I finally did it. I finally made it to Nationals. I have been playing league tennis with the United States Tennis Association for the past 12 years. My team has made it to Districts and Sectionals. But it always stopped there. This past season, I merged my team from Natick with the one from Weymouth, and we created quite a group of fantastic players. But more importantly, they are a group of fantastic people. We got along well. We enjoyed being together. We played on and off the court. Everyone dug deep and did what they needed to do, when they needed to do it.
It is a long road to Nationals. First, we needed to win our division. Then, we played the Districts and Sectionals -- two grueling tournaments where stomachs do somersaults because it means so much to you.
My top singles player wasn’t able to compete at Sectionals in August, so we were on a mission. We wanted to win for Jessica. Fast forward to the final match at Sectionals. We were tired after having played for two days straight in brutal heat, but we were more hungry for the win. One doubles team came off the court victorious. Another doubles team won.
By then, I was in tears with excitement. My head was swimming, but I had to concentrate on my own battle. My other singles player lost. One other doubles team lost. I was the final match. Admittedly, due to the overall win-loss record for all of the teams, we needed one of the matches to win. But we wanted to win the cup outright and take 3 of the 5 individual matches. I lost the first set and took the second. It was up to a 10-point tie breaker. I found the edge. I hit the ball over the net one more time than she did. I won the 3rd point. I was finally going to Nationals.
My point? Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about the game of tennis and about competing in tennis. I had a goal. I knew how to get there. Maybe it took time, but I did it. The quality of one's life is not dependent on external situations. Every life situation is an opportunity for growth. Try to learn something from each experience and then to do it better the next time.
My top singles player wasn’t able to compete at Sectionals in August, so we were on a mission. We wanted to win for Jessica. Fast forward to the final match at Sectionals. We were tired after having played for two days straight in brutal heat, but we were more hungry for the win. One doubles team came off the court victorious. Another doubles team won.
By then, I was in tears with excitement. My head was swimming, but I had to concentrate on my own battle. My other singles player lost. One other doubles team lost. I was the final match. Admittedly, due to the overall win-loss record for all of the teams, we needed one of the matches to win. But we wanted to win the cup outright and take 3 of the 5 individual matches. I lost the first set and took the second. It was up to a 10-point tie breaker. I found the edge. I hit the ball over the net one more time than she did. I won the 3rd point. I was finally going to Nationals.
My point? Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about the game of tennis and about competing in tennis. I had a goal. I knew how to get there. Maybe it took time, but I did it. The quality of one's life is not dependent on external situations. Every life situation is an opportunity for growth. Try to learn something from each experience and then to do it better the next time.
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