JCC D6

Another season of tennis is coming to a close. I tentatively joined the D7 team at Jupiter Country Club (JCC) as a sub in early 2018. I say tentatively because I was a little nervous about what I was getting myself into. I hadn’t played since I was a kid, and very little at that. I vaguely remember some lessons at Westford Swim and Tennis. But I got the impression the JCC program was still in building mode, and I had a sense they were just looking for warm bodies.

Back then, I didn’t even know what D7 meant. I asked the captain at the time (Jennie), and she laughed. She informed me that D7 was the bottom division of the league that we played in. She did not dispel my warm body theory. She assured me I could play without ever having seen me play.

I was also nervous about the expense. There was a fee for registering, a monthly charge for the team clinics, and the cost of lunch after home matches for yourself and your opponent. It seemed a bit much to me at the time.

I quickly became obsessed with the sport. I signed up as a regular for the 2018/19 season, cost be damned. Weekly clinics AND lessons. Team uniforms. Fashionable practice attire (Well, I try. I can’t compete with some of these women.) Multiple pairs of real tennis shoes (not $20 Sketchers). Hats and visors. Restringing of rackets. Cases of tennis balls. New sports sunglasses. Chalk for my hands. Grip wrap for my racket. And lunch. Most definitely lunch.

I quickly gained a reputation for being strong and fast. The strong did not surprise me. I’ve always known how to leverage my weight. Years ago, in a self-defense class, I had a woman tell me I was “freakishly” strong. Twice. With a horrified look on her face. But fast? Every time I hear that I laugh and wonder what my family would think of that. My father used to tell me the only time I was graceful was on skates. Well, the only time I’m fast is on the court. 

The team has gotten better each season, and we have always done well in the league standings. We have a very competitive group, despite what some of them might say. We finished in first place in 2019/20, and this season, we moved up a division to D6. Competition was stiffer, but we again did quite well, although official standings were a little quirky due to the pandemic. (Our captain Mendy is still burned up by the fact that we lost 6 points because the OTHER team had COVID.)

Each year, there have been changes. And changes are usually hard. At least at first. Each year we’ve lost teammates. Some moved up to the higher division. Some have left because the program wasn’t the right fit for them. Some were impacted by new policies at the club. Some made the difficult decision to retire. Assistant pros have moved on to other opportunities, and this year we are losing our head pro Tom who is relocating to Pennsylvania.

The losses are tough. Very tough. Over the course of a season, you develop relationships with each other. You pick up little details about each other’s lives while changing sides of the court (where we sometimes dawdle), or while waiting a turn at clinic (where we should be paying attention), or over lunch (where we are never in a rush). These life details give you insight into each other that leave you wanting to know more. We get to celebrate and commiserate with each other over those details. Each of us has a unique personality, and it’s fun getting to know the quirks of those personalities. Figuring out how to work with those personalities on the court is part of the challenge of the game. 

In terms of the teammates moving up, I am happy for them. They have all worked so hard this season, and they deserve it. But I am feeling a couple of other emotions. First, in addition to missing them, I will miss playing with them. Realistically speaking, I will not play with them on a regular basis next season, and I like playing with them because they are better than me. Second, I am envious of them! Perhaps not quite green with envy, but envious nonetheless.

And how can the pro be moving on? He was just starting to like me! (I laugh at myself when I think of the days when I wanted to demand coaches give my daughters more playing time on any number of teams that they played on. I feel like I am right back there.)

But for each loss, there is a complementary gain. Each year, new people are added to the team. While it hurts to lose the people who are moving on, next year I will get to discover life details and personality quirks about my new teammates and learn how to best play with them. And of course there are the returning teammates I will continue to get to know better.

And as a result of my obsession, I continue to improve in ability. I am no longer a warm body with limited playing experience from 50 years ago. I don’t always execute, but I know the game a lot better now than I did in early 2018 in terms of where to be on the court and where to place the ball. As the competition gets better, I know I have to stop myself from going into audience mode after I make a nice shot.

Because I have a competitive nature, my goal (hopefully a reachable one) is to be part of the next wave of change where I will move up to D5 to be reunited with old teammates and meet new ones.

But if I don’t meet my goal, I’ll still have my team.