DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997                TAG: 9704100168

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: THUMBS UP! 

SOURCE: BY HOLLY WESTER, CORRESPONDENT 
                                            LENGTH:   52 lines

A LITTLE LUCK AND SKILL HELP TEEN SCORE A TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO

WHILE VIDEO GAMES may be an area of controversy for many parents, the PlayStation at Paul and Patty LaFond's house is considered a treasured possession.

After all, the machine - no bigger than a cable box - helped their 14-year-old son, Matt MacDonald, score a free trip to California.

Matt, a freshman at Princess Anne High School, was one of 10 finalists in the ``World Championship Wrestling/PlayStation Tournament,'' a video-game contest this winter at Planet Hollywood in San Francisco.

His name was drawn randomly from thousands of entries received during a November wrestling match at Norfolk Scope.

``I thought it was rigged, that nobody could ever win,'' Matt said. ``When they called me and told me I won, I was shocked. I was scared because I thought you had to be 18 to win.''

His fears were relieved in January, when a special delivery arrived at his Thalia-area home: a brand new PlayStation with the three dimensional fighting game, Tobal No. 1.

In between homework and baseball conditioning, Matt would sit in front of the living room TV for hours at a time, practicing the game, which is similar to the popular Street Fighter series found in arcades. ``I thought it was pretty easy,'' said Matt, who had never played a PlayStation. He tried out all the characters, which engage in one-on-one karate-like duels, and finally chose Chuji Wu, a Chinese fighter who specializes in the sweeping back kick, spinning space kick and running sliding kick. ``I think he's the best guy,'' Matt said.

He got to test out that theory the fourth weekend in February, when he and his uncle, Joe Sgamburelli, hopped on a plane heading west.

When Matt arrived at Planet Hollywood, he was surprised by his competition. Ranging in age from 8 to 48, tournament players hailed from all over the country.

Matt had to play against a real person, a change from the machine battles he'd been engaged in for a month. He emerged from the five rounds victorious, which put him in the finals with four others - a prediction he had made early on. Matt made it all the way to the last phase, where he was defeated.

Besides the all-expense paid trip (which was valued at $2,000), Matt got to mingle with the World Championship Wrestling stars he watches every Saturday, such as Harlem Heat, Jimmy Hart and Arn Anderson. On top of that, he got free tickets to the ``Super Brawl,'' a live wrestling match at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Matt MacDonald

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