I can't believe it. I am FINALLY back on my beloved blog. It has taken me way too long to find myself on this site yet again and I will waste no time in sharing a little bit of what I have done and the experiences that I have gone through in the past six months. In the next paragraphs I am going to type word for word a post that I hand wrote in late July, that I am finally posting exactly two months later. I know, the procrastination is astonishing. I am appalled myself and I am not happy that it took me this long to write again...but here I am! Hopefully, I can write a little something, something every week. That is my goal. Well here is what I wrote on July 27th, 2011:
Well, here I am, back at it again. "Finally, the Aid, has COMEBACK to his Blogspot!" Growing up watching wrestling; that had to be one of my favorite lines from "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson. I'm actually kind of cheating since I'm not on an actual computer, but instead going OLD SCHOOL and writing on a sheet of paper. No technology here. I am on my flight to New York City and what better way to pass the time than to pull out my notebook and recap the last four plus months that I have shied away from my blog. Countless times I told myself to get on the site and start typing away, but I could not. Always making excuses for myself: not enough time to write everything I want to say, too tired, I just want to check my Facebook first...
That last excuse was the one I readily turned to, unfortunately! Social networks have a knack of sucking you into their realms and spitting you out without a drop of energy. Especially, if you sign-in to them laying in bed, after dinner, with the TV on just to put the cherry-on-top of your soon to be zombie status! So, here I am, thousands of feet in the air and I am going to take advantage of it.
But wow, I've been gone for so long that I do not even know where to begin. So many great memories and experiences have occurred in these last four months! Let's see if I do my memory justice.
The culmination of my college tennis playing career. I smile by just thinking back on it. I do not think it could have finished any better for me... Well, obviously it would have been amazing to have won the Sun Conference Championship against Embry-Riddle or have beaten Fresno Pacific University at the National Championship tournament, but that didn't happen. Nonetheless, this last season will last me a lifetime. It was my best season as the Bobcat's #1 player, finishing the regular season with a 12-2 record. My best record...ever. It could have even been lucky number 13 if Embry-Riddle's douchebag of a coach would have let me finish my three-set match, leading 3-1 in the deciding set. That win would have been epic. But, whatever, life goes on. The most memorable win by far though was our win over SCAD. Let me take you back to it all:
First of all, we were scheduled to face SCAD in the second match of a three day road trip facing three different schools. The SCAD match was the second of the three. So, coach Bruce had informed us the night before, that the match was at 2:00 or 3:00 PM the next day so it was not necessary to wake up at the break of dawn. Thus, we set alarms at 9:00 AM to wake up, eat breakfast, and then get back in bed. So, as I peacefully fall back asleep after a great breakfast, I find myself being yelled at by my roommate Federico, "Aid, get the FUCK up, we're late!" Disoriented, I try to gather my thoughts and I cannot comprehend what the hell is going on! "Bruce just called and said that he messed up and that the match is at 11:30 AM!," exclaims Fede, as he runs frantically collecting his things. The time is 11:25 AM. We are literally screwed. I jump out of bed, hurl a few clean shirts, towel, and my shoes into my tennis bag, and run downstairs. All of us get to the van in record time, yawning and rubbing our eyes as Bruce hauls ass toward the courts. Still trapped in that dream-to-reality portal, the seriousness of the situation begins to sink in...slowly. Our match versus SCAD is a Sun Conference match and if we are more than 15 minutes late, they have the authority to call off the match and win by default. This was bad. We're thinking the worst of situations. "Our season is done," mutters Jeremy in the back seat of the van. Meanwhile, Bruce is weaving in and out of traffic like a scene out of "The Fast and the Furious" as he holds his cell phone in his right hand desperately pleading to the SCAD coach to wait for us, that were on the way. Luckily, the SCAD coach complies to our request and will play the match with no penalty against us for our late arrival! We're off the hook...or at least we thought.
We finally arrive, and as we're unloading our bags, Bruce comes back to the team and says,"alright guys, we have 10 minutes to warm-up and we're starting with singles first." That was the hand that the SCAD coach had under his sleeve, and it almost worked to perfection. Almost. Forcing us to play the singles matches before the doubles matches gave SCAD the advantage because it limited us to a very short warm-up, which would catch us off guard, especially since we were all half asleep. It did just that. In less than 45 minutes, I find myself losing the first set 6-2, livid at the situation! My footwork is horrendous, my stomach feels heavy, I'm hitting every ball late, the heat on the court is burning the rubber off of my shoes...it cannot get any worse! Oh wait, yes it can, my opponent is playing OUT OF HIS MIND! "Is this the same Dean that I beat last year in straight sets?," I ask myself. "What the hell got into this guy?!" I try to recollect my thoughts and attempt to turn this anger into determination, but then I wonder, "it's not that bad if I lose, my teammates will dig it out..." .
