Saturday, Dec. 1, I should have been warming up for a thrilling match, supporting my teammates as they fought for the semi finals of NCS, and snacking on the delicious team food. But instead, I sat at home, frustrated, listening to the pounding raindrops hit the roof of my house, writing this.
They had postponed the girls NCS semi finals match nine times and on the tenth, they canceled it completely. You would think that by now someone would have had an alternative for this unfortunate, uncontrollable weather. Well, it has been five weeks since the original date of our match and as of Dec. 5, it was decided we are never going to play. Instead, I have to walk back down to the courts to meet with my team for a “non-practice”, to take pictures for a title we will not receive.
It’s been a rough couple months. California has dealt with some of the scariest and most dangerous fires in all of California’s history and on top of that, a confusing mixture of sunny skies and raging rainstorms. What is happening? To make matters worse the Oakland A’s lost in the first round of the playoffs, the Raiders and 49ers are underperforming this season, and the Warriors have devastated the Bay Area with consecutive losses. We need a win! The varsity women’s tennis team could have been the guaranteed victory we needed weeks ago.
With all of this time spent indoors escaping the smoke and the rain, our tennis coaches and Director of Athletics could have made a call to the San Francisco Bay Club, where they have 12 indoor tennis courts ready for use, but they did not.
The varsity women’s tennis team has been undefeated in their league for the past 19 years, and has won NCS for five consecutive years, yet we are the team most overlooked. However, due to the season being dragged on for weeks and weeks, my teammates and I started to lose our own competitive spirit during post season, until we got word it was formally cancelled, then it was back on, then off, then on again, then off again. Tennis is a physical game, yes, but it is the emotional drive that determines the win.
What are we even fighting for?
If it keeps on raining will the matches be postponed forever?
How long will this drag on?
These were the questions that floated around our team for weeks without answer. Well now they have been, and we are not happy. If only the matches could have been scheduled for days that were confirmed “dry” or played on indoor courts, we could have had our trophy.
We cannot control natural disasters, but we can control the situation by taking precaution and arranging for earlier matches and indoor matches when it comes to NCS championships.
I understand that the title of NCS is nowhere near as important as recognizing the devastation that hit Paradise, CA, nor will its effects last as long. It is not possible to predict the severity of the fires and rainstorms, I know that. I also accept the fact that the other teams struggled to travel to our campus in the unpredictable weather. From a non-players perspective, the easiest route seemed to be to wait the challenging weather out, instead of working with it.
To prevent this from happening again, the NCS matches should begin earlier in the season to give the administration more wiggle room if this ever happens again. In my opinion, they should have a Plan B set up, where there is an arrangement with an indoor facility to finish the season, to avoid interrupting winter sports.
The match is clinched. We won NCS for the sixth time in a row. The crowd rose in an uproar, screaming and cheering. We all hugged and cried, knowing this was the last time we would play with our seniors. Our grinning smiles beamed through the pages of the Piedmont Post. We did it again, bringing home that much needed victory. This is the way our season should have ended.
