By Pete Borello

Monica Lodge

After 41 years at Los Altos High, athletic director Monica Lodge is retiring - despite objections from some of her coaches.

“I’m not going to let her,” said Vava Marques, who recently completed his eighth season as coach of the boys soccer team. “She’s a great person and a great administrator. She supports all the sports the same - there’s no difference if it’s field hockey or soccer. All the coaches get along and respect each other, and that comes from the top.”

Erin Montoya, who just finished her first season as coach of the girls soccer team, doesn’t want to see Lodge go, either.

“She’s been a great help,” Montoya said. “She takes care of her coaches and is out there supporting the girls. She’s so organized and made my first year easy.”

Lodge, who will retire at the end of the school year in June, has been teaching physical education at Los Altos since 1965. After two years, Lodge became coordinator of girls athletics/PE, a position she held until being named the school’s athletic director in 1992. Along the way, Lodge coached gymnastics and girls swimming, winning Central Coast Section titles in both sports.

“For 41 years, this job has been almost seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day.” she said. “But every day, I’ve loved to go to work. Most people can’t say that.”

Lodge said she has mixed emotions about leaving “such a nice community and a good school,” but she couldn’t work at Los Altos forever.

“No time is good, but you’ve got to do it sometime,” the 65-year-old said. “I need time to do stuff on my own. I’m excited.”

Lodge said the highlights of her career include watching her four children go through school at Los Altos (all of them were three-sport athletes), her success as gymnastics coach (five CCS titles and 22 league crowns) and working with so many wonderful coaches and athletes.

She plans to honor all her coaches by hosting a party for them June 9. It will begin with a round of golf at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Burlingame, then a dinner party at her home in Redwood City.

“It’s a celebration of 41 years of sports at Los Altos,” said Lodge, who asks coaches who do not receive an invitation to e-mail her at Monica.Lodge@mvla.net. “This is not a retirement party - it’s a thank you for all of us.”

Although she will no longer be employed by the school, Lodge plans to work there during the summer. The Golden Eagle Summer All-Sports Camp she started 22 years ago returns to the campus June 19. She hopes the camp continues well beyond this year and is proud of how it has provided summer jobs for high school students and has served the community’s youth.

Come fall, a new person will hold the title of Los Altos athletic director - someone Lodge had a hand in selecting. She said the school is expected to name her replacement by the end of the month.

“I want to make sure I leave it in good hands,” Lodge said. “That’s my only concern.”