The Season 2009 - Chapter One

Do you write a story when you know you won't like the ending? How do you tell the truth about real life, with all its ups and downs, accomplishments and disappointments, and end it utterly filled with joy?

It's now the spring, and the 2009 tennis season is months past. It seems like it is time to start telling its story. A fresh new crop of varsity players, a brand new "beginner" class of freshmen, unbelievable improvement and achievement, and in the end... well, let's save that for the end.

I want to tell stories, stories that begin in the weight room and end in Maple City Racquet Club on a Saturday morning in October. Stories that involve freshman with squeaky voices, sophomores with determination, juniors and P90X, seniors and their "C'mon's!" and fist pumps. Stories that ring true to the experience of the players, coaches and fans. But most of all, I want to tell stories that make meaning.

After the 2008 season, after the Sectional championship, I found myself unsatisfied. Success was relieving, but I found myself more obsessed with doing it again. Instead of celebrating, I found myself scheming, planning and worrying. Which was okay, my returning team felt the same way. Despite their important role in helping challenge and motivate the 2008 varsity, the returning players didn't feel like the Sectional championship was their own.

And so I began to offer programs for everything and designed for everyone. Ben Mast, Seth Krabill, Blake Shetler and I began to spend cold mornings together in the dreary middle school gym. Flip the volleyball posts upside down, string the net across the middle and put some cones out to serve as the service box, and you've got yourself a tennis court. Kind of a tennis court, you still had to imagine most of the lines. We hit serves, our racquets dodging the bottom of the basketball backboards. We hit groundstrokes, the balls skidding off the shiny and freshly laminated floorboards. Others would join us every now and then. Kyle Miller made some appearances, new freshman Ike Lehman, and every once in a rare while, Matt Ebersole. It was always good to see these guys in the morning, knowing that being here so early showed the same dedication to excellence that I wanted to have.

There were, I'm sure, many interesting early morning conversations at these sessions. But, unfortunately, I don't remember many of these, probably because it was in the early morning. I do remember one time that I brought a camera and took stop action photos of Seth and Ben's forehands. I fully intended to analyze these photos, but when I pulled them up on the computer, I realized that there was very little that I could correct in their swings. Not because their swings are perfect, but because I didn't know what I was looking for. So it was early in the offseason that I had to face up with my shortcomings as a tennis coach. I didn't know enough to help my players.

That was disturbing and depressing to me. But it didn't stop the team's drive. We also were busy lifting weights and gaining strength. Kyle Miller and Austin Loucks often participated in strength and quickness training after school. We'd hit the weight room, and then do footwork drills down the middle school locker room hallway. 8th grade basketball players would try to slide by our sweaty bodies without being pushed into the cement walls. In the weight room, we did some lifting, but the conversations were interesting, if inconsequential. I remember Austin talking about his first dates with a certain girlfriend, Kyle constantly wondering how to make his core stronger, and Russell and Kyle asking me very detailed personal questions after my wife and I presented a chapel on "Sexuality."

Despite the strange things I remember, I like these times of the season. But they also stress me out. They tell me who is willing to work hard, and usually a team can only win big if they have talent and work ethic. This team, the 2009 Bruin team, had some talent. Despite inexperience, the JV players moving up to varsity had compiled a 16-0 JV Record, only losing 5 individual spots. But would we work hard? Would we stay committed? I remember showing up several times for morning sessions in the gym and no one was there. I went and showered in the coaches office, thinking if we really had enough dedication to win? And even with those who were coming to work (Ben, Seth, Kyle, Austin, Matt, Blake, Ike), among them were only 4 people who figured to be varsity. Who would be the other 3? Would they be working?

Some of these worries would haunt me through the season, some were resolved. In the midst of another offseason as I write this, I know that I have all the same worries. But what remains with me from last offseason? The good memories. But what was important to our success? The amount and quality of work put in. Memories last and make meaning, quality of work leads to success on the court. A good tennis offseason will balance the two in large quantities.