One Sport Just Isn’t Enough for Weinstein : Athletics: Corona del Mar standout likes the team element of soccer and the individual aspects of tennis.

Had he listened to his father, Corona del Mar’s Jed Weinstein probably would have given up one of his two hobbies, tennis or soccer, long ago.

“He’s always telling me that I’ve got a lot of potential,” Weinstein said. “That if I put my mind on one sport, I could really be good at one.”

But Weinstein never could quite decide which sport suited him best, so he played tennis and soccer throughout high school, and excelled at both. He lettered three times in each sport and made All-Sea View League twice in soccer and twice in tennis. Last year, Weinstein was a Times first-team all-county selection in tennis.

However, when Division I college soccer and tennis coaches started offering scholarships, Weinstein’s phone wasn’t exactly ringing off the hook.

But that made it easy for Weinstein. Simply find a school that will let him vacillate for four more years.

Recently, Weinstein found such a school--Emory University in Atlanta. While majoring in business, he will play soccer and tennis for teams that are perennially ranked in the top 20 among Division III schools.

“I could have probably gone to Cal and walked on and played tennis,” Weinstein said, “but that takes a lot of time and commitment. I’m pretty serious about my sports, but I’m not thinking about going pro or anything. They’re very serious up there and I just don’t want to put in that much time.”

Weinstein also could have walked on or received partial scholarships to Oregon, UC Santa Barbara, Washington and UC Davis. Instead, he chose Emory and Atlanta, the land of Kudzu, peaches and oppressive humidity.

“I visited there for four days and I loved it,” he said. “It’s the different atmosphere that interests me. I’ll probably wind up living in Southern California later, so I wanted to experience something else for a while. The campus is beautiful and the people were really friendly.

“In Newport Beach and Orange County, we tend to judge people on what kind of car they drive and how much money they make. People there didn’t seem to care about any of that.”

But before Weinstein can start experiencing some of that Southern hospitality, he would like to finish his high school tennis career in style. Corona del Mar (17-2), the Sea View League champion, opens the Southern Section Division I playoffs today against Lakewood. The match was rained out Tuesday.

On Saturday, Weinstein and his doubles partner, Tyler Stonebreaker, will begin their quest for the section doubles championship by playing in the preliminaries at Edison High.

Weinstein does not have fond memories of either tournament. In a Corona del Mar semifinal match against Palos Verdes Peninsula, Weinstein double-faulted three consecutive times on set point. Weinstein and his doubles partner, Beat Baudenbacher, went on to lose the set and the Sea Kings went on to lose the match, 11-7.

In the semifinals of the individual tournament, Weinstein and Baudenbacher were beaten badly by Santa Barbara’s Nathan Jackmon and Jason Merrin, 6-1, 6-0.

The two losses left a bad taste in Weinstein’s mouth and had him wondering if he should continue to play tennis.

“Those were bad memories,” Weinstein said. “I was thinking about concentrating on one sport and excelling in one. I thought maybe it was time for me to pick one.”

But Tim Mang, Corona del Mar’s tennis coach, thought differently.

“We had a long talk and I told him that he could be the guy this year,” Mang said. “I told him if you set the pace, we could have a really good year.”

Weinstein said he’s glad Mang was there for him.

“Coach Mang went to tournaments with me all summer and kept me positive,” he said. “I really appreciate what he did for me.”

Weinstein has shown Mang his appreciation by having the best year of his career. He is undefeated in 33 singles sets and has lost only twice in 15 doubles sets.

“He’s come into his own,” Mang said. “He’s got quick feet and quick hands, maybe the quickest in the league.”

Mang, like Weinstein’s father, believes Weinstein could have excelled at one sport had he concentrated on it. “I think Jed could have gone much farther in tennis than soccer,” Mang said. “I think Jed knows that.”

But Weinstein also knows he would have missed out on too much had he opted for one over the other.

“If I would have chosen tennis, I would have missed the team stuff and bonding in soccer,” he said. “If I had played only soccer, I would have missed doing things for myself.”

So now at Emory, Weinstein won’t miss out on anything.

“Jed can be a hero there,” Mang said.