Ferreira’s Game Is Just That--a Game : Fot This Thouand Oaks’ Raquetball Player, the Lure of Big Bucks Doesn’t Make Sense

First there were T-shirts. Then trophies. Pretty soon, the top of her television set was cluttered with little gold-plated mementos.

In time, though, Dee Ferreira was winning prize money and free trips to Hawaii. The T-shirts were put away in a drawer.

Racquetball has been good to her.

Last year in particular. In addition to finishing second in the Ektelon State Open at Pleasanton, she upset Kippi Bishop to win the Southern California Open regionals.

“I’m still flying,” Ferreira said of that one.

The 26-year-old Thousand Oaks resident, who maintains amateur status, has won up to $5,000 in one year in open division, those tournaments not sanctioned by the Women’s Professional Racquetball Assn.

Not bad for a woman who became an accomplished player before taking her first lesson.

Said Ferreira: “When I first began to play, I improved my game by reading lots of books on the subject and getting advice from others at the clubs where I played. Racquetball is like a family. Everyone reinforces everyone else.”

Ferreira, 26, began playing racquetball 11 years ago on a fire station court in L.A. when she surprised herself and one admiring fireman--her step father--by beating her first opponent.

She has been a loyal enthusiast since.

“I like it (racquetball), because, unlike tennis, it is a small enough sport so I can be heard. Everyone knows everyone else. Not every tennis player has played Chris Evert (Lloyd) but I know, and have played, the top racquetball players. “Its like a reunion at the tournaments.”

Ferreira has consciously avoided making the sport a career.

Instead, she attended Cal State Northridge, where she graduated in December with a degree in Political Science. Law school might be an option in the future, but for now she has accepted a job as a sales representative in Las Vegas.

Lee Estes, the assistant manager of a racquetball club in Canoga Park, admires Ferreira, a friend of six years. Estes, a former professional player, believes too many have sacrificed everything, including friendships, to their obsession.

Estes: “Dee has taken the pressure off herself somewhat. She can play and enjoy herself, but can also keep her friends. She wants to win badly, but she covers it up by laughing at herself. She’s intelligent and can earn a buck outside the game.”

Not having to depend on racquetball to earn a buck is important. By most professional sports standards, racquetball is not lucrative. Dominating players like Marty Hogan, Lynn Adams and Heather McKay, are rare exceptions.

During job interviews, perspective employers question her future in racquetball. Can she devote the majority of her time to her work? Or will racquetball get in the way?

“I can’t give it (racquetball) up,” she said. “It’s an integral part of my life; its my identity.”

It may seem as though Ferreira plays racquetball solely for the fun of it. Not at all. She is a fierce competitor. Especially in sports. She likes to win.

“My family has always been competitive,” she said. “When I was little we used to race each other to answer the phone.”

Not surprisingly, her family was a sports-minded one. One brother played high school football, another is a 10K runner. Her mother excels in tennis.

Her athletic prowess isn’t limited only to racquetball.

Before moving to Southern California, she was voted most outstanding long jumper on the boys’ track team as a high school student in San Jose. She even fantasized about trying out for the Olympics.

At Taft High in Woodland Hills she played basketball and soccer.

But racquetball is her game. And it keeps her very busy.

Her weekly workout consists of a 25-30 hours of hard work. She runs at least a mile a day around the track, jumps rope and uses the exercise bicycle to build her speed and endurance.

“Sometimes I spend the entire day at the club and completely lose track of time.”

She laughed: “I try to sleep at least once a week.”

Ferreira admits to one weakness during a game--lack of concentration.

While playing in last year’s Las Vegas Open final, she was so in awe of her opponent, No. 3-ranked Shannon Wright-Hamilton, that she became distracted and lost the match.

Still smarting from that defeat, she asks: “How do you train your brain to concentrate correctly?”

Today, Ferreira will join other racquetball professionals and celebrities in the Marty Hogan Celebrity Classic at the Mid Valley Athletic Club in Reseda at 9:30 a.m. All proceeds will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.