COACHING KIDS IS A CHALLENGE; BUT OFFICIAL SEES BETTER BEHAVIOR.

Byline: JOE JARES 

You think coaching high-ranked teen-agers is easy?

Ha! Nothing with teen-agers is easy.

For instance, a local teacher told me he had a pupil with great potential who told him, ``Good day, good player; bad day, bad coach.''

Was the kid kidding? Only a little. He soon traded that coach in for another.

And there are less cosmic problems. For instance, one day last week at the 95th annual Southern California Junior Sectionals in Fountain Valley, coach Steve McAvoy, head of Top Seed Tennis Academy, was walking around in his socks. It seems that top prospect Nicholas Weiss, 15, of Calabasas, had forgotten his shoes, so he borrowed McAvoy's. (Nick is a regular at Top Seed clinics.)

McAvoy was asked if he had chewed out Weiss for being such a sieve-brain.

``I'll talk to him later,'' he said with a smile.

Weiss, who won the boys' 14 title last year, won that day in the borrowed footwear and went on to reach the final in the boys' 16 division, where he lost to John Paul Fruttero of San Marino. No disgrace there: Fruttero was perhaps the most impressive kid in the tournament, and he won the Easter Bowl title in Florida recently.

Apart from his forgetfulness, Weiss was impressive, too - quick on his feet, no quit in his psyche.

Other local kids did well in the sectionals. Jieun Jacobs of Valencia, another 15-year-old who works with McAvoy, was down 3-0 in the third set to third-seeded Caylan Leslie of Newport Beach but fought back to win. Bernadette Bayani of Simi Valley did even better in girls' 16, advancing to the final before losing to Tiffany Brymer of Apple Valley. Brymer's sister, Victoria, lost in the final of girls' 10 division to Amber Harper of Tarzana.

Stephen Amritraj of Calabasas, discussed in this space last week, lost in the round of 16 of the boys' 14 division to K.C. Corkery of Manhattan Beach, who went on to win the tournament.

Hillman's silver anniversary: Jim Hillman of the Southern California Tennis Association has run the sectionals for 25 years.

Kids might be tough to handle for coaches these days, but Hillman says the kids' general behavior is much better than when he ran his first sectionals at the L.A. Tennis Club in 1972.

``I think right now the behavior is a lot better,'' he said. ``The reason is the role models at the top are Sampras, Chang, Courier. They're very good role models. A few years ago we didn't have good role models - Nastase, McEnroe and Connors.''

A highlight from his 25 years?

``Right here on court 19 (at Los Caballeros Country Club),'' he said, ``Michael Chang was playing about six years ago against a kid named Chuckie Adams, who's on the pro tour. Michael was down 5-2 in the third set.

``It might have been almost match point, but he came back and won the match 7-5. He's always said that changed his career. He found out that when he got behind, he could come back and win, and that's happened many times in pro tournaments.''

From here to Infiniti: The Infiniti Open at UCLA (July 21-27) has signed up young Americans Justin Gimelstob, Alex O'Brien, Vincent Spadea and Doug Flach - added to Richard Krajicek, Tim Henman and Jim Courier, among others.

Missing from the 32-player draw so far and likely to remain missing: locally reared world No. 1 Pete Sampras.

Even though Sampras lives in Florida - presumably because that state has no income tax - you would think he'd ink in Los Angeles on his schedule every year. Doesn't everyone want to play in his hometown?

Here's one reason why Sampras probably won't play here: The Infiniti is a ``World Series'' event on the ATP Tour, with prize money of nearly $1 million. But around the same time, there are bigger-money, more-ranking-points events such as Stuttgart and Indianapolis (both in the ``Championship Series,'' one step up) and Cincinnati and Montreal (both in the ``Super 9'' series, two steps up).

But entries haven't closed. There is still a glimmer of hope.

From baseline to net: Dexter MacBride, pro at the North Ranch CC, didn't have to undergo surgery to fix a herniated disc after all. About four days before the operation was to take place, he ``got very lucky.''

He rolled over in bed and ``it repositioned itself.''

MacBride is back to teaching (with help from ball-fetchers and others) but hasn't resumed jogging or playing yet.

Acura attitudes: A fundraising dinner for Andrea Jaeger's Kids' Stuff Foundation will be held Aug. 6, during the Acura Classic in Manhattan Beach.

Martina Hingis and Monica Seles are supposed to be there, and attendees will be able to bid for autographed merchandise from those two plus Chris Evert, Andre Agassi, Sampras, Tiger Woods, Joe Montana and Wayne Gretzky.

Tables for 10 and six are $1,000 and $600 respectively. Information: [phone].

PASSING SHOTS

Money earned by the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles continues to benefit young athletes in Southern California - including tennis players.

The Amateur Athletic Foundation of L.A. will again this year help fund clinics for more than 5,000 kids between 8 and 17. The foundation's USTA National Junior Tennis League, starting July 7 at 140 locations, will provide each participant with a T-shirt, 18 hours of instruction over six weeks and a racket if needed, and more.

There is a $13 fee, but scholarships are available.

Information: [phone]. Some sites in the San Fernando Valley and environs:

Granada Hills: Granada Hills Recreation Center.

Eagle Rock: Eagle Rock Recreation Center.

North Hollywood: North Hollywood Recreation Center, Victory Vineland Rec Center.

Pacoima: Ritchie Valens Park.

Panorama City: Sepulveda Recreation Center.

Sherman Oaks: Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Recreation Center.

Sun Valley: Sun Valley Recreation Center.

Sylmar: El Cariso Park.

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Box: PASSING SHOTS (see text)