A great coach I once had gave me one of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten. She explained to me her "24 hour rule." She offered me this piece of advice when I was frustrated about a turn of events that almost cost me opportunity to compete. You all know that I LOVE to compete. I miss our ability to do just that already, and were now 72 hours away from that last moment.
The rule is, I wait 24 hours, wherein I have fully digested the situation and its facts, then I state my observations and feelings to whomever the necessary parties are. In this case I waited 72 hours, I think, and I am glad I did.
Well I followed that rule and kind of made up a new one, when it pertains to a year end summary. Now about our semi-final playoff match against St Augustine, and my observations about it and a season summary.
We lost 5-0 to the number one seed in our bracket on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in Richland, NJ. Remember that place and its layout or any random things that come to your mind and mint them in your head, cause we may be back there. That's where you'll be visualizing a great moment happening for our tennis team in the near future, on a sunny and warm May afternoon. This same time in May of 2011.
We were prepared to play, but we may not have had our flow as Marcos pointed out to me once. Some days you just don't have it. We've all been there in our sport, and in this match, against the top seed, our margin for error was razor thin. I think we still had enough to win two points and I feel both our doubles teams know that. Therein both doubles teams were certainly not that much better than ours. I can state that unequivocally, and I know our doubles players believe that to be true. It feels good to say that, and it clearly shows how far we all have come. We are a 3-2 match with them right now.
We did walk away with one set win at 2nd doubles and for that I am proud. Its funny cause we also won one set in our 5-0 loss to Bishop Ahr in the playoffs the year before. We came a long way, and finish with our goal accomplished, a playoff win with semi-final appearance, a 13-4 record and co-champions of the Olympic Conference National Division. The Lamberto's big win to claim the National Division doubles title was another great 2010 moment. Notice our once ranking, the picture to the side here, well we will start next year as a ranked team. I am so proud of all of you guys for all the great things we did this year.
Take a look at our 2010 playoff bracket seen here with our name included in a foursome with Christian Brothers Academy, the somewhat faded beast of all NJ tennis programs. Cherry Hill East was once seriously dwarfed by CBA. Ask coach Mitch about CBA and the beat downs they use to put on everyone. That bracket looks oh so beautiful, now that I figured out how to print it correctly. We'll all have another great moment to revel in these accomplishments at the Spring Sports Banquet.
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I now turn my eye to the future and our preparations for the 2011 season. I know we can and will be better tennis players tomorrow. We have so much incentive to make next year a very special year. We've seen the number one seed in our bracket, and we now see how close we could be with another year of hard work. I know the formula and i'll throw a couple more ingredients into the blend to show our opponents some variety next year. You've all seen this recipe work as it will be much the same one we'll use to prepare for next year. Next year starts right now, cause if it doesn't this South Jersey Championship isn't a lock. If it starts right now, a little each day and then some more in a month with that sustained till next March, IT IS A LOCK. That's what I'm really promising you right now. I will be there to help, advise and do anything I can if you show the desire and stick to it ness.
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We should all want to improve as tennis players before the start of next year. I know we are all capable of such improvement with the individuals on our team right now. This is a very obtainable goal, as all of mine have been, to win that sectional title match next year. This process starts right now. I met with most of you on Friday as you handed in your uniforms. I told you about how we will meet once a week for an hour and a half as a team in summertime to drill and play.
I think this is imperative to assuring our success next year, thus not letting this amazing opportunity that you all have before you to acquire some hardware and put an everlasting stamp on Paul VI athletics. I expect all of you to be at the majority of those sessions. No Paul VI boys tennis team has ever won a South Jersey Group A Parochial Championship, and you have an excellent opportunity to be the first.
How many of your current Paul VI athletic peers can say they have a South Jersey Championship with their name on it. I, as your coach, know it is an opportunity that is quite rare and doesn't come around that often. Just like the Conference title we won this year, as that hasn't happened in 15 years and the first time it happened in Paul VI's 40 year history was the year before that in 1994. So this is clearly a special moment that we have all arrived at. I am very excited, and I hope you are too. I hope you are motivated to put in the effort to be as special as I think you can be.
What is even a more beautiful thought is when we win that South Jersey Parochial A Championship next year we will go to Mercer County Park and play the North Jersey Parochial A champion for the State Championship. How many of your Paul VI peers can say they played in a State Championship, mind you how many in the history of your school can say such. I think that is enough of an incentive to work hard and put in an honest and discipline effort in practice from this moment forward.
