Monday, October 22, 2012 officially wrapped up Cherry Hill West’s Lady Lions Tennis season.  We all came a long way to get to our last match, which we just so happened to win, with most of us starting all the way back in July.  Some of the more experienced girls held captain’s practices on Tuesday and Thursday nights during July and August to help the new players, myself included.
Right away there was a sense of community among all the players.  The amount of returning players was very small in comparison to that of incoming newbies.  Some of us didn’t even have our own racket, let alone know how to hold one properly.  It was a show of dedication for all of those who came out on the hot summer nights when in reality we would have loved to be doing just about anything but practicing for the upcoming season.
Soon enough the mandatory practices get here and a lot of us met our coach for the first time, the newly married Mrs. Bradford.  Right away she was very helpful in showing us all the ropes of the sport and got us on our way to a “round robin” to establish a ladder.  The way the team is set up is that the top three girls play singles matches, and from there down everybody has a partner and participates in doubles matches.
The actual season started was expected to start on the first day of school, however we were rained out.  From then on, we had roughly three to four matches a week, not to mention car washes, tournaments, sleepovers, and pasta parties on the weekends.
All in all, I would definitely say the season was successful.   We did not win all our games, though we won some.  The important part was that we all had fun in the process and made valuable friendships which I hope to keep in the future.  We wrapped up our season with our team sleepover at our number one player’s house, Michelle Nguyen.  We had just over twenty girls pile into cars and head over to the mall for a scavenger hunt which was more like a test to see which group was willing to embarrass themselves the most.
I am so glad Michelle convinced me to join the team this year.  It has been an unbelievable experience that I wouldn’t trade for the world.  All the friends I’ve made, plus the genuine fun I’ve had, has more than made up for some of the more grueling practices and sore muscles.  I can’t wait for next season!