Caleb's High School Tennis

Caleb had high hopes for his senior year of high school tennis. He had achieved a 7.0 UTR by the end of his junior year, worked really hard over the summer, then planned to go far with the ambitious goal of going to state by the end of the year. Tough lessons followed for his senior year. He faced loss after loss after loss. The plan was to continuously improve his UTR throughout the year, and instead it was dropping. It was an opportunity to look inward and humbly admit to himself that pursuing tennis in college was not in the cards for him after all. After he had that reality check, he continued to work hard the rest of the year and improve his mental toughness, but he stopped getting depressed about the losses and tried to focus on the positives/improvements in his game. He remained #1 on his varsity team and made it to the semi-finals of districts, playing opponents with a 9 and 10 UTR. In the end, he is satisfied and proud of his high school tennis experience.

Team Captains

Senior Night Recognition

Caleb winning a pickleball fundraiser tournament in November.

Tournament in San Antonio where they went to Six Flags before coming home

End of High School

May was a whirlwind with finishing up school for Caleb. He had two AP tests to take, Simply Prom, a final high school tennis tournament, the tennis banquet, graduation practice, graduation, a tennis fundraiser tournament, a piano recital for his students, and then his own senior piano recital. 

Caleb asked a good friend in his Calculus class to Simply Prom. (Church prom where several stakes in this area combine to put it on.) He and Maddie competed all year to have the highest grade in the class. She usually pulled out on top. He had Calculus equations in some balloons that she had to pop and solve to uncover the words "Will you be my plus C value at prom?"

I was the booster representative in planning the banquet. I ended up being more involved than I wanted to be, but I was working with close church friends so it was fun. Planning the food was the most stressful part in terms of ordering the right amount. We over planned on food, but it was a successful night.

Caleb and Carter both won several awards. On the JV team, Carter won the team spirit award, leadership, and best tan line. Caleb won the groundstroke, sportsmanship and most dedicated awards for varsity. He also was awarded a scholarship.

Caleb and Elizabeth with their Grizzly GROWL award

Both Caleb and Carter played in the Grand Slam fundraising tournament in the men's doubles division. They played together in the tournament last year. This year, they each played with a good friend.

Caleb and his good friend, Ethan, who graduated a year ahead of him. Ethan was ranked #1 and Caleb #2 for Ethan's senior year. They won this tournament together! It was a fight to the end in a tie breaker against a college player and a tennis coach.

Carter and his friend Ravi who placed 3rd!

Graduation was extremely long and hot. On the plus side, I had a good 3 hours to catch up with my mom and dad. My dad even got a little cat nap. Caleb graduated Magna Cum Laude with a 4.0 unweighted GPA. He took a total of 6 AP classes in high school. 

Caleb was recognized as a senior athlete representative. (Only a handful were chosen.)

Caleb and his good friend, Tyler

Graduation party with some fellow seniors

I want to document Caleb's artwork that still hangs in the hallway of his elementary school!

May wrapped up with Caleb's senior recital. He played 50 minutes of memorized, challenging, polished classical pieces. His repertoire included: Sonata Pathétique, Nocturne in D flat major by Chopin, Khachaturian Toccata, Fantaisie Impromptu, Moonlight Sonata mvt 3, and Clair de Lune. The stamina it takes to play such challenging songs as well as the mental focus is quite impressive. He played with such feeling and grace, and this was a huge payday moment for him as an accumulation of a lot of hard work. He shared some thoughts about each song--a little background, what the song sounds like to him, what makes the song difficult, etc. There was a good crowd including his longest teacher, Marilyn, who drove over 3 hours to come hear him in person. We did record the event. Matt and I shared a few words at the end of how proud we were of him and how much we have loved his music filling our home.

Spring Sports

 

We love that grandparents come out and support their games.

Austin's team won first place! He continues to improve each season. He batted 3rd from the end during the play-off tournament, but I really appreciated that the coach moved the lineup around all season so that each kid felt valued. Austin mostly played 2nd base and right field with the occasional turn at shortstop.

Bryson had a great season! Unfortunately, his team struggled, losing every game. The league divided into east and west for each division, and the east had very little talent to choose from for Bryson's age. Matt coached again and knew the season would be a struggle. They didn't end up in last place for the tournament though!

Carter enjoys both tennis and football but can't do both in high school, so he played on the JV tennis team at school and did a football league outside of school. These are a few pictures from his flag football team.