twoplustwoequalsblog

For those of you who hate climaxes, I have decided not to play tennis on the school team this season.

There’re a number of reasons, but mostly it’s just a tremendous time commitment that I don’t want to make this year. The schedule has five consecutive weeks with three matches per week, and that means almost no free time. I have a couple other projects I want to work on, and tennis would dominate my time. I’m still going to play on weekends, but I don’t need to play every day after school for three to five hours, especially during my senior year while carrying a number of work-intensive classes.

Another reason is that there is a new coach this year. They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and that is certainly the case with Mr. Hermes. When I got the letter from him last summer, I didn’t really understand how different things would be without him. He coached the tennis team my first three years on it, and he did an amazing job. He knew how to work you and push you to get better, but at the same time he was a fun guy who realized that most of the kids on the team were on it because they enjoyed it, and he helped everyone get the most out of the program.

Mr. Hermes leaving isn’t the only change the team has undergone. The demographics of the team have shifted. The seniors who I was friends with last season have graduated, and in their place have come a wave of extremely competitive freshmen. Competitive in both senses of the word: not only are they very skilled at tennis, they are very hardcore and focused on winning. When I was on the team, we had a much more laid back vibe and would rather just hit around for fun than do any really serious working. It wasn’t like we didn’t care about winning, it was just second seat to enjoying playing tennis and hanging out. This new wave is very concentrated on playing tennis at the top level. Perhaps even too much so; the sportsmanship of the team in general has fallen since my freshman year.

All of those are just extenuating circumstances. I’m a senior in high school; I’ll be going to college in the fall. I could keep traveling in the same ruts I’ve made for myself, but that’d be boring. This will give me a lot of time to enjoy my last few months as a high school kid in my hometown. From here on out, things only get more and more grown up. You have to make the best of what you have while you have it, and so I here I am. A new page in my life turns.