DATE: Sunday, May 11, 1997                  TAG: 9705080629

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C10  EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: Mother's Day Stories 

SOURCE: VICKI L. FRIEDMAN

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   40 lines

LESLIE STELLA, NORFOLK COLLEGIATE: FOUR ATHLETIC CHILDREN MEANS LONG DAYS, LONG DRIVES

On a typical spring morning, Leslie Stella piles her four kids, a good book and a cooler full of dinners into her minivan in Elizabeth City. By 7 a.m. - a half hour earlier if it is Philip's day for math club - Mom and crew begin the 80-minute drive that ends in the Norfolk Collegiate parking lot.

That's when school begins for Philip, a fourth-grader; Mike, a seventh-grader; Rose, a freshman; Helen, a junior; and Stella, an office volunteer. Rather than drive home, Stella does administrative work while her kids are in class.

``I've never relished the idea of making two round trips,'' says Stella, 42, who also reads and catches up on correspondence during the day.

While Stella might visit with her children at school, afterward she is a mainstay at their games. For Mom, that means four different leagues of soccer, tennis matches, track meets and crew - and that's just in the spring. All her children participate in sports year-round.

``Whoever's not playing,'' Stella says, ``I have to pack dinner for.''

And whoever is not playing is probably practicing. Stella drives the boys to and from Lake Taylor for soccer practice and the family generally leaves town by picking up Rose at the Northside Park tennis courts. On the way home, the kids take turns doing homework on the laptop computer until the van rolls into the driveway around 6:30.

Stella plans to continue the trek until her fourth-grader graduates.

``You just have the idea that your kids are with you such a short period of time,'' she says. ``While they're with you, you enjoy doing the things they want to do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA, The Virginian-Pilot

Leslie stella drivves her four children from Elizabeth City, N.C. to

Norfolk Collegiate to attend school and participate in sports. From

left: Helen, Philip, Leslie, Mike and Rose.

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