THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407020770
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Virginia Beach's Mike Duckworth will play volleyball for the West team at the U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Louis this week, thanks in large part to his father.
Not only did his dad introduce him to the game, he convinced Duckworth to attend the Festival tryouts when the rising sophomore at George Mason was waffling about whether to make what he regarded as a fruitless trip to Penn State in May.
``A week before I left, I talked to my dad and said, `Do you think it's worth it to go up there when it's an eight-hour drive?' '' Duckworth said.
It was worth it.
Duckworth endured nine hours of volleyball on the first day of the tryout and headed into the final day as one of 16 remaining candidates from the 50 or 60 who began the grueling sessions.
``There were guys just dropping dead out there,'' Duckworth said. ``I never thought I'd make it past the first cuts. I didn't think I'd make any cuts.''
But Duckworth, a 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman at George Mason last season, played superb volleyball. After three more hours of play on the second day, Duckworth was one of three players chosen from that tryout to compete in the Festival.
``This was really his first opportunity of the year to play in anything that counted,'' George Mason coach Ron Shayka said.
The 37-sport Olympic Festival, which began Friday night, runs until July 10 and features more than 3,000 competitors. Seventeen athletes from South Hampton Roads will participate.
Shayka, who suggested Duckworth try out for the Festival, admitted even he was a little surprised that both Duckworth and another of his redshirt freshmen, Jason Salmeri from King George, Va., made the Festival team. Shayka did not attend the tryouts but said he got a lot of reports about Duckworth's play.
``Every person I talked to said, `Wow, what's gotten into Mike?' '' Shayka said.
Shayka said Duckworth and Salmeri have a chance to become the best volleyball players ever produced by the state of Virginia. Volleyball is dominated by players from the West, particularly Californians. But it's growing in popularity in the East, as evidenced by the national championship won last year by Penn State, the first Eastern team to win the title.
``Volleyball on the East Coast is getting a lot better and a lot more competitive,'' said Duckworth, who is hoping he can develop into a player who spawns a groundswell of popularity in Virginia.
Duckworth is a swing hitter, a position that Shayka said requires a versatile player - primarily a passer, but one who also is adept as a hitter and defensive player.
``Mike's a natural passer,'' Shayka said. ``That particular skill is difficult to learn and difficult to teach.''
Duckworth's ability as a passer was fostered by the years he went to tournaments with his father. Rod Duckworth has played volleyball for 35 years. Among his myriad of honors and accomplishments was his participation on a U.S. Volleyball 55-and-over national championship team this spring.
Mike often accompanied his father to tournaments and hit with his father's teams. Although Virginia Beach high schools did not offer volleyball when Duckworth attended Kempsville, he played on Junior Olympic teams during his high school years. Duckworth made a good enough showing at tournaments that Volleyball Monthly named him one of the top 50 volleyball recruits.
``He's tall, and yet he can pass the ball and he can play defense,'' Rod Duckworth said of his son. ``Most tall guys can't do all that.
``He's in the Olympic computer now. The Olympic team is all guys who are 25-to-30 years old because you peak after college for volleyball. Now they're going to be watching him.''
Duckworth, 19, hopes people will be watching him in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He considers the Olympic Festival the first leg of that journey.
``It's a great experience for me,'' Duckworth said. ``It's also a steppingstone for me to move up to greater things.'' MEMO: Follow the 17 South Hampton Roads athletes who are playing in the
Olympic Sports Festival by reading the reports of staffer Paul White,
beginning Monday in the Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star.
ILLUSTRATION: JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI
Virginia Beach's Mike Duckworth will play on the West team at the
U.S. Olympic Festival.
by CNB