May 17, 2010
The tennis season wrapped up this past week with a trip to Alabama for the NCCAA tournament. Our team had a great time together in the hot, sunny south as we played lots of tennis.
Monday started off with a service project at a local church in Mobile. We split into different groups, but all worked on preparing for the church’s summer VBS program. Some of us painted sets for skits, while others sorted papers, beads, or cut out crafts. We spent around three hours at the church working along with all the other teams in the NCCAA tournament. We had a fun time and much was accomplished for VBS preparations.
Monday we also had an afternoon practice for a short time and then attended the NCCAA banquet that was held in our hotel. After eating, we heard from several people, including the main speaker Terry Porter from Indiana Wesleyan. We received our free sweat towels, took team pictures, and headed back to our rooms to get some sleep before the tennis started in the morning.
Tuesday morning we played Olivet Nazarene at 9:00 a.m. We had a tough first loss of 5-0, but tried to regain our confidence for our afternoon match. Around 3:00 we played Palm Beach Atlantic. After doubles we came out with a close win at number two with Georgiann and Carissa pulling out a 9-8 victory. However, we lost four of our singles matches giving Palm Beach a 5-1 win.
At the end of the day we were tired, sore, and sunburned, as we drove back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We headed to Lambert’s Throwed Rolls for dinner, where we saw alligators along the road as we drove.
For some of us it was our first experience catching rolls that were being thrown across the entire restaurant. We also had many practical jokes played on us, such as our waiter "dropping" a pitcher of ice-tea on our laps only to find out the liquid was solid. Our waiter had a blast with our table, trying every joke on a table full of jumpy girls. He even got Coach Dee once with a fake mouse, setting her laughter into full swing.
Wednesday morning we had our last match against North Greenville. We won two of the doubles matches, getting us a 2-1 lead. However, we slowly lost four singles matches, giving North Greenville a 5-2 win. We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and later going out to a great seafood restaurant called Felix’s Fish Camp. We enjoyed the view of the gulf as we ate well once again.
Thursday we stayed to watch the final matches for the men and women and then we headed home. Around 3:30 in the afternoon we piled into the bus for a 15-hour bus ride that gave us little sleep. The trip to Alabama was a lot of fun and a great chance to play more tennis and spend a little more time together before we all went our separate ways!
Fun Fact: One meal at Lambert’s is enough to feed three people!
May 3, 2010
The school year is over!!! But tennis is continuing on, as we head to Mobile, Alabama, at the end of this week for Christian nationals.
We finished up the main season this past week, playing in the conference tournament at Walsh. We lost in the first match to Walsh on Thursday, only winning one point with Joy’s singles match. Though it was tough to lose at Walsh, we are looking forward to more tennis in the sunny south.
It was a crazy week as we finished up classes, took finals, played tennis, moved out, and graduated! (well three of us). Graduation was exciting as we went through the ceremony, received our long-awaited diplomas, spent time with family, and moved out of the dorms!
As the three of us look toward the future, we find some exciting plans in the path. Georgiann will be getting married on September 5th to Kyle Hess and moving to a location that is yet to be determined! Carissa and I will be heading to Spain to work alongside missionaries for ten months, teaching English to students!
On Saturday the team will travel down to Mobile, Alabama for the NCCAA tournament. We are excited to be right on the gulf and experience some beautiful weather for the week. We will play in a minimum of three matches, but hopefully more.
Mobile is apparently home to an incredible tennis facility that has so many courts, that every match for men and women will allow for six courts! We have also heard of some fun restaurants and historic sites that we might also visit!
Fun fact: Cindy Hoke is in Greece right now!
April 26, 2010
This past week was probably the busiest tennis week of the season! We had three home matches, a couple banquets, practices, and an all-athlete worship.
Tuesday night we had our match against University of Northwestern Ohio or UNOH. This was a big match for us, since we had lost to Walsh and Walsh had lost to UNOH. We knew that winning it would make a three way tie for the conference championship, but we didn’t know we were about to do just that.
