Isaya has been a four year player and contributor for the Bruins. He is curious, thoughtful, and a constant pursuer of improvement. He is someone who I love to sit down and have a conversation with about any topic, because he asks great questions and wants to know other people’s true perspectives. He has an easy smile and has been a great teammate, often winning our cheerleader award at matches or calling out to random fans in the crowd with a “Let’s go, Matt,” and waiting for them to echo back. Often in his voice, you can hear a tone of earnest faith and belief that we can do the thing we are striving for.
And there is no doubt that my favorite Isaya tennis moments are ones where he kept the faith and kept battling for the win. From the epic he played at NorthWood the other night to the three wins in a row he got at Fairfield his freshman year, he has done the job staying with it. I loved watching him this year at Oak Farm, seesawing back and forth and giving it his all. Or watching him last year playing doubles and pulling out a big win against conference rival Canterbury. Isaya plays with true skill at the net and has a booming serve, and when those skills come out it really makes for explosive highlights too. So many times when writing the blog, I’ve noted points where Isaya finishes with a beautiful overhead.
Isaya has so much hope for himself and others. In the past, I’ve given him awards like the “Fighting For It” Award, because he’s always going after improvement. He’s won multiple Dig Deep awards and Cheerleader awards for individual matches, because he’s the guy who believes in our team culture. He creates the culture with others too, invites them in so that they want to cheer for him as well. He’s had big crowds to cheer for him, including most of the girls team at Goshen, his fellow seniors at Oak Farm, and large group watching him raise a fist in victory at NorthWood. He seems to really embody this verse...
Lamentations 3:21-23
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Isaya is faithful, someone who seems to start new in every morning, every practice, and every point. And that hope, faith and love brings others in as well. Into discussions he helped leaded at team camp devotional time. Into games of diving for toothpicks in the pool during team camp. Into his doubles team during Middle-Middle. Into acceptance. Isaya is an amazing young man who we love having in our corner, and we love to be in his corner too.
