Coach's Corner - Wake Forest

Hello All,

First off, sorry for not having any blogs posted as of late. There should be quite a few coming around in the next couple of days.

Wake Forest- For any of you that were there, that was by far our worst doubles of the year. It was horrible, flat, lack-luster, heartless, gutless, and many more adjectives that I cannot express in this PG-rated blog. So what do you do as a coach at that point to get your team back on track? 

Well, before going into the locker room to meet with the guys prior to singles, Ramsey (fuming with smoke coming out of his ears) came over to me.

He asked, "So how do we deal with this?" 

My answer wasn't exactly how but more what we needed to see from the guys, "We need to have the guys get behind one another right now. They need to do this for themselves but more importantly for each other. There needs to be a reason to win this match." 

He responded, "Good. I agree. I only have one thing to say and them I'm out of there." 

Ramsey and I proceeded to walk into the locker room and saw the boys with their heads in their hands with an expectant look that they were going to be "lit up". After about a minute of silence, Ramsey, KJ and I spoke only a few words and then left. Whether it was the message or how concise it was (who knows? maybe both) the boys rallied behind each other. They decided to take it upon themselves to win the match.  They came out of the locker room with the eyes of inspired warriors, all 10 of them. 

When I saw them, I told KJ that we were going to be just fine. Ramsey and I chose not to go on the courts until the latter parts of the first sets. We wanted the boys to win it on their own to show them that it is all about them and how they prepare mentally for these matches. The best part of it all was that it wasn't only won by the guys on the courts, it was won by all 10 of them. 

Luke said it best about Carp and the boys upstairs,  "You gave me an edge that was huge. I felt like it was 2 on 1. It was the first time in my tennis career that I felt that unconditional support that I came to college for." 

So all in all, the team made a huge jump yesterday. Not in the level of their games, but as a team and that's what wins championships. It was great to see and so much fun to be a part of. 

Thanks for all of the support.