Doubles started off the match and were super close, building a good tension of competition that lasted for the rest of the match. Number two doubles won quickly and one dubs fought but lost 9-7. It came down to three doubles to pull out a second point. We did, but not without a fight, as we won in a tie breaker. This made the match score 2-1 before the singles were put on.
As the singles started wrapping up we had a win at six singles and two losses at one and four. This made the overall score 3-3, intensifying the situation. All three of the girls left, Brooke, Georgiann, and Melissa went into three sets. Melissa came out with a win, while Brooke battled but lost.
The match came down to Georgiann at three singles as she pushed through to win the third set 7-5. It was an incredible win and by far the most memorable of the season thus far.
On Thursday we played ODU and lost. Saturday we went indoors to play Huntington, which turned out to be a good win at 9-0 for us.
We are getting pumped up for this week’s tennis in Canton, Ohio for conference tournament matches. We’ll be playing Walsh on Thursday morning. If we win we’ll play in the finals match on Friday morning. The winner of this tournament goes to NAIA nationals the week after Christian nationals in Mobile, Alabama.
We also wrapped up a few parts of the season with the all-senior athlete banquet on Monday night and our annual tennis banquet at Coach Johnson and Mr. Coach’s home. This is always a fun time as the seniors give out fun memorable gifts to the underclassmen. Some of these gifts included prank supplies, Disney memorabilia, teaching supplies, and many more things that represented memories and inside jokes from the season. It was a great time of laughter, food (of course), and awards. This season and team is one that I will never forget!
Fun Fact: This year’s conference championship win was Coach Dee’s first as head coach!
April 19, 2010
Our tennis week got started off last Tuesday evening as we traveled down to Shawnee State, on the boarder of West Virginia and Ohio. It was a hot day on their new courts, but we managed to pull out a 9-0 victory!
Before the ride back, we stopped at Bob Evans to enjoy some down-home cook’n. We filled our bellies with good food and started the long ride home with Tim, our new favorite Buckeye bus driver.
After a few days of practice and a couple changes in the schedule, we headed for Canton, Ohio, to play Walsh on Friday at 8 a.m. After the three-hour ride, we arrived at Walsh to begin playing.
With our number three player, Georgiann at an all day social work conference, we switched the line-up around a bit. It was an extremely windy and (at the end) rainy match for us. We ended up losing, but are counting on the fact that conditions will be different the next time we face them!
We began the long journey back to Cedarville, but not without a stop to a Dutch kitchen along the way! We had some fabulous buffet food, including homemade macaroni and cheese and started our way back home.
Saturday afternoon we played Asbury, who came up from Kentucky. The match went well, despite our Ohio wind, and we won 9-0. We also had a surprise visit from former player Anna Strayhorn!!! She walked onto the courts during our warm up and we literally came running from all directions to see her!
After the match, the team and families that came celebrated Jesika Rupena’s 20th birthday with pizza and cake! The team also got her a Bible, in which each person underlined or highlighted verses that personally meant a lot to share with Jes.
We have another very busy week with tennis as we are schedule to play UNOH Tuesday, ODU Thursday, and Huntington Saturday. These will be our last matches before the AMC conference during finals week and nationals to follow. So come out and watch before it is over!!!
Fun Fact: Bob Evans began as a sausage company that eventually turned into a restaurant.
April 12, 2010
Last Tuesday’s match against Wilmington was our first match in ten days as we have time off over Easter break. It turned out well as we won 6-3 in one of the windiest and sunniest matches in a while, and windy as in the ball flies three feet when it’s tossed and sunny as in you lose the ball in blaze of the sun and hope that you hit it. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a good trip for the team!
Thursday our match against Marian was canceled due to the rain, but Friday we set out for New York to play Roberts Wesleyan. We rode in style with a charter bus for our team of twelve. It was complete with the capabilities to watch movies and get wi-fi!!!!! We were stoked about the bus’s ability to get the internet and we used it for as long as our computers could hold out.
We arrived Friday night in New York and played indoors on Saturday morning in courts that resembled a giant pillow from the outside. It worked out great as we had plenty of courts and time to play. It was a"nail-biter" of a match as Coach Dee said, as it came down to Carissa’s singles match to decide the overall win of 5-4. After the match, we started our seven-ish hour drive and headed back to Ohio, with a long stop at Chili’s of course.
This week we are scheduled to have three matches again. We will be playing Shawnee State on Tuesday and have our much-awaited rival match against Walsh on Friday. Saturday is another home match against Asbury! We’re getting excited as the season is winding down to see how it will all turn out!
Fun Fact: A pipe organ was the loudest sound that could be made in the year 1600.
April 5, 2010
This was an easy week for the team as we only had practice on Tuesday afternoon. It was a short week because of Easter break and most of us left campus on Thursday.
I’m sure I can speak for the whole team and say that the time off was refreshing. It was incredible to think about the cross this weekend and what Jesus has done for us. I watched at my church on Sunday as probably fifty people walked forward after the service, desiring salvation!!!
Jes and my roommate Kelly came home with me for Easter break and we had many adventures that seem to be story-worthy. Friday we had a canoeing adventure behind my house for a couple hours.
After slipping all over the mud as we got the canoe in the water, we finally got our paddles in. After Jes’ first paddle, she struck a fish that came flying out of the water, whizzing past my head, flipping and flopping. After a laugh attack, we continued on. Later down the creek we saw three beavers, a little guy and two giant ones and they splashed into the water for protection. It was incredible!
After some country fun on Friday morning, we decided to go to the city of Chicago that afternoon. It was a beautiful, busy day in the city and we walked around for a couple hours, getting lost a lot. However, we did spend a significant amount of time at the famous bean and Millennium Park.
Saturday we returned to Chicago and took in some Giordano’s Pizza and shopping. It was a weekend with the best of both worlds: the country and city!
Back to tennis and spring flowers. Flowers are popping up everywhere, including the tennis courts! These flowers always remind me of our beautiful spring matches in the sun!
This week we have three away matches. Tuesday we’ll be traveling to Wilmington, Thursday to Indianapolis to play Marian, and Friday we leave to watch the boys’ team play Walsh and then both teams head to New York to play Roberts Wesleyan. Friday night is our only overnight trip during the season, which always makes great memories!
Fun Fact: To work off one M&M you must walk the length of a football field.
March 29, 2010
This past weekend was full of tennis as we played two matches, one on Friday and the other on Saturday. Friday’s match was against Indiana Wesleyan. It was played indoors at the Springfield Racquet Club on a dreary day. We ended up losing 9-0, but saw some good tennis, including our number one singles player Joy Kellogg’s match.
Saturday had much better results for us as we won 8-1 against Malone, bringing our conference record to 3-0. Though the score showed that we won easily; however, the scores of some of the matches kept us on edge. Joy and Georgiann had great come backs as they both lost their first set but won in three sets, definitely making the match more interesting!
This week is our Easter celebration at Bible study, which means the Easter bunny will definitely make an appearance. This usually transpires in the form of Easter plates full of goodies, of the usual chocolate and jelly beans, that we all consume on our time off. Coach has an incredible talent for spoiling us whenever the opportunity arrives!
On Sunday this past week, much of the team got out to the bike trails and roads to run the IJM 10K route as a group. What we thought was going to be a rainy, cold, and miserable run turned out to be full of perfect running weather. It was warm, had a perfect slight drizzle in the beginning, and the sun often peeked through the clouds to greet us!
We really enjoyed running (and finishing!), but we were thrilled to know that almost 600 people ran on race day (Saturday the 27th) and raised over $15,000 for Gracehaven, an organization that gives options to young girls who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation!
This week being part of Easter break means we don’t have any matches; however as we get back to school next week we’ll head to some away matches and an overnight trip. This week along with practice, we will be cramming to finish all those last minute projects and papers that our professors lovingly assign before break!
Fun Fact: There once was a raccoon named Meeko. The end.
March 22, 2010
It was another exciting week for the team as we got to spend most of the week playing tennis OUTDOORS on our own courts! We enjoyed the sun and dried worms on the courts as we practiced.
Friday and Saturday brought our two matches of the week and both turned out to be pretty quick wins for us. Friday we played Carlow, winning 9-0 and Saturday we faced Ursuline, beating them 8-1. This has brought our conference record to 2-0 and our overall spring record to 5-1.
There was even a visit from Pete, (Coach’s dog) on Saturday, who loved following the tennis balls with his eyes.....if only he wasn’t on a leash!
This weekend we had more parents show up to enjoy watching the matches! Cindy’s dad, Curt Hoke, spoke in chapel on Thursday, sharing his life story and brought us to tears. It was incredible to hear about God’s faithfulness in him and his wife Carol’s lives.
We also got to celebrate their son Jesse’s birthday and he is now 9 years old! The Hokes also painted the rock again this year for Jesse’s birthday with Snoopy’s picture, and yet dedicated it to the team by putting CU Women’s Tennis on it. Their entire family was here for both of our matches, as well as Carissa’s parents, Lauren’s parents, and my dad!
This week we are looking forward to playing Indiana Wesleyan on Friday afternoon, as well as Malone, another conference match, on Saturday. Both matches are home, which will be nice before we start a string of five away matches in a row.
Fun Fact: Tennis originated in the 19th century in Wales as a form of lawn tennis.
March 15, 2010
Saturday, March 13th marked our first home match as we drove early in the morning to our beloved home courts away from home courts, the Springfield Racquet Club. The match started around 9 o’clock as we put all six singles matches on first. At the end of those matches, we pulled out only 2 wins, putting the pressure on our doubles game.
Realizing that we needed all three wins of the doubles to win the match as a team, we refueled and went to work. Our 2nd and 3rd doubles teams pulled out their wins first, making the overall score now 4-4 between the University of Findlay and us. As everyone gathered above, in the lookout area, we cheered, sighed, and held our breath as we watched the number one doubles team pull out a win as well, giving us a 5-4 win!
Coach Dee ran onto the court to congratulate Joy and Brooke on their win and the last point our team needed in order to win the match. As we gathered around afterwards, Coach Dee informed us that she thought it was one of the best edge-of-your-seat matches since the 1970's or 80's, when she remembered a similar occurrence.
We all took her word for it and thoroughly enjoyed the win! Our team and many family members headed out to eat at Applebee’s, one of the team favorite places to celebrate.
This week also marked a special day for Coach Dee as she brought home a new friend and dog, Pete (for Pete Sampras) on Thursday. Pete is 15 months old and part lab, part collie. We are told he is full of energy and already a tennis fan as he loves to play catch with tennis balls.
This week we have two matches, where we are playing Carlow on Friday afternoon and Ursuline on Saturday. Both of these are conference matches and we are hoping that (1) We can play outside and (2) Start our conference record off well with two wins!
Fun Fact: Pete Sampras turned pro when he was 16 in 1988.
March 8, 2010
Our week in Florida turned out to be a great one for the team! Our match against Hanover went super well as we pulled out a 9-0 victory! Playing Southeastern also turned out great as we won 6-3! After four hours of tennis on a cold Florida night, we celebrated with a Five Guys dinner of burgers and TONS of fries and a little Coldstone ice cream to top it off!
Our adventure to Disney on Thursday was not surprisingly magical and full of fun! After singing countless Disney songs on the ride to the Magic Kingdom, we spent the day crammed full of as many rides and shows as possible with some of our favorites being Space Mountain, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. At the end of the chilly day we huddled together to watch the Disney parade and the fireworks featuring Tinkerbell’s flight out of the castle!
Friday quickly became our beach day after finding that we were still exhausted from all the tennis matches and practices of the week. We packed up that morning and drove to New Smyrna Beach, about an hour away. Because the sun was warm but the wind was chilly, we only spent a couple of hours there, including taking time to eat Subway on the beach. After nearly getting attacked by seagulls, we jumped in the vans and headed to our Georgia destination for the night.
That night wrapped up our freshman initiation that eventually turned into the whipped-cream game - a tennis tradition. (The other half of initiation occurred at Disney and truly brought out the dramatic skills of our freshman "J". On Saturday we drove back to Cedarville and had a good amount of time to readjust to life here.
This Saturday is our next match, which is against the University of Findlay, the home town of our own Joy Kellogg. We’re excited to continue the season and are hoping for an outdoor match on our home courts! If we can talk the snow into melting and drying up, it just might happen!
Fun Fact: Speed bumps are more fun in reverse.
March 1, 2010
Florida! Sun! Sun-screen! Mickey! Tennis! Chickie Curry! Sketty! Samiches.....ok so we are obviously in Florida this week and very excited about it! We’ve been here since Saturday night after a long two day car ride. The weather has been INCREDIBLE and we are soaking up the sun as much as we can!
Today was our first match against Alma College. At 1:00 we were on the sunny courts ready for doubles. We came out 2-1, winning the 1st and 2nd doubles matches. After four long-hours of tennis we finished 4-5, with Joy and Georgiann winning their singles matches. Though we didn’t come out with a win, it was a good start to the spring season, and we are gearing up for our next two matches while in Florida.
We will be facing Hanover University tomorrow morning, bright and EARLY at 8:30 in the morning. Wednesday we have our last Florida match against Southeastern University of Florida. We’re pumped and ready for more tennis!!!
With our fanny packs in place, sun-glasses on, sneakers tied, and sun screen applied we’re going to head out to Disney on Thursday!!! Some of us will be spending the day with Cinderella and her friends at Magic Kingdom and others studying the world at Epcot...or so I hear. We’re excited to jump into our childhood again!
On Friday we’re heading back home to snowy Ohio, while probably stopping at a Wendy’s or two on the way. We’ll be back on Saturday night and with our last day of spring break spent relaxing in Cedarville, we’ll be all refreshed and ready for school again.....maybe.
Fun Fact: After watching the last Olympic event, the US vs. Canada hockey game, it was discovered that Brooke Johnson was once a figure skater!
Oct. 12, 2009
Last Monday marked our final match for the fall season. We played Ohio Wesleyan under the lights with no expectations. We hadn’t played OWU in over four years, but we were excited for the nice weather and the chance to get a match in. Our last match had been about three weeks ago due to the rain and wind cancellations.
After doubles we were up 3-0, hoping and expecting a win. As the singles matches progressed we steadily began to win match after match. With much excitement we found ourselves at 8-0 with one match still in play.
Carissa Parmerlee (Shmoe) was the last Jacket on the court, facing a battling match with the last OWU Bishop. After losing the first set 6-0, Carissa fought her way back, winning the second set at 7-6. Now it was time for the match tie-breaker, that would decide if the team won, bagel (beating someone 6-0 or in the team’s case 9-0) or breadstick (beating someone 6-1 or team score 8-1).
As the team sat in the stands, sweating in fear, and freezing from the incredibly cold temperatures of the outdoors, we watched as Carissa steadily pulled through the ten point tie-breaker, winning it 13-11. The fans went wild and the team cheered as we pulled off the 9-0 victory!!
Unfortunately, the matches scheduled for Tuesday and Friday of last week were rained out, but we were happy to end the fall season with a big win. For now until January, we will be meeting for Bible study and of course serving you all at the soccer concession stands. Come out and see us and support the CU women’s tennis team!
Fun Fact: Coach Dee is an expert in marksmanship and an exceptionally talented woodcarver.
Oct. 5, 2009
This past weekend for Homecoming, the women’s tennis program had many alumni come back for various reasons. At the tennis banquet, we had more alumni than ever with their families join us.
