The team 2021

The 2021 rendition of Newton South Girls Tennis has finally reached its conclusion. On Monday we traveled to Andover and faced the #1 seed in the North section of the MIAA Team Tennis Tournament. Though we gave it our best, we were swept by the undefeated Andover girls. The match was fair and the sportsmanship excellent. Our young and inexperienced team will learn from the loss, and we will do better in the future.

Thus ends one of the oddest seasons in memory. Its start was delayed by weeks to allow for a belated football season. We had no individual tennis tournament, and we played only half of the teams in the league, all decisions stemming from the Pandemic. It didn’t seem fair, but it was what it was. Some team veterans, noting the late start to the spring sports season and its late end (June 21!), opted out beforehand altogether. Those who opted in, however, had every opportunity to play lots of tennis and to compete against some of the strongest teams in the state.

We benefited this spring from the presence of a new junior varsity coach. Rookie Sarah Kittredge fit right in and rode with the team all the way through the state tournament (By the way, we did win a first-round match against Westford before bowing out). The varsity also benefited from the emergence of many young players: sophomores Melinda Yung and Abi Handel and ninth graders Julia Arboleda, Zoe Hong, Olivia French, Olivia Kaplan, and Eleanor Skabeev. Anchoring the team were our senior captains: Maya Zeldin, Marie Lee, and Jillian Reingold. Our best wishes go with them as they move on to college next fall.

Here’s hoping that everyone have a happy summer as the Pandemic winds down and life becomes freer. Thanks to all who played on this year’s team, varsity and junior varsity. Fare thee well…until next spring comes around.

We have now completed five weeks of our abbreviated 2021 Spring tennis season, with three weeks to go. We spent the first two weeks- seven playing days, actually- forming a squad, making cuts, playing challenge matches for varsity positions, and so forth. Then we spent three weeks playing nine times against just three teams: Westford, LS, and Waltham. Our varsity record to-date is 5-4, yet we could have won all the matches we played, so close were the results.

In truth, however, we are what the record says we are. Only two players on varsity had ever played high school tennis before this year, and fifteen of the eighteen girls on our combined varsity and JV team are nine and tenth graders. The season has provided a perfect laboratory for gaining experience, honing our skills, and expanding our knowledge base on how to play both singles and doubles. Many players nominally on the junior varsity squad have already played at least one varsity match, and are better for the experience. This year, as my athletic director frequently reminds me, we should all be grateful for having the opportunity to play at all.

In that spirit, we have designed our line-up to build for the future. The seniors, of course, have provided the perfect element of maturity and stability for the rest of the squad: many thanks to Maya, Marie, and Jillian. At the same time we have witnessed the ascendance of rising stars Abi Handel, Julia Arboleda, Melinda Yung, and Zoe Hong. If these girls receive training and play tournaments in the off-season, we could have a powerful team indeed in the future. We also have great depth at junior varsity, with girls ready to fill in whenever needed. All of this gives me hope.

In the meantime, on and on the season goes. Here’s a look at our remaining match schedule:

May 31 ( Memorial Day): 10 AM home vs. AB; be courtside at 9:30.

June 2: home vs. Bedford

June 4: home vs. AB (varsity only)

June 7: home vs. CC

June 9: at CC

June 11: Semifinals of DCL Championship at…TBD

Post-season:

• June 14-17: Practice Monday to Thursday
• Seeding Meeting: June 16
• June 16: Round 1 at TBD

Our goals remain constant: to gain more experience in competition in the challenging Dual County League; to continue working on our tennis skills at practice; to make friends and have lots of fun! So far, I believe, we have met all of these goals.

Hard to believe, but we just completed our third week of the truncated 2021 spring season, including our first week of Dual County League competition. We faced the same team, Westford Academy, three times this week. On Monday and Friday, we made the long trek north, and on Wednesday we played them at home.

As often happens, we had more junior varsity players than they, and during this Pandemic season, the junior varsity plays only the first two matches of the week, not on Friday (the girls did practice at home on Friday). Wisely, coach Kittredge used different girls on different days. All of them played well in their first exposure to high school competition.

The varsity line-up, in contrast, was stable throughout the week. Fortunately, both teams were very evenly matched in talent though the Westford players had more match play experience. No matter: we managed to win two of three matches. On Monday, when we lost 3-2, three of the five matches lasted three sets. On Wednesday at home, when we won 4-1, second doubles went to three sets, as it did on Friday in our 3-2 victory. When either winning or falling short, all the girls battled and extended matches against their opponents.

Our varsity team consists of eight players: senior captains Jillian Reingold, Maya Zeldin, and Marie Lee; ninth grade singles specialist Julia Arboleda; the sophomore doubles team of Abi Handel and Melinda Yung; and the freshman/sophomore combination of Zoe Hong and Jeanette Zhizhin. Though five of the girls had not played a single high school match before this year, and though Maya and Marie, our best singles players, were a doubles team in 2019 (our last season), they have all embraced the challenge with enthusiasm.

In prior years, to arrive at Westford at a reasonable time our girls would have been dismissed from class at 2 pm for a 2:15 bus. This year, because of the unusually late start and end to the school day, release time was 2:50 for a 3:00 bus (we left closer to 3:05 each time). On Monday we arrived back at South at 8:30. On Friday, it took us 75 minutes to get to Westford, and we returned to South at 8 pm. That seems unreasonable to me, but I suppose this is the new normal as our new schedule is now permanent. By the way, I asked the Westford players when school ended for them: 2 pm. What’s wrong with this picture? Why must South’s students suffer through an endless academic day? There must be a way to make the schedule more efficient so that it ends earlier.

Finally, a note about our junior varsity. The ten-player roster consists entirely of ninth graders! They are young and green when it comes to tennis experience, but they have lots of athletic talent and potential. Some of the junior varsity players will undoubtedly get a chance to play in some varsity matches. Both squads spend stretches of our court time practicing together, and sometimes players from JV will play singles or doubles matches against varsity combos. I’d like to think that we are all part of the same team, sharing the same destiny, rooting for each other and enjoying the time together. Best of all, just about everyone, no matter how new to tennis competition, has improved, and I am appreciative.

Steph, Carolyn, Randi, and a young coach!

It has been seven months since last I posted on this blog. In the interim, the Pandemic continued unabated for many months until, under the skillful leadership of Dr. Fauci and the new administration in Washington, vaccines became available all over the country. By now almost half of Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. Slowly but surely, life is returning to something normal.

The Pandemic, to be sure, has had wide-ranging consequences. On a minor note, in Massachusetts the MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) first cancelled football in the fall but then allowed a “fall” season of football in late winter. As a result, spring sports was postponed until April 26th, and the regular season will last until June 11th: seven weeks in all and five weeks shorter than usual. Nevertheless, we should feel fortunate to be having a season at all, truncated though it be.

Prior to April 26, we held three pre-season “clinics,” voluntary practices attended by about a dozen girls each session. Then we held tryouts on April 26 and April 27. By the end of the second day a combined varsity/junior varsity squad of eighteen girls emerged. Our team is young: three seniors, three sophomores, and twelve ninth graders. Our captains are seniors Maya Zeldin, Marie Lee, and Jillian Reingold. They are the sole returnees from our 2019 team, the last season before the Pandemic cancelled 2020 spring tennis. I am fortunate to have such mature and talented leaders.

I am also glad to have the able assistance of JV coach Sarah Kittredge. Sarah was set to begin last spring when the bad news came. She is making up for lost time now by sharing her tennis experience and knowledge with our varsity and junior varsity players.

And the girls? For the most part, they are young, inexperienced, but enthusiastic in the extreme. For the first time in many years we have not one USTA tournament player at the top of the line-up. The going may be rough in the Dual County League, the Commonwealth’s strongest conference in tennis. But this year we are playing for the love of the game and the friendship of our teammates. We will measure our success by how much we advance our skills and knowledge. In the process, the coaches and the captains will help forge a team identity insofar as we can. Sleepovers and team dinners are probably out for now as it is unlikely that all the girls can be fully vaccinated before the season’s end (curiously, some already are!). Still, through our time shared on the courts over the course of the season, I hope that we all develop as players and coaches and human beings. We are on our way.

Back for my thirtieth year as girls’ head coach!

• Team members should pay their user fees, online or by check. Follow the instructions at Family ID.
• Here is our regular season schedule:April 26-May 7: Tryouts/Practice/Formation of varsity and JV teams; protocols to follow.
• May 10: first match at Westford
• May 12: home vs. Westford
• May 14: at Westford (varsity only/JV practices at South)
• May 17: at LS
• May 19: home vs. LS
• May 21: at LS (varsity only/JV practices at South)
• May 24: home vs. Waltham
• May 26: at Waltham
• May 28: home vs. Waltham (varsity only/JV practices at South)
• May 31: Memorial Day: home vs. AB
• June 2: at AB
• June 4: home vs. AB (varsity only/JV practices at South)
• June 7: home vs. CC
• June 9: at CC
• June 11: home vs. CC (junior varsity and varsity): End of regular seasonPost-season: Who knows?

