11 Things for 2011

Over the next eleven weekdays, I'll be counting down the things that I'm excited for (as a coach) entering the 2011 season. We start on Monday, August 1!

#11 - New Regional Alignment

This summer, the IHSAA went through all levels of the tennis state tournament and constructed new alignments for each round. New Sectionals were made, old ones were scrapped, some teams moved from one Sectional to another.

Our Sectional (Goshen, Fairfield, NorthWood, and Jimtown) remains the same. That's satisfying because over the last 4 years, 4 different teams have won the Sectional, and perhaps the 5th team (Goshen) could be the favorite this year. I love having a competitive Sectional, where no one team dominates, because it gives something to shoot for every single year.

And while the Sectional doesn't bring any change for us, both the Regional and the Semi-State do. This year, should we advance to the Regional, our Regional will include the winners from Concord Sectional, East Noble Sectional, and the DeKalb Sectional. While East Noble and Concord are nothing new, we used to have Warsaw included with us as well. Now Warsaw heads over to Culver Academies, and we welcome the DeKalb Sectional!

We will be familiar with the DeKalb Sectional. It consists of DeKalb, Prairie Heights, Fremont and my alma mater, Angola. We'll have played Angola in a scrimmage (and eaten at the always delicious Pizza King), and played Prairie Heights and Fremont during the regular season. DeKalb will be the only real question mark out of these schools. Last year's winner of this Sectional was Angola.

This could be really fun. I always enjoy playing against Angola, partially because I still know my coaches well and partially because they are always a good match for us. As we scrimmaged them, the results are always close and the matches are always memorable.

We also have changes at the Semi-State level, where we would head to Homestead with a Regional victory. Joining the Concord Regional there are the North Central, Marion and the Homestead Regionals. To see all of the realignments, check the IHSTECA home page.

So, I'm excited the Regional changed and the Sectional didn't. The mix of old and new is good in so many ways headed into the season! We'll be back on Monday with #10!