Tuesday, October 6, 2015

A very special guest

Hello out there!

I hope you're enjoying the shift from summer to fall half as much as I am.  Here in the Whitman bubble, we've had ideal conditions to focus on learning from the fall tournament and getting right to work on those things that we need to improve on to have our best season.  Of course, our thoughts and hearts go out to those around the world who dwell on less happy problems; notably the community in Roseburg, OR, not far from Lindsey and Hanna's homes.



That being said, here it is tennis and school, or school and tennis depending on the time of day.  From the ITA regionals and our first weeks of practice, I knew our team has loads of talent and competes with incredible heart.  But how do we build on these hallmarks of Whitman tennis?  Well, the answer is we work hard to identify the areas we can improve and set our minds each day to being better.  Such a simple model for improvement is far from easy to implement as a tennis player and then to integrate each individuals needs into the team is even harder.  So, I decided to bring back friend, coach, and somatic psychologist Morgan Shepherd to work with the team.  My goal was to have Morgan help each player clarify what she needs to take her game to the next level while guiding the team towards a common goal they can work for in this next phase of training.

Morgan is brilliant at this as we did team practices, individual lessons and meetings over the four days he spent with us.  Maddy and I learned a ton about each player, some made some technical breakthroughs, and everyone honed their mental skills on court which showed in the last practice when we played doubles and singles sets with our usual toughness, but also a poise and consistency that will serve us incredibly well going forward.

It was gratifying to see how open and engaged everyone was at a time when our mid semester break, midterms and the off season are all within sight.  On the contrary, all I saw was focused desire to use the time we had with MoShep to learn and improve.  Each player had a different experience, while the team gained insight to where we have been, and where we're going.

So where are we going? and what is the answer to how good this team can be?  For me, it was certainly clarified this weekend and I'm now more convinced than ever that we have the talent to be as good in D3 as we want to be and each day any one of our 10 players can be the best out there.  The level of engagement and understanding this weekend really took shape and it is clear that we can do special things with this group as long as everyone keeps doing the work, maintaining balance and enjoying each other....so if you know Jenna, Katrina, Allie, Hanna, Jenna, Lindsey, Cello, Mary, Lori and Jana, then you know we're in for an amazing ride!

I must extend a very huge thank you to all of you who have supported the Whitman Women's Tennis team; we are just getting into fall fundraising, but through the Tennis and Wine camp and generous donations already made this year we were able to fund Morgan's visit; we hope to bookend the offseason by having him back for a few days in January of continuing the current work and focus on doubles, if that is something you're passionate about making sure happens, I'd love to talk to you about how you can help.

Thanks also to all of the alums and families who have paved the way with your experience here at Whitman and with contributing to the current team's wonderful attitude and spirit with your love and support through the years and at home, Maddy and I couldn't ask for a better environment or group of people to work with.

That's all for the fall season, talk to you soon.

Coach John