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The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Celebrations keys to Hoosiers' success

Men's Tennis

Celebrating on the court is often frowned upon by coaches in sports. Athletes are taught to forget about a play, be it good or bad, and move on with the game.
In tennis, however, celebrating is a very important aspect of the game, and coaches encourage it.

With four matches going on simultaneously during singles play, it is easy for one player to influence his teammates on the courts around him.

IU men’s tennis coach Randy Bloemendaal understands the impact these celebrations can have on a match, and he makes his players practice being vocal every day.

“I really think it’s a large part of what goes on out there,” Bloemendaal said. “We consistently tell our players that body language that is acceptable for a tournament match is not acceptable in a team match because of how your teammates respond to it. It’s not acceptable to celebrate in a way that no one can tell that you are celebrating. It has to be over the top. So we are trying to get the guys to feel comfortable being uncomfortable.”

One instance that epitomizes the potential impact one player can have on his teammates came during the Hoosiers’ home match against Harvard on Sunday.

At a point during his No. 3 singles match against Aba Omodele-Lucien, freshman Josh MacTaggart did a little dance after winning a point and screamed “Let’s go Hoosiers!” Like clockwork, each of his three teammates playing beside him won the next game of their respective matches.

All of a sudden, the Hoosiers had a great deal of energy — the influence of one player being vocal.

“When a guy like Josh says something positive, it gets you going,” sophomore Stephen Vogl said. “Hearing him all the way across the court gets the entire team pumped up, and it’s really a team sport when it comes down to it.”

The vocal part of the game can be difficult for some players.

Seven of the nine Hoosiers are from overseas and very few had experience playing team tennis before arriving in Bloomington. They grew up competing in individual tournaments and didn’t need to motivate players around them — they were 100 percent focused on their own match.

It is also tough to muster any kind of energy or celebrate out loud when the team is on the road.

There is no crowd to cheer the players on, and once a match starts going in a negative direction it usually continues that way.

“The comfort level is definitely less so you have to become more disciplined in your approach,” said Bloemendaal, whose team lost its only true road match of the season at Mississippi. “You have to be able to manage your downswings better when you’re on the road, because the crowd is going to be on you a little bit and, obviously, the home team is going to be on you a little bit more. You don’t have help like you do at home.”

Junior Santiago Gruter, a native of Lima, Peru and the Hoosiers’ No. 1 singles player, agreed with Bloemendaal but said the team works hard to stay together and motivate one another no matter what the venue.

“It’s definitely tougher, but I think you just have to be a little more unified on the road,” Gruter said. “If you see one of your teammates struggling on one court, you’ll do everything you can to support them and get them through that match. It’s a little bit more challenging to do that on the road, but we have to be aware of that.”

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