Season Opener!

It is Tuesday, the final day of January and this weekend marks the true onset of the 2012 Winter/Spring portion of the D3 Men's Tennis Season. Each and every Tuesday throughout the next few months I will take a look at the Central Region and how the ranked schools are faring, and keep on eye on teams that I have earmarked as up and coming.

This week the feature match is clearly in Kalamazoo, Michigan where the senior laden Hornets host Kenyon College. Regardless of the outcome, this is clearly the best Zoo Team in recent years and may just be the squad that vaults Kalamazoo back into national prominence. The only other match up of ranked Central Region foes is here in Cedar Rapids where #12Coe hosts #14Eau Claire. #3Chicago hosts Elmhurst this Saturday also, and I have Elmhurst(along with Carthage, Ohio Northern, LaCrosse, and Monmouth) as Teams that have the roster potential to vault into the top 15 ranking slots. #15St Thomas hosts LaCrosse.

Central Region Rankings 11/3/11

1 WashU
2 Kenyon
3 Chicago
4 Depauw
5 Case Western
6 Denison
7 Gustavus
8 Whitewater
9 Kalamazoo
10 Carleton
11 Luther
12 Coe
13 Grinnell
14 Eau Claire
15 St Thomas

Others: Carthage, Elmhurst, Ohio Northern, LaCrosse, Wabash, Oshkosh, Monmouth, Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana, Earlham, Hope, Cornell

Ring Ceremony

This past Friday, Coe hosted a Ring Ceremony to honor our All-Conference athletes from the 2010-2011 school year. The event was held in our Alumni House on campus and attended by the athletes being honored, coaches, President Phifer and some noted alums. Forgive me; the pictures below do not do justice to the elegance of the room/ceremony. Our Athletic Director, John Chandler, presented the rings. Victor Khristenko, Scott Stegemann, Elliot Rausa, Hannah Jensen, Michelle Schupbach and Tai Lucero all received rings for their on-court performance! Coach Rodgers and I were in attendance and quite proud! Coach Rob held down the Racquet Center, and monitored the remaining challenge matches still on court. Speaking of challenge matches.....Coach Rob played against our top men, finished the weekend with an undefeated record and perched at the top of our line-up!

A typical day in the Racquet Center...

Apologies for the quality (or lack thereof) of the picture, but the view from the tennis player's lounge, and my day thus far, reminded me why I'm at Coe. I started my morning on court with Molly Garber (Fiala), a recent All-American graduate. She is a nurse at Mercy Hospital here in Cedar Rapids. While warming up (which only takes one ball with Molly), we discussed Australian Open play, and each of our late evenings because of it. Followed that up with some fairly high quality ball-striking and set-play! Before her departure for work, she commented on how much she gained from her experience as a tennis player at Coe. She claims that no one truly knows Coach (Rodgers) until they have been a tennis player under him; he gave her life skills (and a perspective towards life in general) that she has much appreciation for. Molly also alluded to Coach's personality, and the way he treats his players as being unmatched.

I now find myself grabbing a snack in the player's lounge, with the view pictured above. Another alum and local realtor, Steve Eden, is playing against our top Kohawk, Michelle Schupbach, on the first court. Fellow teammates, Jackie Pedersen and Elizabeth Hoffmann, are on the second court. Coach Rob is working with Hiroshi (a student from Japan, who came to us with a "soft tennis" background). Yehya Abdullah, another alum, on on the fourth court!

Up next: I teach a max fitness class at 1 (Hannah Jensen, also a recent alum and standout at Coe, will be joining my class). Back on court with Coach Rodgers at 2. Day off for the men playing challenge matches this weekend, but I suspect many of them will find the courts this afternoon nonetheless.

Proud to be a Kohawk!

My invitation to Mitchell Louis....

Given our stress on physicality and fitness, the men were on court at 7:15 this morning for running. Coach Rob arose to administer. As shown, all 3 coaches (and Emmie!) had caffeine in hand. Coffee does have nutritional benefits, and E & I treated self to Coke to celebrate the before school activity for her. Following the sprints, Mike Janssen joined Emmie for push-ups!

To further emphasize our conditioning, Victor (Rocky!) pictured below splitting wood while exiled over the Winter Break. Reality: Helping a local alum!

Finally, and once again, for Mitchell, I DO have a soft side.....

.....the Kohawk Men never see it though!

Alumni Mail

Editor's note....Mitchell Louis played at Coe during the early and mid-1990's, in what he describes as "the best six or eight years of my life". Mitchell was a member of Conference Championship teams in 1995 and 1996. He was Captain of the Kohawks in 1997. He apparently has a disagreement with the current conditioning of the Team. I have posted his email, and my response

WOW! Your totally getting soft on me. I just read your blog from the January 16 and in that post not anywhere did I see sprints or conditioning runs. Heck where did that silly 2 mile run go that if you didn’t finish under 15 mins you couldn’t even hit a ball. That damn thing killed me and not to mention Rex and Shane too! I can remember both of them visiting the trash can down by the high jump mats.

Your totally getting soft Coach from an alumni point of view. Run them till they ask for their mommies or puke whatever comes first!

I hope to get down to a Super Saturday of tennis this year and cheer you guys on.

