On Tennis and Friendship

Hi Booty and Fish fans.  Thanks for checking in and for the comments and responses to the previous columns.  It's been fun hearing your reactions and thoughts.  Please keep them coming!

Having read Will's latest story about Booty and his professionalism, I got to thinking about how, for so many of us, tennis provides the context for a great deal of the connections, friendships, humor, beauty and transformation in our lives.  (By the way, Will, I can assure you of two things: 1. Booty was not always the professional that you met in France.  When we get a chance to meet up at a tourney, I'll tell you some stories about “Booty the unprofessional.” For example, I’m pretty sure the warm-up he did before your late night tie-break set was longer than the total amount of time he spent warming up for matches his entire junior year at GAC.  In those days Booty liked to save the lefty hook serve for match purposes only.  Why waste any in warm-ups? 2. By virtue of your coining of the phrase "Gustavus Spangled Banner" you are hereby named an honorary member of the Gustavus tennis family.  Welcome, mate.  Booty, can we please get this man a t-shirt or something?!)

As collegiate tennis players we get rather used to playing the game we love in the context of a team.  It’s where we have our most meaningful moments on the court and one of the rare tennis settings that provides the opportunity for a collection of us to become more than the sum of our individual parts.  This is where, for us at Gustavus, we became a family.  Booty and I and the rest of our mates could write books, let alone columns or blogs, of stories about our time spent together as teammates.  The curious thing is, however, tennis has become only a small part of our relationships.  Sure we love the game and talk about, watch it, and play it together as often as we can.  And having a teammate and dear friend on the ATP tour certainly doesn’t hurt in terms of keeping us involved and interested.  But the relationships formed around tennis can transform our lives and connect us in ways that go way beyond the game (and you don’t need to be a member of our team or any team to experience this transformation).  Let me explain.  

 By its nature, tennis brings people together.  At a very basic level the game requires someone on the other side of the net in order for it to be played.  On another level, we come together at tournaments, clubs, in the stands and in parks, with our families and friends, and often with people we have never met, in order to enjoy playing and watching the game.  How many times, though, has a relationship that you’ve developed because of tennis changed your life away from the court?  Hopefully you’ve had this experience at least once.  I know I have.  In fact, my life is filled with friendships and love that have grown out of this game.  There’s something magical about the game, but there’s also something magical about the moments when we come together as human beings.  Tennis provides us with some of these moments.  In his 2001 book Living a Life that Matters, Harold Kushner writes:

”When Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher and theologian, was asked ‘Where is God?’ he was wise enough not to give cliché answers: God is everywhere; God is found in churches and synagogues.  Buber would answer that God is found in relationships.  God is not found in people; God is found between people.  When you and I are truly attuned to each other, God comes down and fills the space between us so that we are connected, not separated.  Both love and true friendship are more than a way of knowing that we matter to someone else.  They are a way of mattering to the world, bringing God into a world that would otherwise be a vale of selfishness and loneliness.”

These are some powerful words.  I’m not here to inspire you to be Jewish or Christian or to shape your image of God.  I call on Kushner and Buber merely to give you some words that speak to what I think lies at the heart of tennis for those of us to whom the game means so much.  It brings us together.  It creates that space between us that, when filled, represents the connections that make our lives and ourselves matter.

When Booty came home from the Aussie Open just a month or so ago, I got the usual call that he was back in town and would be crashing on my couch for a few nights before he took off for the next tour stop.  As usual, we caught up on the tourney, the Gusties, how the rest of our crew was doing, girlfriends, families, etc.  Boots was still on “Aussie time” so he made the brilliant suggestion that we stay up and watch the Djokovic/Tsonga final which started at 2:30am our time.  We talked a few of the boys into joining us, got some pizza and sodas, and saddled up for the match.  Much to my chagrin – and that of everyone else in the room outside of Narrsky and Booty, Tsonga took the first set before Nole settled in.  Somewhere around 5am, I looked around my living room and thought: “This is truly special.”  Here we were, some five years removed from the last collegiate match we played together, and our friendships were as alive and meaningful as ever. There’s nowhere I would have rather been at that moment.  I was with friends who have given my life tremendous joy and meaning.  We’ve worked hard and placed a lot of trust and love in one another to develop those friendships, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that they wouldn’t exist without the game. I’ve had this same thought at many junctures of my life, some more monumental, some more ordinary than others – ranging from teammates’ weddings or the hugs and support I got from my mates when I learned that my grandmother had passed away while we were on our Australia trip, to the simple yet meaningful conversations that have occurred sitting on a bench beside a tennis court or in the car on the way home after an afternoon hit.    

