THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511090125
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
WHEN PUSH COMES to shove Friday during the Group AAA state girls tennis championships, at least Leslie Beach ought to be used to it.
``I've got this cart full of these huge books that must weigh 100, 200 pounds,'' said David Weiss, Tallwood's tennis coach and an advanced placement psychology teacher. ``And we've got this hallway that's about 200 yards if you go around the whole thing. When it's raining and we can't practice outside, I have Leslie push that cart around from room to room. It helps build up her legs.''
``Yeah,'' added Beach with a laugh. ``And then coach Weiss starts humming the `Rocky' tune. Those books must weigh a ton.''
Then again, the strength of Beach's legs - not to mention the quality of her strokes and her will to win - have never been at issue. It's been the strength of her mind, particularly in big matches, that even Beach admits has failed her when she's needed it most.
``I just get really, really nervous out there,'' Beach said. ``I remember last year in the state tournament (a first-round loss to Mills Godwin's Jenny Ward) I just got so uptight. And when that happens, my backhand goes, and I can't seem to swing out on the ball.
``It's something I need to get over. So I've made up my mind that this year, I'm just going to go for it, and see what happens.''
That Beach suffers any anxiety at all on a tennis court must come as a shock to other area tennis players, most of whom have spent matches against the Tallwood junior mumbling ``nice shot'' as a Beach bullet whizzes out of their reach.
Beach secured her status as an elite player as a freshman, when, just three years after she began taking the game seriously, she dropped just one regular-season match and reached the Beach District final before losing to First Colonial's Stephanie Smith.
Over the past two seasons, she's won nearly five times as much as she's lost, captured the Newport News Invitational in September and reached the final of every other high school tournament she's played except last year's state tournament. And in her three years, she's never lost to a player who wasn't a district, regional or state champion.
Then again, Beach has never won a district, regional or state title, something First Colonial's Mily Kannarkat has seen to personally. The Patriots sophomore and reigning state champion has beaten Beach in the district and regional tournaments the past two years and has been responsible for six of Beach's seven losses during that span.
Weiss doesn't like to dwell on the losses, preferring instead to focus on what simply reaching those finals says about his player.
``Hey, she's one of the top eight players in the state,'' he said. ``How many cross country runners qualify for state? Sixty? I'd say being in the top eight is pretty good.''
Still, Beach admits that continuing inability to clear the Kannarkat hurdle isn't quite that easy to blow off.
``Yeah, it's frustrating sometimes, but you have to give Mily credit,'' Beach said. ``She's really committed to her tennis.
``But I do hope that one of these times . . . ''
Even without success against Kannarkat, however, it's been a remarkable run for a player who dreamed of being a soccer star until a chronic heel condition at age 11 forced her to look for another sport.
``It's like a disease of the heels, where the bones are growing too fast,'' Beach said. ``I had to find a sport I could play on my toes. One of my neighbors suggested tennis.''
Within a year, Beach had qualified for the 12-and-under Zonal Championships, a national tournament, and she's maintained a high Mid-Atlantic Tennis Association ranking ever since.
About the only thing she hasn't won is some sort of high school title, something she'd like to rectify this weekend.
``I think I'm capable,'' she said. ``I just need to relax out there.''
Should she succeed, Beach would consider it a victory not just for herself and her school, but also for the man whose unique training methods include pushing a pile of psychology books throughout the halls of Tallwood High. ILLUSTRATION: HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS
Staff photo
In her three years at Tallwood High, Leslie Beach has never lost to
a player who wasn't a district, regional or state champion. But she
hasn't won one of those titles, either.
by CNB