TENNIS / DANA HADDAD : Calabasas Seeks Coach, if Only a Caretaker

Calabasas High, in its ongoing quest for a boys’ tennis coach, should consider advertising the job.

The wording could be simple and very catchy:

“TENNIS COACH WANTED. Minimal hours. Maximum rewards, to include a small stipend and a Southern Section Championship. . . .”

The Coyotes won the Division III title last season and could do it again in 1995.

They are so good, they might not need a coach. But Athletic Director Cindy Jones is trying her darndest anyway.

Calabasas had three coaches during its 1994 championship season, including Jones. With the opening of the ’95 season scheduled for the first week of March, Jones has been interviewing candidates with a hiring imminent.

No member of the Calabasas faculty applied.

“I don’t think we have anybody on campus that would feel confident and feel like they have enough experience for a program as strong as ours,” Jones said.

But with a roster packed with players who have private coaches, knowledge of the sport might not be important.

Jones, who had no tennis experience, proved that last year by steering the Coyotes through most of a 17-4 season.

But the job isn’t as attractive as it could be for two reasons:

* The job doesn’t pay much. Jones said she’s lost several applicants for that reason. Bill Bellatty, who recently resigned as girls’ coach, said he made 25 cents an hour.

* The players have a reputation for being headstrong and perhaps too independent. Phil Abramson, a doubles player who graduated last spring, said the team could have coached itself.

“We made up the lineup,” Abramson said. “And if the lineup wasn’t going well, we made suggestions for changes. And those were always the changes the coaches made.”

Jones is certainly looking for more stability. Like one coach for one season.

In 1994, Casey Allen was asked to resign in midseason. Jones held the reins until there were three weeks left, then hired Ed Charles, a private coach of one of the players.

Charles resigned after Calabasas’ 13 2/3-7 1/3 rout of Santa Ynez for the section championship.

“You can’t change their program that many times and not have turmoil,” Jones said. “We kind of can’t shake that uniqueness. But as talented as these players are, they’re still 16- and 17-year-old boys.”

Jones said she got along well with the players.

In fact, she wouldn’t be looking for a coach if not for a Las Virgenes School District policy prohibiting athletic directors from coaching.

“I see their point, but on the other hand you take out qualified people to coach,” she said. “I would love to coach them again.”

After Jones finds a walk-on coach for the boys, she’ll have to find one for the girls, who reached the Division III semifinals last fall and should challenge for the title next fall.

*

The Calabasas Park Tennis Club became the first known semi-private facility (non-members can play there) in the Valley to build clay courts.

Calabasas built two of them, and their much-anticipated arrival came in early January.

But because of the heavy rains, they are hardly playable.

“They’re real soft still,” said Desi McBride, a Calabasas teaching pro. “We’ll need two dry weeks, and then we’ll have to roll them. It’ll probably be two months before they’re in great shape.”

*

As a kind gesture to two players who recently had been chosen to the U.S. National Junior team, the Quadrax Futures Champions tournament gave berths to twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo last week.

The Bryans, 16, were told to have fun but expect to get beaten. The Quadrax, held at the Hyatt Grand Champions at Indian Wells, is a tournament for teaching professionals and top college players.

“I told them just to be good sports,” said Wayne Bryan, father and coach. “Try to win one lousy game and we’ll get a pizza.”

The boys did better than that.

Mike Bryan defeated David Sutton, the No. 5 singles player at California, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round, then knocked off Michael Fedida of College of the Desert, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Fedida had upset top-seeded Chad Clark of Texas in the first round. Mike Bryan finally lost in the third round to Fernando Samayoa of USC, 7-5, 6-0.

Bob Bryan wasn’t so fortunate. He had Jason Weir-Smith, the No. 2 singles player at Texas Christian, on the ropes but lost in the first round, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

In the first round of doubles, the Bryans found themselves on the stadium court, under the lights and matched against USC’s Jason Wilson and Andrew Hughes.

“I told them the same thing; be good sports, have fun, and if you win we’ll send up a flare,” Wayne Bryan said.

The twins won, 6-4, 6-1.

“They raised a lot of eyebrows,” tournament director Steve Simon said. “A lot of people said they were the best juniors who played here.”

Said Wayne Bryan, “I’m more shocked than proud.”

*

Three Valley-area players won championships January in the Copper Bowl, a national junior invitational in Tucson, Ariz.

Second-seeded Krissy Hamilton of Agoura Hills won the girls’ 18-and-under division by routing top-seeded Jennifer Heiser of Stockton, 6-1, 6-3, in the final. Heiser defeated Shera Wiegler of Bell Canyon, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Unseeded Jason Cook of Woodland Hills won the boys’ 18-and-under division with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over top-seeded Nick Crowell of Amarillo, Tex. in the final.

In the boys’ 12-and-under division, top-seeded Travis Rettenmaier of Camarillo held off fifth-seeded Dax Hankerson of Kula, Hawaii, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).