The Season 2009 - Chapter Five

The week of the Warsaw match, when things began to unravel, when we also lost a heartbreaker to Westview, we ended with the JV Invitational at Wawasee. It was a tournament that we got into at the last second, and honestly I didn't expect to do very well in. The only reason we got into it was because NorthWood didn't have a JV team, and the rest of the competition was bigger schools with bigger squads and more tennis tradition. I sat at the concert on Friday night, contemplating (and okay, crying) about the tattered ends of our season, unaware that on Saturday morning things would start getting woven back together.

The weather was bright, perfect temperature, and our lineup was set. Blake Shetler playing #1 singles, Matt Ebersole at #2, Ike Lehman our sacrificial lamb at #3 singles, then the seniors would play the doubles (joined by Evan Grimes). I practiced with the varsity players in the morning, a loose, relaxed, feel good practice - except for the decision that I had to make about #1 singles, but more about that later. Ben Mast and I jumped into my car then and headed down to Syracuse.

It was just a joyous morning. When we drove through Syracuse there was a street fair going on, people smiling and looking at stuff that was interesting but unbuyable. We turned onto the Wawasee High School campus and saw the brilliantly colored tents of the other teams surrounding the tennis courts, and the blue of the Bruins out on the court. When I checked in with Andrew Lanctot, we were doing well. Not just that, our underclassmen were doing well! That is a big plus for the future, I thought.

I walked around that day and watched Ike Lehman put in the most coachable and hardest working match of any player on the team all year. And he almost beat Warsaw doing it. I watched Blake beat great players and finish 2nd in the #1 singles flight. I watched Evan and Jake struggle with their serves all day long but still manage to win a match. I watched Matt Ebersole figure out how to place his well struck groundstrokes and finish 3rd. And Misha and Claude gave the best doubles team in the tournament their best match, before winning two in a row to finish 5th. All told, we finished 3rd.

We didn't win. But the day was full of memories. Blake's overhead to win the Plymouth match that he hit out, but then attacked the net again and then hit an overhead to win. Ike's match against Warsaw. The big tower to watch the matches from. The need for a line judge in the Northridge-Warsaw doubles match, and how I wandered into the bathroom so I didn't get picked. The glorious weather.

And the day was full of relationship-building. Ike listened to my coaching, and that goes a long way. The car ride with Ben was fantastic. Sitting and talking with most of the players, instead of having the pressure to coach (thanks to Andrew taking that pressure for me!) It was wonderful.

I remembered why I loved tennis, the memories and the relationships. It was the answer from God I was looking for.

Renewed and refreshed, we moved into the last two weeks of the season. My mind and my focus were back where they always should have been, but I still wanted to win. You play the games to win, it's just not what the whole season is about. And so, I decided on a new lineup, putting Seth at #1 singles, moving Blake officially into #3 singles, and off we went to the Fairfield match. And we didn't play very well, but senior night was the next day. And we played great against Bremen.

And then, another Saturday tournament, this time a varsity match in Wabash. Yet again, memories were made and relationships built. This time, we were helped out by my mistake. I thought the tournament started at 9:00, so we arrived at 8:00 to warmup and no one was there. Then I realized the tournament started at 10:00, so we drove to McDonald's to hang out for awhile. Joking around, getting free apple pies, sometimes I enjoy the things around tennis more than the tennis itself.

But the tennis was awesome that day as well. Our opponents in the match were a combined33-7. We promptly went out and won our first matchup of the day over Taylor. Then we played Wabash, and lost 2-3, but the fire that we played with, especially in the doubles, was undeniable. Austin and Kyle believed and played with emotion and took their doubles matchup to a third set breaker, which they couldn't quite pull out. But I was so proud of their work.

And then #2 doubles did the same, against Eastern, a team who finished the season with only 1 loss total, #2 doubles had to win for us to win the match. And if they won the match, we won the whole tournament on the tiebreaker system! Russell Klassen and Nick Rebec played some of their best tennis of the year, but we fell 6-7, 5-7. Oh!

But their was the whole team, lined up on the pavement, sitting and rooting for their teammates. That is what a match is about to me, loving, rooting, encouraging our brothers.
In Sectional, the next Saturday, inexperience caught up to us and though we again played with passion and belief, it wasn't enough to overcome Fairfield. We ended the season on a cold Saturday, in defeat, as the season always ends with a loss.

But this was certainly the strangest season ever for me. Through the disappointment, disillusionment, lost focus, forgetting about God and relationships, and the final loss, the thing that sticks through all of that, to me as I write 6 months later, is hope.

In James 1:2-4, James writes this to his congregation who were enduring a rough "season":

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

With proper focus, difficult seasons bring us experience. They focus us on what is really important and allow us to learn. Parts of this season were terrible, the difficult loss to Warsaw, the difficult loss of an important player from the team, the difficult loss to end the season. But the goal of life is not success, at least not the Christian life...

The goal of life is love.

Going into the season, 2009, that was not my focus. I was way off. I was concerned about my selfish goal of building a tradition that is all about me. But a season of trials, of difficulties, of conflict, decisions and full of the need for perseverance has refocused me. The season is not about me.

The season is about you.

And I do love my players. Austin Loucks and his offseason work and improvement, and then the confidence spilling over into the matches. Mikey Kelly and the time spent at tennis camp, in a custodian closet, working through life and conversation. Nick Rebec, as he learned to commit to tennis, commit to attacking tennis, play through pressure and nervousness. Misha Rebec, and the difficult position he dealt with playing some varsity as a senior but not always. Claude Stickler, and his love for tennis that let him balance school, tennis and a job in order to play. Jake Gerig, and his gregarious love for the game, love to play, with whomever whenever. I love you guys.

And I love the hope of next season, and the players that we have. This season was one of inexperience, growth, perseverance, and focusing.

Now, let's remember that it is about love.