Mang Isn’t in the Mood for a Moving Experience

Corona del Mar tennis Coach Tim Mang and Bill Clark--

Southern Section assistant commissioner in charge of boys’ tennis--are at it again. For guys who say they like and respect each another, Mang and Clark have had their share of battles.

This time they are at odds over the section’s decision to move all team championships to the Claremont Club on Wednesday, May 31. Girls’ team finals long have been held at the Claremont Club, but the boys have always held their finals at various neutral sites.

Not anymore.

Two weeks ago, the eight-member boys’ tennis advisory committee unanimously approved an action taken by Clark on the advice of the section’s tennis coaches.

“This has been discussed for many years,” Clark said. “We sent out a questionnaire to all the coaches and about 75% to 80% of the coaches who responded preferred moving it to Claremont.”

Mang, whose team has played in the last two Division I finals, was one of the minority who didn’t think it was such a good idea.

“It’s ridiculous,” Mang said. “[The section] is just not thinking about the kids. They’re thinking more about their convenience. All the people who have been going to the matches all year, now they have to take a day off work to travel out there. And nobody wants to go.”

Clark concedes that a mid-week event in Claremont will probably hurt attendance--especially morning matches--but he is working to solve that problem. He is asking the Claremont Club for an 11 a.m. start for the early match--the Division V final--and a 2:00 or 2:30 start for the last match--the Division I championship.

“We’d like to have the Division I match begin as close to the regular [3 p.m.] starting time as possible,” Clark said.

The later starting times might help the attendance, but Clark said it probably isn’t the answer.

“I’m not so sure high school tennis is a great spectator sport anyway,” he said. “With six matches going on at the same time, it makes it pretty hard to follow. To be candid, there weren’t that many students at the finals anyway. If we’ve averaged 75 to 100 people for some of these matches, those were probably good crowds.”

Brea Olinda Coach Bob Walton, who is on the advisory committee, agrees.

“Even with alternate sites, parents would always have to take a half day off work anyway,” said Walton, who led Laguna Beach’ girls team to three section titles in the 1990s. “My only reservation with this was that students wouldn’t be able to attend the finals. But when I was at Laguna Beach, which is a big tennis community, we didn’t have many students at our playoff matches.

“And I know as a girls’ coach at Laguna Beach, I always thought it was a neat setting at Claremont,” he said. “It was something your team could point to all year.”

Another argument for a Claremont final was that alternate sites favored one of the schools, especially when the other school was located more than 50 miles away. On the other hand, when two tennis powers from the same area meet in a final, the atmosphere can be electric.

Last year’s Woodbridge-Corona del Mar Division I final drew about 500 fans to the Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach, with allegiances split down the middle.

If you have an item or idea for the boys’ tennis report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at david.mckibben@latimes.com