On-Court Revelation: The Beauty of Competing in College
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, especially with the craziness that the end-of-semester brings. Every night, it’s a pile of work to come back to after a day of class, endless meetings, hours of research in the library with iced Athenaeums to keep me sane, articles to write for The Quindecim, along with whatever else comes with the job description of being an involved, full-time college student.
Despite the craziness, it’s all good. In fact, I probably couldn’t ask for a better college experience with a better group of people helping me through everything. I realize, however, that this wouldn’t be enough, nor nearly as fulfilling without being a student-athlete.
I never truly appreciated the extra hours my peers put into their high school sports. I had tons of track friends, the occasional basketball player buddy, and even a couple acquaintances on the tennis and swim teams. I never saw the beauty of the commitment, or found the personal desire to polish off a nine hour day of school work with a three hour practice, or matches on weekends. Instead, I’d put those hours into my other passion: journalism.
After spending the last two years as a member of Goucher College’s Men’s Tennis Team, I realize now that the choice to distance myself from competitive tennis in high school to just focus on journalism was a mistake. If I had the choice to go back and play tennis, while also serving as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Townsend Harris High School’s newspaper, The Classic, I would have done it. I mean, it’s working for me in college, right?
I’m not saying I regret the decision completely. Putting in those hours into high school journalism are some of the fondest memories of my high school experience. Plus, I did get in time on the tennis court through gym class, hitting on weekends with family, or even private lessons with friends. Regardless, it certainly does weigh on my mind that I didn’t go the extra step and represent my school as a tennis player.
That leads to what got me thinking about all this in the first place. A couple days ago, I played my first match on the line-up this season. I may have lost, but, man, it felt good. I wasn’t just playing for myself, I was playing for my team-turned-family, and for my college.
That’s the real beauty of being a student-athlete, and what makes all those hours on court and off-court worthwhile.
Goucher Men’s Tennis Claims First Conference Win of 2011
With the Drew University match loss in the past (although certainly not the strong, supportive efforts from the team), we knew that against the United States Merchant Marine Academy match, things would have to be different. It’d need to end in victory.
That’s just what happened.
After a 2-1 setback in doubles, but a good effort in the top two matches, things looked shaky for the Gophers. In the end, however, the team proved stronger in singles competition, dominating in five of six matches. We won 6-3.
Still sidelined, but getting ready to play soon, I continued my work charting my teammates, trying to find trends to help improve their games. Are too many backhands floating long? How about forehand volley errors? What’s the first serve percentage? Is everyone moving their feet? Those were just some of the thoughts flying through my head as the match progressed, and as I watched on with pen and paper.
I’ve come to see this opportunity as a mixed blessing. Sure, I want to play and compete for Goucher College, but there’s something more to charting that I didn’t quite appreciate at first. As I begin my career in tennis journalism these next few weeks, working for Billie Jean King’s World Team Tennis and at the Western & Southern Financial Open in Cincinnati this August, I’ve realized a couple things. Not only does a journalist need to be passionate about what it is they’re writing about, they also need a commitment to detail. Only through careful reflection on the sport and a meticulous ability to collect facts can the writing truly succeed. While I can play tennis all I want, assuming my shoulder doesn’t give out or I get owned by another tennis ball to the head, there also needs to be skill in watching the sport.
As ridiculous as it may at first seem, charting matches and calculating statistics fulfills this.
Only by focusing on a match and really watching it can one appreciate the atmosphere of the courts and the intensity of the athletes. There’s the aesthetics, too, such as the finesse, the power and the shot-making. With these observations, the writing comes alive.
As the team clinched the match in exhilarating fashion, claiming singles points in three sets at number three and six, I understood a commonality and parallel between our success and my career goals. I knew things were looking up not only for my tennis team, but also for my writing.
That’s a good feeling on both counts.
For more on the win over Merchant Marine, see here.
