Tennis finds success on and off the court

Bethany’s boys tennis team is off to perhaps its best start in school history, winning 10 of its first 11 games including the Concord Invitational in convincing fashion—something no other Bethany team has achieved, not even the sectional-champion team two years ago. Defeating perennially-strong teams such as Concord and Northridge has caused others to notice and earned the team a No. 8 ranking in the district, which equals the highest ranking a Bethany team has achieved (the 2008 squad finished the regular season ranked No. 8). A subsequent loss—the first of the season—in a close match to Columbia City, dropped Bethany out of the rankings and Columbia City in.

As exciting and enjoyable as the team’s on-court success has been so far, coach Matt Miller is just excited about what is happening to the team off the court. He says, “I love to see our team growing in Christian maturity, following Christ’s example of service and love. We want to have experiences that help this process, whether it is in service, celebration, or in serious conversation. We see the tennis team as a family, because community can be one of the most important things in life. Athletics can help students understand what community can be and grow in faith as we process sport, faith, and life issues together.”

Building this community is not happenstance, but something that Miller works at intentionally, just as he works to help players develop their tennis skills. Each year he selects a theme for the team to focus their thoughts on as they grow together as a team. This year the team is using 2 Peter 1:5-8 as they focus on “winning at love.”

During the team’s weeklong camp prior to the season Miller told his players, “I cannot guarantee that you will always play your best, that my coaching advice will always work, or that we will win matches. If our only goal is winning, we may be disappointed. But love never fails. If love is our primary goal, then friendships will be forged, stories will be lived, and memories made and retold with a peace that comes from doing it the right way and never looking back. This season, we will win. We will win at love.”

At the conclusion of the camp, Miller arranged his players into four groups and asked that each group find a way to share love with others that day. Some bought donuts and took them to workers at area businesses or made cookies and distributed them to a member on each of Bethany’s other fall sports teams. Others cleaned up trash at Baintertown Park or offered to carry groceries for people from the store to their car. But they all valued the time spent doing something together while serving others.

Team captain and senior Ben Mast says, “We grow as a team when we do things together. And it is great to know that our coach cares about making us better people, not only better tennis players.”