Thursday Rant

Spring is about to pop up again, the courts will dry, the sun will come out and we will play. This fresh restart has me filled with hope.

This past tennis year has been crazy. From graduating 8 seniors, putting together an entirely new lineup, an exhausting and rainy tennis camp, making a 10-2 start to the season, losing a member of the team to suspension, losing Sectionals, the work ethic of many of you getting into lessons, finding out about stupid decisions, recruiting new members to the team...

There's a lot that has gone on in the past year for me as a coach, stuff that I've never had to deal with before. And honestly, I don't always know how well I've dealt with it. I'm always concerned about doing the right thing that will help people learn from mistakes and mature, both in their tennis game and in their faith. I don't know how well that gets accomplished at times.

But my point is, despite these challenges, you know how I feel right now. With 120 days left until the season begins with our first practice...

I am feeling unbelievably hopeful.

The thought that keeps running through my mind is that we have an unbelievable opportunity coming this year. In many ways. I hope that we can take advantage of them. I think that we will. Think about what we have been given...

- 5 returning players with significant varsity experience
- A number of heartbreaking loss to give us that sting we don't want to feel again
- Because of those losses, we have motivation to work hard in the offseason and summer
- We have motivation to work together as a team to accomplish a goal
- We've made mistakes in the past year, and can mature and learn from them
- We'll have plenty of fresh faces to lighten things up and push us forward
- The sun is coming back out and we can play outside again!

I'm sure that you could list more blessings that have fallen on this program. I pray that we are preparing for a new year, a new team, a new focus. And I pray that we can all strive forward for the things that we hope for.