 Posted 5/1/2008 10:34:00 AM
This time
of year many tennis coaches have to decide whether to gamble or play it
safe. The lineup for the IHSAA
postseason tournament (sectional, regional, semi-state, state) must be
submitted to the IHSAA from each school by May 7.
Tennis is a
unique sport in that whatever lineup (1-2-3 singles and 1-2 doubles) is used
for the first round of sectionals must be used all the way through the state
finals. Coaches are permitted to use
alternates, but cannot move a Top 7 player back and forth between singles and
doubles.
The purpose
of this rule is to prevent “stacking” – which is using a lineup where the 1-2-3
singles players and/or the 1-2 doubles teams are not lined up in proper order
of playing ability.
For many
coaches, strategy becomes a guessing game as they try to figure out which teams
they mi...
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Posted 4/22/2008 12:18:00 AM
In the last few years, I have become a big believer in
the importance of developing a theme to serve as a unifying force
during each season. This year's theme for the Delta High School girls'
team is "Lay It On The Line," which appears on our uniforms,
sweatshirts, and T-shirts. A shortened version of the theme serves as
our team chant at the end of practice or match huddles.
As a longtime yearbook advisor, I am accustomed to
working with students to create themes. For tennis, I usually work
with seniors and assistant coaches to develop possible themes. We
settled on "Lay It On The Line" for the double-meaning of giving a
total commitment to improvement as well as the imagery of a well-struck
tennis ball catching the line for a winner.
With a young team of 17 sophomores and freshmen among
our 24 players, I felt a theme that stressed making sacrifices and
giving ...
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Posted 4/11/2008 1:12:00 PM
As I begin my 32nd season as a high school tennis coach
(18 boys seasons and 14 girls seasons), I once again am trying to stick
with a three-sentence goal statement that I have used for almost two
decades with my teams. Our goals again, in order, are to (1) Have fun.
(2) Learn more about tennis. (3) Attempt to win matches. We never set
outcome goals such as to win conference, win sectional, or advance to
state. Those goals often are beyond the control of the players and
therefore are counter-productive. Instead, we try to make our
day-to-day tennis experience fun so that we can push each team member
to become both a better player and a better person.
Despite being a "cornfield school" of about 900 students in northern
Delaware County, we have won more than 140 straight conference matches
and have advanced to the state finals in both team and individual
competition in both boys and girls tennis. Those a...
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