THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701220129
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, COMPASS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: 114 lines
Don't try telling Juanita Etheridge she can't do something.
Like run a marathon.
A sprinter most of her life, Etheridge trained for the 26 miles by running 10Ks and noting her times. On the eve of her first marathon, the Shamrock in 1981, a buddy asked her what time she was shooting for. She told him ``2:45.''
He stared at her disbelieving and laughed.
``It's your first marathon,'' he told her. ``You'll never be able to do it.''
Etheridge was steamed. Friends aren't supposed to tell you what you can't do, she thought. She scribbled the numbers 2:45 on a piece of paper and tucked it inside one of her running shoes.
The next day she went out and finished the Shamrock in 2:44:08, then the fastest woman's time in the race's history and still a course record.
SITTING ON THE HIGHEST bleacher in the Granby High gymnasium, Etheridge, 46, is modest these days in recalling that feat.
``After I ran the first mile, I said `Oh, my God. I have to run 25 of those?' '' she laughs.
Etheridge continued running after that, winning 60 of 61 local races of varying distances at one time, including the Shamrock again in 1983 and the Elizabeth River Run in 1979, 1981 and 1982. She is among the finest all-around female athletes the area has ever produced, having started for the James Madison field hockey and lacrosse teams as a freshman and sophomore. As a junior she transferred to Old Dominion and played basketball for one season, leading the team in scoring with 19.8 points and was named MVP for 1974-75.
A graduate of First Colonial High in 1969, Etheridge was a three-sport athlete (basketball, track, field hockey) before it was fashionable for girls. She's done everything except maybe swim and - until last fall - coach at the high school level.
That's when Etheridge fulfilled a lifelong dream and accepted a coaching position at Granby High to head the field hockey and girls basketball teams.
``I always wanted to coach high school; I just never did,'' says Etheridge, who coached track and field and cross country for two years at Norfolk State. ``I was always an official, and I'd go to games and say, `I could be helping these kids. I should be out here.' ''
Granby principal Michael Caprio has been interested in Etheridge ever since she taught tennis to his daughter.
``If she can teach my daughter tennis, she can coach anybody,'' he says. After that, Caprio told her if she ever wanted to coach, he wanted her at Granby.
But Etheridge had another calling, and another concern. In the summer of 1988, she accepted a job in the Norfolk Department of Parks and Recreation. A supervisor and commissioner of several recreational sports, her mission was to make athletics more accessible to the city's youth.
She spent the next six years there and created several of the city's best-known programs. She started the double-dutch program that has since sent 30-some kids to the world championships, as well as Hook A Kid on Golf and Clean Sweep, which encourages youngsters to choose a neighborhood and clean it up.
She loved the part of the job that allowed her to work with kids.
But she became disillusioned with many aspects of recreational league sports, because too many individuals were putting too much emphasis on winning and not enough on teaching.
``I wasn't working for the kids anymore. It got be a real war,'' she says. ``Everybody lost sight of why we were there.''
The lack of qualified coaches at the rec-league level was among her biggest headaches. Etheridge was supervising the entire program, which afforded her little time to coach except for double-dutch. But last spring she took the first plunge when the Norfolk middle schools introduced basketball. Etheridge coached the Lafayette-Winona girls team.
``It was so much fun teaching them the basics,'' says Etheridge, who plans to coach there again this year, as the middle schools' spring basketball schedule does not conflict with the high schools' winter schedule.
Basketball has always been her favorite sport - she's envious of the opportunities offered to today's stars in the ABL and pending WNBA - so the Granby job was a perfect fit. Then Caprio asked her at the last minute to coach field hockey.
``I played field hockey all my life,'' she says. ``I had officiated, so I knew the rules. So I called all my friends, got some books, went to some clinics, and I felt ready.''
Etheridge didn't work on trying to turn the program around overnight. Instead she stressed conditioning and attitude, a natural decision for a seemingly inexhaustible woman with a perpetually positive demeanor.
``Hustle, desire, determination, discipline, all those things have to fall into place before you win,'' she says. ``That's what you first have to teach them.''
Now she's teaching that same philosophy to the basketball team. ``She never yells,'' Caprio says. ``When a kid comes out of a game, she explains to that kid why she's coming out. She won't let them pout. She's got rules and guidelines, and I think kids want that.''
She understands that some kids need to hold outside jobs, but she'd like them to make a choice and commit to their sport. Above all, she says, kids in Norfolk can't drop their field hockey sticks or basketballs for months at a time and then pick it up expecting to compete with the youth in Virginia Beach.
``You've got to have desire to do it,'' she says. ``Sometimes I feel the lack of passion is too great. I tell my basketball kids, if you think Michael Jordan got great by just waking up one morning and saying `I'm going to be great,' you're absolutely wrong. He shot thousands of shots day in and day out.
``And I tell my field hockey kids, if you think Nancy Fowlkes' field hockey team in Virginia Beach is great just because they're great, I know those kids. They run, lift weights, do camps.''
While many kids in Norfolk might lack the funds for fancy camps and clinics, Etheridge stresses what can be done.
``I sometimes feel athletes today aren't that passionate,'' she says. ``You've got to truly love what you do so no one needs to tell you to go out on the court and shoot 100 free throws or dribble the field hockey ball up and down the field. No one has to tell you. That's when you know a kid has passion and love.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Juanita Etheridge, a three-sport athlete at First Colonial High, now
coaches field hockey and girls basketball at Granby High.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE