April 26, 2010
We ended the season with a win over Huntington. It was a difficult season in the category of wins and losses, but we had a lot of fun together.
One thing I learned this year is that it’s hard to play tennis when your stomach is empty and your mind is full.
We are going to miss Zach and Caleb next year. Caleb is going off to United Seminary in Dayton and Zach is going to grad school in Florida. We wish them the best.
A long time ago Caleb said to me, "Everything we look for in religion we find in Ohio State football." At first I didn’t understand what he meant, but now it makes sense. This week I asked him to give his own explanation, and this is what he said:
In religion, we look for a community of faithfulness with solidarity towards one goal, which is exactly what you get on football Saturdays in Columbus. You get near a million people packed into four city blocks, all of one heart and mind desiring a goal to be accomplished: Brutus Victor.
April 19, 2010
We only had one match this week, and it is hardly worth mentioning. We were really close to winning each of the three doubles matches, but we lost all three. We won three of the six singles matches, but Malone had three great players at the top of their line-up.
Dan Adriansen had a close match at #3, but his opponent was a little too much for him. I enjoy watching Dan play against other schools because I know how frustrating it is to play against him.
He is small, and he doesn't have as much power as many other college tennis players, but he is really tough to beat. Dan gets everything back and places the ball well, making it difficult to put him away.
Although we are both from Michigan, I didn't know him before I came to Cedarville. Two years ago, Dan visited me here (it was his junior year of high school), and he came back to visit me again last year. Dan is a good guy to have around because he is so positive.
Caleb likes to make up metaphors to describe people. Sometimes he drags out his metaphors beyond any sense of real meaning.
"Dan is like a duck. He always makes the best of his situations and never quacks a word of complaint. Like a duck, most of the time Dan just sits there, but we know he can fly. And he has webbed feet, just like Michael Phelps and everybody else from Michigan."
April 12, 2010
We lost three conference matches last week. I think our conference has gotten better. Just two years ago we almost won our conference, and we have as good of a team this year as we did then.
This week we play Malone, and it looks like we have a real chance to get another conference win there.
Last year, Quinton Paul visited Cedarville as a high school senior. He played tennis with me and stayed in my room. Quinton was not a very experienced tennis player, but it was easy to tell that he was very athletic.
As a freshman this year, Quinton has improved his tennis game a lot. It seems clear that he has a future making a significant contribution to the tennis team.
One thing about Quinton is that he falls asleep a lot in the van. He claims to be a light sleeper, but in the hotel on spring break, Dan said of him, "We tickled his feet, grabbed his calves, slapped his thighs, and put a pillow over his head, but he still didn't wake up."
Caleb made a bold statement last weekend. He said, "From the free-throw line, I am the best shooter in Ohio." That seems like the kind of thing he would say as a joke, but consider the following.....
Last year Caleb bet a student that he (Caleb) could make 50 consecutive free throws. Not only did he make all 50, but then he went double or nothing that he could make 10 more with his eyes closed, and he won that too. It's too bad he's 5-foot-6 and not 6-foot-5.
April 5, 2010
We only had one match last week, an away match at Findlay. They were pretty good. Zach salvaged a point for us, but he was the only one. We have three tough conference matches this week.
As a third year player, I have seen a lot of the same teams this year as previous years. It seems like we have a better team this year than the last two years, but the other teams are better too, and we are losing a lot.
Mike Clark is a transfer sophomore on our team this year. He has been an encouragement to me both on and off the court, and I am sure that others would say the same.
Having stayed in a room with Mike on a couple tennis trips, I enjoyed getting to know Mike a little bit. He is generally pretty quiet, but he always cheers loudly on the court.
Caleb, on the other hand, is never at a loss for words. One thing I love (but occasionally hate) about Caleb is his critique of theologians.
One time in the van we were talking about a book written by a certain theologian. Caleb explained his method: "He puts the Bible in one end, and cute little tight categories come out the other end." Unfortunately, theology is not always as cute and tight as we might like.
March 29, 2010
This has been a pretty exciting week for me off the court, but I will start by talking about tennis. On Saturday, we joined the women's team at Springfield Racquet Club for a match against Indiana Wesleyan. Both Cedarville teams lost, but Bobby beat the third fastest server in the world.
On Saturday we played against Notre Dame College and won 8-1. It was nice to be back outside after a couple of cold and rainy days. We are still undefeated in conference play.
This was a special week for me because on Wednesday I proposed to my girlfriend, Rebekah Grafton. She said "yes". It has been fun for me to see the difference in reactions to our "news" from girls and guys. It's pretty different.
Since Rebekah and I are planning to get married in November, it is fun to think about playing matches next year with my wife watching. (She has been a student assistant in the Athletic Department for the past three years.)
Quinton summed it up pretty well at practice on Wednesday when he said, "It's your lucky day DeBoer - you get engaged and break a string." I don't break strings very often and this is the only time I plan on getting engaged.
