So, for 3 years I have played some Tennis in a USTA (United
States Tennis Association) league. The
league is a 3.0 18 & over men’s summer league. This is a team sport with 2 courts of singles
and 3 courts of doubles, win 2 out of the 3 courts and you win the match. My teams have always been competitive but
completely recreational. Usually finishing
just in time for me to coach cross country, not so this year.
This year the guy that captained the team bailed and I was
left as the captain with little experience.
We struggled to field a team, forfeiting a court the 1st week
of the season. Lost a promising young
player to a job relocation, but picking up a few solid replacements that would
prove key to the team moving on. Even with
being short we managed to go undefeated but the AW and B teams were sitting on
the top of the standings looking tough to beat.
We had several guys sacrifice to make sure we filled the 5 courts (8
players) every week, I played after my 100 mile trail race, others skipped
family functions, one rescheduled a minor surgery. Two weeks left in the season and we are
undefeated, qualified for the district championships, with the two teams we
will meet left on the schedule. We play
AW and win, they tell us that B is the team to beat. We play B and defeat them. Going to the District championship as the
favorite now we beat AW again, so does B.
So it us or them for the championship we win convincingly, even after
they try to DQ one of our players. We
are the 11-0 Northwest Ohio USTA Champions.
The next weekend comes the state championships. We must play the winners from NE Ohio and
Ohio Valley down in Cincinnati. The long
and short of it is we went down confident and won against both teams. Making us the 13-0 Ohio State USTA Champions.
The next weekend was the Sectional Championships in
Indianapolis, Indiana. We would play the
state champs from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. But the short roster and long season was
becoming a problem, the rules say you most take 8 players or face sanctions or
let the 2nd place team go. We
were having problems getting 8 players for all 3 days. The host hotel and all the hotels in the area
were booked due to multiply events in the city that weekend. We got a hotel 20 minutes away from courts
and nearly had to give up our place but at the last possible minute we got our
8th and were heading to Indianapolis. We won our 1st three matches as
did Michigan, so it would all come down to this. The matches were tight, and tied 2-2, with
doubles 2 going into a 3rd set tie break. He prevailed; we were now the 18-0 Midwest
USTA Champions.
The final step in this journey was to be in Tucson, Arizona
a month later where we would play with the 17 best teams in the country for the
National Championship. This is not an
inexpensive journey so far and it just got more expensive. Some good friends and the club we play at
throw us one heck of a party and fundraiser and bring in enough to pay for more
than ½ the expenses, I can never thank them all enough. We practice in the buildup, we’ve not
practiced a lot prior, realizing just how serious this is getting. We are in a tough draw with Florida,
SouthWest and Texas with the winner getting through to the semis. The hotel was nice with courts to hit at, a
pool and rooms with patios. It was also
close enough to walk to the Tennis Facility.
First we would play Texas they would beats us handlely, the team’s first
lost. Next is SouthWest, we came close,
still feel like we could of beat them but lost.
With Florida still to come we were already out of the semis, with some minorly
injured players, including me with a bum hamstring and fractured ankle. For the 1st time this season we
mixed up the lineup and with nothing to play for Florida overwhelmed us. We finished the season 18-3 and we were
finally done. That evening we partied by
the pool, then at the OSU - Wisconsin
game, then at the players party. The
next day watched the Semis and the Finals, before heading to Phoenix and
home.
Some observation of the overall event I enjoyed myself and
thought it was an amazing experience and take nothing I say as sour grape, I
did not expect to win and some of the teams were just better. The event was well run we were all on the
same block of courts unlike the other championships and the courts were laid
out much better for fans and players. The
organizers were approachable and helpful.
Officials seemed ineffective or worthless, not overturning obvious bad
calls or providing direction. Some of
the teams and clubs take this much more serious than others. Captains of some teams were not players but
teaching pros or coaches. The only thing
that really bothered me was the team that won it all was not made of 3.0
Men.
Glad the season is finally over 2 months late, now I can go
for a run. Just a few days until the
Chicago Marathon.
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