Jul 23, 2008

Regional Championships Experience

I have washed off the clay and the disappointment and am now ready for written reflection.

It was great to be a part of hundreds of tennis players gathered in a smorgasbord of skill levels, sizes, styles of play, heritages, and ages, all with a similar goal in mind and heart. Few other mainstream sports feature opponents several decades apart in age as our sport did this weekend…and fewer still would foster a situation where a team with 70-year-old members prevails over teams with 40-year-olds, as Fort Myers Racquet Club’s 3.0 team did.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my own matches, my favorite moment was watching Joel Martineau, my teammate, reach deep down, and I mean deeeeep down, to pull out the third-set super-tiebreak against a player more than two decades younger. Perhaps the best moment of all was when the youngster said during the breaker, “The old man just won’t go away. He doesn’t know he’s supposed to quit.”

Joel’s match was not one that would have garnered us the championship, and Joel had to expend far more energy than he had foreseen expending to get the win. Nevertheless, he staved off multiple match points to win the second set tiebreak, and hobbled to victory with amazing shot-making in the super-tiebreak. It may not have been Federer-Nadal, but it was every bit as memorable.

Those of us who played and enjoyed the experience certainly owe a note of thanks to the many who made it possible: The league captains who work so hard to bring and keep teams together; the league coordinators who do the yeoman’s job of organizing and administering the leagues; the staff of the facilities where we play; and the USTA Florida staff who provide these competitive opportunities, and take the heat when things aren’t perfect.