The other exciting thing that happened this week is that Caleb, Bobby, Coach and I competed in Resound Radio's "Clash." Coach provided most of the answers and a little bit of humor, and Caleb provided most of the humor and a few answers. Bobby and I smiled and laughed.
We won the Clash, so we will be competing in the Clash Championship on Tuesday after our match at Findlay. Dan is on another team, but we like our chances against them.
Caleb is good at telling jokes about athletes whom we would like to forget. On Resound Radio this week, he said, "As a 5-foot-5 fourth grader people said I was the next Greg Ostertag; as a 5-6 tenth grader, I decided I had to play tennis."
March 22, 2010
It looked as if our match with Tiffin would be another close match that we would lose. We were down 4-2 with three singles matches left on the courts. After Bobby and Aaron won their matches at #2 and #1, only Dan was left to decide the match, and he eventually won.
On Saturday, we played Charleston, a team similar to Tiffin in ability. All three doubles matches were close and five out of six singles matches went to three sets, but we lost 7-2.
I have enjoyed having Bobby Eberhard at Cedarville this year, both playing together on the tennis team and living in adjacent rooms in our dorm this semester. He transferred from DePauw after his freshman year so that he could play tennis for Cedarville.
The funny thing about Bobby is that he knows a lot of the players that we play against. He is from the Cincinnati area, and apparently that is how he knows a lot of players. It seems like he has known at least someone from most of the teams, and he knew four guys from Charleston.
Caleb and Bobby share a common disgust toward playing poorly, but they approach it differently. Caleb tends to make his teammates, opponents, and fans laugh at his anger. He calls himself names, hits himself, and makes outrageous analogies between points.
One time Caleb explained his philosophy of reacting to his playing: "If you're going to get upset, you might as well make a joke in the process."
March 15, 2010
This was the week of the weird surfaces. We played a match in Otterbein's gym and we played two matches at Centre College outdoors on carpet courts. We won at Otterbein but lost both close matches at Centre College.
Dan Adriansen won all three of his matches this week in impressive fashion. All three matches went pretty quick. Our first home match is this Tuesday, March 16 against Tiffin at 3 p.m.
My doubles partner this year is Kyle Kirby. I guess we have quite a bit in common. In addition to having the same first name and playing #3 doubles, Kyle and I are both juniors born in July of 1988. We both have a dad named Keith, and we both ate out of a treasure chest on Saturday.
Kyle and I both laugh at Caleb a lot too. Caleb and Kyle and Zach are all from Ohio, but Caleb is more from Ohio than anyone. He thinks more highly of his state than I thought possible.
Recently, someone asked Caleb if he thought Ohio was the prettiest state. He said yes, and then he explained, "Ohio is like a good wife. Even though you know she is not the prettiest, all of her other traits are just intoxicating."
March 8, 2010
We knew we had tough competition over spring break this year, and we did. Although we do not have a win to show for our efforts, we had a real chance in two of the matches, losing 6-3 to both Oglethorpe and Covenant.
A few of us are a little bit sick (physically sick) after spending so much time together, but for the most part we enjoyed the nice weather, the good food, and the fellowship.
In addition to the matches we played against other schools, we spent a day and a half practicing and playing each other. Since our practice time was so short, our lineup may not yet be set in stone.
We are looking forward to playing teams from our own climate region this week. It was good to play difficult opponents, but it will also be good to play some matches in which we have a better chance to win.
Spring break will be less flavorful next year without Caleb Speicher in the van with us. He is entertaining on and off the court, for better or for worse.
I don't know how to describe Caleb, so I will let him speak for himself. He called himself the John Daly of division II college tennis. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but later that day he mentioned that he has gotten pretty good at hitting himself in the head with his racquet.
Earlier this year, when talking about why he hasn't gotten on Jeopardy for college students, Caleb called himself a mere Slumdog-Dunder-Miffliniare. Zach explained that Jeopardy usually chooses students from the Big Ten and SEC, not the AMC.
Caleb talks a lot in the van rides, and sometimes he uses hyperbole to get his point across. Although there have been times when I have thought he may have gone a little too far, usually once he explains himself it makes sense.
I especially like talking to him about the church. I have learned so much from him about what is wrong and what is right, and how we should live. It is clear that Caleb genuinely cares about people.
Sometimes he says things I wish he had not said, but I know that I will miss him deeply next year. My friendship with him is not replaceable, and there is definitely no one else in the world like Caleb Speicher.
March 1, 2010
On Saturday, we drove from Cedarville down to Jacksonville, Florida, which is where we will practice for two days before our first match. We visited First Baptist Church of Jacksonville (which is the biggest church I have ever seen) on Sunday morning. There were approximately 627 pews and at least 550 lights on the ceiling in the auditorium (but who’s counting).
