Sarmiento Has Higher Calling

In late April, many of Carlo Sarmiento’s old friends were in Ojai for the prestigious Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament. Sarmiento, one of the nation’s best junior players two years ago, probably would have been favored to win his division.

But Sarmiento is no longer interested in winning, or even entering, tennis tournaments. He’s also not interested in the letters he has received from college tennis coaches.

Sarmiento has a different plan. It has little to do with cross-court backhands, drop volleys or full rides to four-year institutions. He wants only to serve God by spreading the word of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“My goals are different than college,” said Sarmiento, who recently turned 18. “I’m not saying college or school is wrong. But I want to go to Brooklyn, the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I want to volunteer my energy, my time, my youth to this. Many Scriptures support giving your youth to Jehovah, giving everything you have to Jehovah.”

He has left his family and stopped playing competitively. But tennis still has a place in his life, however small. Sarmiento, who grew up on tennis courts around the world with his father, George, as his full-time coach, now helps out part time at the Balboa Bay Club.

“I’m working because it’s Biblical,” Sarmiento said. “One who doesn’t work doesn’t eat.”

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Until a year ago, Sarmiento’s life centered on tennis. By age 12, Sarmiento was consistently beating 18-year-olds in his native Bolivia. At 15, he was beating professional and college players in satellite pro tournaments. Tennis guru Nick Bollettieri, who coached Andre Agassi and Jim Courier to greatness, wanted Sarmiento to attend his professional tennis academy. Sponsors wanted to manage and support his career.

There was just one problem. Sarmiento didn’t want any part of it. No matter how badly George Sarmiento wanted a pro tennis career for his son, he couldn’t persuade Carlo to want it, too.

Six months ago, Sarmiento quit tennis and moved out of his parents’ Newport Beach apartment, and moved into the garage of a Costa Mesa family who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sarmiento supported himself for a few months by painting houses and working construction. But he quickly realized he wasn’t very good at either occupation, so he returned to tennis--the only thing he knew and the only thing that had brought him success.

Sarmiento is the youngest coach at Sam Olson’s Balboa Bay Tennis Academy. Olson, who began coaching Sarmiento five years ago when the family moved from Bolivia, hired Sarmiento to work a few hours in the afternoons with some of the academy’s more talented players. From 6 a.m. until 2 p.m., Sarmiento waits tables in a Huntington Beach retirement home.

It’s not the most glamorous life, but Sarmiento, who rarely smiled during an hourlong interview, says he couldn’t be happier.

“When I was playing tennis, I was miserable,” he said. “I had my own room and a car, and now I’m living in a garage. But don’t feel sorry for me. I have my freedom to go preach. In tennis, I had no hope, spiritually. Now I know when I die, I will be resurrected. I was searching for the truth. Finally, I’m free of false teaching. Now I know the truth. It truly sets you free.”

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Carmina Sarmiento admits her son never appeared free or very happy growing up.

“He was always with older people or with younger people,” she said. “He was always in the middle. He was always so lonely, afraid of things. He always said, ‘Mom, I don’t fit in this group or that group. My life is tennis.’ ”

Eric Lin, who regularly practiced with Sarmiento at the Balboa Bay Club, said he isn’t surprised Sarmiento has given up on tennis.

“I think religion took over his mind,” said Lin, a top-ranked junior from Canyon High who is a sophomore at UCLA.

Other than two months he spent at Corona del Mar High two years ago, Sarmiento has not gone to school full time since leaving Bolivia. Carmina Sarmiento said she blames herself and her husband.

“There was always some excuse not to go to school,” she said. “We put education second. I don’t have a high school education myself, but I’m trying to get one. When you have a little bit of education, your mind is open.”

Olson, a practicing Mormon who is close to Sarmiento, said he has tried opening Sarmiento’s mind to education.

“He’s not the kind of person who’s easily persuaded,” Olson said. “I don’t know if I’m going to make much of a dent. I spent two years on a [Mormon] mission myself. He’s told me he doesn’t need an education because God will take care of him. My theory is that you have to help yourself before God helps you.”

” . . . Where he’s at now, college would be the best thing for him. A college scholarship would be worth a lot of money, there would be some experiences for him in college, and he would get a lot of extra tutoring in college. For him, it’d be the perfect thing. It could turn his life around.”

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Jehovah’s Witnesses, founded in the United States in the late 19th Century, believe in an imminent end of the world and the establishment of a theocracy under God’s rule. There are estimated to be 5 million members, or publishers, worldwide.

Rick Williams, an elder with the Newport Mesa congregation where Sarmiento spent nearly two years before joining a Spanish-speaking congregation in Costa Mesa four months ago, says Jehovah’s Witnesses are not opposed to education or tennis.

“We feel that there is a benefit to sports, but to be totally dedicated to Jehovah, there’s not enough time to do both,” Williams said. “We highly value education. We always encourage youths to get a high school education so that they can be more effective ministers. College depends on the individual circumstance. When Jehovah’s Witnesses go to college, the goal isn’t climbing the social ladder but to learn a trade so we can support ourselves and our ministry.”

