Wednesday Numbers: 101

"The most emotional memories, the accomplishments we will be most proud of, the times we will feel most supported by our teammates; these things will come in the crucible of the official season."

Today's number represents the number of days until tennis season begins. This is a number, for me, that is full of anticipation.

I cannot tell you how ready I am for the season to begin. Part of my excitement comes from the way in which we finished last season. Part of my excitement has been built by posting here every weekday for the past month and a half. Part of my excitement has come from the winter conditioning sessions, P90X, and weight training. Part of my excitement comes from 30 middle schoolers running around the tennis court and knowing that 20 high schoolers is much more manageable. More excitement is built from watching some of you hit, whether during open courts or when I walk down to the college on the weekend and see some of you there.

We have a lot of cool things coming up this summer. Individual workouts, team open courts, tennis camp... lot's of games will be played, racquets swung, laughter shared, memories made... but it all comes together for the purpose of playing out the season. The season is the reason that we push ourselves harder when it is not here. The most emotional memories, the accomplishments we will be most proud of, the times we will feel most supported by our teammates, these things will come in the crucible of the official season.

And I think we will form awesome memories. I think we will accomplish many goals. I know that we will feel the support and appreciation of our teammates. We can stand on an August afternoon with racquet in hand, having just completed a exhausting series of crosscourt and down-the-line shots, knowing that we've given our all in practice to be ready for Northridge. We can slump onto the grass outside the fence with all of our teammates after a hot, summer evening run knowing that in a few days we can stand tall with Bethany Christian's first Concord Invitational title. We can enjoy the relaxation of the Magic Wand, the magic burgers and the donuts. We can make a night out video of pure silliness, that we hope will be a precursor to to pictures taken in pure joy, as we hold our Sectional title trophy.

And all of this will begin in 101 days.