TENNIS / WENDY WITHERSPOON : Pope Chose to Make His Splash on Court

Even before he was born, it was a good bet that Derek Pope of Ojai would become an athlete. Pope is the son of a tennis club owner and an Olympic diver so the question was not if Pope would play sports, but rather, which one.

As a toddler, Pope chose tennis. At 5, he won his first tournament title, playing in the 10-and-under division. Pope, now 16, was ranked No. 8 in the nation in the 16-and-under division in 1991. He will participate in the boys’ junior national tournament at Kalamazoo (Mich.) College beginning Saturday.

Pope is quick to say that his parents, Karl and Paula, don’t put pressure on him; they just encourage him.

His parents’ achievements are impressive. Karl Pope built and owns the Ojai Valley Racquet Club. In the 1950s, he played basketball for two years at USC under Coach Forrest Twogood. Karl and Paula met at USC and married in 1958, before their senior year.

Karl worked in other businesses for several years before opening the club. Currently, he stays active by playing in senior tennis tournaments in the United States and Europe.

Paula won four medals for the United States in diving over three Olympic Games. Twice she was an Olympic teammate of Patricia McCormick, who won four gold medals.

On the platform, then Paula Jean Myers earned a silver medal and McCormick won the gold in 1952 in Helsinki, and Paula earned the bronze and McCormick the gold in 1956 in Melbourne. In 1960 in Rome, as Paula Jean Pope and with two children watching, she earned silver medals on the platform and the springboard.

Paula currently coaches diving at the Ojai Valley Racquet Club’s diving facilities.

Derek is the youngest of five children and has the most promising tennis career. One of his sisters, Darci, attended Brigham Young on a diving scholarship. Another sister, Stacy, attended Idaho State on a tennis scholarship.

Derek currently plays No. 1 singles for Nordhoff High. He also started on the junior varsity volleyball and basketball teams last year as a sophomore.

Derek placed third in the Southern California Tennis Assn. junior sectional championships in the boys’ 16 division in June. For the past month, he has been practicing at the Amre Sammakia tennis academy in Lake Mary, Fla.

While many of his tennis peers talk of turning professional and skipping college, Derek says he will seek a tennis scholarship to a major university. For Derek, that shouldn’t be too difficult to find.

Junior nationals: Several other area players will compete in age-group junior national tournaments in various locations around the nation, beginning Saturday. Jason Weiss of Tarzana will join Pope at the boys’ 16 tournament and Chris Minor of Northridge is an alternate.

Four area players will compete in the boys’ 14 tournament, which will be held at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio, Tex.: twins Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo, Dylan Mann of Canoga Park and Roman Braslavsky of Agoura Hills.

Four area players will compete in the girls’ 18 tournament at Almaden Valley Athletic Club in San Jose: Mei Len Tu of Northridge, Ania Bleszynski of Thousand Oaks, Stacey Jellen of Calabasas and Kirsten Hamilton of Agoura Hills.

Three area players will compete in the girls’ 14 tournament at South Fulton Tennis Center in College Park, Ga.: Jessica Kessler of Studio City, Brandis Braverman of Encino and Jessica Improta of Camarillo.

Attitude: Some of those tantrum-throwing professional tennis players could learn something from Leslie Balta, 12.

“I don’t always think about just winning,” Balta says. “I think about the way I should act on the court.”

Balta, ranked 19th in the SCTA girls’ under-12 division, won the SCTA girls’ sportsmanship award at the under-12 zone tournament in Tucson, Ariz., July 25-31.

Balta played on one of six girls’ SCTA teams in the under-12 zone championships. She won the award for her attitude on and off the court.

“Leslie is very good about complimenting the other player during or after a match,” said Mark McCampbell, Balta’s coach at the Oxnard Tennis Center. “I never see her griping about a player and I’ve never heard anything bad about her line calls. If anything, I think she gives away too many points.”

But Balta is not so congenial that she gives up victories. She won the Ventura County junior tournament title July 3.

Balta will compete with Oxnard Tennis Center’s 15-and-under team in the Garglenney Cup at the UCLA tennis center Aug. 29-30.

The tournament is the state championship for junior team tennis. Balta’s team from Oxnard Tennis Center represents the SCTA and will play a representative from the Northern California Tennis Assn.

Other players on Oxnard Tennis Center’s 15-and-under team are Veronica Reynosa, Diane Alvarez, Johanna Lalama, Erin Herrera and Donella Bernardo.

Garglenney Cup: The Oxnard Tennis Center’s 12-and-under team also will represent the SCTA in the Garglenney Cup. The team consists of Miko Yokoi, Alicia Dorsky, Brucil Dorsky, Magda Rapala and Jennifer Garner.

The Oxnard Tennis Center’s 12-and-under team might have an advantage in the Garglenney Cup because they have played with the pros. The team gave a demonstration of junior team tennis Wednesday in the Volvo/Los Angeles tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

The girls watched Richard Krajicek and Mark Woodforde defeat Bjorn Borg and Danie Visser, 6-7 (7-6), 7-5, 6-3, in a first-round doubles match of the Volvo/Los Angeles tournament. Woodforde then took up his racquet in a doubles demonstration with the under-12 team.

Woodforde played against two girls at a time from the team while Yokoi gave a speech on junior tennis. The crowd particularly enjoyed Yokoi’s and Rapala’s passing shots, which left Woodforde looking.

Buck continues here: Few adults are as dedicated to junior tennis as Jim Buck of Woodland Hills.

For more years than many can remember, Buck has been a math teacher and boys’ and girls’ tennis coach at Van Nuys High. He estimates it has been 20 years.

Buck played tennis at Compton High and USC. He was the captain of the 1958 Trojan team that won the national championship.

After he and his wife, Annette, were married, they spent their honeymoon traveling all over the nation with the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team, of which Buck was the coach.

Buck’s involvement in junior tournaments is too much to measure. In the mid-1960s, the Bucks ran the Valley Junior tournament, which died when Valley College began charging for courts.

Buck, 55, has seen many famous tennis players leave their marks on the courts at Van Nuys, including all three Van Patten brothers (Vince, Nels and James) and Dave Borelli, who later coached the USC women to seven national championships.

Buck spends his summers traveling around the nation, coaching junior tennis players in tournaments. He is chairman of the SCTA junior tennis council.

Last month, Jim led a contingent of 16- and 18-year-old boys from the SCTA to the Maze Cup in San Jose. He also led an SCTA group of junior players to the 14-and under zone tournament at the Asheville (N.C.) Racquet Club.

Buck stays active on the courts by playing in senior tournaments. In the national hardcourt championships for the 55 age group July 27-Aug. 2 in Huntington Beach, Buck and his partner, Chuck Nelson, advanced to the quarterfinals.

“To me, it’s such a good game because even for those who don’t go on to be great, it’s such a great experience,” Buck said.