Wednesday Numbers: 15%

Today's number represents the winning percentage of this year's freshman. It's not particularly high. That means it isn't all that good. But this post is about hope for the sophomores-to-be, not about the beginnings.

This year's varsity team had a record of 13-7. It's senior members finished with records of 7-4, 13-7, and 10-8. That means that the seniors this year finished with a 61% varsity winning percentage.

Do you know where they started out their freshman year? 14%. Austin Loucks, a near All-District performer this year in doubles, he went 1-8 in his freshman campaign. Actually, as a sophomore he only improved to 4-4. Nick Rebec didn't play his freshman year, but when he began as a sophomore, he was only 1-1.

Now, I could point out several significant things here. First of all, this year's freshman got to play way more matches than those guys did. Ike played 15 matches, Ryan played 10, Wade played 9, and Josh Helmuth played 6. Austin played the most matches of any freshman in his season, and that grand total was 9. So we have had a chance to see more competition and know what it is like.

The second thing to point out. Austin worked on his game significantly in the offseasons, especially between his sophomore and junior, and then junior and senior years. He learned a kick serve, strengthened himself with weight training, committed to better footwork. And not just for tennis, he was committed to being healthy as well. And each year he saw progress because he worked. He went from 1-8 to 4-4 to 7-3 to 13-7. Quite a good progression.

Nick worked on his game too. He and Misha took lessons together at Eastlake. During the past season, Nick committed to try to work on getting to the net. By the end of the season, he was a confident varsity doubles player, almost delivery a Sectional win for us.

The point is, no matter the start, the amount of time spent getting better will pay off. It has been great to see Ryan and Himal playing more tennis than anyone on the team. It is good to see Josh Helmuth and Wade Troyer in their biking shorts, knowing that they are getting in good shape before the season. Well, maybe it is not that good to see them in biking shorts. It was good to P90X with Ike before baseball started.

I'm looking forward to the summer with the freshman class. Looking forward to getting some individual lessons in with many of you and watching your games and maturity grow.

15% to 61%? Those are some numbers that I would like to see again!