Komet competitive at Nationals

Front row: Canh Ho, Karen Loomis, Lynn Dickson, Amanda Leigh Hall, Jackie Shaw and Eric Markowitz. Back row: Russell Chamberlin, Sergei Kolpakov, Ron Rubenstein and Sue McNabb.

The Komet finished 1-2 at Nationals in a three-way tie for 2nd place in our flight.  We played, in order, Mid-Atlantic (Virginia Beach, VA), Eastern (Stamford, CT) and Caribbean (Puerto Rico).  The Komet went 4-5 in individual matches. 

In our 2^nd match vs. Eastern (Stamford, CT) Amanda Leigh Hall and Canh Ho dropped a tough first set tie-breaker but were firmly in control of the 2^nd set up 5-2 with Amanda serving when disaster struck.Canh rolled his ankle which immediately looked like he stuck a golf ball in his sock.In an inspirational display of heart and grit, we won the next game but Canh simply could not walk and his opponents went right after him and won the match tie-breaker 10-4 .This was the deciding match as Lynn Dickson and Ron Rubenstein had earned another hard fought victory at #1 Dubs.Canh is out 6 weeks now after seeing his doctor when he got home.

The combination of a 3.5 guy /4.5 woman was what was most prevalent at Nationals.An aggressive, poachy 3.5 guy and a rock solid 4.5 woman backing him up was the recipe for success in 2008.We saw some 4.0/4.0 but primarily it was the 3.5 guy/4.5 woman combo and only one 4.5 guy/3.5 woman combo.The team that advanced in our flight was three pairs of 3.5 men/4.5 women.

We were practicing between matches at a nearby facility called RDV.It’s where the Orlando Magic practices.Inside the huge complex they have a display with the outlines of the Magic player’s hands on basketballs and another display on the ground with the sneakers that they wear.I wear XL gloves but my hands were about half the size of the silhouette on the balls and my size 10.5’s fit easily inside Tony Battie’s size 18 shoes. Shesse!

OK, back to practice.After an intense few sets in the sunny 70 degree weather, Sergei grabbed a cold six pack of purple Gatorades that was near our court and brought them to his court.Eric and Canh jumped at the opportunity to have some refreshment and said, “Oh man, can we have one?”Sergei said, of course – their Ron’s!

I really don’t want to go here but I will slightly.In my opinion there was one 3.5 rated guy who was a legitimate 4.5.He was the only one stood out to me as way over level but I wasn’t going to complain. After all, our 3.5 guy is no 3.5 but that is because he has worked extremely hard to improve and it really shows.In the final match, this player in question hit 3 winners in a row: backhand return of serve, big top spin forehand down the line and then a cross court groundie with so much pace and angle his opponents couldn’t react in time.After the match I witnessed a heated exchange between the opposing teams captain and a USTA official.Despite winning the match, the team captain was very upset about the guy’s level.Bottom line, you don’t get to Nationals by not being over level or very close to it.

was one of the highlights of the trip.Our party of 11 waited an hour and a half on a Saturday night and we were seated in the kitchen at the captain’s table.It was great.I felt like Henry Hill in Goodfellas sitting next to Simmonetti the Wop, Wasyl No Nose, Sergei the Killer and Tania Two Times who told Markowitz to “Get the Bill, Get the Bill.”

I played in the Caribbean match and was fortunate to come out on top thanks to the superb play of my partner Karen Loomis.When we came off the court so fast Sergei told me his first thought was “wow, they must have got killed!”Not so fast rabbit…

At #1 dubs in the Caribbean match, Jackie Shaw fresh off surgery on her other knee partnered with Eric Markowitz against a formidable team.  After losing the first set 2-6, Jackie and Eric fought hard and once again raised their level and took the 2nd set 7-5.  We ended up losing the court in a close tiebreaker but thanks to Sue & Sergei winning their own match tiebreaker, we won the team match.  Whew!

It’s customary for the teams to bring a small gift for their opponents.  Kudos to Amanda Leigh Player Hall Smith Jones Johnson for coming up with the team gifts of Giant size Hershey bars.I was thinking Tasty Kakes but thought that athletes (I use the term loosely) wouldn’t each such unhealthy food but considering how well the chocolate was received by our opponents I’m sure that was a faulty assumption.We got Salt water taffy from Virginia Beach and chocolate from Puerto Rico.

All is well that ends well.To every Komet-eer, thank you for four years of grand memories.  We fought hard and prepared well.  Please come back in 2010 as we are going to put the band back together if you will.  As I told our team, excellence is not doing 1 thing 100% better but rather doing 100 things 1% better.We have every reason to be proud of our efforts.Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us. –Sir Thomas Brown

Luke, Canh, Sergei, Amanda, Russell, Jackie, Sue, Eric and Ron