DATE: Wednesday, September 17, 1997         TAG: 9709170654

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   57 lines

VA. BEACH LANDS AAU HOOPS TOURNEY IT'S FOR GIRLS 14 AND UNDER AND IS ANOTHER IN LONG LIST OF AMATEUR SPORTS COMING TO AREA.

City officials say they have attracted yet another amateur sports event to Hampton Roads - the 1999 AAU National Basketball Tournament for girls ages 14 and under.

The tournament will draw 2,500 players, coaches and visitors to Hampton Roads in July of 1999. James B. Ricketts, director of the Virginia Beach Department of Convention and Visitor Development, estimates those visitors will spend at least $1.5 million.

The tournament is another in a series of sports events the region has recruited this year.

The city of Norfolk recently announced it will host the 1998 McDonald's All-American High School Basketball game, the 1998 USA Track and Field Southeastern Regional track meet, the Group AAA state high school football, basketball and spring sports championship games and an NBA exhibition game in October. The city also began hosting a nationally televised hydroplane race.

The Norfolk Tides will also host the 1998 Triple-A baseball all-star game.

The AAU tournament bid was spearheaded by Virginia Beach, but it was a regional effort. Because the tournament will be played at peak tourist season, when hotel rooms are hard to find in Virginia Beach, the Norfolk Visitors and Convention Center reserved blocks of hotel rooms for the event.

A seven-person delegation - including officials from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and the Hampton Roads Sports Council - ventured to Orlando for the AAU meetings earlier this summer.

Officials bid on three events at the meeting. They declined to comment on what other events they bid for because the selection process isn't over.

Boo Williams, who runs the region's Boo Williams AAU program, made the opening remarks to 25 AAU officials during the basketball tournament presentation, which was made by Ron Kuhlman and J.E. ``Buddy'' Wheeler from the Virginia Beach convention and visitor department.

Williams' contacts also helped Norfolk land the McDonald's game, officials say.

Kuhlman says the AAU games' opening-day ceremonies will be held at the Pavilion and that eight high school and middle school gymnasiums in Virginia Beach have been reserved for games. Five more gyms have been set aside for practice for the 80 teams.

The finals likely will be held at Ocean Lakes High School, which has the city's largest gymnasium.

Kuhlman says the region's success in attracting amateur sports has resulted in part from new facilities. Norfolk State University 28,866-seat Dick Price Stadium, which opened last month, will host the track meet and the state football championship games.

A complex of 19 soccer fields recently opened in Virginia Beach and ground has been broken on an $8 million stadium at the Beach. Moreover, several new golf courses, including the Virginia Beach TPC Course, are under construction.

Kuhlman says regional cooperation has also been a factor. His Virginia Beach group worked closely with Billy Mann, a sales representative with the Norfolk Visitors and Convention Bureau, on the AAU bidding process.

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