Surely tennis is just a game, and we would do well to keep this in mind – especially when we’re ready to smash a racket or lash out an opponent or official.  Yet somehow it’s more than a game. It provided the space for the “what could go wrong?” experience that Will described in his last column, and I know that it has provided similar space for many of you.  

I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes we take tennis a bit too seriously and not seriously enough all at the same time. We can tend to over-emphasize the matches and the wins and losses and under emphasize the space it creates that helps give our lives meaning and friendship.  It’s only a game, but for some reason, it matters a great deal to us.  I hope that deep down we can realize that it matters because of what it has given us in terms of enjoyment, but more importantly in terms of friendship and moments that make us realize that life is special and that we matter to each other.  

I’ll leave you with some words from one of my favorite athletes and authors, former Montreal Canadiens goaltender, Ken Dryden.  I know most of you don’t love hockey as much as I do (and you all better be rooting for the Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers in this week's MN state high school hockey tourney!), but I can guarantee you that Dryden’s take on why hockey matters to Canadians ring true for why tennis matters to us.  This Dryden speech comes from an article called “Timelessness and Historicity in Ken Dryden’s book The Game” written by a helluva guy named Don Morrow who teaches at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.  Morrow’s article quotes a speech Dryden gave when presented with an honorary degree from a Canadian university:

”What hold does hockey have on us?  It doesn’t put food on our tables or roofs over our heads.  It doesn’t cure the sick, raise the downtrodden, spark our minds to do great deeds and think great things.  It is just a game.  We are serious, ambitious people.  We have kids and jobs and bombs to worry about.  There are drugs on the streets.  Isn’t this attention, this preoccupation, misplaced; this money, time, and energy misspent?  Don’t we have our priorities wrong?  Why does hockey matter? It matters because communities matter.  Friends matter.  Dreams, hopes, passions; common stories, common experiences, common memories; myths and legends; common imaginations; things that tell us about how we were, how we are, how we might be – they matter.  Links, bonds, connections – things in common, things to share – they matter.  That’s why hockey matters.”

So next time you think about tennis and what it means to you, think of the links, bonds and connections that you share because of the game that extend beyond the game and make your life matter.  Then thank the people with whom you share these connections and tell them you love them.  

Until next time,
Peace,
T.

On Sportsmanship

Greetings to all you Booty and Fish readers out there. I’m a close friend and college teammate of that rangy and cagey southpaw most of you know as “Booty.” I, too, happen to be a southpaw, which may or may not explain the way I see the world.

Thanks for reading my first article. Sorry about the length and the academic style of it. It describes the college program that Booty and I and many of our closest mates played at in college. It might give you some insight as to who we are, where we come from, and how playing at Gustavus has shaped us as players, coaches, friends, and people. I actually wrote the piece while I was doing my masters in theological studies. This should explain why it’s written in terms of a “Christian practice.” Our program is not overtly religious, but I think most of who played there and are part of the GAC family would consider it sacred. Hopefully you enjoyed reading at least some of it. If you have any thoughts feel free to reply to me or the site.

From here on in I’ll try to be a bit less “academic” with my columns, but I think you’ll still notice a philosophical touch to most of my writing – I study sport philosophy and sociology/moral development/sportsmanship, and teach history and philosophy of sport at the U of Minnesota – so I’m sure some of that as well as my perspective as an assistant coach at Gustavus (yeah the same one) will filter into the column. Phil will handle all of your pop culture needs, and have you read a better story than Will’s take on Booty’s humble beginnings? I’m real excited about the variety of perspectives that the three of us will bring to the site, and hopefully you’ll like the different looks that we’re putting out there as we try to grow the game, add a little meaning to it, and entertain some of you in the process.

I intended to make this installment about friendship and sport, but I’ll save that one for later in light of the questions Booty and Fish have posed, and to which many of you have responded, about sportsmanship. I’m studying the hell out of sportsmanship at the moment, so I figure we should go there first. There’s nothing like a good ethical dilemma to get those of us who love sports chatting and even a bit fired up.

Alright, at the risk of being too philosophical, I want to ask you a simple yet important question: What is sportsmanship? The reason that I ask is because there are a lot of definitions out there, and your thoughts on when an ump should and should not over rule or whether Djokovic’s bouncing is excessive and in bad taste (as well as your take on just about every other ethical issue in sport – think steroids for those of you who follow Marion Jones or the Mitchell Report, Spygate for you Patriot fans or haters, or even trash talking, using the occasional well-timed “injury time-out,” or a fist pump in the face of an opponent at a key juncture in a match if you’re a simple tennis player or fan). There are many more contested issues that we could list, but how do we know what’s ok and what’s not, according to the guidelines of sportsmanship? We first have to be very clear about what we mean when we say sportsmanship. Are we talking about a universal code that applies across all sports and levels, are we talking strictly about following rules, or are we talking about something entirely different – like an ethic or spirit that may not be written but that we somehow learn, know, and “understand.” Sportsmanship is essentially the way we behave while doing sport based on one of these definitions, or an entirely different definition.

Of course there are rules – as the Dude has gone to great length to explain to his friend and bowling teammate Walter. If the rules put forth the guidelines that say one should be penalized for placing a foot over the line or video taping the other team’s signals, or taking too much time between points, or whatever, then common knowledge is that stated penalties should be imposed when the rules are transgressed. Most of us can agree that these rules should be followed and that those who break them should be penalized – if you were in Kalamazoo, Michigan for the 2000 NCAA III men’s tennis championships and saw our buddy Nick Crossley take on the raging Ed Rahn of Trinity U., you’re hearing what I’m screaming. If the letter of the law had been followed and executed as drawn up in the rules, Gustavus would be one national title richer. Certainly we should follow the rules, and there is no explanation for why they weren’t followed that day, but something tells me that sportsmanship is about more than rules.

Most definitions of sportsmanship go something like this: follow the rules, don’t act like a jackass, don’t cheat, and be respectful of opponents and officials. I buy it. But don’t you think there may be more to it than this? Haven’t you ever played a match or a game of any kind against someone who abided by all of these things, yet you knew or “felt” the match wasn’t played in the spirit of sportsmanship? How did you know? What the hell’s the big deal if Djokovic bounces the ball 78 times before he serves? Yeah he’s breaking a rule, but it’s more than that. Without question, the goal of athletic competition is to win. To the extent that the excessive bouncing prevents the opponent from having a fair crack at doing this, it is wrong. But I think it’s wrong for other reasons as well.

I have reservations (mostly because I’ve looked at this from so many different angles and from the perspective of so many different authors) about saying that there is an overall way to act in all sports at all levels in all times. I do, however, think that there is a spirit of sportsmanship that each of us in a given sport gets taught, comes to understand, and learns to embody (if you want to read my dissertation on this and how it works, it should be ready by fall of 2009!). We think that Djokovic should know this ethic or spirit. His bouncing leads us to believe that he doesn’t, and that bothers us because this spirit is only as good and useful as those who follow it. Sportsmanship is sport specific and to a great extent level specific – meaning that what is accepted as sportsmanlike on the ATP tour likely differs from what goes in the 12s at the Rochester Junior Open. Mostly, though, those of us who know tennis know that taking too much time before serving is poor form. We might want Nole to be penalized, but more than that, we want him to uphold the spirit of sportsmanship in tennis - the spirit that we know and by which we abide.

The lynchpin here is our thought on what sport is all about. Without digging too deep, I want to suggest that to a large extent it’s about play. Play is a non-serious endeavor (meaning that it really doesn’t matter a whole lot compared to the serious things in life – we have wars, drugs, hate, guns, and all kinds of other problems to worry about), but an endeavor that absorbs us and requires great seriousness. How many of you think about war or bombs or love or hate or drugs or any other of the “serious” things of life when you’re playing tennis? Exactly. I think sportsmanship means that we take our play seriously in that we give everything we have to win and be at our best, but that we also maintain balance by not being overly serious about it. This goes for all of us – talk to Booty after he loses his next tour match and you’ll see this balance. He gives the game its due. He takes it seriously and works tremendously hard at it. At the same time, he has enough sense to respond to Steve Ulrich as he’s described because Booty is a balanced individual who understands that as seriously as he takes his tennis, he’s taking it too seriously if he berates Ulrich over an un-timely over rule. It’s unsportsmanlike to not be serious enough about the game (for all you tankers out there), but it’s also unsportsmanlike to be over serious – this is the side that usually leads to cheating, hooking, faking injuries, taunting, etc. I’m not saying don’t compete. I am saying we need to keep the spirit of play alive and well. Competing hard is at the heart of this because competition is tied to sport. But this lack of balance in our maintenance of the spirit of play is what we consider to be most problematic and unsportsmanlike. Think of all the “unsportsmanlike” acts you’ve seen, heard, or been a part of. I’ll bet you can attribute most of them to folks missing the balance on one side or the other.

How do we learn this balance? Well, that’s the topic of a whole ‘nother column. For the moment, let me suggest that we learn it by doing and that this balance is (once again) specific to a given sport and that sport’s culture. Oh, yeah, it gets even trickier in that this culture is constantly changing and being re-created as old members leave it and new members enter.

In the end, though, I don’t think we’ll end up with a culture of excessive ball bouncers. Why not? Because even though the culture changes, I think there are a few values in it that don’t change, namely justice and care. We want to know that there is some sense of fairness that will be applied when we take the court, but we also want to be cared for, especially by our opponent. This might sound weird, but how can we play without the opponent? Certainly the game would be a lot less interesting and enjoyable. We need each other to play the game, and we know that the true meaning of the game can be realized only if we treat each other with a sense of care (remember this doesn’t mean you don’t compete with all of your effort. I could and eventually will try to prove to you that making every effort to play your best and win is the most respectful way to care for your opponent. Don’t believe me? Ask Booty about playing #1 singles for Rochester John Marshall). Sure Djokovic’s ball bouncing breaks a rule and should be penalized. No question or dispute there – no matter what the stage of the match. But the lack of justice is only half of the reason why it bothers us. The other half is that he’s demonstrating a lack of care for his opponent, Jo-Willie Clay Tsonga in this case, but also to the rest of us who create, embody and uphold the balanced spirit of sportsmanship.

Nole doesn’t seem like a selfish guy – Booty and Fish would know more about this than I do – but maybe he would tone down the ball bouncing a bit if someone explained to him that it’s as much (or more) of an issue of care than it is of justice. Breaking a rule doesn’t seem to bother most of us as much as being told that we don’t care about others or that we’re selfish. That’s why I think sportsmanship is about people and care in addition to justice and rules. What do you think?

Until next time, peace.

T.

Playing Tennis the Gustavus Way

Playing Tennis the Gustavus Way

Tommy Valentini
About this article...
The Gustavus Adolphus College men's tennis tradition focuses on three principles or 'crowns' -- full effort, positive attitude, and sportsmanship. In pursuing these principles on the tennis court, members of the tradition engage in the Christian practice of honoring the body.



Most Christians are familiar with the idea that the body is to be honored. The concept of the physical body as a temple of the Holy Spirit is commonly delivered in sermons. Young people are taught to honor their bodies when they are alerted of the dangers of pre-marital sex and drug and alcohol abuse. Honoring the body often becomes a list of things to avoid. If honoring the body is to be a legitimate Christian practice, however, we need to do more with our bodies than simply avoid harmful acts and substances. Honoring the body also involves positive activity that improves and develops the body.

Sports can provide a proactive means by which the body can be honored. Certainly there are many instances in which sports do not promote this Christian practice. Competitive athletics in America are all about winning, and sports often promote the dishonor and abuse of bodies in the pursuit of the all important victory. Some baseball and football players inject or ingest illegal, performance-enhancing drugs to increase their odds of winning. Elite gymnasts, horse racing jockeys, and wrestlers often develop eating disorders in attempts to lose weight in the name of competing at a higher level. There are athletic programs, however, that work to change the dominating sports culture in America. The men's tennis team at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota is one such program. It is an environment in which student-athletes become a part of a tradition that allows them to honor their bodies through sport.

