Congratulations on your first effort. We witnessed a lot of good things on the courts today and we are proud of you as players and a team. It's great how you supported each other positively and competed with your hearts. It's a sign of more good things to come.
Here are our match highlights: Morning Announcement
Other things to be aware of:
I'm especially content with your efforts after learning this afternoon that the Clark players practice on the Thompson Valley tennis courts everyday, while we have trained everyday without courts and on our school's plaza with half size nets; and we have in fact only had the opportunity to set foot on real courts for 2 practices. But just as Brazilians can play football on the crowded streets between high rises, or in dirt lots, or on little patches of land and against walls, we can develop on the facilities we have.
It's probably fair to say we are at some disadvantage in the place of our training, but I believe you played competitively when you were matched against players of similar experience. Part of me feels a need to apologize to those of you who have only held a racquet for several weeks and went up against rivals who had years of experience, as was the case particularly for our varsity girls.
Nevertheless, I appreciate the way you stuck to the match, concentrated, and earned points and won games over opponents in some cases with years more experience playing. You should definitely not feel disappointed in yourselves for having been placed in that circumstance. Consider it merely a learning experience to help you set goals and thank you for having been so courteous, even when such matchings probably don't make truly fair competitions.
I'll work on seeing that you have matches where you are better aligned with players with more similar levels of experience. We have a lot of players with talent and heart, but that alone cannot normally set you up to win against someone with years more experience than you.
So thank you and great job! See you tomorrow for our game against Erwin at Loveland High School at 3:30. I'll be setting the teams later tonight
Respectfully yours,
Mr. Hagstrom
