Women's Pre-Season Begins!

Today the Kohawk Women had their first day of practice, which included team practice from 9:30am-11:30, individual sessions with coaches from either 12:30-1:30 or 1:30-2:30, a team meeting from 2:30-3, and finally a team practice from 3-4. Needless to say, it was a long, grinding, and hopefully productive day of tennis. And tomorrow is much the same! The practice schedule will taper off by the end of the week, but we hope to get some quality work done on the limited amount of time left before opening the season with conference dual matches on September 3rd.

Everything actually kicked off yesterday, when everyone made it back (or for the first time) to Coe. The coaches held an hour long team meeting, followed by games in the evening (such as bags and apples to apples, as seen in the photos). The team also had dinner together tonight, although I neglected to snap a photo for that!

Anyway, there is a lot of work ahead for the players and coaches, but plenty of enjoyment as well--junior captains Sara and Michelle will lead an off-court team activity tomorrow night! Judging from a first day of practice that revealed improvements gained from summer practice, talented first year players hungry to compete, and a hardworking attitude from all, the Kohawks are primed for a very successful season!

Journey's End.....Fresh Start!

After almost 15 weeks, the End of Summer is here and it is time to start up another Academic Year here at Coe. That means Tennis & Coaching!

I spent the better part of the Summer in Cedar Rapids. Whether in CR or out West, my thoughts were on Kohawk Tennis and a long, lengthy process of Program-evaluation and self-evaluation. I arrived at some interesting conclusions and there will be some subtle, and not so subtle, changes made in the Kohawk Tennis Teams.

It is GREAT to have Rob back on campus, and I know Kris, Rob, and I are eagerly awaiting meeting with the Women's Team this Sunday and jumping right on court Monday morning. We have a roster full of talent and upside, and it will be our job to coax that potential into high quality tennis. It will be a fun journey and I am eager to begin, and equally eager to discover where we end!

Summer in SoCal

Well it's been quite a while since I have posted here on Kohawk tennis, mostly because I have been away in California working in a non-Kohawk context. For the past 6 weeks (with a break the week of Independence Day) I have been running the junior tennis camps at the University of California at Irvine. It is similar to the Kohawk tennis from back in June, except that it is non-boarding, going from 9am-4pm, M-F. It has been a rewarding experience instructing kids of every ability level, however week after week of being on the court in the sun all day is quite draining!

Other than teaching, my summer has been filled with spending time with family and friends, and also being involved with the inaugural Michael Chang Tennis Classic. The tournament raises money for the Chang Family Foundation as well as Japanese tsunami relief through the Salvation Army. My mom was the tournament director, so naturally my entire family volunteered to help out.

The Saturday prior to the tournament, there was a two-hour kick-off clinic held for all ages--I was one of 8 coaches on 7 courts with 130+ participants! It was a bit intimidating to be introduced by Michael next to several far more esteemed coaches, such as Carl Chang and Elliott Telscher (not to mention Michael himself). However, I ended up having a fun time with all of the participants, and think I held my own and represented Kohawk Tennis well.

The following weekend (July 29-31), I ran one of the tournament sites Friday, lost on the 1st round of the Men's Open Doubles draw Saturday (partnered with a fellow camp coach who asked me to play at the last minute), and then worked at the main site all day Sunday, helping run the tournament desk as well as training and managing the volunteer ball-kids for the open singles finals. Funny to come full circle after having been a ball-kid for Michael at a tournament he won at UCLA back in 2000 which was actually his final ATP Tour title!

The caliber of play at the event was pretty high for a first year charity tournament, especially in the open divisions. In the men's singles final, 2003 Kalamazoo champion and former touring pro, Robert Yim, defeated 2009 Australian Open Boys Doubles champion and current Fresno State player, Francis Alcantara, in a 2.5 hour 3 set match match--the ball kids were thrilled, but definitely exhausted by the end! Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Alcantara, he still had his semi and final men's doubles matches ahead of him, the latter of which finished around 10:30 pm. And actually the last match to finish was the men's 3.5 doubles final, in which Michael's dad, Joe, lost in 3 sets!

It was a long and challenging weekend for everyone involved, but worth it to work with Michael Chang and his wonderful family, not to mention for a good cause. The photo below was taken as the lights were being shut off on us on our last day. Sorry for the dimness, but hopefully you can make out Michael and his wife Amber on the left and me in my Kohawk gear on the right. And that's my lovely mom in the middle in white!

Anyway, this is the final week of the UCI camp and I am looking forward to coming back to Coe next Monday. And I can't believe the Kohawk women start practice in a couple of weeks!

Iowa Open Recap

The Iowa Open for 2011 was successfully completed Sunday afternoon. Five days of hot, humid weather, no rain, and lots of tennis matches. And a lot of past, present, and we hope, future Kohawks played. A complete(?) listing of participants below.

Alums....

Nikki Kuehl, Megan Fiala, Rusty Graff, Joey Lankelma, Tom Jennings, Scott Stegemann, Yehya Abdullah, Steve Eden.

Current Players....

Jackie Pedersen, Jordan Ferree, Sara Ohlman, Elizabeth Hoffmann, Curtis Newman, Jeff Damisch, Daken Starkenburg,

Coaches and Players who Train at Coe......

Kris Diehl, Chuck Lampe, Joey White, Riley Galbraith, Amina Abdullah

Curtis Newman won the Men's doubles with Joey White, Coach Kris won the Mixed doubles with Joey White, and Chuck Lampe won the Men's 4.0 singles. Riley
Galbraith won the B18 singles and 18 Mixed. Jackie Pedersen won the G18 Doubles

And, more good news! Women's Practice begins in three weeks on August 22nd!!!!!