Scott Returns to Promote High School Game

Danielle Scott remembers a day, not too long ago, when most top-ranked juniors competed for their high schools. Scott, who was one of those top-ranked juniors, played all four years at Corona del Mar, capping her career by reaching the Southern Section individual singles final in 1987. She went on to play four years at Arizona, where she was an All-American, and another four on the women’s tour.

But now, many elite juniors decide that training on their own, or with their private coach, is more important than representing their school.

Scott, who runs her own sports marketing company, is promoting the benefits of high school tennis.

She is tournament director for the fourth annual Quiksilver High Schools Tennis Championships at Costa Mesa Tennis Club, which continue today and Thursday. The champions of the boys’ and girls’ singles divisions and boys’ and girls’ doubles division win $1,000 for their schools’ tennis programs.

“The goal is to grow the sport,” said Scott, who retired from the tour in 1996. “I always liked high school tennis because it was a good way to get a lot of matches in. It was a good way to get tournament tough.”

But Scott realizes a lot of kids don’t think that way anymore.

“They want to do the best thing for their careers, and high school tennis doesn’t always fit for them,” she said.

This year, high school tennis is fitting into more players’ schedules. Of the upper echelon junior players, only Newport Harbor’s Natalie Braverman and Laguna Beach’s Ashley Maddocks are not playing for their high school team.

The preseason tournament, which is sanctioned by the Southern California Tennis Assn. for the first time, is open to all high school players. On Monday and Tuesday, qualifying rounds were held in each division. Today, seeded players begin competing against the qualifiers.

The top-seeded girls’ singles player is Iris Ichim of Beverly Hills High. Freshman Lindsey Nelson of Villa Park is seeded second. Elizabeth Exon of Woodbridge and Joanna Kao of Sunny Hills are also seeded in the main draw.

In the boys’ singles event, K.C. Corkery of Manhattan Beach Mira Costa is seeded first. Matt Loucks of University, Kevin McQuaid of Los Alamitos, Brett Van Linge of Woodbridge, Brian Morton of Corona del Mar and Jeffrey Das of Troy are the seeded county players. The top-seeded team in boys’ doubles is Jack Li and Aaron Yovan of University.

The doubles finals are scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the singles finals at 1:30 p.m.

ABRAMS HONORED

Former Newport Harbor star Geoff Abrams, a recent graduate of Stanford, was honored last week in New York for being selected to the Rolex Collegiate All-Star team. The all-star team is selected by Tennis Magazine, Rolex Watch and the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn.