Oops, it has been a minute (I think that’s what the kids say these day) since I last wrote in my blog. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don’t. I took some time to do other things. We’ve played some great matches, had some great times as a team, and just been being a dad and a coach. Well, I’m back so here we go.
Tonight, I will write about one of my biggest on court failures. Be careful how you take that at first blush. He was a massive failure as a player but became one of the best student assistants I could have asked for during his three years at FSC. Javier Castro contacted me while he was a player for Grambling. He was recruited to play there and went blindly. Culturally it was a tough environment for Javier as he was from Ecuador and wasn’t prepared for his first year of college. He was playing one for Grambling and I was pumped to have him coming to our program. For all you compliance people, I got the release and did everything properly. Javier showed up and man was I surprised. He was slightly larger than I had anticipated but he assured me he would be ready to go for the season. Javier was such a personable kid that I couldn’t help like him. He was helpful, wanted to be a part of the program, and just wanted to hang out with me.
As we got going it was apparent that Javier didn’t have the energy to play for hours on end. He had skills but was only good for about four games. This wasn’t going to work for me or for the team. The other players began to grumble about his lack of performance but there was something that I liked about the kid. Time continued and he fell completely out of the lineup but was with me every day. During his first year, he played a few matches in singles and doubles with decent results but not at the level or position he was intended to be playing. During his junior year, he only played one singles match and a handful of doubles. He only lost once but still really wasn’t what I anticipated. His senior year only saw two doubles matches with a 50/50 record. If this was about his prowess on the tennis court I would have rated him a complete failure. I mean, I failed in my recruiting because I was recruiting a player - but I gained much more in the long run.
It was clear early on that Javier wasn’t going to make an impact on the court as a player because he showed no inclination to improve his condition or to work towards what I knew he could achieve. You see, he was damn good but just didn’t give a damn about getting back in shape. This was unacceptable but I recruited him and therefore I owned him. I don’t have an assistant and Javier seemed to have a penchant for knowing what needed to be done. He made sure rackets were strung, balls were ready for practice, and that I had everything I needed for matches. He aided with recruiting and being a buffer between me and the players who were actually on the court working. The players didn’t like that he was taking money and not producing but they liked the way things ran while he was around. Javier was an expensive player but a very reasonably priced assistant coach.
By the time Javier was a senior he was well into his groove as my pseudo assistant. He was my second set of eyes and helped with about everything he could during practice and matches. There are two funny stories to finish up this little piece on what made Javier so great. The first goes a little something like this. When a player comes to visit at the DII level we put them through a tryout. Well, I had this German kid coming in but really wasn’t that excited about him so instead of having one of the top guys work him out I told Javier to hit with him and let me know. Well, Javier played like the Javier at a different school and absolutely destroyed this kid. If my overweight assistant can beat you then I probably don’t have anything for you. The kid thanked me and told me he just wasn’t playing well. Javier and I decided that he wasn’t for us and passed. Guess what, that German kid went to Rollins and proceeded to kick our ass for two of the three years he played there. Yes, that was twice that Javier got me. This one wasn’t his fault. Years later the German player at Rollins and I would talk about that day and he was jet lagged, had just come off a slow red clay court, and was nervous. The next day at Rollins he played great and beat one of their top players. Oh well, you win some and lose some with recruits. The second story is funny. When we travel, we eat well and this trip was no different. We had qualified for regionals and were heading to Boca Raton. We were cruising down the turnpike and needed a nature break for the guys. We stopped at one of the service plazas along the way and I decided I needed a Cinnabon. My naivety allowed me to think that I could eat it while cruising down the highway. As I was attempting to fatten my midsection Javier decided that this was not a safe endeavor. He proceeded to take the bun away from me, take my knife and fork, cut it up and start feeding it to me. Yes, I was being fed my snack by my number one recruit who was my assistant coach. Why not right?
Javier graduated on time, went to Spain to continue studying, got married to his love and now resides back in Ecuador working in his father’s business. As tough as I was on him, as his teammates were on him, and in the situation he allowed himself to be in he made the best of it. He became an invaluable member of the team and made an indelible mark on me. We still talk occasionally and he asks every time whether or not I can hire him as my assistant. He would move in a second and I would hire him just as quickly. I’m sorry he failed as a player but grateful at how successful he was in his secondary role.
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