Elk Grove's Sugihara excels on and off the field

Carl Sugihara is just a sophomore at Elk Grove High School, but he's already had an adult-sized lesson in time conflict management.

He has managed, so far, to take very seriously his passions for swimming and baseball. And he's met with success in both sports.

But at a certain time of the year - right about now, in fact - there's just no easy solution.

On Tuesday, Sugihara returned from a five-day trip to Cocoa Beach, Fla., where his travel baseball team, the Schaumburg Seminoles, capped a perfect 5-0 trip to win a tournament called the President's Day Challenge. The Seminoles, comprised of 17-and-under players, triumphed Monday against a team from Maryland comprised of mostly 18-year-olds.

In the tournament's championship game, Sugihara delivered 3 doubles from the leadoff spot. An outfielder and pitcher, he made Elk Grove's varsity as a freshman last spring.

In short, he can play the game of baseball very well.

And he can swim very well, too. A freestyle sprinter and backstroker, he was right on the edge of qualifying for the state meet last season, only to fall heartbreakingly short of the time standard in his two individual races.

By making the trip to Cocoa Beach the last two seasons, Sugihara has missed out on the Mid-Suburban League meet. He's hoping not to repeat last year's sectional disappointment this time around.

"I'd say I feel much more confident this year," he said.

His swimming coach at Elk Grove, Scott Gustafson, says Sugihara has shown exemplary commitment to the sport while the high school season is in full swing.

"He's really able to focus, to put everything he has into swimming during our season," Gustafson said. "We're just hoping everything works out well this time around."

And this time around, at least, he's changed up the routine a little bit.

Sugihara sought out a park district swimming pool while he was in Florida to try his best to stay sharp in the water and on track for a state-qualifying effort at the St. Charles East sectional today. He'll be swimming the 50- and 100-yard freestyles in his individual races. With midseason times of 22.0 in the 50 and 48.8 in the 100 free, his chances are excellent.

One person especially pleased with his successes in the pool is Sugihara's mother, Christine.

She competed for Taiwan's Olympic team in the 1988 Seoul Games, racing as an individual in the 50- and 100-meter freestyles, and in the 100 and 200 backstrokes. Those races happen to be strokes and distances at which Carl excels.

"I feel really proud of Carl," said Christine. "I don't like to push my kids into doing something - he is choosing to do this. People will say, 'well, his mother was a swimmer, so of course he's talented.' That might be partly true, but he works very hard at what he does. It's more than just talent. He's limited in the amount of time he can give to swimming, but when he's there, he's really able to concentrate on that."

Aside from sports, it's been a challenging time for the family, as Christine recently had her thyroid gland removed to combat cancer that had surfaced there; her prognosis is excellent but the effects of post-surgery radiation treatment have been difficult - especially since, in addition to Carl and 11-year-old Nikki (also a swimming standout), the family also has a child about to turn 2.

With all of that in mind, seeing Carl make difficult choices and succeed in two sports has been a most welcome sight.

Christine's own experience with a very strict, demanding swimming culture in Taiwan was that too many of the youngsters were being forced into the sport by their parents and therefore didn't stick with it long-term.

"My parents were not that way, but that was how it was for a lot of the kids I was with," she said. "We've told him, you can play any sport you want, do anything you want, but whatever you decide, you should do it with 100 percent effort."