Milestone

Somebody asked me a question the other day about a W/L mark from a season in the 1990's. In checking for the answer, I discovered an intimidating fact(at least to me!) On March 8th, 2011, in a Women's match vs Meredith College, in sunny(hopefully) Orlando, Florida, I am going to "coach" my 900th collegiate dual match. Now technically speaking, I haven't actually "coached" that many. Mark Murphy, Kris Diehl, and soon, Rob Rye will have taken their turns driving vans and tempering emotions while I was doing the same in a different locale. All the same 900 is a big number and when I started(against Indiana State while at Evansville in September 1985) I never, ever, EVER thought I would be approaching being involved in 900 meets.

It is humbling to have had the opportunity to work with college tennis players for so long. I still sleep very restlessly during seasons, I still have to "force" myself to eat on days of matches, and I still despise losing! (speaking of which, you would think I would be used to it, having lost over 300 times!) Coaches talk about journeys, about enjoying the competition. Well, I really have. What I treasure the most has been the practices, the preparation prior to the weekend matches, watching and helping players improve their tennis games, their emotional control.

Thanks to the University of Evansville, to Coe College, to Mark, Kris, & Rob, and most of all to the hundreds of players who I have gotten to know. I cannot wait to check back in after 1000 matches, or 1100, or 1200......