One Shot Wonder

The "One Shot Wonder" is a JV award. It goes to a player who has one shot that would clearly be a successful shot at the varsity level. In year's past, this award was clear. Last year, Evan Grimes easily won the award. But this year it was much more difficult. The top JV players as far as position (Parth Patel, Andrew Snyder, Wade Troyer) all had very good all-around games and consistency, but they all lacked that killer shot, that weapon that can make you a varsity player.

In fact, across the JV, that weapon was missing. Our players have been focusing on consistency, and then moving into the power range. But we didn't have a Russell Klassen forehand, a Nate Brendle backhand, a Matt Ebersole overhead among this JV bunch. So when it was all said and done, in my mind this award came down to the tale of two strokes that were the biggest weapons on the JV level this year.

Abe Thorne's serve and Ryan's Minter's forehand.



Abe's serve was something that he worked on all summer. Hitting it with conviction, it was a wonderful topspin serve with some bite on it that caused problems for opponents all season long. Ryan's forehand was also something he worked on all summer, to the determent of his backhand :) Ryan was able to surprise many opponents with aggressive forehand play, and dictated many of the points he played with that shot.

However...

Each stroke had a drawback as well. Abe's serve was inconsistent. Ryan's forehand rarely "won" him points. Abe often lost control of his matches on service games when the big serve came back to haunt him with double faults. Because Ryan could only control points with his forehand but not finish them, he often had to hit 5-10 in a row, and would end up making mistakes. So they were weapons with some liability.

It came down to this in my mind. When playing against the varsity in practice this year, which shot impressed the most? So I remember back in the early season, Ryan and I played with Ben and Kyle in a doubles match. Kyle and Ben were not expecting much of Ryan in the match, being as he had played low JV during the previous season. But he held his own, on the basis of playing the forehand side and letting loose some great shots with his big weapon. When hitting mostly forehands, Ryan can compete.

And with that, I award the One Shot Wonder to Ryan Minter and his forehand. Sorry Abe, but there's plenty of awards to be won over the next couple of years for you!

Tomorrow, we'll award The King Award, for the player who played with their heart on their sleeve.