Monday Morning Match Memories

MMMM #4: Bethany Christian vs. Goshen, Sectional, 2003

Don't worry, I'll do some matches here that have current players involved in them before too long. Just trying to enrich the site with as much history as possible for now. So, onwards to 2003.

This was my very first Sectional match as a coach. I was jacked up, because we actually had a talented team and I had prepared one whopper of a motivational speech. Besides that, it was Sectional, and you always have the chance to be a champion when you begin Sectional play.

We hadn't played Goshen at all during the regular season, so I had no idea what to expect from them. Joel King and Colin Yoder told me that their #1 and #2 singles players were awesome, but that they weren't that strong at the other positions. So I was hopeful, but I knew that our strengths on the year had been our #1 and #2 singles positions, as those two had the best individual records on the Bruin team.

We showed up bright and early to warm up, and I tried to get the positive vibes flowing through the group. But I was definitely nervous. I kept rubbing my hands together and blowing into them as if to warm them up, even though it was a beautiful morning with little chill in the air at all. I prayed and prayed and prayed that we'd come out and play well. I hoped and felt that this day we were prepared to pull an upset. It just felt like it.

I gathered the team around me and began my speech. I compared us to David and Goshen to Goliath, and began to make a speech about how trite this example is but how true it was all the same. But I had found a little twist that I inserted into the story. Our team needs to take on the attitude of David, I emphasized, slapping my fist into an empty palm. Then I went on to point out that David believed he was going to win, in fact, he told Goliath that before the day was done, he would cut off his head. That's right, I said to my team, we need to go out with confidence believing that when the match is done, we'll have cut off their heads!

Yea! It was awesome! What a speech! In actuality, we were pretty pumped up when we broke the huddle and raced to our courts. I'm being sarcastic now, but the experience did create a lot of emotion at the time. I headed back outside the fence ready to root, cheer, and coach for a huge upset victory. I was convinced of it.

Then Joel got absolutely blown off the court. I mean, he was never in the match and was totally outclassed. It's one of those matches where I want to go over and tell you to change something, but it is painfully obvious that the other player is just much better than you and nothing is going to work. It's only happened a couple of times as bad as it did this Saturday morning. Joel was going nuts trying to compete, yelling at himself, trying to stay pumped up after good shots, but it didn't really help. So first person off the courts in defeat was our crutch performer, our "hero," our player of best record.

And if Joel was getting pummeled at #2 singles, you can bet that the same was happening at #1. Colin Yoder put a lot of pride into his match, he was a senior and this could be his last match ever if he didn't play in college (although he did). But again, it was a situation where the talent levels on the court were not the same. Colin put in a valiant effort, but it wasn't going to be enough. He came off the courts next, defeated.

Ben Shenk was playing his first Sectional match as well, and didn't fair that much better than the top 2 players. Soon, my hopes of a awesome upset were washed away. #1 doubles was able to pull out a victory and advance into the Individual Sectional, but I can truly say that I didn't even think about that until the match was over. It hadn't even been on my radar going into the match, so it didn't seem like much to celebrate until later.

I was crushed. I had believed we'd win. I had felt like we'd win. I had prayed that we'd win. I'd used Scripture to inspire us! But alas, we fell victim to the Goshen Redskins once more. I came home as frustrated as heck, but I had already begun processing three of the most important lessons I've learned as a tennis coach.

1. A coach should make their words few, honest, and impactful.

Before this match I spouted off a bunch of words trying to convince the guys that we were just as talented as Goshen, that we should win this match, and that we should believe we were going to win this match. I had no idea if we were as good as Goshen, I was so concerned about changing the minds of my team, changing our outlook, that I spoke a lot about something I knew not of. Goshen was better than us, plain and simple, and while I didn't have to tell my team that, I didn't have to set the expectation at an unrealistic level either.

Since that match, I've tried to speak honestly and simply. Sure, I think that the pre-match speeches still have their place. I'm proud of my pre-match speech at Penn this year. But the difference was I communicated clearly and simply. I just told the team that these weren't going to be the best players we played all year, at any of the positions. Then I made a caveat for Luke, because maybe Andy Hansen was the best he played all year. But I didn't make the expectation that we had to beat them, I only said what I knew for sure from watching their scores and their warmup. Results of these speeches have been a lot better when they've been honest and simple.

2. Talent beats emotion.

Hard work and great skills are required, and about 90-95% of the time the better team wins. We came out really fired up in this match, but they were just better than us. Emotion doesn't make forehands better for a match, it only lasts for a certain amount of time. Talent MUST be the base for any tennis player.

As we've seen through the years, in an even match, emotion and momentum can give one player or team an edge. This year we came out and jumped on Penn early with an adrenaline rush, battled our way to leads in the first sets of the Sectional, and even in the Regional, on the backs of emotion. A good attitude and confidence is really important, but the hard work must be put in to stand on. That's why the offseason is so important. That's why tennis camp came to be. Our skills must be up to par in order to compete.

3. Depth wins Sectionals.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Most teams win Sectionals with #3 singles and #2 doubles. We had a chance in this match versus Goshen if we'd have been ready at our lower positions. In fact, Goshen got knocked off in the final by NorthWood because of the lower positions. But we couldn't take advantage. Too often, the players that work hard are the ones playing high in the lineup (#1 singles, #2 singles, #1 doubles) and the other players are just along for the ride. You can't have players along for the ride and win Sectional.

I mention this last one for two special reasons. Two of our hardest working seniors filled these "lower" positions for us this year, and they were the reason we were so successful. #3 singles (Jonny Shenk) and #2 doubles (Daniel Buschert/Mikey Kelly) had a combined record of 37-7 this year. #1 singles and #1 doubles combined for 30-14. So you can see that our lower positions helped out immensely. They also both won their Sectional final matches. So way to outwork and out-talent opponents this year lower positions!

The second reason I mention this is that I'm concerned for our lower positions next year. I want to make sure that these guys won't just be along for the ride. Our players who are putting in the most work right now are slated for the higher spots, if everyone just moves straight up the ladder, so I'm hoping that some guys will aspire to work hard and capture the #3 singles spot or the #2 doubles position and carry us into the Sectional season. Because if not, we might have a similar fate as the 2003 Bruin team, watching #1's play on into the Individual Sectional while we think of what might have been.