The Tennis Experience
Before we even started classes at Belmont, the tennis players were out on the court, working out every day. I could see right away that there were two players who were on a level far and above that of anyone else. One was a sophomore transfer from UT, and the other was a South African beauty who was in Nashville because her boyfriend was on the team at Vandy – kind of a package deal, I guess. Both girls had very nice games and would obviously play #’s 1 and 2. From there, I couldn’t tell until I had played some of the others.
There were four freshmen, 3 from Hendersonville and one from Lipscomb High. Suzanne looked the best and the other 3 were decent also. So the challenge matches began. Suzanne and I turned out to be pretty even – we played close matches every time. So the coach put her at #3 and me at #4. That suited me fine. Lisa, who would become a good friend, was #5 and Kara #6.
Belmont was a member of the NAIA Conference then, and the rules were very similar to the NCAA. The only difference was that we could not play no-add games, which would shorten the matches, but had to stick with regular scoring. I was the one who was affected the most by that rule since my stamina was not as good as an 18 year old.
I won’t go into all the matches of that first year. Suffice it to say that we had a good year and probably finished 2nd or 3rd in the conference of 12 teams. I don’t remember my record, in either singles or doubles, but I didn’t lose many matches.
Strangely enough, my biggest advantage (and also disadvantage) was my age. My experience paid off because I didn’t just go out there and crank the ball every time. My years of playing had taught me to keep calm and use a variety of shots. Also, (so the coach told me) my demeanor on the court was one of confidence and that intimidated the younger opponents. And I didn’t mind questioning calls (nicely, of course) or call for a linesman if I thought I was being cheated.
So all in all, my first year at Belmont was a very positive experience tennis-wise, but how were the classes?
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2 comments:
Very nice blog. I learned things. I can see now that you were, and are, a serious tennis player.
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