Some of the best tennis players opt out of playing for their high schools, deciding to focus instead on private playing schedules, training and instruction while pursuing a possible collegiate scholarship or the prospect of playing professional tennis.
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Many coaches, however, including longtime Newport Beach resident and tennis coach Tim Mang, believe that playing for their high school promotes teamwork, connectedness, leadership and a special dose of camaraderie, shared experiences and unique memories with others.
Individual rankings fade and careers diverge, while the bonds forged on a high school team tend to outlast them all.
An example of such will be on display tonight, June 4, at the 16th annual Southern California National High School Tennis All-American Awards at the Newport Beach Yacht Club, hosted by Mang.
The event spotlights the top high school tennis players in Southern California, as well as a celebration of academic excellence, athletic achievement and family dedication.
Mang, who grew up playing tennis at Lido Isle Tennis Club in Newport Beach, is a retired teacher and coach at Edison and Corona del Mar high schools and founder of the National High School Tennis Foundation, which honors boys and girls high school All-Americans each year and organizes the National Invitational Boys High School Tennis Team Tournament.
Mang, a Newport Harbor High alum and former Orange Coast College tennis standout, served as the Corona del Mar boys tennis coach for 16 years, winning 10 league championships and three CIF-Southern Section titles, while guiding numerous individual CIF singles and doubles champions and finalists. At CdM, Mang compiled a 363-59 record and the Sea Kings were annually ranked among the top teams in Orange County and CIF Division I.
Mang, who coached the Edison boys to nine Sunset League titles in 10 years before arriving at Corona del Mar, also coached one year at Orange Coast (1990), leading the men’s team to a 17-3 record and No. 5 state ranking.
Additionally, in four years as the Corona del Mar girls coach, Mang directed CdM to CIF and national team championships in 1997.
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Mang founded the National High School Tennis Foundation in 1998. The National Invitational Boys High School Tennis Team Tournament was contested for several years at the Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach and has been played the past two years at the Jack Kramer Club in Rolling Hills Estates.
“This event has grown into one of the premier junior tennis events in the world, and it’s Tim Mang’s creation,” longtime former Palisades Tennis Club owner Ken Stuart once said. “All the levels of tennis tournaments are for individual play, but nothing including a high school team event other than league or a CIF championship, and nothing on the national level. So (28) years ago (Mang) had an idea, to get all the top teams from across the nation together to compete with each other for a national championship.”
This year’s All-American award winners to be featured at the banquet are Mater Dei’s Matteo Huarte and Anna Cherico, along with JiHyuk Im (University), Brady Tallakson (Woodbridge), Kensho Ford (Palisades) and Ania Zabost (Louisville).
Zabost is coached by Dina McBride, a former Women’s Tennis Association touring pro and standout at Estancia High and Mesa Verde Tennis Club in Costa Mesa.
Huarte, a junior who is committed to USC, became the first player from Mater Dei to win the boys singles championship at The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, one of the most prestigious events in the nation. Huarte defeated Tallakson, 7-6 (3), 6-1 in the title match in April.
“It’s kind of hard to believe I’m the first (from Mater Dei) to do it,” said Huarte, referring to the talent-rich private school and its history of extraordinary athletic feats.
Moreover, Huarte is the grandson of celebrated former football quarterback John Huarte, a Mater Dei graduate who won the Heisman Trophy in 1964 at Notre Dame.
Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.
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