That thinking quickly goes out the window as I glance at the matches around me and ALL of us are down in the score of our respective matches! Tito is in a struggle for the first set, Jeremy lost his first set, Fede's in a battle, and to all of our surprise, Andrew is also down a set! The only one who is up in the score is my freshman double's partner, Nico. "Fuck, I'm going to have to dig in and turn this around...fast!," I tell myself.
So, little by little, I start to do just that. Not playing my best tennis, I start to wake up to give myself a fighting chance to turn things around. "Wake UP!," I yell vociferously. One reason at being so vocal was to show Dean that I was not going to give up without a fight, and second, it was to let my teammates know the same exact thing. However, I was done keeping track of the surrounding matches, as I zoned into the dogfight my match had become. Suddenly, Dean's unreturnable winners were becoming returnable, and his lightning fast speed was not so lightning fast anymore. I was bringing him back down to earth and I needed to pounce on this opportunity.
OK, well that was written two months ago and here's the end of the story that I finished up this afternoon before work. Enjoy:
After a great deal of toil and hardship, I take the match into a tiebreak in the second set! The score is 6-6 in games and a tiebreak is needed to settle the winner of the match or prolong the match into a third set. It can go both ways in this situation, and luckily, the odds were in my favor and I won the second set tiebreaker forcing a third and deciding set! "Fight Bobcats! Fight!" I yelled. I can still remember the adrenaline that was oozing through my body at that moment. But, unfortunately, Tito, Andrew, and Jeremy had all lost and Fede was in the third set of his match as well! "I NEED to win my match," I thought to myself as I focused back in the battle that lay before me. A clean slate from here; one set for Dean, one set for me. I start off with a great lead and I find myself up 3-0 in the set, determined to keep my teams' hopes alive of winning the overall match. What motivates me even more is what I see across the net; Dean is dead tired. The match, the heat, the conditions, have all taken a toll on his tall, lanky 6'3'' frame. I see the finish line, but I need to stay focused so as not to relax and leave my guard down for a comeback from my opponent. The score is 5-3 and I am about to return serve for the match and Dean's legs start to cramp. A bit ruthless, but I rejoice in what I am seeing. My rival is writhing in pain, which makes me THAT much closer to my goal: winning. As the trainer, referee, and the SCAD coach tend to Dean in the back of the court, I start to jog briskly around my side of the rectangle. I did this on purpose. I was dead tired, too, but I wanted to show Dean, the SCAD team, and whoever was watching, that for me to lose that match, I had to be pulled off on a stretcher! Daniel Spatz taught me that when I was 9 years old. So, after three hours of grueling play, I broke Dean's serve to win the third set 6-3. And, the match of course! I raise my arms in celebration, but I realize we are still down in the overall score 2-4. The only singles wins we were able to escape with were mine and Nico's. SCAD is one doubles win away from taking it all and were on the ropes. I barely kept us alive, and now we need to win the three doubles matches to pull off this epic feat.
While I was playing my third set, the rest of my teammates had started #2 and #3 doubles, as they kept a close eye on the result of my match. When I won, it felt as if the tides had changed. The momentum was on our side and we could not let it slip. So, Dean and I now had to face off in doubles. We were given 15 minutes of rest before we had to start up again. Dean is still struggling with his cramped legs...but I soon feel my calves and quadriceps tighten up as well. "Oh...no...me, too," I whisper to myself.
I quickly approach Larry, Jeremy's dad who came to ALL of our matches, and I whisper to him, "Larry, I'm cramping up, too, can you tell coach to get me a banana or something." As soon as I finish my request, Larry yells out to Pam, "can you get Bruce to get Adrian a banana because he's cramping!" across the bleachers for the entire SCAD team to here! I laugh it off. There's nothing else I can do about it now...secret is out.
So, Nico and I are ready to start, and my last words to Nico are, "dude, I'm cramping so you're gonna have to run to everything!" We laugh a bit, but we immediately get serious as we are ready to go to work. The match is kind of a blur when thinking back on specifics, but I distinctly remember zeroing in on Dean. He was visibly struggling out there on the court. He had no movement, no explosion on his serve, and seemingly no desire to be out there suffering in the blazing heat. Meanwhile, Nico and I are playing out of our minds! We are clicking on all cylinders as we inch ever so closely to victory! I break focus for a second to look at my teammates and Jeremy & Tito are winning at #2 doubles and Fede & Andrew just won their #3 doubles match. After some spectacular points and truly eye-opening plays, Nico and I are returning serve to win the match! All eyes are zeroed in on us. Tito & Jeremy won their #2 doubles match and the overall match score is tied at 4-4. One more game and we win! The last image I remember is Dean dumping a volley into the net off of my return of serve and that settles it. We have won! My team rushes toward Nico and I, as we all hug and chant, "S-T-U!" in the middle of the court right in front of the SCAD crowd! We pulled it off. Something that at one point seemed impossible. With sweat, blood, and tears, and a SHIT LOAD of heart, we got it done. I will NEVER forget that day.