Later this week, we have four matches against four good teams. Coach says that this could be the most challenging group of opponents to start a season that we have had in a long time. At least there is no snow down here and we will have fun together.
It occurred to me during our long drive that this is the last spring break trip that I will experience with Zach Rost, who graduates in May. I don’t think anyone will miss having Zach around more than I will.
One thing I love about Zach is that he is the source of non-stop, family-friendly entertainment in any context. I would estimate that of the 1,000 funniest things I have heard in the last 3 years, 900 came from the mouth of Zach Rost.
I interviewed Zach for this blog post. His favorite comedian is Bob Rohm. If he were coming out of the bullpen in the ninth inning, YMCA (by Village People) is the song that would be playing. Zach knows how fishermen, farmers, and hunters do handshakes. He demonstrated them at church on Sunday, and I am still laughing. The hunter handshake is my favorite.
Zach got a 4.0 GPA last semester. When I asked him what it felt like, he said, "It is similar to winning a gold medal, except that it is academics and not sports, and only for my school, not the entire world. So actually it feels more like winning the lottery because a lot of my grades were based on luck and timing."
Oh yeah - We will all miss having Caleb around next year too. Sometimes he says things with more words than he needs, kind of like how Jesus told parables to confuse some people. One time after practice last year, Caleb asked me a favor and then added, "I’ll grace you with the grace of showing grace to the graceless." Caleb is a special guy.
Feb. 22, 2010
Well, Aquinas is still good. I guess we already knew that, but now we know from experience. At least most of us were done playing in time to see the end of the first set of the exciting #1 singles match.
I played three full sets and still saw Aaron win the first set tie-break. After losing the second set, Aaron had to play a 10-point tie-break to decide the match (which he lost). That is the worst way to lose because you only play two sets and then it all comes down to a few points.
We have our annual team whiffle ball game in the field house this week, then we will head south for spring break to practice and play four matches. Spring break is always good because we eat well, play tennis, and just spend time together. Those are three things I like a lot - especially with the guys on our team.
Caleb often speaks as though he knows what he is talking about, and sometimes he actually does. One time we were talking about golfing when we pulled into the parking lot of a Chinese buffet. As we were walking up to the door, Caleb said, "The thing is, when you approach a golf ball, you have to dance with it." I'll let you imagine for yourself what he looked like demonstrating his golf stance on the sidewalk outside the Chinese restaurant.
Feb. 18, 2010
In 2009, the Cedarville men's tennis team had its first losing season since 1997. In addition to having a rough year, our top two players were graduating seniors. Fortunately, this year's recruiting class is more than filling the shoes of the departed Kevin (Furst) and Brent (Martin).
Aaron Niemiec (Fr.), Bobby Eberhard (Transfer-So.), and Dan Adriansen (Fr.) will likely play at the top of our singles lineup. Quinton Paul (Fr.) and Mike Clark (Transfer-So.) will compete for the other singles positions with Caleb Speicher (Sr.), Zach Rost (Sr.), Kyle Kirby (Jr.), and me, Kyle DeBoer (Jr.). During the offseason, we lost Jeff (Whitcomb) to Pre-Med, Danny (Ormsby) to engineering, Evan (Lavoie) to nursing, and Jordan (Lenz) to skateboarding.
I believe in two (often thought of as contradictory) phrases: "Winning is everything," and "It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." They answer different questions.
When I ask myself how successful I was competitively in the match, then winning is everything. It doesn't matter if I win 6-0, 6-0 or 7-6, 0-6, 7-6. It doesn't matter if I thought my opponent was good or bad. Winning is everything. It doesn't matter if I win the last two points of the match on shanks that trickle over the net, or if my opponent defaults after winning the first set easily. Winning is everything.
However, sometimes the way a player conducts himself is more important than the competitive aspect of sport. Playing sports is one way to enjoy the way God created us, but sometimes we can let anger, pride, or disappointment keep us from playing our sport as an act of worship. It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.
Our first match of the spring is this Friday at Springfield Racquet Club against Aquinas College. My parents' house is just a few minutes from Aquinas, so when we played them last year our team went to our house after the match to eat and watch basketball on my brother's huge projector/screen.
Aquinas won last year and always has a tough team, but we feel like we have a real chance this time. I think it would be cool to go to a school named after an old theologian. The funny thing is that (Caleb) Speicher and I probably know more about Suma Theologica than any of the players for Aquinas.
Speicher has said a lot of memorable things, and I have learned a lot from him. I am planning to include a quote at the end of each blog entry. One unique thing about Speicher is that he feels more pride for his state than he does for his country. One time last year, in conclusion to a speech about Ohio, he said, "The vibe given off from the land is just different." I still haven't felt the vibe.
Kyle DeBoer, a third-year player for the Yellow Jackets, is a junior pre-seminary Bible major from Grand Rapids, Mich. He registered a 24-12 singles record during his first two seasons in the program.
