The high school sports season started with practice on Wednesday….if there is ever a year for Kevin to make varsity, this seems to be it.
1) Six seniors graduated from the varsity last year, so, there are spots open
2) Unlike other years, he’s been working at it over the summer. Reluctantly, I made the contacts to get him started on private lessons again and they’ve been really good for his form. I wish he would put in more time on his own just working on form but he has been hitting with friends also. (in the you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water department….when we left for Europe we had set up a lesson for Kevin on Thursday while we were gone….made a list of things to do before he left, top thing TOP thing on that list is “tennis lesson, 1:30, Thu”. Of course, 6:45 pm in Barcelona, got a call from the coach wondering where Kevin was…I’m sure Suzanne will tell you there was steam coming out of my ears over that!
3) He looks better out there; I’ve watched him a few times in the open tennis events down at the high school and he is more than competitive. I am still slightly confused how one of the tallest kids on the team can’t hit the ball harder (some of the girls were putting more ‘oomph’ on the ball than him)…..but, he’s accurate and doing fine. I guess.
Wednesday was mostly just paperwork…they played some and he reported he did well. Received this email (to the team) last night
“I have completed a challenge match system and format but it is a little complicated. I will outline the process which was constructed by the MHSAA. Right now it constitutes approximately 110 hours of play just to fully complete the challenge matches. This is because almost 40 athletes have committed to try out. Obviously we don't have that kind of time so cuts will happen quickly with the understanding that after the varsity lineup is set athletes may challenge the lowest flight of either doubles or singles. “
The first matches are next Wednesday…..told Kevin last night he would have a pretty good idea early Thursday on what his prospects were for making varsity since the coach, doing this, had to line up the pairings in roughly the order he would predict them to be. So he was pretty happy this morning, he’s matched up playing doubles with Kyle, a senior who seems to be about in the same place as Kevin. Speculation has been that Kyle/Kevin would be the 4th doubles on the team……it seems to trending that way now. He is off this morning playing the first of his challenge matches (he was also happy, it looked to be a walkover)…….
We’ll see.
(edit. of course, right after I type this Kevin comes home. They had 5 match points but lost the challenge match. if you can’t win then everything I typed above doesn’t matter)