  Garden City Cup vs. North: doubtful.

In happier times.

At this start of the 2020-2021 school year, I want to extend my greetings to all of you, both to those who played on the team in 2019 and those who intended to try out in 2020. The Coronavirus, unfortunately, skuttled our plans and deprived us of the fun we would have had together. Here’s hoping that each of you has maintained good health all the while.

Now that the academic year has begun, however unusually, it’s time to start imagining spring tennis in 2021. Will it happen, or will the virus once again ground our dreams? It depends on so many things, from how fall and winter sports go to how safe school itself turns out to be, especially when you return to the building. Though I pray that the pandemic abates and that treatments present themselves soon, nothing is for certain. You can do your part in minimizing the effect of Covid-19 by wearing masks in public and maintaining social distancing. Already, several high schools in the area have shut down because of foolish student behavior. Attending a kegger with fifty classmates during a pandemic demonstrates a profound lack of common sense!

Tennis, on the other hand, is reasonably safe if you play outside. You must, of course, keep your distance and wear masks both coming and going. I’d avoid driving to and from the courts together as well.  I try to play three or four times a week outside; this winter, however, I will not play indoors unless the pandemic has passed. Also consider maintaining your conditioning through a mix of aerobic and anaerobic activity. It’s not as much fun to do by yourself, and I sorely miss my club, BSC Newton…so it goes, alas. Working out, even when alone, makes me feel good afterward. You might also find some conditioning classes online.

Most importantly, see if you can maintain your academic focus in these trying times. I consider myself fortunate in having retired from teaching well before the pandemic arrived. My style of English class relied on forming a cohesive group in the classroom as well as my working one-on-one with students during free blocks and J-blocks. For me, providing a stimulating class for my students was my way of paying them back for the hard work I demanded of them. I can’t imagine how I could have pulled that off online. But you and your teachers have to try!

Best wishes and stay safe.

The other shoe has finally dropped: On Monday, April 20th, Governor Baker announced that the Commonwealth’s students would not be returning to school on May 4th as scheduled. Though online education will continue this spring semester, the buildings will remain closed so that students and teachers avoid exposure to the Coronavirus. A few days later the MIAA made it official: spring sports had been cancelled.

I wasn’t surprised. By Monday it had become clear that the pandemic had not slowed down in early April, as hoped, but was just peaking this week. Schools could have opened only if the number of cases in the state had by now not only reached a plateau but headed downward. No such luck, alas, and we all will have to live in social isolation for the foreseeable future.

Needless to say, I felt a great sadness at the news. For one thing, I wouldn’t get to work again with my senior tri-captains: Dorra Guermazi, Mia Shursky, and Olga Zhizhin. They would have done a great job in building team unity and keeping spirits high over the long season. Dorra had ambitions of once again challenging for the state singles championship. She was a Globe and Herald All-Scholastic for the last two years, having reached the sectional semifinal as a sophomore and the final round last year before falling to the eventual state champion. Olga and Mia, seasoned doubles players, were both aiming to play singles this year, and they had worked hard in the off-season to reach this goal. To add to this disappointment, the culmination of their senior year, usually a joyous if bittersweet time, will be muted at best. Events like graduation will have to be virtual.

Let’s salute our captains, and their teammates as well, for the dreams that they sustained since mid-March, when spring tennis was first postponed, days before we were set to begin. Twenty-five girls had signed up and fulfilled the prerequisites for participation. Challenge matches, practices, scrimmages, league matches, and tournaments lay ahead. Many of the players would be ninth and tenth graders, new to the team. I would have enjoyed getting to know them and working with them on our beautiful courts. And don’t forget our new junior varsity coach, Sarah Kittredge. It would have been rewarding to work with her and benefit from her tennis knowledge and skills.

