A return volley for Minguez

On the tennis court, Laurent Minguez is all topspin and primal fury, grunting and growling beneath shoulder-length dreadlocks, with a portion of a racy tattoo barely visible below the left sleeve of an often crumpled shirt.

It is this visceral abandon that sometimes unsettles observers, as his game dismantles opponents. It helped the Orange Coast College freshman win the Southern California Regional singles title Saturday to earn the No. 1 seed at the state tournament that begins today in Sacramento.

One would, then, not be surprised to learn the self-confessed rebel who has “a problem with society,” has not always hit inside the lines in life.

In fact, his penchant for crossing the line — at school, at home, on the streets, even with the law — marked a late adolescence worthy of a double fault.

It began when he left his Florida home at 16 to attend a tennis academy in Spain.

“I started getting carried away with the partying,” said Minguez, who began playing tennis when he was 4 and was highly ranked on the junior circuit in Florida throughout his teens. “And from there, it went downhill.”

He was kicked out of the academy in Barcelona, but he continued to find mischief when he returned home to Florida, he said.

His parents then sent him to military school in Kansas, where he graduated, then moved by himself to New York.

After trouble prompted a quick exit from the Big Apple, he landed in Kansas City, Mo., where he began pondering a return to tennis. But a lack of money prompted a return home to Florida.

During his travels, he spent time being homeless (sleeping in his car) and, he said, sustaining himself for weeks at a time on ramen noodles. He also regularly engaged in fights that provided what he termed “a testosterone release.”

Not long after he was back in Florida, he was arrested for possession with intent to sell cocaine and marijuana.

In order to avert going to jail, he agreed to enter rehab which included a wilderness program in North Carolina during which he experienced an epiphany.

The two-month wilderness program included a four-day vision quest.

“You’re alone in the woods and you go crazy,” Minguez said. “There’s nobody in your ear and nobody on your back and no sounds of engines, just peace. You’re just bored and you think of everything possible in your life. I realized selling drugs wasn’t such a good idea. I realized money doesn’t buy happiness and it doesn’t rule the world. That program was the thing that changed me.”

A six-month aftercare program led Minguez to Newport Beach and he enrolled last fall at Saddleback College. He transferred to Orange Coast and decided to return to tennis.

“It has been good,” Minguez said of a return to the sport with which he was once burned out, an advent, he believes led him into trouble. “Coaches have told me from Day One that sports and life intertwine very well. I didn’t used to have the fighter’s mentality, but something just clicked with me when I started competing again. I just wanted to be the best. I now have a goal and I know which path I want to follow.”

Minguez said he is also a changed man on the court.

“I have scars on my knuckles because I used to punch walls, punch racquets, punch everything,” he said. “I used to chew on my racquet when I got angry.”

OCC Coach Chris Ketchum said Minguez’s temper still flares occasionally.

“I’ve seen maybe two times when the old Laurent came out,” Ketchum said. “It made me imagine what he used to be like when he was younger. He’s still a bit of a wild card and he still goes through his emotions out there. But he doesn’t let it affect his play. If anything, it fires him up more.”

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Minguez, who has considered mixed martial arts and football as potential future outlets for his testosterone, said music also helps him get pumped up before a match.

Music is, in fact, another area in which Minguez has displayed talent.

“He has CDs of his reggae and hip-hop songs and we have played them in the van while driving to tournaments,” Ketchum said. “It’s something he enjoys doing and the guys on the team seem to really get a kick out of it. I actually like a couple of his songs, one of which talks about being a champion. It’s really inspirational.”

Minguez said he is inspired about working toward a potential professional career in tennis. He is enjoying school, but is unsure if he will continue, perhaps playing tennis at a four-year school.

He says he does not battle an addiction to controlled substances and he is content with his life. The aforementioned tattoo, attained three months ago, is an image of the hand of God reaching down to pull a human figure (himself) out of evil temptation, represented by images of demonic figures and topless women.

“I don’t feel like I have anything to release any more in my life,” Minguez said. “I’m feeling great about [life], definitely.

“I’m very positive about what’s going to happen in the future and what’s happening right now. I’m just taking one step in front of the other, so I don’t get too far ahead of myself.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].