High School tennis can be more intense then most people think. When you are in enemy territory and they have all of their friends screaming at the top of their lungs trying to mess you up with coughs or talking. I have had my fair share of arguments with parents and other team coaches, and I would like to share my experiences. There are way more than just four experiences but here are the best four. Ranked from lowest to high; Dunlap vs Metamora, JV Moline invitational, Dunlap vs. SHG, and the worst of all Dunlap vs O'fallon.
1. Dunlap vs. Metamora
This match was my first experience with the Dunlap and Metamora tennis rivalry. It was about halfway through the season and it was an away game so it made it even worse. Our varsity was stacked so we didn't have anything to worry about, but our fresh-soph team was gonna have some trouble. Most of our team were freshmen and it was our first experience against cheaters that were willing to go anything for the win. I was playing doubles with my current partner who was Drew Spencer who was a sophomore, and the second the game started, they were cheating. We called a coach on and got defaulted the game due to cheating so that was a win but our first experience.
2. JV Moline Invitational
This invitational is always a fun one because the teams are from all around and some are a lot better than others. This game was the final game of the day one for all of the marbles if you win your place first. The team was from St. Louis and they had a solid background from the state tournament so we were nervous going in. This match I was also playing doubles with Drew Spencer and this game was a grinder. The opposing team was good, they had all the fingers pointing to them, but the team and I pulled thought, we had 2-hour matches all of us did and we grinded out the win and it was an amazing experience lifting the trophy.
3. Dunlap vs. Scared Heart Griffen
This team was a team that I never want to play ever again. They were very disrespectful and made the worst calls ever made. This was my junior year and I was playing doubles with Arian Rabar and this team wasn't the best but made up for it by being the worst cheaters ever. They were screaming at their coach and sometimes even ours. We started playing super slow and started to get all the balls in by a mile and they started breaking down, saying bad words and throwing fits. It was one of the worst I have seen. We ended up winning that game but it was horrible.
4. Dunlap vs. O'fallon
This one wasn't the players that were being cheap or making bad calls it was the parents. This was also my junior year and it was so bad. I was yet again playing doubles with Zaman Shah. The people that we were playing were good and very nice also. It had been a long day of playing tennis and this was our third match of tennis and it was almost 6 in the afternoon. This is where the mental game makes a big part in how you play. I have always had a problem with cramps, so they were kicking in and hurting. The mom in the back was yelling at the top of her lungs "that was in!!" or "what was that you have to be kidding me." It takes a lot of power not to retaliate, but I did in an unmannerly fashion, causing me to make shot errors and there was a time I was picking up the ball and told her to please be quiet and she just got louder. After I had to forget the match due to cramps, her son told me sorry for her and gave me a cramp reliever medication which was super nice. O'fallons coach also came up to me and told me sorry for her. That was a sad loss but it was the worst experience in my tennis career.
Those were some of the worst experiences that I have had with players and their parents. It is always hard playing against cheaters that just want to win. I hope that my last year of playing tennis will not have any major fights and it ends with a good overall record and smiles all around.
