A key to greatness: What I learned playing with the best tennis team

I went to John F. Kennedy High School from 2003-2007. In those 4 years, I played on the tennis team and received a Varsity letter. I think we had a team of 40 Junior and Senior girls (and the 9 and 10th graders played at a separate time/location because there were so many of us), and I was hovering in the 10-12 spot. Now, that might not sound too impressive, but let me paint a picture for you.

Freshman-Junior year, JFK’s top two players won the State Championship in doubles. The third-best player on the team was not only incredibly athletically gifted in tennis, but she became the best volleyball player of all time at a D1 University. Another player (maybe the 4th? The details are hazy of who was in what rank) was inducted into the Kennedy High School Hall of Fame for tennis this past week. Numbers 5-9 were all fantastic players, several of the top 10 played outside of high school at the club level, and quite a few of the top 10 played collegiately after leaving Kennedy.

Most of our JV team also ended up Lettering because our coach often didn’t let our top 6-8 players play against the top 6-8 players at other schools. Instead, the JV team was frequently brought up to play so frequently it was almost a joke to receive a letter - at some point, almost all of us on the Varsity and JV team played and won a Varsity level match.

If you look at the entire Hall of Fame at Kennedy High School, from the last 50 years, among all of the 144 inductees, all the athletes of all sports, either gender - 4 of them played women’s tennis from 2003-2008. That’s only 2%, but that’s still pretty ridiculously high.

All of this is to say: the team was good.

I loved playing on the tennis team. It was fun, but it was also fun being good. I had my first experience of being in the zone- being elevated to a higher playing level just by being on the same court as the better players. It was an absolute blast.

I also regret not realizing how greatness was surrounding me. I knew they were better players but I didn’t realize how good they were and subsequently, what they did for the team.

Here’s the shitty thing I did for years.

Very frequently, I lamented that I never got the opportunity to play at the championship meet, or at State. It wasn’t even a thought that passed through my mind - it just was never going to happen, since the top 6 or 8 spots were taken by some of the best players in the state at my school. I never considered myself a player who went to state. The coaches never had the conversation with anyone but the top players, and those of us in the lower ranks just went about our season without too much thought.

If that isn’t a bad attitude, here’s what’s worse:

I didn’t play tennis in the off-season.

I didn’t do extra lifting sessions or cross-training.

I didn’t do any nutrition programming.

I was a Jack of all Trades - remember? This is the downfall. I was involved in so many other things, that tennis wasn't a priority.

I can’t say for sure that everyone who was in the top 10 was better than me did all those things to improve their game, but I sure didn’t. I didn’t do much work out of practice to get better, but I had an attitude that made me think I deserved to play at state and I would have had the chance if I had just gone to another school.

And it took me retelling this story to my significant other last week, for me to stop, think, and finally admit:

“There’s a good chance that I wouldn’t have been as good as a player if I went to another school” - and that was the key pivot in my brain that took me 17 years, literally half of my life to realize.

Famously, there is a Mickey Mouse club photo from the early 90s with some of the most successful and talented musicians and actors from the 2000s and 2010s. Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler were roommates before they were successful. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are from the same neighborhood in Massachusetts. Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Dustin Hoffman were buddies before any of them became famous.

There are pockets of greatness and talent that echo and ripple around them. The phenomenon exists in sports, politics, business, everywhere.

And it's one of the keys to being successful - surrounding yourself with similarly driven people. Not necessarily like-minded, but those who are working toward the same goal. Creating a mastermind group is mentioned in many success books, but sometimes you get lucky and the world will put you next to them by circumstance.

I used to be jealous of women in the fitness space around me when they saw success, not just athletes but coaches too. And that was bitter and egotistical of me. And I apologize to anyone who was in the negative space in my brain.

Now here’s my big ole prediction based on this phenomenon and what’s currently happening in the Midwest:

Central Iowa and the Midwest will produce some of the strongest women of all time.

We’re seeing crazy amounts of women getting into powerlifting thanks to local superstars and their efforts, and if you don’t know them or their organization(s) then you’re not paying attention. The amount of great female strength coaches living in my city is higher than you may think. And if they keep pushing - we’re going to see a bubble of strong women who will dominate in the national and international arena in the next 10 years come out of their gyms.

In the meantime, I’m going to work to be part of their class.