DATE: Sunday, May 11, 1997                  TAG: 9705090252

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, CURRENTS SPORTS EDITOR 

                                            LENGTH:   79 lines

NORCOM COACH SHARES LOVE FOR GAME

Bob Wright doesn't make any excuses for the fact that his Norcom boys tennis team has won only one match in his three-year coaching tenure.

He doesn't have to. The reasons for the team's lack of success are painfully clear. Wright is working with novices. Virtually none of his players had ever held a tennis racket before they reached high school. Some were introduced to the game in March. Matched against the relatively seasoned performers at schools like Maury and Granby - and, in past years, Great Bridge and Western Branch - Wright's Greyhounds have no chance.

The situation won't change overnight. But if Wright and Elizabeth Manor Country Club head pro Mike Mustgrave have their way, better days are in store.

The first step, both agree, is to make tennis more accessible to kids in the city.

``Winning is the icing on the cake, but first you've got to have the cake,'' said Wright, a 4.5-level player who has been brainstorming with Mustgrave about ways to increase youth participation in tennis throughout the city. ``The cake is a passion for the game. If I can teach these kids to love the game like I love it, I'll be successful.''

Trading on the popularity of one of the city's most popular sports acronyms, Wright recently conducted the inaugural PITT (Portsmouth Invitational Tennis Tournament) featuring players from Portsmouth public high schools, Booker T. Washington and Stonebridge. Wright hopes to make it a twice-a-year affair.

Wright and Mustgrave are also in the early stages of introducing a summer tennis program in conjunction with the United States Tennis Association and the city's parks and recreation department which would allow kids to receive five weeks of instruction for as little as $30.

On Tuesday, Mustgrave solicited the help of the USTA's Brian Wills. Wills has agreed to contact principals throughout the city and recommend they allow Mustgrave and his staff to conduct tennis assemblies in each school.

Mustgrave and assistant Scott Larson just completed a four-week after-school tennis program at Western Branch Intermediate School. Twenty-five students took part in the once-a-week, one-hour sessions.

Wills is in charge of the USTA's Play Tennis America program, a nationwide endeavor to promote tennis to beginners. Wills has pledged to help Mustgrave conduct one of those sessions here. And Mustgrave is also trying to establish a Portsmouth Tennis Patrons organization, fashioned after the Virginia Beach Tennis Patrons group, which has pumped thousands of dollars into that city's youth tennis programs.

These ideas won't help Leonard Barraugh, Tim Forbes and William Goodard, the three Norcom starters who will graduate this spring. But they could help sophomores Craig Lyles and James Hardy, and freshman Amos Brabble, lead Norcom's bid for respectability next season and beyond. The Greyhounds' 1-7 record this eason was the school's best since Jerry Shackelford guided the 1992 team to seven wins.

Wright is particularly high on Lyles, who had a team-best 5-4 record at No. 2 singles, and, according to his coach, has more talent than he knows what to do with.

``He has no idea how good he can become,'' Wright said.

SHOOTERS ROLL: The Churchland air rifle team successfully defended its state title in record-setting style last week during the 1997 Department of Virginia American Legion Junior Shooting Sports Championships in Charlottesville.

The Truckers, officially known as the Churchland Marine Corps Junior ROTC Air Rifle Marksmanship Team, scored 1,013 points, two better than the previous high established by the same team a year ago and 40 more than this year's second-place team.

Don Truax led the way by firing a 275, another record. He took first place in both the standing position and kneeling positions, again establishing records in both. Truax also finished second in the prone position.

Truax will travel to Colorado Springs in August for the American Legion National Junior Shooting Sports Championships. He earned a berth by placing second in the national in qualifying rounds.

Third-place finishes at the state championships were recorded by Rusty Carter (prone), Dwayne Pyle (standing) and John Truax (kneeling). ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PAUL WHITE

Norcom High School tennis coach Bob Wright works with his team. He's

spearheading efforts to make tennis more accessible.

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