La Quinta Lineman Lenaerts Is in Good Condition

La Quinta football player Aron Lenaerts is in good condition and resting comfortably at UCI Medical Center four days after suffering a head injury during practice.

Hospital spokeswoman Fran Tardiff said Tuesday that Lenaerts was still in the intensive care unit and that he was conscious and comfortable. Lenaerts, a junior lineman, was hit in the temple during tackling drills on Friday. He lapsed into a coma that afternoon and came out of it Saturday.

Mitch Thomas, La Quinta principal, said the school is doing its best to deal with Lenaerts’ injury.

“The kids are concerned, the coaches are concerned,” Thomas said. “We’re still dealing with that. The mood is still shock. It hit the kids right in the gut. It was a tough thing to go through. It left (the coaches) with a hollow feeling in their stomach.”

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The Kennedy High water polo team will practice and play games this season at Cypress High because the Kennedy pool has been declared unsafe by the county, Kennedy Athletic Director Tom Wallace said Tuesday.

Wallace said county inspectors making a regular check of the pool this summer found cracks in the deck. The pool was built in 1963, mostly above the ground because of the high water table in La Palma.

“The pool per se is fine but when you build 17 feet above ground and the decking is a problem, you can’t get to the pool,” Wallace said.

The Fighting Irish water polo team plans to have its first practice Thursday at Cypress.