On The Road Again

This week the Jammers are on the road again, to Joplin, to play against the High Strung.  I wasn’t going to go with them, because I was kind of disappointed in the team, but more on that later.  Come Sunday evening, I’ve decided I should go with them to Joplin, since I haven’t seen Kelly play singles nor Kayla and Heidi play doubles.  So I went along with the team.

For the third time in a row, the Jammers won all 5 courts in their match.  I think it’s because we brought ‘Tia” with us.  I guess I forgot to mention Tia before.  Hee-Sun brings Tia on road trips with the Jammers.  I guess Tia is kind of the team’s mascot.  Plus she seems to bring us luck. 

This is Tia - Jammers' Mascot

Teresa Emerson won her singles match against Stacey Iorio 6-2, 6-0.  Kelly Kramer played her first singles for the season, also won with the scores of 6-4, 6-1 against Tammy Hunter.

We haven’t seen Suzanne Lennard much this season, but she teamed up with Beth Wilson and won their match 6-2, 6-3 against Beth Sellers and Terra Baugh.  Our doctors team of Hee-Sun Kim and Margaret Taylor, once again proved they have that Asian Caucasian Persuasion going on, for they dominate their opponents Karen Talbott and Kristine Bhend with the scores of 6-1, 6-1.

Kayla Ratliff and Heidi Smith seem to have a little bit of a rougher time with their match.  They played against the mother and daughter team of Kimberly Higdon and Christina Higdon.  In the first set, Kayla and Heidi won with the score of 6-4.  They lost in the second set in a tie-break 6-7 (8-10).  In the third set tie-break, the Jammers were cheering Kayla and Heidi on.  I've heard TE saying something like ‘TIME TO DIG IN! RUB SOME DIRT IN IT!  Now what in the world does that mean?  I’m not quite sure.  Kayla and Heidi just hung in there and won the tie-break 10-4.  

So with the win this week, the Jammers are still undefeated 6-0.

Some of the Jammers in Joplin - Teresa, Heidi, Kelly, Beth, Margaret, Suzanne, Kayla, and Hee-Sun (with Tia)

Jammers with their Captain - Huong Doan

Late last week, I’ve found out that the Jammers might not even play in the District playoffs the weekend of July 14-15.  Due to scheduling conflict, some of the Jammers won’t be in town to play.  If we don’t have the minimum of 8 players present, we are not qualified to play.  Talk about disappointment!  I wasn’t sure how I feel, mad in a way, disappointed, angry, not quite sure.  I was not a happy camper.  We talked about going to Sectionals all the time.  Well, if we’re not going to Districts, there isn’t going to be a Sectionals.  Then I thought, maybe these girls don’t even want to go to Sectionals, maybe it’s me that wants to go.  We worked so hard to give up that chance, and I just hate for them not to go, that’s all.  I believe in all the girls, I know they can go far this season, and if they believe that, I know they wanted to go to Sectionals as bad as I do.   We have a great team and if we all work together, we are unstoppable. 

The Jammers didn’t let me down.  Early this week, the Jammers all talked and we have enough players to go to Districts.  We have three matches left, we just need to make sure we kick butts in those matches and be ready to play at Districts.  We won’t have all the Jammers for Districts but I hope all the girls will still continue to work hard together and come up with a win and get us to the Sectional Championship.   

I send these quotes out to the team, something for them to think about and to motivate them.  All these quotes are from Pat Summitt.

"When you choose to be a competitor, you choose to be a survivor.  When you choose to compete, you make the conscious decision to find out what your real limits are, not just what you think they are.  Competition trains you to accept risks and endure setbacks.  By embracing it you can enhance your life.  But it will also pull you through those painful, frightening, everyday battles that we all have to face at one time or another.  Ask yourself, 'Are you a competitor?”

 

      “Individual success is a myth.  No one succeeds all by herself”     

      “Put the Team Before Yourself”

      “Success is about having the right person, in the right place, at the right  time.”

      “Teamwork allows common people to obtain uncommon results.”

      “In group success there is individual success.”

      “Make Winning an Attitude.”

      “No one ever got anywhere by being negative.”

      “Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles  you to succeed.”

      “Competition isn’t social.  It separates achievers from the average.”

     “Value those ‘teammates’ who tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear.”