Good luck with the season and don’t forget the running!!!!!

MITCHELL LOUIS(97)


Wrong......we have changed the Conditioning aspect of the program.....lots more core and cardio and plyos....Coach Kris is in charge. She had 3 puke on each of the first 3 days. I still plan on having the fittest team on court every match. She has invited you to come and join one of her "easy" workouts any time you feel up to it!

Your boys from Eau Claire may kill us, but it won't be because of fitness!

Which, btw, would be a fine match for you to catch....you can be home to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday....if you Packer fans are watching FB anymore!

See you soon!

COACH RODGERS

Campus Showdown! Kohawk Happenings!

This past weekend, Coe hosted our annual Women's Campus Showdown. Pictured above, Coach Rodgers and Coach Kris observing play (photography props to Coach Rob for the artistic shot!). Junior and top Kohawk, Michelle Schupbach, captured the Title with a win over first year standout, Jackie Pedersen, in the final. Upon completion of the compass draw, the ladies jumped back on court for some doubles action.

The men wrapped up their first week of practice, and are working hard to embrace some changes to our on and off court philosophies! I very much enjoyed yesterday's practice in which Coach Rodgers, Coach Rob and myself were all able to play in to the doubles!

Coach Rob's mother recently came to visit from CA. She is a USPTA teaching pro herself and really enjoyed (I believe!) seeing her son in his role here at Coe. We received our first snow storm on Day 2 of her visit; considering the fact that she did not see snow until the age of 25, Becky handled the weather just fine. Pictured below is Coach Kris and Becky out to lunch (with Coach Rob) at Kaffein downtown Cedar Rapids. Nick Bata is the owner and literally cooks healthy, delicious food, out of a closet. He and his father Tony Bata, the Director of Academic Information Technology at Coe, are in the process of opening a restaurant as well. Thanks to Becky for spending some time with us, attending one of my fitness classes, and most of all, keeping Coach Rob in line!

Finally, a snapshot from the whiteboard in our tennis player lounge.....

Looking forward to the week ahead; ALWAYS new challenges to face and conquer!

Men's Practice Begins!

Spring season got off to a start one week early this year, and Coach Rodgers set the tone before the first practice with some high expectations for the Kohawk Men. Professionalism (on and off the court), commitment to the team, match performance (and the goal of beating higher-ranked teams, especially on the road), mental and emotional toughness, singles and (especially) doubles tactics, and, of course, health and fitness were emphasized. There's less than a month before the first matches of the season (a home double-header February 4th) and the guys look prepared to put in the work toward making this a successful season!

OZ Picks

Love the Australian Open! Why?

1) The beautiful weather of Melbourne is usually in stark contrast to January in Iowa
2) Not much live tennis(if any) has been seen since the Davis Cup Final in Spain in early December.
3) Coincides almost exactly with the onset of the opening of the Spring(Winter?) Kohawk Tennis Season!

My off the cuff predictions for winners? Victoria Azarenka and Andy Murray. Why?

1) Because anyone can predict Djokovic and Serena.
2) Because Nadal, Clijsters, Serena, Federer, Wozniacki have all been hit with nagging injuries
3) Everyone is picking Kvitova
4) It is about time that Azarenka and Murray win a Grand Slam. Might as well be now!

Enjoy!

Only 9 Days

Only nine days until the very first practice of 2012! Something new this year; an extra week of pre-season training. Why? Guess because I am skeptical of the physical condition of the Team after almost a month long break from Coe! Coach Kris has been finalizing her plans to remedy any conditioning lag. And, the extra time can be well spent on doubles skills and putting pairs together. Coach Rob's Holiday Assignment! Doubles always seems to be one of the top priorities for each season!

By the way, a great time to visit Cedar Rapids and Coe. The weather has been outstanding; temperatures have been in the 50's and projected to be in the mid or upper 40's the next five days. No snow!

Finally, a heartfelt congratulations to 1992 alum and longtime bachelor holdout, Kevin Buckner, as he ended 2011 in style, marrying the former Nicole Eisele on December 30th in Denver, CO. Kevin played for me as a junior player in Columbus, OH, as a collegiate player at the University of Evansville, and concluded his college tennis days as a Kohawk. Shane Abraham(1994) served as Best Man and gave an outstanding verbal toast to Kevin & Nicole.

Practices will be daily from 3:30pm onward. All are welcome to stop by!

Nike Apparel

Kohawk Tennis Nike apparel is available via the following links: Men's Gear - Women's Gear

Simply follow the instructions on the forms. The end date is January 13th, not Dec 25th (as stated on the forms).

Welcome to 2012

Happy New Year!

-- Rivers go places. Sometimes they move fast, sometimes they move slow. The power of a river is such that it can accomplish great things by consistently applying effort across a span of time.


Above, the tranquil, meandering Rio Grande River flows out of Santa Elena Canyon in Texas. Below, the Rio Grande exits Mariscal Canyon some 30 miles later, showing the strength of its power with the deep and steep canyons it has cut in the land with the United States on the left, and Mexico on the right.



Here is hoping that each of you begins 2012 with plans to achieve great things of your own by consistently applying effort.


I know that is what we will be doing for Kohawk Tennis here at Coe College


Happy New Year!