From mid-February until the first week of March, I had done much preparation for the season. As the president of Friends of Newton Tennis, I take it upon myself to help the city keep the courts in great shape. To that end, I had raked up lots of leaves on the courts and on the grounds nearby. I had hauled off bags of garbage and recycled as much of it as I could. I monitored the nets, once the city had put them up, and replaced center straps as needed.  Some court numbers needed replacement, and I purchased smaller numbers as well to be displayed on the outside for spectators. The shed needed spring cleaning, the rollers new sponges, and on and on. Like every year, the shrubs and branches encroaching the fences and overhanging the courts needed trimming, which I did. To be honest, I enjoy taking on the responsibility of keeping things ship-shape on South’s courts, at least the things within my power.

All the while, I was also developing plans not only for the team but for the North section’s individual tournament. This year, after being site director at South for this tournament for twenty years, I become the sectional tournament director. The job still involved running the first weekend at South while my friend and colleague, Alan Hibino of the Andover girls’ team, organized the Lexington site. Now it also included overseeing the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final rounds of the section, to be held at South for the first time instead of Lexington. Paulanne Wilson of Boston Latin would have once again helped me out that first weekend at South. The three of us were ready, come May 6th, to divide teams and players between the two sites to compete in singles and doubles for the individual championship. The tournament would have begun on May 9th, lasted four days over two weekends, and ended with a sectional singles champion and champion doubles team. Those players would then have competed in mid-June with the winners of the other three regional sections for the state championship. I love this tournament and will sorely miss it this year.

How would South’s girls have fared in team competition? I really don’t know. I never got to see the new kids play nor to evaluate how much the veterans had improved in the off-season. The process is always fulfilling, however the season turns out in wins and losses. We play in the strongest league in the state, and success isn’t guaranteed. But I’d have done my best to encourage the girls to work hard while having fun and improving all the while. That’s what matters most. On the court, the academic pressure of a suburban high school evaporates, at least for a few hours each day. Our thoughts turn to our tennis and to our teammates. Sometimes, girls on teams with so-so records have the most satisfying and meaningful experiences. You never know.

To my players, I bid a fond farewell. Though there will be no spring tennis this year, your best days are mostly ahead of you. Stay safe for now and be patient.

Back when life was carefree….

Tomorrow was supposed to be the first day of spring tennis at Newton South. About 25 girls have signed up to try out for the varsity and junior varsity teams, and we would have begun challenge matches on Monday under sunny, windy skies with the temperature at 42 degrees- hardly ideal outdoor tennis conditions, but we would have managed.

Instead, the spring sports season, like school itself, has been placed on hold in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Society has little choice but to attempt to retard the spread of the virus so that medical facilities don’t get overwhelmed. It will continue to spread no matter what we do. But given the shortage of space in emergency rooms and respirators for severe cases, we all must try to stay safe and healthy as long as we can. Whether we know it or not, all of us who are asymptomatic are capable of spreading the disease.

For most young people, the symptoms will be mild. For older people, the risk of serious illness increases, especially among those with pre-existing conditions and immuno-deficiencies and cancers requiring treatment. Thus, it matters that young people engage in social distancing to limit contagion.

This message, alas, seems not to be reaching wide sectors of the populace, including the young. On Friday, as I headed to the post office on serious business, I passed a large group of teenage boys playing basketball. Then I watched as a group of girls walked together towards the Waban T stop. Finally, when I looked inside of Starbucks, the cafe was filled with both the young and old. As you know, folks at Starbucks come to stay for extended stretches of time…not a very smart idea! Social distancing indeed!

Girls, please be more sensible than those I have mentioned in this blog. Let’s stay safe until given the all-clear, even if that means putting our world on hold.

2009 squad with former JV coach Andrew Kelly

Believe it or not, our spring tennis season begins in exactly four weeks, on March 16th. Why so early? Won’t it be too cold and windy in March to play meaningful tennis outside? Unfortunately, we have little choice but to try. The spring season always begins on the third Monday of March, and sometimes the courts are covered with snow. Typically, the temperature that first week lingers in the forties, with winds in the teens. But if it is dry and the courts clear, we will play.

Ideally, outdoor sports should begin in mid-April, around the time of spring break. By then, temperatures have reached the sixties in the day though plenty of rain falls at that time. Conditions outside notwithstanding, shouldn’t we hold tryouts indoors in any event? That makes a certain sense, but only if indoor courts were readily available and inexpensive. They are neither. Hence, when the season starts with outdoor conditions unplayable, we struggle to find the time and place to go inside to play.

Other sports can hold tryouts after a fashion in a gymnasium. Baseball and softball players can show their hitting skills in a batting cage, and they can field grounders and such. Lacrosse players can pass and defend within certain constraints. Not so tennis. Wooden floors are slippery and unfit for chasing tennis balls, and the space too small to swing racquets safely. In truth, among spring sports only spring volleyball can flourish indoors. Other than conditioning, a tennis team can accomplish but little.