Tradition - The Gustavus Way
I am blessed to be a part of the Gustavus tennis family, having played from 1998-2002. My coach, Dr. Steve Wilkinson, has directed the Gustavus men's tennis team for thirty-five years. A tradition has developed during this time that I will call the "Gustavus Way." Our program is a complex set of social practices that combine to shape the moral vision and character of every participant. The "Gustavus Way" closely resembles moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's concept of a tradition.

The Gustavus tennis tradition involves Coach's interest in the whole person, not just the tennis player. Coach envisions a program that works through our development as tennis players to teach us values that will be with us throughout our lives. As a former professional tennis player, Coach teaches us the tennis skills and the mental concentration that allow us to compete at a level that most of us never dreamed we could achieve. Every season Coach molds us into one of the elite Division III teams in the nation. As a former professor of ethics and world religions, Coach helps us become people who represent our program and our college with class and dignity.

A player enters this process by accepting the authority of those already deeply involved in it, just as one enters a tradition in MacIntyre's sense only with an initial act of submission. I submitted to the authority of the Gustavus Way when I arrived on the Gustavus campus in September of 1998. This authority was vested not only in Coach, but also in the upperclassmen on the team. I, along with the other members of the freshman class, followed as Coach and the more experienced team members taught. We learned to play tennis, of course. And we learned much more. We learned to approach tennis, competition, school, and life through the Serenity Prayer: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Through team meetings and activities, daily practice routines, road trips, and matches we were taught that we are a family that does things a certain way. In addition, we learned that our family also includes the alumni - those who contributed to the building of the tradition with which we are now entrusted. After two years of learning, my class became the "old guys." We became responsible for improving the tradition and for teaching the Gustavus Way to the next generation of players. This cycle still continues. The tradition goes through different phases, and alumni who became excellent practitioners of the Gustavus Way are often consulted by both Coach and current players when the tradition needs to be altered or updated for various reasons.

Players who immerse themselves in the Gustavus Way cultivate what MacIntyre would call the "internal goods" of the tradition. MacIntyre distinguishes between two types of goods that practices yield. Goods external to the practice are motivations for entering the practice and are of great importance for inexperienced practitioners. Internal goods, on the other hand, can only be achieved through the virtuous doing of a practice. They become the prioritized type of good only when one becomes deeply immersed in a practice. The Gustavus Way is a MacIntyrian tradition in that external goods serve as a motivation for the practices that make up our tradition. Unlike most sports programs, however, we place the highest value upon internal goods.

Each year we set out to win the national championship. We always contend for the title, and it is our result-based goal to win both the national indoor championship in February and the NCAA championship in May. These championships are the ultimate external goods of Gustavus tennis. They motivate us on a daily basis. At the heart of the Gustavus Way, however, is the realization that results lie completely outside of our control -- both as individuals and as a team. If we could choose to play our best and to win each time we compete, then we would certainly make that choice. But our tradition teaches us that we do not have this choice. Thus goods internal to our practice become our main goals. These goods include friendship, sportsmanship, increased skills as a tennis player and competitor, enjoyment of the sport of tennis and our time together as a family, teamwork, sacrifice, balance in our everyday lives, discipline, work ethic, appreciation for life, compassion, forgiveness, and love. When we first arrive at Gustavus, these goods are not our primary goals. We realize that they are at the center of our involvement in the program only when we become deeply immersed in the Gustavus Way.

Three Crowns and a Lion
The three unchanging cornerstones of Gustavus tennis are full effort, a positive attitude, and the highest standard of sportsmanship. When we compete, upholding these cornerstones is our main goal. Each time we take the court this goal lies completely within our control. We can always try our hardest, remain positive, and treat our opponents the way that we would like to be treated. It is easy to accomplish these goals when one is winning handily. It becomes increasingly difficult to accomplish these goals during a very competitive match or an instance in which an opponent displays poor behavior. It takes a great deal of courage to adhere to the Gustavus Way under adverse conditions. Whether we win or lose, play well or poorly, we consider our matches successful if we give full effort, remain positive, and conduct ourselves with the highest standard of sportsmanship. We base our success on accomplishing things that lie completely within our control and not on the acquisition of external goods such as wins and championships. Competition based on these cornerstones is the virtuous doing of a practice that is central to the Gustavus Way and that leads to the acquisition of internal goods.

