At USIU, All the World’s a Court : Tennis: And all of the men and women--save one--are international players.

Dave Trebisky, the U.S. International University men’s and women’s tennis coach, may be asking a bit much, but what the heck. It was his 32nd birthday Tuesday, so let the man dream.

You see, all Trebisky wants is world peace.

Nothing absurd, such as a quarter-million-dollar facility or a lot of promising international players to help carry the program.

Nah. Trebisky has those.

The $250,000 facility was built 14 months ago, ending the days of having to sneak on at the local YMCA or high school courts.

The talented international players? He has plenty.

In fact, of the 14 members of the men’s and women’s squads, there is only one American: Rene Koahou from Kailua, Hawaii.

The men’s players are Yoram Baron and Yoram Danbinsky of Tel Aviv; Marc Schumacher and Christian Guebeli of Zurich, Switzerland; David Echeandia of Madrid, and Sinisa Rasberger of Umag, Yugoslavia.

The women: Giovanna Carotenuto (Florence, Italy), Carol Curmi (St. Julian’s, Malta), Hieke Tiemanns (Cologne, West Germany), Diane Lowings (Durban, South Africa), Sarit Shalev (Tel Aviv), Andrea Ritecz (Budapest, Hungary) and Jodi Zinn (Pretoria, South Africa).

Shennen Pamich, USIU’s assistant coach and its winningest men’s player ever--is from out of town, too. Pamich--whose father, Abdon, won a gold medal in race-walking at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and is the only men’s track-and-field athlete to have competed in five Games, is from Rome.

“Sometimes we’re referred to as the United Nations in Tennis Shoes,” Trebisky said. “I guess it’s my own little way of bringing my father’s dream of world peace a little closer to reality.”

Dave was born in Cleveland and adopted as a child by Frank and Lynn Trebisky. Frank was a United Nations resident representative to Africa, where he dealt with the continent’s many problems.

Dave says his father gave in to the pressures of reality and took his own life when Dave was 18. Lynn had died two years earlier as a result of continuing bouts with alcoholism.

Dave had been living in Tampa, Fla., where he had attended a prominent tennis academy since the age of 12. He was one of the world’s best junior players and then went on the pro tour for a couple of years. But he says a bone-marrow disease in his legs and the effects of the family tragedies eventually led to the end of his playing career.

He says he then decided to concentrate on his father’s positive beliefs rather than dwelling on negatives. And he would do so in coaching.

USIU has been a perfect place, he said, because the school’s philosophy matches his own. It can be read on T-shirts he had made. Around a globe are the words: “USIU Tennis--Bringing the World Closer Together.”

Trebisky says athletes from more than 30 countries have represented USIU during his eight seasons on the Scripps Ranch campus.

Some were recruited. Others came on their own.

Rasberger was persuaded to attend by fellow Yugoslav Tole Marinkovic, who happens to be the top player at San Diego State.

The Israelis followed Kefi Binyamini, who earned All-America honors and was ranked 15th in the nation while at USIU. Binyamini is from Tel Aviv and led to Baron, Danbinsky and Shalev here.

“There’s no question a lot of countries are not as competitive as the United States,” Trebisky said. “But the Israelis, they’re tough as nails.”

Trebisky was coach of Malta’s 1989 Federation Cup team and does much of his recruiting during international tournaments.

“Most of the kids that come here want the intimacy of a smaller university,” he said. “And they stay here because of the school, not because of Dave Trebisky. They’re all very good students.”

They are also pretty good tennis players, and gaining national attention. The men’s team is 4-2. The women’s are 4-4 but have played five matches against top 20 teams. Trebisky said the women have more depth and expects them to be in the top 20 soon.

Baron, a senior, is 6-0 at No. 1 singles for the men, and Carotenuto, a freshman, is 6-2 at No. 1 for the women. Both likely will be nationally ranked when the first in-season polls come out.

While some players have had a little trouble adjusting to the United States--learning English is just one example--Trebisky says the blend of cultures is special.

“It’s almost like we have to find a common culture. It’s not American, German, or whatever. It’s more of a melting-pot culture. We all learn from each other, and there are positives from every culture.”

Playing tennis at USIU is a mixture of physical education, world history, political science, geography and advanced languages. Players should earn credits just for being on the team.

You want to discus Warsaw Pact countries, NATO or the Middle East? The Gulls are covered.

Take a look at world current events. The breaking down of the Berlin Wall, the upheaval in Yugoslavia, political unrest and reform in South Africa, Israel’s dealings with its neighbors, changes in the Vatican and the recent summit in Malta--USIU has at least one player from each region.

USIU tennis players can discuss these events with perspectives and insight gained because they or there families have lived there.

Take South Africa. USIU has two players from there, and Trebisky has lived there, too. And Trebisky has strong opinions on the continuing unrest.

It does not have to be that way, he says. He says USIU tennis proves that people with radical cultural differences can exist together and even become friends.

Trebisky is seeing signs of a more united world: “It’s starting to happen.”