By Alan Keck

Dick Whalen likes to talk about how big his baby has grown in eight years. But when he whips out the obligatory photos, what you see is not a cherubic youth, but 1 1/4 miles of Oceanfront beach covered with thousands of soccer enthusiasts. Whalen's ``baby'' is the North American Sand Soccer Championships, whose ninth annual incarnation overruns the oceanfront this weekend. Conceived over dinner with an Umbro USA official in 1992, and given form in May 1994 as the Beach Soccer Kickout, the North American Sand Soccer Championships (NASSC) has grown exponentially into the largest single-weekend sand soccer event in the world.

Whalen, the tournament director, has a simple explanation for its success. ``Sun, surf, sand and soccer equals fun,'' he said. Karen Knott, tournament administrator and director of the Hampton Roads Soccer Council, said interest in the tournament is unbelievable. ``It's so unique - a total change from outdoor grass soccer. It's a big festival atmosphere,'' she said. From 26 teams in its first year, to 546 teams this year, the NASSC is beyond big. It's monstrous - geographically and logistically. It covers 13 city blocks of beach, with more than 5,000 athletes participating in 965 matches.

It has been recognized for the last three years by the Southeastern Tourism Society as one of the Top 20 summer events in that 15-state region. The June/July issue of Cosmo Girl ranks the NASSC as one of the Top 50 free summer events in the United States.

With an average annual growth of almost 50 percent over eight years, the tournament has become so popular that Whalen can't meet the demand. ``The growth potential is unlimited,'' he said. ``The real challenge for us is how big do we want it to get?'' This year, the NASSC staff turned away more than 100 teams, far more than the number of teams participating in most other U.S. sand soccer tournaments. ``We're only limited by the number of referees in the area,'' Whalen said. ``We need 100 referees to run the tournament.'' While about 250 referees actively work in the area, many are young and inexperienced, making it difficult for them to work the one-official, quick-as-lightning sand soccer games. ``We don't have trouble getting referees,'' Tidewater Soccer Referees Association representative Joe Koziol said. ``We have trouble getting qualified referees. We need senior refs with some experience.'' But Koziol adds that, somehow, his association always manages to cover the tournament's needs.

For Whalen, a year of planning culminates on the first day of competition when he stands at 14th Street, looks south, and prays that 39 referees ascend to their platforms to officiate the games. ``It's a point in the tournament when my cardiac health is challenged,'' Whalen said. ``If we're missing just one, we're in trouble.'' Whalen is a retired Navy captain who runs this tournament like one of the warships he used to command. His yearlong list of planning milestones is more than 180 action steps long, broken down by month and divvied up among his hardcore, perennial staff of parent volunteers. And his connections with the military bring in more than 120 active-duty volunteers who, working side-by-side with dozens of parent volunteers, spend all day Friday setting up the 39-field layout. It's become a logistical challenge that has Whalen working 20 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.

Whalen has grown it from a four-field sandy soccer experiment. The fast-paced, carnival-like event offers entertainment for athletes as well as their families. ``It does give us a good profile in the regional soccer community,'' Virginia Beach Sports Marketing Coordinator Buddy Wheeler said. ``It's something different.''

For the second year in a row, the championships will feature the finals of Pro Beach Soccer's Pro/Am National Championships. Whalen calls it the World Cup of Beach Soccer. Last year, Brazilian team Flamilia waxed the Virginia Beach United 7-1. This year, the local entry in the Pro/Am division is the Hampton Roads Soccer Council All-Stars. They've been practicing together since March, with hopes of upsetting the highly favored Flamilia.