THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603080268
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 25 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
NO DUES, NO officers, no bylaws, just good people and good tennis - that is the success secret of an unnamed tennis group that has been going strong for almost two decades.
Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday morning the regulars fill the Churchland Park tennis courts, playing pick-up doubles and rotating into play when the number of players exceeds the number of courts available.
``We are the best disorganized organized group in the city,'' Al Kersnick said. Kersnick, 68 and a retired traffic dispatcher from Western Branch, has been playing tennis with the group since 1987.
The group's deliberately low profile only heightens its appeal to tennis players from all over South Hampton Roads who are seeking commitment without obligation with a congenial group. ``Everybody just shows up and nobody fusses,'' Don Coon explained. ``We just play tennis.''
Coon, 58, is a tennis buff who lives in Suffolk after retirement returned him to the Tidewater area from Charlotte. A few months ago he stopped by the tennis courts, recognized a few familiar faces, and became a regular with the group.
Although Kersnick may seem to function as a quasi-leader of the proudly unstructured group, he and his tennis playing pals eschew any notion of the usual club hierarchy. ``The group has no name and no leader because we don't need them,'' Frank Kirsch, a Churchland resident, said.
Kirsch, 80, was one of the original five tennis enthusiasts who began playing together in the late 1970s. Rather than waste time telephoning to arrange matches, the five friends decided to just routinely meet every Tuesday and Thursday for a morning of tennis on the courts near Hunt-Mapp Middle School, which was then Wilson High School.
After being displaced frequently by high school gym classes, the men moved their game to the Churchland courts and have been there ever since.
Over the years the group has grown by word of mouth to the current unofficial roster that lists more than 50 men and a few women from Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, and Courtland.
When they can make it, they come. When they cannot come, there is no need to call anyone. ``No one feels compelled to come,'' Kersnick said.
Those that do come are ready to make a morning of it, playing a half dozen or so matches until some time after noon when they retire to ``the club,'' the nearby 7-11 on Cedar Lane.
Most of the group is well into their 60s or 70s with anyone under 60 likely to be nicknamed ``The Kid.''
``You have to die to leave the group,'' Kersnick said, adding that once or twice a player may have collapsed on the courts, passed out or chipped a tooth. ``But they always come back and no one has died out here,'' he said.
``We don't move around quite like the young guys so we pace ourselves,'' Kersnick said. ``We don't play so hard that we are going to hurt anyone.''
In the last 10 years the group has lost a few players temporarily to cardiac and back problems, and a few permanently to death and or to the confines of nursing homes. One of their most recent losses was still playing with the group past his 90th birthday. ``And he won his last match,'' Kersnick said.
``If you are missing for a while we will check on you and report back to the group,'' he added. ``We try to keep in touch with one another and check on injuries but nothing organized mind you, just concerned.''
A dress code is also conspicuously absent. A few players are decked out in spiffy tennis togs, but most are in well-worn sweats and shoes that have seen a fair share of court time. ``You don't have to worry about what you look like or what you are dressed like,'' Saunders Early said. ``You are just here to play tennis.''
Early, owner of Robbie's Hardware in Portsmouth, is one of the group's minority in that he has not yet retired. The players represent a wide range of former and current careers, from laborers to doctors, teachers, businessmen, and retired military.
Antonio Juvaluyas, 53, works as a floater at the Gwaltney plant in Portsmouth and has been playing with the group for three years. ``I really enjoy the people here,'' he said. ``When we are playing tennis we are all in the same class regardless of what we do off the court.''
Juvaluyas has been playing tennis for only four years and also appreciates the chance to play folks like Norman Kozak from Western Branch who has been playing for 62 years and has qualified several times for the Senior Olympics.
Dr. Paul Robinett, a retired Portsmouth physician who has been playing with the group since 1980, pointed to another Portsmouth player, Rick Atienza, a 61-year-old Naval and civil service retiree, as exemplifying the group's tennis philosophy. ``He is the best player out here but he will still play with anybody, including me,'' Robinett said with a laugh.
``We have just one unwritten rule; nobody dominates the court and everyone is on an equal footing,'' David Mantz agreed. Mantz, 55, has been playing tennis since his varsity days at Churchland High School and comes out as often as the weather permits.
This winter has been the worst in years, weather wise, for group members who have been known to venture out in sub-freezing weather for a few matches simply because they prefer to play outdoors. ``A broom, a squeegee, and bug spray are standard equipment in our cars, right beside our rackets,'' Kersnick said, adding that a stiff wind or a steady rain are the only things that might keep the group from the courts.
Mary Curro, a hypnotherapist from Portsmouth, is one of just three women who play with the group and she is a legacy. Her father, Frank Curro, was a founding player and when he died in 1989, Mary took his place. ``They welcomed me and I became one of the guys,'' she said. ``This is real family because we don't socialize that much outside of here but if anything goes wrong they are right there supporting each other.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Al Kersnick, left, and Don Coon are members of the casual tennis
group. ``Everybody just shows up and nobody fusses,'' Coon says.
by CNB