Jamie Ashworth- The all-time winningest women's head coach in the ACC

Dear Wonderful Fans,

I hope you are all having a wonderfully sunny Monday! The last two weeks have been extremely busy for us with four tough ACC-regular season matches. But, we’re all really happy with our four wins thus far and hope to keep improving leading up to the tournament season.

This weekend was a remarkable time for our program, and more specifically, our coach Jamie Ashworth who made history and became the winningest women’s head coach in the ACC’s after our win against UVA. We are all extremely proud of Jamie for this accomplishment and feel honored to be part of such a program. So, it is only fitting that I provide you with the inside scoop behind our accomplished head coach.

From a tennis standpoint, the results speak for themselves. Its not often that you see a coach with the ability to improve a program the way Jamie has done. DWT has risen to a top-5 caliber team and was ranked as high as 1 in 2009. Amongst the amazing wins record and the quality of recruits to our program (just take a look at our current freshman class for a prime example), Jamie led the 2009 DWT team to win our program’s first NCAA Championship. As if this is not enough, Jamie has multiple ACC championships and ACC regular season championships under his belt. I could probably spend this whole blog and another one listing all of Jamie’s amazing accomplishments but I’m sure the above snapshot gives you a sneak peak. But what about our candy- eating and Mountain Dew -drinking off-court head coach?

Jamie’s love for candy and junk foods is something that we’re all grateful for because we all end up getting a share of the treats in most instances. On just about any trip, there are stashes of caramel apple lollipops (our favorite), jellybeans and various other goodies hidden around just waiting to be discovered. He does not know this yet but on our trip this weekend, we found his jellybeans in the front of the van and may or may not have stolen a few.

From a junk food’s perspective, our annual trips to California come to mind. Whether it is for the All-American tournament or a dual match, we find ourselves enjoying the LA celebrity scene once in a while. Every time we’re in that part of the country, our trip is not complete without a visit to one of Jamie’s favorite dining places— IN-N-OUT Burger. I’m not denying the fact that we all enjoy the occasional junk-food splurge but the excitement that this “sacred” place causes for Jamie (and I must mention Marc here as well), is probably one of the main reasons why this has become an enjoyable junk-food destination for our team. Oh, and of course Jamie has his very own IN-N-OUT Burger shirt (or a couple?) that he whips out once in a while to attest to his love for this chain.

Finally, I cannot forget about Jamie’s avid enthusiasm for busting out into song once in a while. Play a Jimmy Buffet song, and you’re in for a treat. We’ve definitely had our fair share of trips involving some amazing choruses… usually high-pitched and a “tiny” bit out of tune, but amazing nevertheless. And, of course, for all the Jimmy Buffet enthusiasts out there, dining at a Margaritaville is a must, making it another predetermined team destination whenever the opportunity presents itself. Jamie’s hope is to one day become Jimmy Buffet’s buddy… ask him about his plan of action towards achieving this goal and you may be surprised at how genius and well thought out it is!

All jokes aside, Jamie’s coaching and management of our team has made Duke one of the most desired places to attend. I can think of multiple tennis players whose aspiration is to play on this team. We’re all very fortunate to come to an institution of this caliber and be part of a program that Jamie has molded into one of the best in the country, and world for that matter.

GO JAMIE!

Next on our schedule is a trip down to Clemson on Friday and then to Georgia Tech on Sunday. These are two great opportunities and we’re all excited to show them what we’ve got.

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

DWT Spring Break 2012: Dinsey and a whole lot more...

Dear Wonderful Fans,

I hope that you all had a wonderful spring break! This time of year is probably one of our team’s favorites since we are finally able to play outdoors and enjoy some beautiful sunshine. Last week was definitely one of the most memorable of all DWT trips. We began our spring break trip in the snowy cold with a big win over Notre Dame. We then jetted off to Orlando, Florida where the real, child-like fun began.

For the serious college students that we try to be during the school year, we are not afraid to let our “happy child” sides shine when given the chance. That’s exactly why Jamie’s surprise plans throughout the week were met with squeals, giggling and joy. On day one, we spent the whole day bustling around Universal and Island of Adventure. We warmed up our roller coaster riding with “The Hulk” and then quickly ran off to join the line for the Harry Potter adventures. Our team Hogwarts boff, Hanna, made sure that we knew some background information and exactly where to go as we moved through the amazingly recreated wizarding world. The magical tour would not be complete without a delicious “butter beer” which we waited over half and hour in line for— Definitely worth the wait. Other highlights from our exciting first day includes going on the “rock n’ roll” roller coaster as well as eating the famous turkey legs that are served throughout Disney.

Day two was no less exciting as we spent half the day at Magic Kingdom. The team favorite was definitely the “Space Mountain” ride but “Splash Mountain,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the “Monsters Inc.” show were all wonderful! Thanks to Big Ray and Hanna’s efforts to find us fast passes, we managed to do all of this and save some time for character searching at the end. I’m pleased to say that Jamie found both Winnie the Pooh and Tigger to have his photo with and we happened to stumble upon Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in the parade. I can confidently conclude that DWT is definitely “Disneyed out” from our wonderful adventures!

Just as we thought that there were surely no more plans because of what we had already been treated to, Jamie surprised us with tickets to a Cirque du Soleil show called “La Nouba.” We were all astounded at how talented the acrobats, jugglers, jump ropers and dancers were. This was a first time experience at this type of a show for a lot of us and we were definitely blown away by what we saw.

While we were enjoying all these fun activities (I forgot to mention shopping at the outlet stores), we also spent our mornings practicing and getting used to the outdoor conditions. I think that all the girls will agree that this was a great week of practice that prepared us well for our match against UCF where we won 7-0 and set the foundations for our outdoor season ahead. Next, we travel to Gainesville for our matchup against Florida this Wednesday. Our next home match will be next Saturday at noon against NC State. Come out and cheer us on!

FINAL NOTE: Overall, spring break was a great experience both on and off the court and I would like to especially thank the people that made this all possible for us— Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield. Thanks to these wonderful people, we were able to experience these memorable moments and grow closer as a team. Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield have done so much for Duke Tennis and we are all extremely grateful to have their continued support for our program.

GO MR. AND MRS. SHEFFIELD…. AND DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT.