THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504230172
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Demya Walker is a Grade A, certified high school basketball superstar. The 6-foot-3 Parade All-American averaged 29.4 points and 14.1 rebounds for Rancocas Valley High School in Mount Holly, N.J., then signed a grant with Virginia, one of the elite in college women's basketball.
But this weekend, she is simply candidate No. 225 at the Old Dominion University field house, where nearly 250 women age 20 or younger are trying out for 12 spots on the U.S. Olympic Festival East team.
This three-day cattle call, in which players wear numbers rather than names, began Friday and ends today with selection of the team that will compete in July in Denver against teams from the West, South and North.
It is one of the last events of its kind in this age of pampered superstars. It's a tryout for Everyman, or in this case, Everywoman.
There are no invitations. Anyone 16 to 20 years old can try out, provided she forks over a $30 registration fee and pays her way to Norfolk.
Many crammed into cars and vans and drove to Norfolk, some from as far away as Maine and Kansas. Some flew, with air fare provided by their colleges.
But not Walker. U.Va. can't legally provide her a dime until she enrolls in August, so her mother put her on a Greyhound bus for Norfolk early Friday in Jersey City.
She changed buses in Philadelphia, changed again in Delaware and then took the tortuous trip down Route 13 to Norfolk.
``They had bus stops you wouldn't believe on the way down, like gas stations and places with a little sign stuck to the wall,'' she said with a laugh. ``This isn't Jersey.
``It was a long, long ride.''
So far it's been worth the trip. She worked out once Friday and three times Saturday and survived cuts that have shaved a roster of 242 girls down to a few dozen.
Final cuts will be made today, and the process for making them is unique. Trials director Lynn A. Barry of USA Basketball, which sponsors the Olympic Festival, says a five-woman selection committee is making all the cuts.
Alabama's Rick Moody is the head coach and is in town watching the tryouts. But Moody is not involved with the selections.
The committee, led by chairwoman Karen Stromme of Minnesota-Duluth, sits at a table in center court of the field house while players go through their paces on adjoining courts.
``A player can't be cut until four out of five vote to cut her,'' said Barry, a former William and Mary player and wife of former NBA star Rick Barry.
``Every player has an evaluation done. If they're cut, we tell them why and what they need to work on.
``It's very, very difficult for the committee. Their brains will be muddled by the time they get out of here.''
The players acknowledged they feel an incredible crush of pressure.
``Everyone is very nervous,'' said Brown University forward Christine Yashaitis. ``You see people making mistakes they'd never make any other time. This is a pretty big weekend for all of us.''
And for ODU. This is a ``down'' time for college recruiters, meaning coaches can't talk to prospective recruits, even if they bump into them in a shopping mall.
But not so for ODU's coaches. Because they are hosting the East tryouts, they are allowed unlimited conversations with players on the court.
``This is great for Old Dominion,'' said ODU head coach Wendy Larry, who is supervising a crew of 10 on-court coaches, including Virginia Tech's Carol Alfano, Norfolk State's Jim Sweat, ODU assistant Alisa Scott, Virginia Commonwealth's Sue Walvius and Anne Donovan, the former ODU assistant recently named the head coach at East Carolina.
``There are a lot of very talented (rising) juniors and seniors spending the weekend on our campus. That can only help us.'' ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN/Staff photos
Karen Stromme, left, and Caren Horstmeyer watch players go through
their paces, right, at tryouts for the U.S. Olympic Festival East
team, which will compete in July in Denver.
by CNB