Laguna Beach’s Talarico Is No Longer Footloose

It would have been nice of Aaron Talarico to warn his opponents that they’d be seeing a different player this year. That way they wouldn’t be so frustrated and bewildered when Talarico beats them.

But not even Talarico, a junior at Laguna Beach High, saw this coming--a 30-0 start with victories over Dana Hills’ Brandon Fallon and Brian Kent, Mission Viejo’s Eric Bachelor, University’s Greg Biorkman, Corona del Mar’s Curtis Ellmore and Santa Margarita’s Andrew Tsu.

How was Talarico to know five weeks at a Florida tennis academy would transform his game and turn him into one of the county’s top players?

“I always knew I could play with the top guys,” Talarico said. “It just took me awhile to get off my butt and prove it.”

Until this season, Talarico had other priorities, other things to keep him busy besides hitting a tennis ball.

“Where I live, there’s so much stuff to do,” Talarico said. “I play soccer. I surf, even though I suck at it.”

But as Talarico approached his 17th birthday, he decided he might like to take his dad up on his offer of sending him to a tennis academy.

“I realized I was kind of running out of time,” he said. “If I wanted to have a future, I’d better figure out how good I was.”

Last year, Talarico wasn’t bad. He just wasn’t very good.

“He didn’t really distinguish himself in league, let alone the county,” Laguna Beach Coach John Anawalt said. “He didn’t even make it out of the second round of [Pacific Coast League] individuals.”

After an average summer and fall, Talarico began touring tennis academies over the holidays. He visited five academies and picked the Evert/Seguso-Bassett Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. Talarico left for Florida at the end of January, taking school work with him. The days were monotonous, but productive.

“I’d play tennis, sleep, play tennis, watch TV and sleep,” he said.

In addition to playing tennis four to six hours a day, Talarico also did fitness training and weight work. Talarico said the academy coaches wanted him to stay longer than five weeks. But he missed his friends and family and he felt he had learned enough.

What exactly did he learn? “More than anything, I’ve improved my footwork and my speed,” Talarico said. “My mental game is also better. I have a better game plan now. I seemed to be playing not to lose before I went there. Now I’m having fun and not putting so much pressure on myself.”

Anawalt immediately saw a change in Talarico, but he wasn’t convinced until Talarico beat Fallon, 7-5, and Kent, 6-2, in the Artists’ second match of the season against second-ranked Dana Hills.

“His parents and I looked at each other and just rolled our eyes,” Anawalt said. “We had just read where somebody said they didn’t think Fallon would lose a match all season. I don’t think anybody would have thought it would be Aaron that beat him.”

Talarico said Fallon had a difficult time believing he was losing to someone he had beaten so handily last year.

“Brandon said, ‘You’re playing out of your mind.’ ”

Said Anawalt: “Kids are coming up to Aaron and saying, ‘My God, what did you learn back there [in Florida]? What’s the secret?’ ”

Anawalt believes the secret is in Talarico’s footwork.

“His reactions are extremely improved,” Anawalt said. “The points he’s winning this year are on balls he was barely getting to last year. He was a counter-puncher. This year, he’s dictating the points.”

Can he keep it up for the rest of his junior year?

“Who knows?” Talarico said. “I just want to keep improving, and play well enough to get a scholarship somewhere.”