Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Bring it on 2013...Whitman takes on top competitors in February

Welcome to 2013, to say we are excited here in Walla Walla is an understatement.  After one of our best seasons ever last year, played largely on the road, we are so thrilled to have a great schedule with some big matches at home.

But first things first, this Saturday we'll test ourselves against Lewis-Clark State College (ID) at 10:30am.  LCSC is always a top 20 team in NAIA and will provide us a great test of our fall work and early season training.

The view from above in Bratton

Then, its a huge home weekend Feb 7-10th when we host the Whitman College Winter Classic.  What is the WCWC you ask?  Well, several friends, families and alums will be on hand to enjoy dual matches with the #6, #7, #8 and #13 teams in the West Region.  We come in as the top seed among this crowded group of teams with my alma mater UC Santa Cruz at #7, NWC champion Linfield at #8 and Willamette at #13.  It will be a great time in the Bratton Tennis Center, many of you have RSVP'd and we'd love to see a big crowd as I can't wait to show off the hard work the team has put in.  This is absolutely the deepest team I've coached and we're getting improvement from everyone as we push our fitness and tennis in practice.

Friends watching at the Fall USTA/ITA Regional
Here is the WCWC schedule below and for all the matches I'll try to keep up with tweets and a recap after the match.  We are happy though to have Andrew Holt getting settled in as our Sports Information Director; he's a great guy and you'll see him at matches.

Whitman College Winter Classic
Thursday Feb 7th: 4pm UC Santa Cruz v Whitman 
Friday Feb 8th: 10am Linfield v UC Santa Cruz
Sat Feb 9th: 10 am Linfield v Whitman - BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MATCH
                   3pm  UC Santa Cruz v Willamette;

Dinner at 6pm for friends and families at the Glover Alston Center
   
Sun Feb 10th: 9am Whitman vs Willamette


*Thanks for the fall photos goes to Sandy Seaman



Thursday, January 24, 2013

First Spring Whittie of the Week

As San Francisco, CA enjoys a baseball championship and the upcoming Super Bowl; the city by the bay can also add Whittie of the Week to celebrate!

Check out last weeks winner by clicking here as voted on by the team.  Erin has so many gifts with her enthusiasm and positive attitude not to mention huge shots.  She worked hard all Fall and at home over break at the Cal Club to iron out a kink in her serve, which was already one of the best shots on our team.  This work showed and impressed everyone, but more than that, her love of tennis and the team showed in every aspect of our first week of practice.  Well done Erin!

Thursday, January 17, 2013

A New Year, a New Season of WC Tennis!

Ok everyone, hello and welcome to Whitman Tennis 2013!

It's that time of year where there is lots to write about and I'm getting better at updating things on facebook and I'm trying to keep our flickr photo page updated as well, and there are some cool shots of our players coaching at our annual youth fundraising camp.
Coaches John, Courtney, Morgan and Alyssa having fun at camp

This was our first week of classes, and while the weather has been dry and chilly outside, it has been awesome to be together practicing at our wonderful indoor facility.  It is now my fifth season at Whitman and with four as an assistant coach before coming here, I've never had a team come in so locked in on all the things we pride ourselves in.  First and foremost, the atmosphere is exciting and fun.  No matter what we're doing, the focus is super high and the support level for each other is even higher.  And we've been hitting the ground running with morning fitness, individual lessons, intense practices and we're just getting into singles and doubles matches.  It's wonderful to have everyone back, especially Maggie and Hannah who spent the fall in New Zealand and Thailand respectively.

The spring schedule is packed with great home matches, trips to Spokane, Seattle and Portland and an action packed Spring Break in California.  The energy is really high and we get started on the road February 2nd at Lewis and Clark State College, a top 20 NAIA team.

The very next weekend is the "Whitman Winter Classic" (yes, I'm an NHL fan and am trying to replace their Winter Classic with something even better).  We welcome my alma mater UC Santa Cruz and NWC opponents Linfield and Willamette for a home kick off weekend that will no doubt provide great entertainment and family fun as we welcome several families and alums (let me know at heinj@whitman.edu) if you haven't already and you plan or might be coming and I'll keep you updated on our plans!

Happy New Year to all, LET'S GO!!!!

John