Last weekend my Saturday started on the hectic side. I had to force my kids out of bed, pickup my son’s baseball uniform, feed the boys, get my haircut at 9:30am, take one son to T-Ball, leave, take my other son to a T-Ball field 20 minutes away, go back and get the first one, get the second one, feed them again and then play my 1pm match at Kinetix.
I got to Kinetix and learned that our #1 singles player went to the wrong location but fortunately was in route now with an ETA of about 25 minutes. We were light on available players for this match and none of our regular singles guys were available. I was reviewing the lineup with a teammate before the match and he recommended that Hap play singles because he was equally good at doubles and singles.
Relieved, I informed Hap that he’d be playing singles as I was writing out the lineup and his response to me was, “I’ve never played singles in my life.” OK then… We juggled the lineup some more and then I screamed “Yahtzee” err, we gave it our best. Brandon Dinh, our #1 singles player du jour showed up at 1:27pm – 12 minutes past when the rules say he can be defaulted for lateness. Our opponents fortunately did not default him but they did enforce a 3 game penalty so we started #1 singles 0-3. My assumption was that we’d win 2nd and 3rd dubs and take #2 singles narrowly escaping with a victory. So here’s how it went –we won 2nd and 3rd doubles which both finished in about 90 minutes. At #2 dubs, Eric Markowitz and Hap P. won a fairly straight forward match 3&3 – thank goodness because Eric tweaked his wrist warming up with me. During the match I could see that his opponent John Keefrider was playing well but then I heard one of our opponents on #2 doubles saying, “if that’s how it is why don’t we just shake hands now.” They managed to get past the concern but that’s a good indication of how seriously we all take our Saturday afternoon tennis.
At #3 dubs, I played with Ed Daou. Despite having a volley glance off my racket and smack me in the face we won 1&3 – hot lips and all. Great playing Ed – I was impressed. In fact, I told him after the first set, “gee Ed, you really play well with all of the guys on the team, you have neat handwriting and you dress nice. That’s why everyone wants to be your friend (the scary thing is that I actually said this).
After the match I learned that our #2 singles lamb lost 1&2 in a quick match. We were overmatched and truth be told, Kinetix has some good players on their roster. We faced an uphill battle at #1 doubles and lost in straight sets but we were trying to guarantee ourselves 3 individual courts and thus the team match. I was totally bumming about the match, when Brandon Dinh walked off after his match against a quality opponent and good guy Jim Vesci Jr. I asked Brandon how he did and nonchalantly he said, “won, 5&1.” You rock Brandon – because of that the team won and we are still alive!
Here is part two of my tirade about our level of commitment this year. Facts are facts, when we formed the team in 2002 we were tennis junkies with girlfriends and wives. In 2009 we have a lots of young children, families with activities and all sorts of other responsibilities. Being available Saturday mornings for tennis matches in May and June suddenly isn’t so easy. But, we still have a strong team and we must never give up, throw in the towel or allow ourselves to lose without a suitable fight. It’s not as simple as “make yourself available” or is it? In the days when we had more passion I recall a cooler filled to the top with ice with all sorts of drinks for every practice. Where did those delightful beverages go? We have the month of June left to put up a fight that we can feel good about until next season. Winning is a catalyst for winning and vice versa. We must rise above our current frustrations and keep our eye on our stated goals which are to advance to Districts. To do that we must practice and be available for matches. We must sacrifice and the small improvements will enable us to become a cohesive and effective tennis team.
The Drunken Fools put out a nice lineup vs. Great Valley this weekend. GV won 4-1 which is impressive because they had to get their guys out to face a tough team or they would have lost. They did and they won a competitive match. We must follow this example. We must strive to be the best we can be.
I will finish on a personal note since I started off that way. On the way to the match we passed the Audobon/West Norriton fair at Route 363 & Egypt road. My boys got excited and I told them that if they behaved we could stop by the fair on the way home. They market part of it as having the flavor of “Mykonos by the Sea.” I’ve been to Mykonos and in no way do those beautiful beaches remind me of carnies in wife beaters taking overpriced tickets for old rides cranking Joan Jett’s “Do you want to touch.” On the positive side, my youngest son said with a big grin on the way in to the fair passing the ice cream man, the large stuffed animals and some of the rides, “this is the best day of my life!”