We even had two recent graduates, Jade Burley and Sarah Andersen, join in the fun Friday night, along with Anna Strayhorn arriving on Saturday. After a fantastic sandwich dinner, we saw many interesting pictures of players in the past, as well as photos of current players. It was a good time hearing from Coach Dee and even Ann (Berger) Vogel, a past player for Cedarville.
The wind decided to blow a little too much on Monday of last week, postponing our only match of the week. However, this week we have three matches to look forward to, including Ohio Wesleyan on Monday , Ohio Dominican on Tuesday, and Otterbein on Friday. Since we haven’t had a match in almost three weeks, we’re hoping we still remember how it goes. :)
This past Saturday the three seniors, Carissa Parmerlee, Georgiann McClure, and myself thought it might be fun to get out and run a little. So we ran a 5K race at Apex Church in Kettering to help support two girls who are going on The World Race mission trip.
It ended up being beautiful outside for a run. We all survived the 3.1 miles, finished well, and all made the time goal we set for ourselves. We rewarded ourselves with a stop at the Tropical Smoothie Café, near Apex.
Fun Fact: We discovered that Carissa Parmerlee is actually a cross country runner that plays tennis, after she won a medal in Saturday’s 5K race.
Sept. 28, 2009
The theme of last week was rain. We were scheduled for three matches and all three were rained out. However, two of the matches have been rescheduled. Hopefully the rain will hold out and allow us to finish the fall season in the next two weeks, with only three matches left!
Though we have no matches this week, Friday we will be having our annual tennis banquet. This always promises to be full of good food, a free t-shirt, excellent pictures, and several tennis alumni. It is always a good time for our team to be together and meet some of Cedarville’s past tennis players.
Our two tennis graduates, Anna Strayhorn and Sarah Andersen, from last year will be in Cedarville for homecoming this weekend. Our team is pumped to see them and hang out this weekend. Hopefully they will make an appearance at the tennis banquet on Friday!
Bible study has been fantastic this semester. As always we love going to Dean Gibbs’ house on Wednesday nights for food and time to share and learn together. We’ve been sharing our testimonies this year and it has been awesome to learn about each other’s lives and how God has been a part of each of our stories!
Fun Fact: We have had more matches rained out thus far than actually played.
Sept. 21, 2009
It was a full week for our team with a match under the lights on Tuesday and the ITA Regional Tournament on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Tuesday’s match with Wittenberg turned out well with at 7-2 win including a sweep in doubles. We enjoyed the night life of the tennis courts that generally includes lots of friendly bugs in the face and losing the ball in the lights during a high lob.
ITA matches started on Thursday morning. There were 15 teams participating, and we had four girls representing Cedarville including Joy Kellogg and Brooke Johnson at singles and George (Georgiann McClure) and Shmoe (Carissa Parmerlee) as our doubles team.
The rest of the team watched a lot of good tennis while cheering on our girls. After winning two matches, Joy pressed on to the quarterfinals, while the other girls battled, but lost their two matches. It was incredible weather and a lot of fun cheering, watching some great tennis, catching some rays, and even handing out ice cream!
This week we are looking forward to hopefully two matches (as long as we don’t get rained out)! We are scheduled to have a scrimmage with Sinclair on Friday and a regular match against Ohio Dominican on Saturday! We’re excited to get out there and play, as the fall season stretches on!
Fun Fact: Our #1 faithful blog reader award goes to Anna Strayhorn!!!
September 14, 2009
Tuesday arrived, the day we’d all been waiting for. Practice ended and we all were thinking about one thing: dinner at Becky Kuhn’s house! Becky is a great part of our team, and one thing she does is have us over to her home for a wonderful homemade meal during the season. This time it was spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and dessert - and just as amazing as always!!!
