TENNIS : Leckman Looks Forward to Postponed Vacation After Surgery

After coaching tennis for 32 years at Cleveland High, Arnie Leckman has earned the right to relax on a beach in Cabo San Lucas.

So the 64-year-old Leckman and his wife Gloria planned such a trip, along with many others, when Leckman checked out of Cleveland for good last Thursday. He retired after 41 years of teaching.

But they were forced to postpone their travel plans at least two months after a treadmill test disclosed a coronary disorder in Leckman. He underwent surgery Thursday at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.

“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” Leckman said Wednesday as he rested in a hospital bed.

Leckman was a popular figure at Cleveland, where he coached football from 1967-82, guiding the Cavaliers to five West Valley League titles.

This past season, the boys’ tennis team gave Leckman a West Valley League championship in his final year. It last won a title in 1961.

Leckman, who also had a coronary bypass in 1984, said he never experienced any pain related to the disorder. In fact, he hiked nine miles through the Santa Monica Mountains four days before the treadmill test.

“I felt real good,” he said. “I didn’t feel any pain at all.”

Leckman expects to stay in the hospital for a week and a half and plans to be on that beach before September.

Junior sectionals: Through play Thursday, several players in the region were enjoying success in the 89th Southern California Junior sectional championships in Orange County.

The tournament continues through Sunday at several locations in Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, and Huntington Beach.

Ventura’s Mike Marquez, the No. 2-seeded player in boys 10-year-old singles, advanced to the quarterfinals along with Tarzana’s Nicholas Weiss. In girls’ 10 singles, Simi Valley’s Bernadette Bayani and Calabasas’ Katie Gallant reached the quarterfinals.

The following players reached the singles round of 16 on Thursday:

Ventura’s Darren Potkey (boys 18s), Calabasas’ Stacey Jellen (girls 18s), Ojai’s Derek Pope (boys 16s), Northridge’s Meilen Tu (girls 16s), Agoura’s Lule Aydin (girls 16s), Camarillo’s Bob Bryan (boys 14s), Agoura’s Roman Braslavsky (boys 14s), Tarzana’s Jason Weiss (boys 14s), Ventura’s Pete Webb (boys 14s), Camarillo’s Mike Bryan (boys 14s), Camarillo’s Monique Allegre (girls 14s), Westlake’s Joanna Mazur (girls 14s) and Oxnard’s Leslie Balta (girls 12s).

Several doubles teams have also reached the round of 16, including Newbury Park’s Mike Bannister and Camarillo’s Mark Ellis (boys 18s), Van Nuys’ Paul Knizek and Los Angeles’ David Manpearl (boys 18s), and Ventura’s Darren Potkey and Westlake’s Steve Hura (boys 18s).

Other tandems include top-seeded Jellen and Laguna Hills’ Ann Mall (girls 18s), Camarillo’s Molly White and Santa Barbara’s Amelia White (girls 18s), Northridge’s Chris Minor and Calabasas’ Darren Miller (boys 16s), Aydin and Los Angeles’ Brigid Joyce (girls 16s), top-seeded Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo (boys 14s), Braslavsky and Webb (boys 14s), Allegre and San Diego’s Torey Pratt (girls 14s), and Camarillo’s Katie Messmer and Tarzana’s Bettinger Retenmaier (girls 12s).

Finals for the 10 and 12 divisions will be Saturday, and finals for the remaining age groups will be Sunday.

Speedwall coming: The Northridge Tennis Club Inc. will install the Speedwall by TAD Unlimited on Monday and it will be available to the public July 2.

The Speedwall is a game wall that is 18 feet wide and eight feet high and is designed to keep a ball in play 95% of the time. It features 12 computer-designed, angular indentations that return the ball at unpredictable angles and speed.

The club is the first in the San Fernando Valley to install the Speedwall, which costs $3,995 and can be reserved for a fee of $4 each half-hour. Designers claim 15 minutes of workout with the Speedwall is equivalent to the physical activity of 30 minutes of work with a ball machine.

In improvements elsewhere, The Racquet Centre in Studio City last week completed a six-week project of resurfacing its 20 courts at a cost of about $30,000. Next week, the facility will add two ball-machine alleys. It has had one ball machine alley the past year.

Junior program: Arnie Saul, a longtime tennis and basketball coach at Buena and Ventura highs, is leading an effort to organize a junior tennis program with the help of the Ventura County Parks and Recreation Dept.

“The idea is to try to organize a meeting time and place for young people,” he said. “We’d like to broaden our base and encourage involvement.”

Verdict in: The case of Ron McCabe vs. Helen Kall was videotaped in “The People’s Court” on Wednesday and will be aired soon.

Kall is the 69-year-old former national junior champion who believed McCabe, the founder of the Southern California Tennis Club, was out of line when he issued her a verbal penalty warning at an SCTC tournament in April in Van Nuys. Kall sued for the return of the $75 membership fee, citing public humiliation. For those who do not wish to spoil the surprise, do not read any further.

The decision? McCabe won in a landslide. Judge Joseph Wapner did not even leave his bench to consider the evidence.