Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993 TAG: 9307170020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Only teasing," he hastily added, "but there was a time when I had to tape a half-dollar piece to my glove just so I could play. That's how bruised and sore I was."
Stocks developed a fondness for racket sports when he played squash as the son of Baptist missionaries in Zambia, but racquetball was his game when he came to Roanoke in 1989 as pastor of Rosalind Hills Baptist Church.
"All the really top-notch racquetball players play at the [Roanoke Athletic Club], but I couldn't get a match here," said Stocks, a member of the Central YMCA, venue for the Commonwealth Games of Virginia handball competition this weekend.
"I used to play two racquetball players at a time and give them 15 [or] 18 points in a game to 21," Stocks said. "So, these guys saw that and they said, `You ought to come on and play a real man's sport.' Except they had other terms for it."
It was Christmas before Stocks won his first match. He had not played in a tournament before Friday, when he won the first set from Keith Neihart of Alexandria 21-13, then dropped the second set and tie-breaker. Neihart has played in each of the four Commonwealth Games tournaments.
"People say you can't acquire the same talent in a different sport," said Stocks, who, at 33, is one of the youngest players in the field. "That's the challenge.
"This guy today said, `Man, you have tremendous court sense. Hang in there. You're going to be great.' I appreciated that. That's awesome if I can get that from a guy. That pushes me."
Although a handball is smaller than a racquetball and not as lively, the game is quicker for the players because they do not have the luxury of an 18-inch extension - the racket - at the end of their arms. Also, they have to use both hands.
"With a good player, you can't tell if he's right-handed or left-handed," said Andy Hudick, Commonwealth Games handball coordinator and last year's open-division champion. "Just about the time you have it figured out, he'll kill the ball with the other hand."
Stocks said his first efforts at hitting a handball left-handed felt as awkward as a child throwing a baseball for the first time; however, he hit several left-handed kill shots in his match against Neihart.
"I had the jitters," he said. "I didn't expect to get to a tie-breaker, to be honest with you. I just wanted to be competitive. When I won the first game as easily as I did, I think I let up. I thought, `I can just keep playing my game,' but he came up with a different strategy and took me out of my game."
Stocks was reduced to talking to himself by the end of the match, although his comments were nothing that couldn't have been repeated before his congregation.
"I think, if you ask anybody in my congregation, I work at trying to be real whether I'm in the pulpit or out of the pulpit," said Stocks, who came directly to Rosalind Hills from Wake Forest (N.C.) Seminary in 1989.
"It's frustrating. That's part of the problem. I know this game already," he said. "Coming from racquetball, I know what to do, but I haven't developed the skill to do it."
As a racquetball player, Stocks once finished second in North Carolina in doubles with his brother, Lee, a state singles champion. When his brother visited recently, Tom Stocks introduced him to handball with a new, lighter ball designed to get more people interested in the game.
"I thought I'd never give up racquetball," Tom Stocks said, "[but] I don't have a yearning for it anymore. I sold all my rackets, so I'm not sure I could play if I wanted to."
by CNB