Sunday in Park in Lieu of Church

It’s 10 o’clock on a gorgeous Sunday morning, and the Sepulveda Basin is filling up with families young and old.

Everywhere you turn, someone is engaged in a sporting activity.

There are joggers, walkers, cyclists, golfers, roller bladers, skateboarders, basketball players, soccer players, softball players, frisbee throwers, cricket players, tennis players, boaters, fishermen, baseball players. They’re even flying model airplanes.

After leading a 7:30 a.m. Mass at St. Jude’s Catholic Church in Westlake Village, Father John Knoernschild sometimes heads to the Sepulveda Basin to ride his bike, then cringes at what he sees.

“I go, ‘My God, where should all these kids be?’ ” he said. “Where does the church fit in? I’ve thought to myself, ‘Should I ask if they have been to church?’ ”

The question is a difficult one, but it must be asked: Is sports replacing religion as the most important spiritual activity?

Youth leagues schedule practices and games on Sunday morning, forcing parents to make uncomfortable choices. Churches have tried to ease the dilemma, holding Saturday night services.

But the number of people spending their Sundays focused on sports instead of their religious faith is clearly growing.

According to surveys conducted by the Ventura-based Barna Research Institute, 40% of adults in the United States attend a church service on Sunday, a drop from the early 1990s when close to half of all adults reported attending church.

“The rise of sports is challenging church attendance on Sunday, very much so,” said Knoernschild, the president of Crespi High and a big sports fan. “I encourage family participation and involvement [in sports], but the church community is extremely important as well, and that should take priority.”

Given a choice, many kids would surely choose putting on a T-shirt and shorts to go bike riding over wearing a tie or a dress at church, right?

Thankfully, every family has the right to choose.

Sports has become almost its own religion. Teams and athletes are worshiped. Famous victories and defeats are recounted like passages from the Bible. Hail Marys are sought, especially when your favorite football team is on the 50-yard line with one second left and needing a miracle.

It’s confusing before an athletic contest when both teams gather to say a prayer. Who’s God supposed to support?

Some might be alarmed at the increasing influence of sports on family life. But what’s a better training ground for learning about team work and competition? And what’s a better environment to teach rejection of racial bigotry and bias?

There’s no reason to panic when taking a leisurely walk on Sunday morning in the Sepulveda Basin and seeing so many families relaxing while engaged in a physical activity.

It’s their way of renewing their mind and body. If it works, more power to them.

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Get ready for the least competitive American Legion District 20 summer season ever. In a decision that had little support among coaches, the district will split into two divisions--one for teams that play high school graduates and the other for teams that don’t.

It means baseball power Hart High will drop out of Legion ball because Coach Jim Ozella does not want to play graduates and Commissioner Larry Van Kuran is refusing to allow Hart to play in the non-senior division.

Crespi, which normally qualifies for the playoffs despite not playing graduates, will be stuck in the second division, diminishing the talent pool for the senior division.

Van Kuran said he is making the change to improve competition and protect seniors who have played Legion ball but suddenly are banned by high school coaches using their summer teams as developmental squads.

“We’re pushing it for the good of all kids,” Van Kuran said.

The old format worked well for District 20. Chatsworth made it to the Legion World Series last summer. Woodland Hills West won the Series in 1989. Why try to fix something that isn’t broken?

Van Kuran said 10 teams will form the non-senior division, with 21 in the other.

Best of luck, and be prepared for a long, hot summer of bad games.

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Don Loperena, boys’ basketball coach at Monroe, guided the Vikings to the Valley Mission League championship with no starter taller than 6 feet.

Imagine his thrill coaching the City Section all-stars, who will play the Southern Section on Friday night at 7:30 at Cal State Northridge. He has players 6-9, 6-6 and 6-5.

“I’m stretching out my neck,” Loperena said. “I get to look up for once.”

Loperena, 31, is one of the bright young coaches in the region. He learned plenty playing under the legendary Lou Cvijanovich at Santa Clara.

He said Cvijanovich used to lecture him loudly for being too flashy.

“I threw two wrap-around passes in my career right to the guys,” Loperena said. “It didn’t matter. I got hell. ‘Loperena!’ ”

The City Section figures to be the underdog against a Southern Section team that has three players bound for Division I colleges--Josiah Johnson of Montclair Prep to UCLA, Branduinn Fullove of Simi Valley to UC Santa Barbara and Russell Lakey of Harvard-Westlake to Vanderbilt.

But the City has underrated players eager for an opportunity to play against the best. Beware of guards Ryan Logan of Grant and Bobby Mitchell of Reseda and forward Jammie Harris of Canoga Park.

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It’s too bad the Mission League golf championships aren’t taking place this week, because defending champion Tommy Barber of Notre Dame is close to unbeatable at the moment.

In his last two rounds at Lakeside Country Club, he shot a two-under-par 33 and a 32. He has signed with Long Beach State. He’s already giving golfing tips to brother Danny, a promising freshman.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422 or eric.sondheimer@latimes.com