So it goes. Let’s pray that Mother Nature for once takes pity on us and allows us to play outside come mid-March. In the meantime, all of you who are trying out for the squad must accomplish certain tasks to establish your eligibility to play:

– Provide a medical report to the school nurses of a physical you have had since March 16, 2019;

– Study the girls tennis team commitment form with a parent or guardian. If you agree to its terms, it must be signed by you and that adult. Then leave it in my mailbox in the Wellness office;

– View the videotapes required on Family ID and fill out all the necessary forms, the Parental Permission Form chief among them.

Though not required, I also suggest that you play tennis before the start of tryouts. Should the weather be favorable, go play on our courts. If you have access to indoor courts, hit some balls and play some points with a friend. Consider signing up for a clinic or private or semiprivate lesson. As of now, thirty girls are vying for twenty spots on varsity and JV. It would be wise to put yourself in the best position to make the team.

One month from now our spring tennis season begins. At that point, let the fun begin!

Halep defeats Merton, Australian Open 2020

In two weeks’ time, on February 10th at 3:30, the girls’ tennis team will hold its annual preseason meeting. Everyone, from team veterans to new students, is invited to attend and to learn about the team. I will pass out our schedule; review team rules; indicate the requirements for participating in our tryouts; discuss our goals this season; and answer all questions concerning the team. Our tri-captains, Olga, Dorra, and Mia, will also have the opportunity to add their two cents. The meeting lasts about twenty minutes or so, and we will meet in a classroom near the field house. Come one, come all!

As the season approaches, prospective team members would be well-advised to hit some balls indoors or, should a warm spell pass our way, play on our courts at South. At the moment half the courts, six in all, still have their nets up. The other six courts, on the south side of our wonderful facility, are locked up and without nets. We will install the nets and open up all the courts for public use in early March. I much admire those who have played at South all fall and winter, even in blustery conditions. Many of the them are Russian-Americans, who tell me that playing in the cold is routine for their community, as it was back in Russia. That’s why we leave half the nets up; we honor those hardy souls!

In the meantime, I am spending up to two hours each evening watching matches from 2020’s first major, the Australian Open. At first, it seemed that the wildfires burning across that country would poison the air quality in Melbourne and render the tournament unplayable. Timely rainfall, fortunately, has cleared the air for the moment. Who can forget, however, the picture of the Yarra River, which traverses the city, the day after the heavy rains? Its color was dark brown, from all the ash and soot  in the air. As Climate Change intensifies, such photographs will become all too common. Air pollution from wildfires is already happening out west.

An active player and coach, I watch the matches with an eye to the style of play and lessons to learn. The surface in Melbourne is hard court, like the US Open but unlike the clay in Paris and the grass in London. Yet most seasoned players have incorporated the drop shot into their repertoire despite the high bounce off the paved surface. The reason seems clear: most players these days spend most of their time pounding ground strokes from the baseline or behind it. Hence, it is difficult to hit a passing shot against players so far back. A well-placed drop shot gives the distant opponent little chance of reaching it. Drop shots provide another option to win a point. It would be wise, though, not to attempt them when you yourself are standing far back. The ball will take so long to cross the net that an alert opponent will sweep in and attack.

The rallies this year also reflect the current style of play. Patience is a virtue, and the best players exchange quite a few shots before trying to end the point with an aggressive groundie. They move the ball around, waiting for the short ball that will allow them to step into the court and attack. Sometimes, players use the old-school strategy of hitting a deep and low shot before they approach the net. They hope that the response will be custom-made for a put-away volley or overhead at the net. More often, however, players take their opponents’ short balls and drill them, either straight ahead or sharply cross-court. That’s the predominant means of winning a point. Players also routinely tee off on weak second serves, always an effective strategy for those willing to take a risk.

Now tennis professionals are far more consistent than the average club player or high school team member. On our level, consistency can win points when you keep more balls in play than your error-prone opponent. As always, we will stress consistency, foundational to everyone’s game, and practice it every day.

Finally, in the Australian heat, fitness gives a player a clear advantage. If you have physical stamina, it is easier for you to sustain your mental toughness. Now is the time to work on your fitness, be it at South or at a health club. Good players seek every edge to improve their play. We can learn many lessons from Australia.