Mercer County Tennis Center is quite a special place where all the NJSIAA state tennis championship are held each year. Its tennis courts are arranged in groups of two and four, and sit on small grassy knolls that are strew in no particular order over whatever number of acres the center is placed on.
The tennis complex itself sits right in front of a large wooded area which makes up the bigger portion of the park. It has a beautiful Swiss Chalet type tennis clubhouse right in the middle of it, with a center court and grandstand connected to it. Once we walk through its doors and compete for a state championship, its an experience that will be with you forever. I am prepared to do any amount of work that needs to be done to get us their, and I believe in all of you 100%.
As your coach it is my responsibility to ensure our future successes. We are either one point away with the individuals we have now or a very good tennis player who will come in from 8th grade or transfer over to start school in the fall of next year. So not only will we work hard in future practices but I have already been working hard on encouraging another good tennis player or two, to take advantage of our opportunity.
I feel that they have great reasons to want to be at Paul VI and assure our goal, a Sectional Title, of happening. I also feel it is important to make our team as competitive a team as possible. I'd add too that the longer I'm here I feel a certain joy and a great energy in the air as everyone seems so happy to be a Paul VI Eagle. This is an easy sell. I feel more like and eagle everyday. I know too that such competition between team members only makes us all better and prepared for the tough Olympic Conference matches to come.
Now after this outstanding season, my 2nd with you, I hope my vision is seen with more clarity and that you now believe in it and want to travel the next stage of this journey with me. We had some fantastic team accomplishments, and that is what I lay to you as my proof of what we are capable of. Really my vision of what we could be started to take shape the moment we lost that playoff match last year. I love a challenge, and was greatly motivated by that loss. Coaching you guys has presented me with many challenges that make me a better person and coach. For that I thank you again.
When we work together as owners of our tennis program and take responsibility for our individual roles within it we can't do anything but thrive. Really its your tennis team as its your school, as I've told you this before. We went on one heck of a ride, as the three bus rides home from Seneca, Bishop Eustace and St Joe's are a simply summary of our season. The joy of victory we cherished and celebrated was well earned. That feeling is forever, and we all own it and no one can take it away from us.
Seventy-two hours latter and I just got a wave of sadness that our 2010 season is really over. I wish we had one more match, one more chance at improving and winning, one more moment in 2010. But we don't. We have to look forward.
Next season will be filled with more great moments, if you start planning and thinking about the sacrifices and work you need to put in to your game to assure an even better ending. We could all leave an historic mark on our tennis program and your school. There is something so special and unique about being the first.
DON'T take this moment for granite!!! I and your parents will tell you something you can't understand yet, but applies here. I really want this statement to stick with ALL of you. Life goes by so much faster than you think, therein don't let the end of the season mean you simply put your racquet down. This summer is where WE ALL have to make the headway that is needed to put us closer to that championship moment that is not as far off as you think.
I also want to thank all the tennis parents for their support throughout the season. I know you all made sacrifices to not only come to our matches but by driving to and from practice each week day and some weekends. The pretzels and drinks that you traded off in bringing to matches was quite thoughtful. Your support and energy that you brought to each and every match was a vital component to our 13-4 record.
I'll put another post up in a few days, as I thought long and hard about this one. You know we could have another practice or mini tourney before the end of the school year if you'd like. With that said I need to have one more meeting with the whole team, after-school on Tuesday, where we will have a team vote on the year end awards to be given at the Spring Sports Banquet.
I think a vote is the right way to go on these awards. That's when we could talk about a singles and doubles tourney for the entire team. We'll met in that same classroom we always do and at 240. See you then. I know its a day late but I hope the Lamberto's had a great birthday with a Carvel ice cream cake to boot. See you all soon.
Love Always,
Coach
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Does anyone notice anything funny about these three challenge match sheets. Look for the assistant coach line on each. The first one is quite different. Notice the names of the assistants on the 1st one as they are obviously parents of the participants, which is something I've never seen before. Heck that coach was so scared of us that he needed a coach on each court. The integrity of this simple sheet means everything to our competition. Now see the rules below, as this is a rule that has long needed clarity, as even the revision of the rule seems odd. You be the judge.