One contribution of my class to the Gustavus Way is the connection of our tradition's cornerstones with the symbols of our program. Gustavus is named after the Swedish warrior king Gustavus Adolphus, and is represented by two logos: the three crowns (derived from the Swedish flag), and a lion (a symbol of royalty and courage). We named full effort, positive attitude, and sportsmanship the "three crowns of Gustavus tennis." In addition we identified the lion as a symbol of the courage required to uphold the three crowns in the face of adversity. When we compete we wear uniforms that carry these symbols. They remind us that we represent more than just ourselves and our current team. We represent our tradition. Our ultimate goal is to uphold its cornerstones.

Full Effort
Each of the three crowns provides a unique means for members of our tradition to engage in the practice of honoring the body. The first crown, full effort, begins with preparation. Learning the techniques and strategies of the game, as well as how and when to apply them during the course of the match, requires great discipline. Conditioning and strength training, stretching, getting proper rest and nutrition, and visualization are all taught by the tradition and allow one to give full effort in competition. Disciplining the body and mind, working toward peak physical condition, and focusing on and working toward improvement of skills all honor the body. Our bodies are gifts from God, and developing them respectfully cares for the gift. Gustavus tennis involves rigorous physical development -- an opportunity to strengthen the foundation of our bodily temples.

The ultimate show of full effort is never giving up -- doing one's best at all times. In spite of the circumstances, we persevere as players and as people. Fighting until the end not only shows self-respect, but respect for our tradition as well. In never giving up, we honor our bodies as Gustavus tennis players, but we also honor the entire body of Gustavus tennis. The Christian practice of honoring the body is the same. God calls us to honor our bodies to the best of our ability at all times. In competition we honor our bodies not with victory, but with our best effort. As Christians, God does not require us to be winners, but to honor our bodies to the best of our abilities -- essentially to give full effort always.

Positive Attitude
Maintaining a positive attitude during the ups and downs of athletic competition represents a mental challenge that some athletes never conquer. Tennis provides a unique opportunity to engage in the practice of choosing to be positive. After each point, a player has a brief moment to decide how to react to what has just taken place. The Gustavus Way teaches us that at this moment we have a choice. We can objectively analyze what happened during the previous point, learn from it, and continue to compete, or we can react negatively. Negative language, both physical and verbal, is an epidemic in competitive tennis. Players will often verbally abuse themselves or mope around the court in a hunched over fashion after lost points or poor play. In some extreme cases players will even erupt into racket-smashing tirades. The Gustavus Way teaches us to avoid this behavior in order to enhance our odds of achieving external goods. A calm, positive demeanor generally enhances performance on the tennis court. At Gustavus, we are to maintain a confident physical posture, focus our eyes on our racket strings, and concentrate on our breathing between every point. When we catch ourselves reacting negatively, our tradition teaches us to smile. In doing so we remember to enjoy the challenges and adversity that accompany competition, and the simple idea that tennis is fun. We understand that we will not always play our best tennis or achieve the external good of victory each time we compete, but we can always choose to be positive.

Remaining positive usually produces a higher level of tennis, but it can be a powerful way for a player to honor his body as well. This crown also operates at the level of internal goods. We affirm the goodness of our own bodies, physically and spiritually, when we treat ourselves positively. Gustavus tennis values each individual member of our program as a unique and precious gift. Our bodies are a part of what makes each of us unique and special. Each time we make the choice to treat ourselves positively during a match we honor this gift. Positive self-talk and a confident physical posture during competition allow us to affirm the value of our bodies in both victory and defeat. We acknowledge the goodness that God created as well as the time, effort, discipline, and commitment that we have made to care for and enhance that creation.

Sportsmanship
The final crown, sportsmanship, is perhaps the most important of the three. Early on in our immersion into Gustavus Tennis we learn that unsportsmanlike behavior creates a negative image for both our program and the individual displaying it. Like the other crowns, maintaining a high level of sportsmanship can be difficult, especially in defeat or in a match where an opponent or opposing team does not compete in a sportsmanlike fashion. We learn, as competitors in the Gustavus program, to compliment our opponents' good shots. We develop this habit in practice sessions on a daily basis. We refrain from questioning our opponents' line calls, and we learn to end every match by shaking the hands of all opposing coaches and players. At the completion of our individual matches, irrespective of the result, we must establish eye contact with our opponent, offer a sincere compliment on some aspect of his play, and congratulate him with a smile and a hand shake.

