It
was a chilly fall morning- the morning that marked the beginning of the end of
my high school tennis career, state tennis. I was nervous and excited, but at
the same time I was sad. It was bittersweet to see all of my hard work and
dedication come to its final execution. My four years on the team had been a
roller coaster of an experience but it would all be defined by the tournament
we were about to play. Our team was definitely one of the strongest teams in
the tournament so all we really had to do was bring our A game. Our biggest
competitors had two of their girls not even qualify for state so we were at a
great advantage. We had confidence and assurance that we would undoubtedly take
first place, especially due to our advantage.
On
the first day of the tournament, however, we did not play as expected. My
partner and I lost one of our matches, putting us in the consolation bracket so
that the highest we could get was 5th place, one of our singles
players lost both of her matches so she was out of the tournament, our other
singles player was also put in the consolation bracket after a tough defeat,
and our other doubles team thankfully played well enough for the rest of us and
won both of their matches. That evening, we lost all hope. We just wanted the
tournament to be over because we knew there was no way we could win after
playing like we just had. We literally had handed over the tournament to our
biggest competitors.
After
seeing the looks of defeat on our girls, I decided that we needed to do a
little “digging” and change our attitudes. Being the senior on our team, I
called us all together for a little meeting. I told the girls that we couldn’t
give up and that we should just work our hardest to try and get second place (a
task that would still be hard to do with our current position in the
tournament). It was a really hard talk to have, especially because I was so
heartbroken and upset, but I couldn’t let us give the entire tournament away so
easily. That night, we all went home with looks of defeat. We wouldn’t talk to
anybody and we all just wanted to cry. (I’ll admit I did)
On
the second, and last, day of the tournament, we all came in with a new outlook.
We came to play hard, play smart, and have fun. We had no hope of winning so we
all just wanted to end our season with a fun day. My partner and I were sent to
a different site than the rest of our team so we had no idea what was going on
with the other girls. Our first match of the day would probably be the climax
of my entire tennis career.
We
began the match playing so horribly I cannot even describe it in words…you just
had to be there. We were losing 2-7 and if we lost that match, all hope of even
getting second place would be gone. After the sore turned to 2-7 we went to
talk to our coach and I was literally fuming. After a few harsh and profane
words, my partner, Keli, and I were not going to let another point slip from
our hands. We went out there and everything just started to magically click. We
won 7 straight games, finishing the match with an AWESOME win at 9-7! After
that match, we didn’t look back. We won our next two (tough) matches with ease
and confidence and came out of the tournament in 5th place, the
highest we could possibly get after our loss the previous day.
When
we got back to the main site to watch our teammates, we were all so proud of
each other. We hadn’t let the previous day get in the way of us having a fun
day and it had paid off. My doubles team got 5th, our other doubles team
got 1st, and our other qualifying singles player got 9th.
We all gathered together and hugged and cheered because we were so proud of
ourselves for pulling ourselves together and bringing our A game that day. We
still had no hope to win, but honestly, we didn’t even care (that much).
A
minute later, I vividly remember our coach gathering us together to tell us how
proud he was of how we played. Unexpectedly, however, the words that came out
of his mouth were, “guys, I think we won the tournament by one point.” The way
he said it, though, was with such question and uncertainty that we were all
confused. After we got over the shock of those few words, we began to scream
and hug and were filled with uncontainable happiness
I
do not remember ever being so proud in my life. In just a few hours, we went
from having our defeated and disappointed demeanors to being the happiest we
had ever been. We literally had no hope, but we promised each other that we
would play our best and it worked. It took a lot of hard work and perseverance
to get through that second day of the tournament but the outcome was well worth
it all.
Hi Natalie, Thanks for the wonderful posts. I really enjoyed your descriptions of meeting Giovanka. Great commentary. And it sounds like you had great conversations and still have a lot to talk about. I am pleased. I also loved the above description about your tennis experiences at the state finals. This was well done. Don't forget to identify the actual location. This helps to create the scene. But I really liked this.
ReplyDeletedw
Playing tennis myself in high school, I know watching your teammates play in a big match is the epitome of angst and nervousness. You do all you can do, but the most you can ever contribute is 3 points. For that I never thought of tennis as a team sport, except my partner. But congrats on the win! We never got passed the second round of the CIF tournament, so that's really awesome!
ReplyDeleteNatalie,
ReplyDeleteGreat sketch! I've grown more and more interested in tennis as I've gotten older. It's a sport that truly requires a lot of endurance! I watched the Isner v. Mahut match that spanned three days...incredible.
Suggestions for making this sketch longer:
1) Your sketch almost reads like a script for a short film covering a great sports comeback! You could expand some 'scenes' to build suspense for the reader. For example, when you and your partner were down 2-7, you could spend time talking about how "something incredible began to happen" and slowly build up the comeback game by game, so the reader is kept in suspense!
2) When you brought your team together for a pep-talk, was there anything in your life that influenced the words you said? Was there a great speech or an inspiring movie that you channeled to give your younger teammates confidence in you as their senior? I'd be interested to hear more about that! It's difficult to be a motivating figure when it feels like nothing is going right.
3) Maybe you could write a conclusion that expands on your message that "nothing in life is guaranteed". Your team was the expected favorite, but you had to play your hearts out to make it happen. Has this experience helped you remember this theme when future endeavors seemed impossible?
Hope these help!
-Karl
This sounds like it could be the screenplay for an inspirational tennis movie, comparable to Miracle or Remember the Titans. The big pep-talk the night before the big matches (a-la 300) really could have come straight from a movie. And then the way you turned around the match from being down 2-7 to winning 9-7. Overall a very cinematic story.
ReplyDelete