After their first-round match Tuesday in the Class 2A
Section 6 tournament, the girls tennis team from Minneapolis Roosevelt took a
victory lap. They didn’t win the match; in fact, they lost to Benilde-St.
Margaret’s 7-0. But the Teddies felt pride in their team.
With every high school athlete and team in Minnesota under
the shadow of Covid-19, this year could have been written into the script of “Stranger
Things.” Despite that, the Roosevelt girls tennis team has worked to take advantage
of what’s possible, every step of the way, building something special.
Winning? Oh sure, that’s great when it happens. But
having fun, making memories and doing it together has become a hallmark of the Teddies.
“Basically, how we operate is fun first,” said
second-year coach Jack Nelson. “These are their memories and we have to make it
as fun as possible for them.”
The hurdles this season have been many. The Teddies’
schedule was stomped on by the virus, with most scheduled opponents playing only
teams in their own conference and leaving Roosevelt in the lurch. And some prospective
players chose not to play tennis this fall. Despite it all, the Teddies have a
junior varsity team for the first time since the 1980s and have made lifelong
friendships and memories.
Nelson is the driver of it all. A former junior
varsity coach at Minneapolis Washburn and a longtime youth tennis coach in
Minneapolis, Nelson, 61, is an artist and sculptor, sailor and scuba diver …
not exactly the prototypical high school coach.
“He’s been a blessing,” said Roosevelt activities
director Dennis Stockmo. “He has so much energy and desire.”
Stockmo and Nelson met at Lynnhurst Park, where Nelson
was teaching for Inner City Tennis. They hit tennis balls back and forth and
got acquainted.
“He’s just a really good guy,” Stockmo said.
There are no seniors on the Teddies’ roster of 22
players. There is a definite family atmosphere, with players often staying
after practice to hit balls with parents.
“It’s just an incredibly wonderful time on the courts,
while everything else is in chaos,” Nelson said.
To alleviate the scheduling issues, Nelson arranged
for his team to play several intrasquad matches. They will do that on Saturday
when the girls are divided into several teams in what they’re calling the
Olympics, with each team declaring the country they are representing.
In previous intrasquad competitions Nelson has been
known to fudge the scores, or as he phrased it, “Magically, the scores sometimes
disappear. This week they’re making me bring a white board so they can see it for
themselves. They don’t trust me anymore.”
Parents have become a big part of the tennis program, forming
a booster club, making banners to hang on the fences and setting up picnics for
the girls. Nelson and assistant coaches Lucia Marquez Reagan and Kathy Xiong
have as much fun as the kids.
“Our
second- and third-year players had never had assistant coaches, much less a JV
team,” Nelson said. “They latch on to the assistant coaches.”
Last year the Teddies took an overnight trip to Duluth
for team bonding and matches. Losing that opportunity this year added to the
difficulties.
“It’s been a rough, rough, rough time,” Nelson said. “But
when I really think of it, it’s really been the best time. When this whole
thing is over, hopefully we can get back to a full season. We’ll still have our
fun.”
After each match the coach sends an email to the
players and their families, including positive comments and fun photos.
At the bottom of each email, Nelson writes “Best Season
Ever.”
“And it’s the truth,” he said
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been
the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him
on Twitter @MSHSLjohn, listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever
you get podcasts.
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