflict.

“With low ejection fraction, you should keep your blood pressure down and not tax your heart as much. The games brought on increased adrenaline, heart rate and excitement. It was very uncomfortable after games.”

Holmes, 48, said he has had an ongoing heart condition, arterial fibrillation, for the past 15 years, but the condition was not threatening and always under control.

“It is the most common heart arrhythmia in the U.S.,” he said.

Holmes said during games the Vikings played at the Beckman Tournament, he was getting light-headed, had a general feeling that something wasn’t right and that he needed to get it “figured out.”

Following the Beckman Tournament — and a trip to his cardiologist — he would go on to coach the Vikings against Westminster in a non-league game Dec. 17.

It turned out to be his last game at the head of the bench.

He accompanied the team on a trip to Florida for holiday tournament play, but watched from the stands as his team played. He wasn’t even in the Marina gymnasium when the Vikings opened Sunset League play against Edison Jan. 4. He was at home.

It was the first game he said he has missed in 29 years of coaching, the past 14 of which he’s been head coach at Marina.

“It has been very difficult to tell the team ‘good luck,’ and not go out to battle with them,” he said.

Holmes said his wife, Debbie, would text message him every five minutes during the Edison game, giving him updates.

“Not being at games is tough,” said Holmes who is a special education teacher and department coordinator at Valley Vista High in Fountain Valley, a continuation school in the Huntington Beach Unified School District. “I have never missed a game, ever, and with my son Brendan playing, it makes it that much tougher. I try to occupy myself so I don’t just sit there, thinking about what is going on. Clean the house, go for a drive, or watch a college game on TV.

“The doctor is happy with the test results and that structurally, things look good. We have decided that it was best for me to step back in my role for now, and see how my medication works and if this is going to be a long-term condition.”

In the meantime, Holmes said he gets out to practice if he’s not at a doctor’s appointment, to be there to support his players and assistant coaches and, well, to “just be around” the game.

But it’s when the action heats up during a game that Holmes knows trouble can begin.

It happened at the end of a Jan. 11 league game at Esperanza, when Marina made a late rally but ended up losing a close game.

Holmes said he got caught up in the excitement watching from the end of the Marina bench, and paid the price afterward.

“That is the hard part, trying to be at the games as a spectator,” he said. “There are so many things that happen during a game that the typical spectator doesn’t realize. The style of play isn’t the factor. There are just so many things that go on that I was always a part of and to all of a sudden not be a part of, it is difficult.”

Andy Meyer and Tom McCanna, who have served as varsity assistants to Holmes for the past 10 and seven years, respectively, have taken over coaching duties.

“I have complete confidence in Andy and Tom taking the reigns of our team,” Holmes said. “They both could run their own programs and I am lucky to have them and the talents that they have. They both played for me and have coached our lower level teams in the past as well as having varsity duties.”

Meyer and McCanna will lead the Vikings again when they visit Edison Friday for the start of the second round of Sunset League play.

“I think it has gone pretty well,” Meyer said in reference to him and McCanna taking over for Holmes. “The kids have responded really well and we have been competing hard. Tom and I have a great rapport with them and the transition has gone over smoothly. We won our first five [games] after Coach Holmes went out and played very well in Florida over Christmas. We have been struggling a little bit of late as the Sunset League offers some tough competition on a nightly basis.

“Tom and I have been head coaches before with various teams so we are certainly prepared to handle the task. We have worked together for a number of years and get along great. It’s made the transition that much smoother because we are both on the same page and communicate really well with each other.”

But that transition hasn’t come without adversity.

“It’s been a challenge, though, because we are dealing with a number of issues,” Meyer said. “In addition to Coach Holmes’ situation, we have also been dealing with the passing of [player Andrew Moore’s] father in early-January. That has been really hard on everyone. Since mid-December, we’ve had a number of players banged up with injuries as well. As a result, we’ve had to juggle our line-ups while waiting for guys to heal.”

Marina begins the second-half of Sunset League play Friday at Edison. On Monday the Vikings play at league-leading Los Alamitos.

“I hope his health, first of all, improves and hopefully he’ll be back leading his team soon,” said Russ May, the head coach at Los Alamitos who said he has known Holmes since taking over the Griffins’ coaching job eight years ago. “He’s very competitive and I have a deep respect for what’s he’s done to revive Marina basketball. He took them to the Pond to play for a CIF title a few years ago, had a few down years but had the team running with that new system last year. We’ve had some epic games with Marina. First and foremost, I wish him my best.”

Marina, which set a state and national record for three-point shots made (437) in a single-season last year, has hit 311 this year.

Yes, the Vikings, 11-10 overall, will continue on the run while Holmes watches from nearby.

“I am feeling good and look forward to the second half of league,” Holmes said. “I will most likely be in the stands for the games. I love the Marina basketball program and the players who have put so much time and effort into doing things the ‘right’ way. There have been so many people that I have met and players that I have coached who have become part of my family during the past 14 years. Stepping back right now is the smart and healthy thing to do. Not that I like it, but it is the best choice for me and my family at this time. I am hopeful that this is a temporary setback and I will be back as soon as possible. I have to follow what the doctor says and do the right things I am supposed to do.”