Moments of Beauty: Angola

In the athletic department here at Bethany Christian, we have four core values. One of those values is beauty, which is just a way of saying that sports provide moments that are awesome and watching or participating in those moments creates joy.

In each match, I am going to strive to provide a description of at least one moment of beauty that I observed during the match. Then, I'll add a little marker to the "Moment of Beauty" recipients locker.

Moment of Beauty #1: Lucas Brownsberger-Keyes 
In the midst of Lucas' first match of the night, he had a point that reminds me of everything that I've been trying to teach to the team this season. I started watching after the point had begun, so I don't remember who was serving, but it was a point of intense movement and driven groundstrokes. His opponent, Jaxon Davis, typically drives the ball with a good deal of topspin, while Lucas tends to drive his shots with a lower trajectory. This made for a beautiful display of shotmaking, Lucas' ball bulleting low across the net and skidding like a stone towards Davis's knees, then Davis swiping the ball upwards and sending it into the backhand corner, where Lucas was coiling for another strike. They scampered back and forth across the baseline, Davis lunging wide for a forehand, Lucas sending the ball crosscourt, Davis driving Lucas deep, the rally lasted at least 20 well struck shots until finally Davis had a slight mishit that dropped the ball very short. Lucas was wrongfooted, and stumbled forward to prepare an attack on the ball. And he missed the shot.

And it was still beautiful. Sometimes we forget, because we get so involved in the competition, that the movement, effort, swings, trajectories, and even our opponent's shots make the game of tennis fun! Even when the point doesn't go our way. Lucas had done everything asked of him in that point, and luck turned against him. Still, being that point must have been so much fun.

Moment of Beauty #2: Jonathon Yousey

Moments of beauty come in all shapes and sizes. Some are long rally. Some are moments of power. In Jonathon's match with Lane, I got to witness this moment of power. After a bit of a crosscourt rally, Lane hit the ball deep and low to his Hornet opponent's feet near the baseline. Jonathon took a smart step toward the middle of the net, and without really looking (because he was too busy digging out Lane's nice ball from his feet) the yellow clad Angola player lofted the ball nice and easy right to Jonathon. Jonathon took one strong, quick step with his left foot, plating it right near the center service line and slammed the ball sharply between the the two players on the other side. It hit it the center of the court and spun toward the back of Simon and Dustin's court, rattling the fence behind them. It was decisive and the type of shots I love when I play doubles!