Preview of Harvard Men's Tennis January training and Opening Weekend Against Denver, Drake, and DePaul

2012 Harvard Tennis

 

The team came landed back in balmy Cambridge from their Winter Break on January 15^th for their first practice of the 2012 season.  It was a full week training camp loaded with individual meetings, yoga, double practice sessions and matches before classes started on Monday, January 23^rd.    The first trial was the infamous "dominator" test to measure what kind of shape the boys returned in.  (Alums are encouraged to have a thorough medical exam before they try this on their own.) They passed with flying colors - having played tournaments and trained during the "off-season."  The next hurdle was a scrimmage against Dartmouth on Wednesday in Hanover that proved to be a solid performance that we could build on (we won 5-2) and helped us sharpen our skills for our first dual match.  Over this past weekend, we competed in the Harvard Winter Invite, an individual tournament, with Marist and Fordham, that gave us lots of matches to tune up for our Kick-Off Weekend January 27-28 at home against Drake, Denver and DePaul – three solid teams that promise to offer us stiff competition.  Please come out and support our squad.  We play Denver at noon on Friday, Jan. 27^th and doubles against Drake at 5pm.  The following day, Saturday, we are playing the concluding singles against Drake at 9:45 am and a full match against Drake beginning at 2pm.  It will be three matches in two days.  We will need all your support!

 

Throughout the J(anuary)-term week, we held three separate career-counseling events to prepare them for life after tennis and Harvard.  There was a young alum hit-around and panel discussion on Sunday evening that featured Roger Berry '90, David Ament '96, Todd Meringoff '96 and Scott Denenberg '07, who shared their stories of the career paths and lessons they learned along the way.  On Monday, MLK Day, we heard from Mark Goodman '87, guitarist and high tech innovator, Marie Morris '85, and Bruce Price '71, who spoke to the combined men's and women's team about their professional life and what gets them out of bed in the morning.  The program concluded with a season kick-off dinner at the Harvard Club in Boston that featured a talk by Friends Chair Alex Seaver '82 and Mark Williamson (Oxford and former Prentice Cup team member) who spoke about the world of Hedge Fund and Private Equity as well as passing along valuable interview skills, tips of the trade and the importance of building of friendships for your personal and professional well-being.  The keynote speaker after a fancy dinner was Robin Young, the host of the beloved radio show, "Here and Now" on WBUR (out of Boston) that has over a million daily listeners!  She was a famous TV personality in Boston and beyond in the 70s before moving into the documentary world.  Her talk focused on the importance of finding something that moves your soul.  She told a vignette of about following up on a lead about a Bay Area Rotary Club that became a leading and pioneering advocate for AIDS awareness in the 80s – only because she was transfixed by the story.  Ultimately she won the Peabody for the 30-minute documentary and found her way back to radio investigating the important issues of our time.

 

See two photos below:
Dean of Freshman Tom Dingman at lunch with our five frosh...
HMT at the front entrance of the Boston Harvard Club before banquet with Robin Young as the guest speaker...

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Dave Fish
E. Scott Mead Family Head Coach of Men's Tennis
Harvard University Dept of Athletics
Murr Center
65 N. Harvard St.
Boston, MA 02163
fish@fas.harvard.edu