This past Friday our team traveled to Georgetown, Ky. for our very first away match. As we got ready to leave we were welcomed by a giant charter bus for our little team of eleven and found that each of us could occupy at least eight seats if we so desired! But of course we all sat close on our journey to Kentucky. If there is one thing that has become true of our team in the past few years, it would be how close we’ve all gotten to each other.
The match started at 6:00 and as it did we found Georgetown to be an extremely strong team, yet a fun competitor. Although we lost 7-2, we celebrated our victories and still found it to be a good match, lasting about three hours. Afterwards, we ate pizza with the Georgetown team, and we were on our way home.
On the way home we watched the movie "I.Q." on the bus, laughing so hard at the ridiculous quotes, and of course repeating them to each other. Our team generally thrives on inside jokes and quotes that build as the season plays out.
Fun Fact: Albert Einstein - "If you had had a nickel for every nickel that he has, you would have a lot of nickels."
September 7, 2009
After a long weekend, with so much good homemade food, I feel as though our team is ready to play again! We had time off this weekend, but we are looking forward to our match on Friday with Georgetown. Our trip down to Kentucky will no doubt be memory worthy, along with the match and interaction with the Georgetown team.
Last week’s match with Tiffin was a great success for us. Not only did we win 6-3, but we had many opportunities to sit and talk with the other players about life. We had a lot of fun talking with a few of the Tiffin girls, laughing a lot with them, and getting the chance to share what God has done for us! We finished the night with a great dinner at Bean’s ‘n Cream for food and coffee!
At Bible study this week we talked about 1 Corinthians 9:24 where it says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."
We discussed what it means to run a race in the literal sense along with the idea of going through the Christian life. It was great to discuss with Dean Gibbs and each other the idea of finishing the race well.
As we compared literally running a race to life we discovered many similarities, including that some points of life will be easier than others, there will always be people ahead or behind you in life for various reasons, you will need coaching along the way from God and others, and that you may even need for someone to carry you at points in order to finish. It was great to talk about the Christian life and to think what it might be like to finish the race and hear God say, "Well done good and faithful servant."
Another exciting activity for our team in the fall is always soccer concessions. This involves the responsibility of keeping hotdogs fresh and hot for hungry customers, restocking our drinks, and making so many hot chocolates that you lose count.
A new addition for our concession stand would be our fantastic nachos, where we are all trying to figure out how to jam as many chips as possible into one tray. We really do enjoy hanging out in the concession stand for our soccer games, so come give us a visit!
Fun Fact: It is not impossible for two people to ride one bike, while carrying left over hotdogs.
August 31, 2009
The 2009 fall women’s tennis season has finally begun! Our team has had a great time getting back together for practice, Bible study, hearing about each others’ summers, and laughing and eating together, which we do so well!
As a senior, I am so excited for the tennis season to take off! We started the year off with our Annual Sundaes on Wednesdays on August 19th. We talked about the future season over our ice cream sundaes, met the new (incredible) freshmen, and talked about goals and upcoming matches and practices.
For the fall, we are practicing three times a week as a team. Our first match was scheduled for last Friday, August 28th, but was unfortunately rained out. We are looking forward to playing Tiffin University this Thursday, as our first match of the season!
Our team is also looking forward to Wednesday night Bible studies at Dean Gibb’s house, which always means food and fun! We are excited to learn through testimonies and our Bible study on I Corinthians 9:24-27 and understanding what it means to "run the race" to "get the prize".
Our verse this year is Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." We have really been reminded that we are God’s children, so that he can work through us. This verse is really becoming the focus for our team this year as we strive to use tennis to reach out to others around us. We’re pumped to see how God uses this season, as we strive to obey Him!
Fun Fact: It has been discovered that Junior Cindy Hoke and Freshman Melissa Stoltzfus are in fact 2nd cousins, yet have never met until two weeks ago!
Rachel Arthur is a four-year Lady Jacket tennis player from Burlington, Ind. A Dean’s List student as a youth ministries/Christian education major, she is an NAIA and NCCAA Scholar-Athlete.
