the lines are still good

Follow the happenings of an animated college tennis coach and his teams in their pursuit of an NCAA National Tennis Championship. It is always the impressive trophy that is displayed for all to admire that gets the attention, but it is the journey to claiming that trophy, the relationships built, the people served and the memories created, that live forever...and what I hope you will find interesting...

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Counting Down...


This is the final week of preparation prior to the "real" beginning of the season. We will travel to Florida on Friday to our friendly confines at Ocean Gallery in St. Augustine. It will be very difficult to reproduce the success of last season's undefeated spring trip as the schedule is a little tougher and our team is somewhat less experienced.

Even with the warmer winter in NY, we have not yet been able to practice out of doors to get acclimated to the conditions. However, regardless of how we do, we will gain match experience and hopefully continue to bond as a team.

I am excited to see how the players respond and preform versus some of the top competition in the country. We are a very young team this year so the most important thing at this point is simply to improve every time we take to the courts. I am pretty confident that we will be there in the end once again this year but the the road traveled will most probably be a little different.

As I mentioned in the season preview on the college's web page, our freshmen will determine how far we go this year. They have progressed quite a bit since the fall and continue to work hard to get themselves where we need them to be in order for us to be successful. It seems as though the team as a whole is starting to grasp the coaching philosophy...finally. Thankfully, Coach Neil bought me an electronic megaphone for Christmas which has certainly come in handy.

Nuff said...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Clippers vs. STAC 8pm Tonight...


Home opener for your Clippers tonight versus STAC with first serve scheduled for 8pm. Stay tuned to twitter for live updates.

We hope to get the entire roster involved tonight but also want to see a solid effort in the doubles matches. I expect to see both energy and improvement as we have been spending much time with four on a court.


If you are in the area, stop by the Meyers Tennis Center and support the fellas. Feel free to say hello to Coach Dano as well.

Please pardon the pictures if you are not able to discern the references.

Nuff said...

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Concordia Preseason #1 CACC...


I have never fully understood the importance of preseason polls. These seem to be of very little value but for some reason the conference asks the coaches to take a preseason vote and then publishes some sort of press release with the results. I guess it gives SID's something to do and somehow strokes the ego of those praised. That being said, I have never seen any sort of trophy on the mantle in any home that boasts a preseason championship.

Well, now that you know how much I appreciate these polls, let me share the super-terrific news. Your Clippers have been voted CACC preseason #1 (fireworks exploding and lights flashing). Click here for the exciting story.

The CACC should have some improved teams this season and we will be looking forward to the enhanced challenge. We have done about as well as possible in our first two years in the conference and are certainly expecting to continue the success. Winning the CACC is one of the first steps necessary to achieve our ultimate goals. We know that there are a few teams that would love to take home the title so we do not take any achievement lightly, except of course, for a preseason honor.

Nuff said...

Schedule Update...


Hello tennis peoples,

We have a few changes to the spring schedule to report. We have added two matches and moved one that was scheduled to accommodate Bluefield State and STAC. Please make the appropriate changes to your schedule so that you are able to attend the additional home contests.

2/16, Thursday, STAC, Home @ 8pm
3/20, Tuesday, Bluefield State College, Home @ 3:30pm
3/21, Wednesday, Chestnut Hill College, Away @ 3:30pm

Hope to see you at the home contests.

Nuff said..

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Season Opener...


Hello all. It is an exciting time as tomorrow we will open another season of tennis and another quest for an NCAA D2 National Championship.

We will not open the season with a soft opponent. In fact, the Red Storm of St. John's University are a force this year and will probably among the 25 best teams in NCAA D1. We will certainly get an idea of how good we can be tomorrow but by no means is your Clipper team as good today as it will be in a few months. We have improved quite a bit in this last week and will only get better as time goes by. This is a very young team with tremendous potential and it will be nice to see how we do against a strong opponent tomorrow.

Click here for a preview.

Also, you can follow the match on twitter here.

Nuff said...