The Love has Ended

This past week was the end of the girls 2013 tennis season. Emily was to have a game on Friday but was called on the count of rain. Both girls had 2 matches each though. Hubby and I had to split up to be able to see each girl play, so it made for a crazy week. Rae having a doctor appointment thru a little hiccup in the plans as well.

Monday, Hannah was hoping the varsity team would win to tie the school record for most wins, but they came up short in one match. Hannah had a great first year as a high school player. She got to play singles and doubles and is the top freshman on her team. She has worked hard to show her coaches she is willing to take on any challenge. She had some tough losses, but she finished with a great win against Lancaster JV 3rd singles player by winning 8-0. She was happy Pastor Troy was there to see her win. The JV team did a great job on the last match of the season with winning most of the matches. Her goal in the off-season is to learn to spin the ball, improve her serves, and make varsity next year. The past couple of spring seasons she has been able to play on the middle school boy's team, but this year she will not. We will looking at different options for her to better her game. Her ultimate goal is to beat her dad. She is not too far from it.

Emily had a great season as well. She had wins and losses as well in singles and doubles. Her game has really improved especially her serving. She will be the only 8th grader next year on the middle school team, so she is planning to work hard in the off-season to improve. She will hopefully get to play on the boy's middle school team this spring. Playing with the boys has really helped their games.

We are happy for life to have slowed for a little, and we can get ready for a little vacation coming up.  We will be able to eat more dinner at home together now. Rae is happy because she will be able to start playing tennis again.

getting ready to finish off the match

Add-in... Deuce... Add-out...

If you haven't guessed, we are in the full swing of tennis season. The older girls are on 2 different teams this year. Hannah is on Granville High School team and Emily on the middle school team. Thanks to the new ruling of the state legislature, Hannah did not have to take a class at the high school to be on the team. She is happy that she did know some of the girls from when they were all on the middle school team. It has been challenging for her working it into her school schedule, but she is working hard and loving playing tennis.

Practice started the beginning of August, but matches started a couple weeks ago. Hubby and I are  dividing our time between the 2 girl's matches, since most of the games are often the same time and at different locations. We switch who gets to see who and where.  One thing that does help is that Hannah has to ride the bus to the game with the team. Another thing that is new for us is when the team does not have a game, there is practice after school.  I am happy there are a couple of girls in our neighborhood that are on the team, so usually I just have to get her to the school for practice.

Both girls have had wins and loses in their matches this season.  They are both playing better than last year thanks to their tennis coach they have. The middle school team is smaller this year, so Emily is playing again in the top of the group again.  She usually gets to play 2 matches against the opponents playing singles and doubles.  Hannah is on the JV team, and they have a large team with 24 girls this year so she usually has to wait to play.  It reminds me of when she first started on the middle school team. She mostly has been playing doubles but is missing playing singles.

In the match, yesterday, the other team had 14 players so the our coaches chose a varsity line-up and a JV line-up - 7 and 7.  Hannah was wondering why her coach didn't ask her about doubles when she was going around.  When they announced the line-up for JV, Hannah was called as 3rd singles.  She was so excited! When I got the match, she ran and told me. I hated her dad was not there, but he was in Dublin with the Emily who was playing there. Hannah has been working hard to prove to the coaches she could do it, and she had finally gotten her chance. She was a little nervous, but she was up for the challenge.  The match started, and she had gotten behind.  Thanks to her conditioning, she was outlasting her opponent.  She came from behind and brought it to a tie-breaker. I was grateful for FaceTime so hubby watch the tie-breaker via phone. She was the last one on the court playing, but sadly she lost in the tie, but was happy how she played and knows what she need to fix. She was also happy the coaches gave her the chance to show them she could handle it. Hannah was the first freshman this year to get to play a singles match.

Hopefully, we will get some more good stories from the season.  We have a few more crazy weeks of matches all over the place.  So, if you need us, we will be either at the courts or in the car.

First Day of School - 2013

My summer has been hijacked. Is it really time to start back? Didn't we just finish school? Our summer was filled with 4H projects and fairs, 4 camps, swimming, tennis, and finishing projects around the house.  The girls were not excited about starting this early, but with tennis season already underway and a vacation coming in November, we started this morning.  Many discussions over dinner were held between hubby and I about what we were doing and what goals we wanted for the girls.  With a freshman, we are getting in college prep mode - YIKES!!

So, this morning we started the 2013-14 year for the Dear School for Girls today! Hannah is a freshman, Emily a 7th grader, and Rae a 2nd grader.  We are working on trying some new things in our school, but with several the same.  Hubby is being even more involved this year with subjects for Hannah.  I am so thankful that I married a math major! The girls are really ready for band, drama, and art to start so they can see their friends again. Emily is excited she is old enough to go to Teen Night.

Tennis season is going strong. Both girls have already had matches, and it plans to be an exciting and busy season. We will be running between middle school and high school matches and practices.  I am thankful for parents in our neighborhood who can carpool for tennis.

Here's to a successful school year. Ready or not here we go!