Our tradition focuses on sportsmanship because in its most basic and sincere form, sportsmanship means treating others the way that we would like to be treated. Sportsmanship therefore honors not only our own bodies, but also the bodies of our opponents. In our tradition we view our opponents as creations of God. We make no secret that our goal is to win each time we compete, but sportsmanship always remains our top priority. It transcends sport. It allows tennis to be a vehicle for the spreading of God's love and a way to exercise God's command to love the neighbor. At the outset of our Gustavus careers we display sportsmanlike behavior because our tradition teaches us that sportsmanship is at the core of the Gustavus Way. By the time we finish our careers we have a deeper understanding of sportsmanship as loving our neighbors. We may not initially realize it, but our tradition teaches us to honor our own bodies and those of our opponents.

The Grace of the Gustavus Way
The Christian practice of honoring the body requires constant commitment and perseverance. We cannot engage in this lifelong practice without God's grace. Gustavus tennis allows us to honor our bodies through the three crowns, but it also embodies the grace of God and communicates it to the members of our tradition. Grace abounds in Gustavus tennis. We are beloved members of our program whether we win or lose. We strive to uphold the three crowns of our program. In most cases we succeed. Sometimes, especially when we are new to the tradition, we do not. Coach forgives us for these times, and so do our teammates. If a practice session or a competition has been unsuccessful in terms of external or internal goods we are still loved and affirmed. We constantly work to become better players and people - better practitioners of the Gustavus Way, but our program always accepts us just as we are. We strive to physically improve our bodies and our ability to honor them through tennis. At the end of each day, however, our bodies are to be loved and honored just as they are simply because they are God's creation.

The grace of Gustavus tennis was never more apparent to me than at the 2002 NCAA championships. During my senior season, our team had captured the national indoor championship and landed in Santa Cruz, California for the NCAA tournament with a team full of experienced members of the Gustavus tradition. With five seniors and two juniors we were favored to win the first NCAA championship for Gustavus since 1982. We received a high seed in the tournament and won our first round convincingly. In the national semi-finals we lost a heart-breaking 4-3 match in which we were two points away in one individual singles match from winning the entire team competition. We had worked for four years to reach that point, but it was not to be. Suddenly, we faced the reality that we would never win the NCAA championship. We had become better players and members of our tradition, but we did not have the strength to remain positive following this defeat. We were devastated.

In a tear-filled post-match meeting, Coach addressed us and demonstrated the true grace of our program. He told us that he was proud to be our coach because of who we are and not because of what we did or did not accomplish. He told us that he loved us and that we should not let a beautiful California day escape us because of the loss. Later that night, at our team meeting, three of our former team captains who had traveled to see us play in the national tournament also spoke. They told us that they were proud of how we had represented our tradition and that even though the loss devastated us, we would someday understand that what we have gained along the way means far more than a national championship. They encouraged us to enjoy our last match together the next day, and to do it "our way." Finally, they told us that we are a family whether we win or lose, and that we always will be. They understood the value of internal goods and they understood the grace that characterizes the Gustavus way. To be a member of the Gustavus tennis program requires discipline and commitment, but our family offers real grace. We finished our careers with a third place finish and a deeper understanding of that grace.

Conclusion - A Lifelong Tradition
Tennis the Gustavus Way engages in the Christian practice of honoring the body. One learns to honor the body through tennis by submitting to the Gustavus tradition and becoming a part of the Gustavus tennis community. We depend on our community to help us honor our bodies, and we teach new members of it how to do the same. Championships and other external goods serve as our initial motivation for submitting to the tradition. Initially, we want to become better tennis players so that we can win more matches. As we become more virtuous practitioners of the Gustavus Way we understand that internal goods are the real reasons why we are a part of this tradition. One of the most deeply hidden internal goods is, in fact, the Christian practice of honoring the body. Each time we compete and strive to courageously uphold the three crowns of Gustavus tennis we honor the body. Tennis is a lifetime sport, and honoring the body is a lifetime practice. Those of us who are members of the Gustavus tennis family are thankful that the Gustavus Way is a lifelong tradition. No matter where we go or what we do, we put on the three crowns and the lion every day.