In our first year of operation our team was ranked number 3 out of 30+ teams in the DFW area at the 4.0 level. Much of the credit goes to our Captain, Brad Parrish (seated third from left) and Co-Captain, Steve Jacobson (standing in the back) for working on the merger with me, organizing practice, recruiting, working with our club leadership at The Courts at Gabe Nesbitt Park and setting the lines for matches. Here are some of the highlights of the fun gag awards.
Biggest Winner goes to Gregg Mills for 7-0 undefeated regular season and 2-1 record in the post season Dallas City Championship tournament. One of his wins was with Greg Marsh against the eventual champion, Fretz/Noel (our only team point against Fretz) and another was a tough three set victory in singles against the number two seed team.
Sorry Gregg for the "fuzzy" nature of the picture, but you move so fast, even sitting down.
Best Scrapper goes to David Bostwick for the number of tough three set matches he encountered in both singles and doubles. When our number one singles player got injured, Dave stepped up and inspired us all.
I for one am looking forward to playing some singles with Dave over the winter.
Most Improved goes to Kevin Vonderschmidt for breaking into the line up at third doubles line late in the regular season and winning all the way up the ranks to include a regular season win in second singles and post season win in first doubles.
Apologize again for the "fuzzy" image, but it's no surprise that two faster guys on the team are sitting next to each other. Better bring your wheels when you play Kevin because he gets to a lot of tennis balls.
Most Tenacious goes to Richard Cheng for his ability to be patient and find a way to win in singles. He's a singles ninja and holds the record in the USTA 4.0 Dallas League for the longest match against Brookhaven this season - a 2 hour 46 minute three set victory against the most unorthodox (being kind here) player many of us have seen in a long time.
Richard was a great add to the team and could not have been possible without our very own lucky charm - his friend Jason!
The Lucky Charm Award goes to Jason Quon for number of wins by default.
That's Jason holding up a rubber horse shoe in his left hand. Expect big things from Jason in the spring season and in the 40+ league this winter.
Finally, what would a team be without passion? Passion comes in many forms. Some have a quiet burning in their gut to succeed but never show emotion in their body language, e.g., Roger Federer. Others show emotion with a grimace or a mild look to the heavens after missing a shot. And then there are those who go off the rails, come unglued, go ballistic. They are the modern reincarnation of Ilie Nastase and Jimmy Connors in the 70s an John McEnroe in the 80s - down right explosive and a key reason why tennis of that era was so much fun to watch.
Most Explosive goes to Greg Marsh for his passion for the game and ability to motivate himself to victory with vocabulary known only to leading Psychologists and pinpoint projectile trajectories with tennis rackets only few can dream of and many fences tremble in anticipation.
Yes, that's a hand grenade in his right hand! But he throws a nasty big left handed serve too! John McEnroe would be proud!
Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure. On a personal note, as you all know, I have been bumped up to 4.5 and will miss our matches together. Looking forward to practicing though. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Honukkah and Wonderful New Year.
