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Lincoln
Farm Camp Alumni
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L.F.
Memorabilia |
For
you drama folks: 1983 programs
(Thanks
to Chris Marton)
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This is the actual sheet that was used and hung up on the fence by the courts. This is still in my possession because that tournament represented a very significant realization in my life. The fact that my counselor was the tennis guy allowed me to ask if I could keep it, and it was important to me because I was twelve years old and won Third Place in a tournament where the top three seeds were fifteen or sixteen. Defeating one of them to get into the final four was a huge upset, but the match that was played to determine Third Place overall was so much sweeter and more valuable. The two losers of the semifinals were to meet, and instead of playing another older kid, I was matched up against a fellow twelve year old who still remains one of the only people in my life that I could truly call a "nemesis." He was just very obnoxious about his belief that he was better than me. He was a bad sport. He was rude and cocky. We were the two best players in the camp from our age group, but we hardly played all summer because I just couldn't stand him. Suddenly we were pitted in a grudge match for the best realistic chance either of us ever had for a trophy in that tourney. The match was one special set of tennis... the first player to win ten games leading by at least two would be the winner. He started out with all of the confidence and I was somewhere in the clouds. Before I really thought about it I was losing four games to one. Then it occurred to me, "There is absolutely no way that I will permit this guy to beat me in this match." Instead of forcing the issue, I settled into a calm that is as easy to remember right now as it was on that day. Even though I was behind, I realized that I was going to win (with 100% certainty like I had never known). My game became merely an extension of that belief and turned into a practically effortless clinic. He began cheating on close calls. I remember staring where the ball had landed a few times to make it known that I was aware of his pathetic sense of honor, but I never said a word; even that advantage was going to be useless against me in the zone I was occupying. I won the next eight games in a row to take a nine to four lead. As I started to serve the next game, the reality of what I had just accomplished hit me a moment too soon and I lost focus. It got to be nine to six, but then I closed it out and proved something to myself that in hindsight was amazingly powerful in my development towards adulthood. The confidence gained by doing something that no one thinks you can do is not lost easily (or possibly ever since I still maintain the vibes and understanding that I gained that day). I didn't point to that specific moment until I was a bit older, but eventually it became very clear that I evolved a full step that day in a fashion from which you never move backwards. It's hard to believe that twenty years have passed since that watershed moment. |
