CLUTCH

For the past 11 years I have coached tennis at CDH. I've worked with the varsity, coached the JV, but I'd have to say my favorite experience has been with the C team of the past two years (ok, there was one other group of girls that I really liked...yes Alexis, your group). Two years ago I thought that coaching tennis wasn't going to fit my schedule anymore...if you're not teaching, a coaches schedule is hard to do! I stopped by try-outs and saw the numbers they had. The biggest issue is always court space, so I suggested we run practice from 4:30-5:30 (after the varsity) when there is space. I could be there by 4:30. Long story short, it worked out...we went M, W, F, and Saturday- which was PLENTY for this group.

Last year I had 14 kids...all sophs and juniors (we went with side ponys):This year I had 22 kids...all juniors and seniors (moved up to pigtails):

My kids from last year told Spika that they didn't want to try out, they just wanted to be on my team (usually kids who miss try-outs get put on the C-team), then I had some B-team kids from last year "drop" to be on my team. Also, they had friends who wanted to play, so they'd join. It was really a fun group. They didn't know much at all, and I made handouts every practice for the skill of the day (to prove that we were really learning something). At practice about 10-14 kids would show up, but when we had the scavenger hunt or parties, all 22 were suddenly available!

The title of this post comes from our unofficial team name. Last year we were trying to find out the team we were playing when there were a bunch of teams walking around and my kids asked what team they were and I said, "I dunno, not the varsity." So we started calling ourselves non-varsity (sounded much better than C team). Then this year we got into saying how clutch (using the "C" in c-team!) we were...not even really sure of the origin of this, but it stuck. EVERYTHING we did was clutch. At the end of the season I had shirts made for our yearbook photo (another day with good attendance), seen in the picture above. Out year end party also had a CLUTCH cake, made by the juniors:

There are two more awesome things I want to share about this team.

1. Last year one of the mom's wrote and email to me after the season saying how much she appreciated the chance her daughter got-as a junior- to come out for a sport and have lots of fun, learn new skills, and learn that she likes tennis. When everything is so specialized and intense, this was great experience for her. Her note also referred to the respect, patience, and excellent coaching to make the experience fun and worthwhile (not trying to toot my own horn here too much, but with the way sports are getting to be now, this was so nice to hear!). I have the note printed and up on my bulletin board at work.

2. This team is just a NICE bunch of girls. When I saw them at school or hockey games this year it was like I was a rockstar :-) So now that I am preggo, they are throwing me a shower! How cute is that??? They mentioned it and I wasn't sure if it would really happen, but it's May 2nd at one of the girls house (the girl whose mom wrote me the email!!). I am expecting a CLUTCH onesie :-) It is so nice for them to do this...it's so far out of season and theyre not really around me or anything so it's pretty special!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!