DATE: Sunday, September 21, 1997            TAG: 9709190397

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

CHANGE IN TENNIS SEASON CAUSES FEW PROBLEMS FOR N-SA GIRLS ONLY ATHLETES HAD TO GIVE UP A SPORT THEY PLAYED LAST YEAR.

If things were different, Kate Esleck would be playing basketball instead of tennis for Nansemond-Suffolk.

When the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools moved girls tennis from the spring to the fall this year, Esleck and other girls in the TCIS had to decide whether to continue with tennis or their previous fall sports.

``It took a couple of months but then I decided I would have a better career with tennis,'' said Esleck, a sophomore, who played basketball last fall and tennis last spring.

But the issue of realignment, which has led to a lawsuit against the Virginia High School League by Lakeland and Nansemond River female athletes when their sports seasons changed because the schools were put into different enrollment classifications, has caused little fuss at N-SA.

``It's worked out well,'' Saints girls athletic director Betty Jean Riddick said.

``The players and the coaches made their adjustments very nicely at N-SA,'' Riddick said.

In 1994, athletic directors in the TCIS voted to move tennis to the fall beginning with the 1997 season.

The athletic directors felt the TCIS teams would have more non-district competition since the public schools and many other private schools play in the fall.

Another factor was court time. Since the boys still play in the spring, the girls would have the courts to themselves in the fall.

The athletic directors also felt there would be a higher level of play since many girls would be coming straight off of summer amateur competition.

Initially, Riddick was one of the few athletic directors against the move.

But this year's results have changed her mind.

Only five Nansemond-Suffolk girls had to give up a sport they played at the varsity or junior varsity level last year.

Four girls who played both basketball and tennis - Esleck, Ginna Brubaker, Courtney Walters and Elizabeth Harlow - chose to playtennis this season.

Elizabeth Jarvis gave up field hockey to play tennis.

``Tennis is a sport that goes on for a lifetime,'' N-SA coach Bill Morris said.

``As the girls get older . . . this is something that they'll be able to play the rest of their lives.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER

Ginna Brubaker, playing a recent tennis match at Nansemond-Suffolk

Academy, once spent the fall playing basketball.

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