Querrey Serves Up Big Highlight
A pre-Thanksgiving serving of leftovers from my notepad . . .
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If you had to choose a single word to describe Thousand Oaks native Sam Querrey “big” would be difficult to top.
For starters, the world’s No. 31-ranked tennis player stands 6 feet 6 inches tall.
His serve is also certainly big, having been clocked at 147 miles per hour. To give you further measure, James Blake once watched an ATP Tour-record 10 consecutive aces off of Sam’s racket strings fly past him.
Indeed, Sam has a big game (he has been ranked as high as No. 17); a big trophy case (seven pro singles titles plus four in doubles); and a big bank account ($5 million in career prize winnings).
Oh, yes, and a big heart.
When Querrey learned about a wish by Thousand Oaks resident Kevin Feinbloom, who was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer, the American Davis Cupper served up his services.
“He played and sat with us for two hours,” Feinbloom recalled, noting that his two children – Cole, 17, and Julia, 14 – also got to hit balls with the tennis idol. “It was the coolest thing ever.”
Actually, something even cooler happened. During that magical afternoon on the court Feinbloom was hit with a new dream: to put on a fundraiser to help send Ventura County children to Andrea Jaeger’s remarkable Little Star Foundation camp in Colorado that specially serves kids who are battling cancer.
“After a few days of my head spinning around and thinking how I can’t believe what the hell I’m going through, I figured that instead of sitting back and letting it kick my butt, I’d better do something,” Feinbloom explained.
And so was born the “Fans In The Stands Foundation Tennis Festival” this Sunday (Nov. 24) at North Ranch Country Club in Thousand Oaks from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Ticket information: www.FansInTheStands.org)
Querrey not only volunteered to take part in the worthwhile event that includes a youth clinic, he recruited former USC Trojan and two-time NCAA singles champion Steve Johnson to play in an exhibition.
Jaeger, who at age 16 was ranked No. 2 in the world, will also be on hand.
“(Feinbloom’s) story and wanting to do something like this really touched me,” Jaeger told former VC Star tennis writer Steve Pratt. “When I first saw his email, I just sat down and said ‘wow.’ I mean, the father has been diagnosed with Stage 4, the same year his wife has had breast cancer treatments, and they have children.
“Kevin is determined to make a difference.”
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Speaking of making a difference, for every $1 donated to FOOD Share (www.foodshare.com) it will provide over $5 worth of food for families in Ventura County – especially priceless during the coming holiday season.
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Another local difference-maker is the Ventura County Community Foundation that will give away $1.2 million via 455 scholarships for the 2014-15 school year. For application information visit www.vccf.org.
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On the topic of academics, it was reported that of the more than 104,000 students who this year took the Advanced Placement Calculus exam worldwide in 59 countries, only 11 earned a perfect score.
All 11 pefectos are from the United States. With all the derision directed at our educational system, this is definitely worth bragging about.
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Another news story this week: “Analysis of studies on millions of children around the world finds they don’t run as fast or as far as their parents did when they were young. On average, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their counterparts did 30 years ago.”
Meanwhile, for some kids a bigger challenge is trying to run as fast as their parents do NOW. For example, the offspring of a quintet of Ventura County sheriff’s deputies – Randy Pentis, Tim Hagel, Paul Higgason, Dave Kenney and Frank Underlin – who earlier this month completed the Bagan Temple Marathon in conditions (102 degrees and 90 percent humidity) more suitable for basting a turkey than running 26.2 miles.
Pity the crook of any age who tries to escape one of them on foot.
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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for the Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. His new memoir WOODEN & ME is available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com and Amazon.com.