A Tennis First

This was the first official week of matches for the Bethany boys tennis team and it was a rough one for Cameron.  We expected it to be tough as Cameron had moved up from jv number one singles to varsity number one singles which was a seven spot jump.  He handled the first two matches very well.  He was frustrated to lose, but focused on what he had done well.  We were impressed with how much he had improved from last year, especially his serve, pace and shot placement.  Our hope for him was that he'd win at least a game in each of his three first matches and wouldn't be the first one off the court.  He succeeded in both of those goals all three nights.

As unpleasant as it was to lose to Jimtown 6-3, 6-1 and Northridge 6-1, 6-0, nothing compared to the Goshen match this evening.  Cameron knew going into it that it wouldn't be fun.  He had played against their number 1 singles in the summer league.  He not only lost 6-0, 6-0, but had to endure the unpleasantness of his family catcalling and shouting out every time the Redhawk scored a point or won a game.  They even cheered when Cameron double faulted.  It was frustrating to watch as a parent as in general that type of behavior had been frowned upon during matches, so it was completely unexpected in a summer scrimmage.  For Cameron it was humiliating.  He wasn't playing well and didn't need someone drawing attention to it.   He also found out from his assistant coach later that the player's father had asked him if that was the best that Bethany had to offer at number one.  Thus, Cameron wasn't really looking forward to enduring the same kind of rudeness this evening.

The match started off much as the summer one had with Cameron quickly finding himself down 0-3.  The family wasn't as obnoxious as they were a month ago as their loud cheering after every point had dwindled.  During the fourth game, Cameron started playing a lot better and soon was controlling more points and serving a few aces.  That's when we noticed that his opponent kept looking over at his dad and mouthing words to him.  We couldn't quite make out what he was saying.  We didn't know if he was mocking Cameron or asking for advice.  As the match wore on we realized that it was the latter as he was not only coaching his son, but making lines calls as well.  One of those cost Cameron a game in the first set.

As frustrating as it was for us to listen to the Goshen father, it was worse for Cameron.  He realized what was happening at the beginning of the second set.  He called Matt over and loudly complained about it to him.  I don't know if the father heard him say something or if he heard Meg say, "Who makes fun of a sixteen year old kid, especially when they're wearing a hat with a neck rim?"  Either way it slowed him down and Cameron won a game shortly thereafter.  Soon after Cameron's discussion at the fence with Matt, the Goshen coach stood near the court and there was definitely no problem going forward.  Cameron ended up losing the match 6-0, 6-1, but he survived it even with the drama and being hit by a volley aimed right at him at the net.  We did appreciate the rewarded point he received when his opponent committed racket abuse.   

As a parent I felt terrible for Cameron.  In our ten years of watching varsity tennis we had seen some intense matches, but had never seen a parent act in this manner.  Hopefully, that will be the last of it.