Adversity

We had a good win versus Heidelberg last night. Doubles set the tone with 8-1, 8-5, and 8-0 victories. Now we have to prepare for Ohio Wesleyan tomorrow (Saturday). The guys know we need to come out guns blazing in that one and I think we are ready.

Dealing with adversity and also dealing with success are two huge things you get out of competing in athletics. Can you bring yourself into focus when everyone in the crowd is rooting for you to fail? Can you, maybe accept is the wrong word, but deal with, and take as a positive challenge a coach’s decision not to start or play you? How do you continue to be relaxed when you know the score is tied and you are leading in the deciding match?

We work on these things as a team and by no means are they easy. Our group of young men have grown and matured greatly over the last two years. They have learned to accept challenges as positive experiences and not as obstacles. One of the greatest parts of my job is seeing this growth and helping to facilitate it. The young men who come and play tennis here at Oberlin WILL be successful in the fields they choose because they do embrace the challenges put before them and use those to propel them.

“Whether it’s playing or coaching, socially or professionally, there have to be some tough days to make you a better person.”

-Digger Phelps

Matches Have Started

The first match of the Spring season is in the books and we came out on the short end of a 7-2 decision. Senior captain Ben Godlove played well, getting wins in both singles and doubles. He and first-year Ben Turchin won a tough 9-7 victory after being down 5-7. It was an excellent gut-check for a team playing their first match together. The 7-2 team score is a little deceiving as well. We lost two 3-set singles matches and two of the other singles were close as well. Here is a link to the scores from the match.

We are better coming out of this match than we were going in to it. Practice last night had an even higher intensity than before because the guys see what we could accomplish and they want it.

We travel to Crawfordsville, IN this weekend to play Wabash and Elmhurst. This will be another good test for us as it is the first overnight trip of the year as well as the first double-header. I’m excited about the trip and think the guys are ready.

Spring (season) is here!!

It is spring again (although you can’t tell by looking outside)!! We are a week into practice and the guys are looking like they are ready for competition. We play Malone on Saturday, February 13^th at 1:30 and are looking for some good results. The beginning of our season is full with two more matches on the 20^th and starting with our Heidelberg match on February 25^th we have four matches in 10 days concluding with our parents’ weekend on March 6^th.

The team is primed and excited about a season where we expect to compete in every match.

“There’s a hell of a difference between doing it almost right and doing it right. The outcome of games, I think, are far more a result of mistakes than great plays.”

-Bobby Knight

New Indoor Courts Are Done

The resurfacing of the indoor tennis surface is done and the results are awesome. The new color scheme looks great and the play is clean. The surface is slowed down a little from the old one, but is really true.

I want to encourage our alums to fill out the alumni information form so I can continue to compile a list of our program members. On March 6^th when we

host Hope and Grove City I would like to invite our alums to come and take part in this year’s parents weekend. We are scheduled for 8:30 am and 3:30 pm matches and will be having a lunch for our current team, their parents, and our alums between the matches. Please let me know if you plan on attending.

“The mark of a good team is how it reacts when things aren’t going in its favor.”

- Chris Osgood

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The semester is over and the students have left campus for the holiday break. We are really excited about the upcoming spring season. Check out our website for the schedule. A reminder to all parents and alumni, we are having our parents weekend March 6^th when we play Hope and Grove City. I am looking forward to having a large number of people on campus that weekend. Please let me know if you’ll be able to attend (thanks to George and Celine Davis for being the first RSVP).

To get into the Christmas spirit I thought I would share a couple pictures I took this morning (December 21st) of our outdoor tennis courts. I love this time of year.

One other HUGE announcement and that is our indoor courts are getting a facelift over the college’s winter shutdown. We are resurfacing the courts and changing the color scheme to match the outdoor by making it the US Open blue and green (not the white from the pictures above). I’ll include pictures in my first January blog posting.

I hope all of you have a great holiday season and that moving into 2011 you all remain healthy and happy.

“Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.”

-John Wooden

Another Gold Ball

Congratulations to two of our alumni, John '61 and Carl '94 Erickson, for winning their fourth national championship. The story is great because John still helps out with both the teams here at Oberlin. In honor of this, the quote for this posting goes to John. This was coaching advise given during a match several years ago.

"Don't suck."

John Erickson

1st Semester Winding Down

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was great and that you were able to spend time with friends and family. The semester is beginning to wind down here (2 more weeks of class and then finals). Our players are preparing for Winter Term in January and I thought it would be interesting to share what some of them are doing.

We have several guys doing research internships, one with a neurologist in NYC, one in a genetics/neurobiology lab in Chicago, and one doing biochemistry research on campus. One of our guys is learning to play an instrument called an Ocarina and one is doing an intensive chamber music project on campus with his string quartet. We also have guys doing language study, script writing, and the one project I hope to see (and taste) some results from is from our player who will be working in a French bakery.

If you missed the story on the website, both tennis teams at Oberlin are dedicating their seasons to John Stern, who passed away recently. John was a great supporter of Oberlin College and the athletics department.

I encourage people to go to the website to see our schedule and want everyone to mark their calendars for March 6^th. We will be playing Hope and Grove City Colleges that day and are going to make it our parents’ weekend for the spring.

I would like to be remembered as fair minded, always trying to do things with class, never knowingly hurting anybody.

- Don Shula