QUIET RACKET : In Only One Season, Unassuming Peter Morawiecki Leaves an Indelible Mark on the Tennis Program at Camarillo High

Peter Morawiecki had seen enough.

His opponent’s foot faults were becoming more blatant on each serve. When Morawiecki calmly protested, he was shouted down by the offender’s coach, who was perched behind a chain-link fence.

A foot fault--a violation where the server steps over the baseline while serving--would not usually irk Morawiecki, but these foot faults came in a doubles match in the Ojai Valley tennis tournament--one of the most prestigious amateur tournaments in Southern California.

Finally, after a stern lashing from the opposing coach, who accused him of being a sniveling nit-picker, Morawiecki burst.

“OK,” he said, turning to his critic, “Is it all right if I foot fault?”

That was it. Big explosion.

For Morawiecki, it was. The senior at Camarillo High has made a career of keeping his emotions--and his shots--in check. While other players demolish rackets and scream as if they are being stretched on a rack during matches, Morawiecki quietly, politely lays waste to all comers. He did not lose a high school singles match all season.

“The people that yell really haven’t had those grind-out matches in tournaments,” Morawiecki said. “When you do yell, you use up a lot of energy. . . I’m kind of unwilling to give up that piece of energy that could be used to win a match.”

Proof of that theory is evidenced by the fact that Morawiecki and partner Brian Giffin won the high school doubles division of the Ojai tournament in April, only weeks after being paired together for the first time. Two weeks later, the team reached the Southern Section doubles final before losing in three sets to a team from Corona del Mar.

Morawiecki, 18, left a trail of accomplishments in a brief stay at Camarillo. He transfered from Clairemont High in San Diego last summer, after his father, a chemist, found a job in the Oxnard area.

Camarillo Coach Lee Talley does not lament the fact that Morawiecki graduates this month and will play for Texas-El Paso in the fall. Instead, Talley counts his blessings for having him this season.

“Peter just fell into our lap completely,” said Talley, adding that had Morawiecki lived a block and a half to the west, he would have been in a different school district. “I thought that we might be able to win the league crown with what we had, but with the addition of him, it just jumped us up to a different level.”

Camarillo finished 19-1 and won the Marmonte League championship before losing in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs to Corona del Mar.

The road to Camarillo was a circuitous one for the Morawiecki family. Nine years ago, they left Poland because of political strife. They lived in Austria and Canada before settling in San Diego in 1983.

Morawiecki, an only child who who speaks Polish with his parents, still remembers leaving his homeland, although he thought the family was merely going on vacation. The Morawieckis attempted to escape on a train through Yugoslavia but were sent back to Poland when it was discovered they lacked the the proper documentation.

On their second attempt--this time in a plane--they made it to Italy and eventually to Austria, where they lived in a guest house behind an inn for six months.

Because Canadian visas were easier to attain than U. S. visas, the Morawieckis moved to a tiny, two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver, where they lived for three years.

Peter, who had participated in gymnastics in Poland, took up tennis in Canada. He and his father, Andrew, would study instructional tennis books and then practice what they read on the court.

Wayne Bryan, the pro at the Cabrillo Racquet Club and Peter’s personal coach, says the Morawiecki’s rudimentary approach was very effective.

“Sometimes pros are overrated,” Bryan said. “Sometimes players can be over-coached.”

Though the younger Morawiecki stresses that his father put no pressure on him to learn the game, their practice sessions grew intense.

“I’m not a very good tennis player but some of my strokes are very powerful,” said Andrew, who still speaks with a heavy accent. “I could overpower him. After the practice I would see that (Peter’s) hands were shaking because he was so tired.. . . . It didn’t make me feel very good.”

Peter improved rapidly and won the third Canadian juniors tournament he entered. Learning English did not come as easily.

For several hours each night, Peter and his father would plow through children’s books to master the language. “It was horrible,” admits Peter, whose accent is almost imperceptible. “I dreaded every moment of it. But I learned to just stay there and grind it out.”

Even as he became more comfortable with English, Morawiecki often lapsed into his native tongue.

“I would get caught up in my own thoughts and someone would say something to me,” he said. “All of a sudden, I’d spring around and say something in Polish.”

In addition to helping him learn English, Morawiecki’s nightly routine gave him the work habits he has employed ever since. Because he has taken several honors classes, his grade-point average is slightly higher than 4.0.

Morawiecki considered UC Santa Barbara, Point Loma Nazarene, New Mexico and Westmont before deciding on Texas-El Paso, a school which not only presented him with an athletic scholarship but also a $1,500 Presidential Scholarship--the most prestigious academic award it offers.

It was Morawiecki’s blazing ground strokes that attracted UTEP Coach Ron McGaughy.

“His backcourt game is very solid, very consistent and that seems to be the trend these days,” McGaughy said. “Baseline power has come of age.”

At 5-feet-8, 175 pounds, Morawiecki is not particularly imposing but his frame is thick and heavily muscled. Unlike many tennis players, he is an avid weight-lifter.

McGaughy also was impressed that Morawiecki, ranked No. 14 in the 18-and-under singles division of the Southern California Tennis Assn., did not lose to players with lower rankings, as is often the case with less consistent players.

Clairemont Coach Greg Lee noticed that Morawiecki had a feel for the game the first time they practiced together. “We went out and hit and I was 10 times better than he was,” Lee said. “I was a USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Assn.) pro and he was just a kid. I kind of hit a spin serve and he just rifled it by me. I said, ‘Wait a second.’ When we played more I saw he was a typical junior.

“A lot of juniors are raw bangers--they hit the ball beautifully when it’s where they want it at the baseline. . . He learned to adapt. He got astronomically better in a very short time.”

Lee, who admits his pupil could “destroy” him now, says it’s Morawiecki’s cerebral approach--more than his missiles--that staggers opponents.

“To a degree, he sort of unnerves his opposition,” he said. “He doesn’t pound his fist against the racket or throw towels. He’s just very controlled.”

Tantrums don’t figure into Morawiecki’s game plan.

“I feel like I’ve enjoyed my share of success,” he said. “I started playing so late that I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished so far. If I play bad, its just part of my improvement. I try to take the whole view of everything.”