The King Award

This is the first season for "The King Award," named in honor of Joel King, a 2006 graduate of Bethany Christian. Joel was a fierce competitor, and one of the things that made him so difficult to play against was the emotion and energy that he played with. He was the "King of C'mons!" Basically, he played with a positive energy that fueled his game and demoralized opponents.

This type of energy is necessary in big, close matches. Take the Regional final, where both #1 doubles teams were encouraging each other and celebrating after every ball that landed out or forehand hit in the net. It's a way to release pressure and get yourself up for the next point.

This year, we had a team who handled itself in different (but often effective) ways under pressure. Some people would jump around to keep themselves into, some would talk with their doubles partners, some would talk to themselves. In the end, there were two players who really let their positive emotions flow.

One player had the "C'mon!" that would often come out as he made a furious comeback or hit a winning passing shot. The other had a trademarked fist pump. One of our emotional players was downright despondent after a loss to Northridge in the first match of the year, hanging his head and worried about the course of the season. Our other player had fits of anger at himself where he would hang his head as well. The emotions flowed from these guys, and you could always tell how they were feeling just by watching a few points.

For tennis, the only emotion that helps is the positive. In the end, our winner was able to show that in many ways. The "C'mon!" as he skipped forward towards the net. The rotating fist pump. The confidence in his eyes when things were going well. So, the winner of The King Award, for playing with all the emotion he had, is Evan Grimes. Next year, we'll have to work on just all positive, all the time, baby!

Now, any guesses who the other finalist was? Who would you have voted for?

Tomorrow: Our Hero Award. Given to the player or doubles team that we could always count on in the clutch. (Note - that was supposed to be today's award according to the original schedule, but I forgot and gave this one instead)