For now, Sarmiento is simply interested in earning his high school diploma before he makes his way to Brooklyn and Jehovah’s Witnesses’ headquarters.

Carmina Sarmiento tries to understand her son’s new life. So she attends some meetings with him, and she attempts to stay involved in his life.

“I’m trying to be a mother,” she said. “I don’t want to lose his friendship. We’ve always been so close.”

But she says she can’t help but worry about her son, now that he’s not living under her roof.

“I’m concerned that one day he’ll regret this,” she said. “He thinks that everything in this world is nice, because we always protected him so much. I think he has to face reality, but he’s not. He’s never had to face it.”

Carmina Sarmiento said her husband has finally stopped protecting Carlo, and he has finally given up on his dream of Carlo becoming a professional tennis player.

“George is telling me that you have to let him go,” Carmina said. “He says, ‘He’ll always be a child if you don’t let him leave.’ ”

Attempts to reach George Sarmiento for this story were unsuccessful.

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Although the Sarmientos’ 13-year-old-daughter, Daniela, lives at home, Carmina said Carlo’s departure has strained the couple’s relationship.

“We fight a lot,” she said. “When Carlo left, I always looked to blame somebody. It was usually my husband. He was my enemy. I would say, ‘I want my son back and you are trying to make me feel guilty that he left.’ ”

Carmina Sarmiento says she feels guilty that she wasn’t there for Carlo when he needed her most--about two years ago when Sarmiento initially became involved with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“These people [the Jehovah’s Witnesses] were there at the right moment,” she said. A friend of hers introduced Carlo to the religious group. “In those days, I was working double shifts. Carlo said, ‘I needed to talk to and you weren’t there.’ There were answers that I couldn’t give him.

“It hurts still, but I did my part. I think I was a good mother for him. He always told me I was his best friend. Now I’ve lost my best friend and I’m just trying to understand.”

Before choosing to be a Jehovah’s Witness, Sarmiento tried many other religions, including the Mormon and Catholic churches. So Carmina Sarmiento is not surprised her son turned to religion.

“He was always obsessed with God,” she said. “He was always asking questions about where God was. He said one day, ‘Mom, I know where God is. During the day, he’s the sun, and at night he’s the moon.’ ”

If she could raise her son again, Carmina Sarmiento said tennis would not be a part of his life.

“I never knew what tennis was until George started Carlo on it when he was 5 or 6,” she said. “At the time, I think I was living my husband’s dream. Now, I would want a normal life [for Carlo], like any other teen-ager. I wish sometimes I could have the problems other mothers had.”

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Carlo and Carmina Sarmiento said tennis was at the root of most of their problems. Five years ago, Sarmiento wasn’t getting enough competition in Bolivia, so George Sarmiento moved his family to Southern California--one of the world’s hotbeds of junior tennis.

Better competition, better coaching and better playing surfaces helped Sarmiento’s game take off. Sarmiento was not a U.S. citizen, but Olson said he was good enough to make the U.S. national team.

“He was the best around here,” Olson said. “He was better than Kevin Kim [a national team member from Fullerton] and better than Geoff Abrams [a nationally ranked player from Newport Beach]. He mixed up the pace so well it was hard to get into a groove against him.”

Said Kim of Sarmiento’s game three years ago: “He was a very talented player. He was pretty smart on the court. He was not fast and he didn’t have a big serve, but he knew what to do on the court. When somebody had a weakness, he knew how to attack it. If he would have stuck with it, he’d be in my shoes or even better.”

Olson believes that even after not playing competitively for a year, Sarmiento could hold his own against some of the better juniors around.

“He could still walk out and be one of the best players in Southern California,” Olson said. “With about a month of training, he could probably give Kevin Kim a good match.”

But Olson said Sarmiento’s lack of desire would have prevented him from becoming a great player.

“He never loved it,” Olson said. “He was never dying to get on the court. He could take a couple weeks off and not be unhappy he was away. When he was on the court, he worked hard. But he’d play for an hour and want to get off.”

Sarmiento agrees.

“I did like tennis, but I didn’t love it,” he said. “Nick Bollettieri told me I was going to be top 10 in the world. I’m only 5-8, but I was quick on my feet and I could serve 118 miles an hour. I had an all-around game and I could adjust to anything.”

Sarmiento has heard it from tennis players and coaches: All that talent. What a waste.

“I’m not wasting anything,” he said. “I’ve listened to a lot of people who’ve tried to convince me to play again. But I don’t speak the same language of those people. It’s like they’re talking to me in English and I’m talking Spanish. They’re not talking about anything relating to the Bible.”

But Sarmiento continues to stay close to tennis.

“I’d really like to be a tennis coach,” he said. “I might as well use tennis for something, teach others what I know.”

Olson said Sarmiento might be a better coach than player.

“I told him he could be really good at this,” Olson said. “He’s the youngest coach I’ve ever had, but he probably has a lot more experience than guys who are 40. He’s been out there touring--something a lot of coaches have never done.”

Carmina Sarmiento doesn’t care whether her son becomes a coach or a player, she simply wants him to realize his potential.

“That’s still my wish,” she said. “It’s never too late. It’s not impossible. There is no impossible. It doesn’t exist.”