Zdeneks’ Little Sister Has a Big Game

When the five Zdenek children engaged in high jinks at home, their father, Gene, had a simple solution for restoring order.

He’d gather them in a circle and make sure they were all tangled up so they couldn’t move. Then he deployed his secret weapon--tickling torture.

“My dad would pin us down and tickle us until we all calmed down,” said Jason Zdenek, starting free safety at UCLA.

The family member picked on most was the youngest, Christina. Her three brothers and sister used her for experiments, such as how far someone could be tossed through the air.

“My mom would say, ‘She’s small, don’t beat her up,’ ” Christina said. “I would go, ‘Mom, it’s OK, I can take it.’ ”

While Jason and Eric have gone on to play football for UCLA, Christina has become a sophomore point guard at Chaminade High and left little doubt who’s risen to the top in the family hierarchy.

“She’s going to be the one who puts us all to shame academically and athletically,” Jason said.

What kind of impact has the 5-foot-7 Christina made for the Eagles? She has a 4.0 grade-point average and helped transform Chaminade from a 6-17 team to a playoff participant in her freshman season when she averaged 13.1 points, 4.2 assists and 3.5 steals.

“She made that much of a difference,” Coach Kelli DiMuro said.

The Eagles have won their first seven games and hope to challenge Harvard-Westlake for supremacy in Mission League girls’ basketball.

Family members long ago stopped trying to defeat Christina in games of one on one, although some won’t admit it.

“They’re like, ‘Oh, you just got lucky this time,’ ” Christina said.

The Zdeneks are more than just a sports family. Chad, 25, Jason, 22, Jennifer, 20, Eric, 18, and Christina, 15, are best friends who support each other any time, anywhere.

“We’re all really close with a great relationship with each other,” Christina said.

The boys helped their little sister a couple years ago during a family rafting excursion in Yosemite. Christina kept falling out of the raft, leaving it up to Chad and Jason to pull her back in.

Since the four oldest children graduated from Chaminade, they’ve been nice enough to give Christina their old books and notes, even term papers. But she wouldn’t use one of their term papers, right?

“Oh no, never,” she said.

Christina said she always thought it was a blessing to be the youngest family member until her siblings moved out of a once-noisy house for college.

“It was kind of hard for me when they all left,” she said. “I felt a little lonely.”

She has been attending her brothers’ football games for years. She has gone to every UCLA game this season and will attend the Sun Bowl on Dec. 29.

DiMuro has seen Christina throw a football and jokes, “If she was a guy, she would be the starting quarterback for UCLA.”

Christina said Jason’s college career serves as an inspiration, since he spent four years sitting on the bench as a reserve until finally earning a starting spot his senior year.

“It’s been awesome to see how far he’s gone from not being able to play at all to not coming out for one single play,” she said. “I’ve learned even though you have a downfall, if you stick through it and have the determination to not let anything stop you, you’ll eventually get there.”

All the brothers and sisters seem indebted to their parents.

Chad is getting his MBA at UCLA. Jennifer is attending Loyola Marymount. Jason and Eric will earn degrees from UCLA.

“They taught us we can do whatever we want to do if we believe we can and have determination,” Christina said.

Gene is an ophthalmologist, but the family rarely needs him. Everyone has perfect eyesight.

“We just get sunglasses from him,” Christina said.

Christina knows if she needs help, her brothers are one phone call away.

Asked if she’s ever needed them for protection, Christina said, “I haven’t yet, but I think that’s because everyone knows I have three older brothers and they don’t mess with me.”

No one messes with Christina on the basketball court, either.

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Since the Colorado Rockies have agreed to pay $172.5 million to pitchers Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle, I want to apologize to pitcher Matt Harrington of Palmdale for thinking he was foolish to turn down a $4.3 million bonus offer from the Rockies. It’s obvious the Rockies have plenty of money to sign him if they want. . . .

These are the statistics compiled by linebacker Kyle Hollis of Hart on Friday in the Division III championship game against Mira Costa: 15 tackles, four unassisted, one caused fumble, one broken table.

Hollis did what he promised to do--he broke a table after the game in a WWF rendition.

“He’s my wild child,” his mother, Patti, said. . . .

The Catholic Athletic Assn. begins meetings today to form new leagues for the 2002 athletic season. Alemany is working hard to leave Division I in football and return to the Mission League. . . .

When 10 of his basketball players showed up to the first game wearing headbands, veteran Coach Howard Levine of Grant said, “That’s something I’m not going to fight.” . . .

North Hollywood Oakwood is 6-1 and may have its best basketball team since the Gorillas won the Liberty League championship in 1989 behind Mitchell Butler. Oakwood’s top player is 6-8 Nick Mark, whose brother, Jon, played on Butler’s team. . . .

As if Chatsworth needs another pitcher, 14-year-old freshman right-hander Jason Dominguez was clocked throwing 86 mph during a winter game.

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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.