M. Tennis Puts on Clinic for Kids

When No. 20 Harvard men’s tennis team drubbed the University of Pennsylvania squad 7-0 on Saturday afternoon, the Crimson players grouped around their coach on one of the main courts at the Beren Tennis Center. Unlike most post-match wrap-ups, though, Saturday afternoon’s seemed to carry an average age of about ten years.

After the four-hour match with the Quakers, the Harvard team hosted the Eastern Massachusetts Multicultural Participation Clinic, an opportunity for rising and aspiring tennis players to meet, listen to, and learn from Crimson players and head coach David Fish ’72.

“Keep up your schoolwork,” Fish cautioned the kids in his speech. “That’s really what’s going to keep you going.”

But then the activities began, as Fish admitted, “we know it’s more fun for you to play than to watch, and that’s the way it should be.”

Harvard players, after introducing themselves and their hometowns—the Massachusetts natives to scattered applause—spent the rest of the hour practicing drills and makeshift doubles matches.

“This is the first [clinic] that we’ve done at Harvard,” explained Andy Crane, who cultivated the relationship between the Eastern Massachussetts Committee of USA Tennis New England and the Harvard team. “We were trying to do something different, and we talked to Coach Fish about it, and he thought it would be a great idea to do one here after a match with the players on the team.”The event also drew a handful of children from Tenacity, a Boston-based youth tennis group with which Crane is also affiliated.

Tenacity children already serve as scorekeepers for the men’s and women’s home matches throughout the year.

“I think it just makes an enormous difference,” Crane said, citing a recent conversation with one of his pupils.

“We were listening to some of the present-day music and [discussing] whether those guys were really role models,” Crane explained, “and he was telling me that one of his role models is [Harvard senior] George Turner, whom he’s been watching play for four years.”

Turner is recognized as one of the most tenacious competitors on the Crimson.

“That really tells me something,” Crane added, “because George Turner is all about work ethic and just getting the most out of his ability. So it definitely has an impact on them.”

SITTING ONE OUT

Senior Chris Chiou was not expected to travel to New York last weekend for the Crimson’s Ivy opener against Columbia and Cornell.

Rather, he was to remain in Cambridge and hit the books, his MCAT exam looming just a week away.

However, as a series of injuries and personal tragedies befell the Harvard squad just before the trip, Chiou wound up not only traveling to New York, but winning all four matches he played.

And so it came as no surprise that Chiou was ready to play on Friday as the Crimson battled Princeton—this time just a day before his exam—even though Harvard was not expected to struggle with the Tigers.

“I think it’s a big plus for the team,” said associate coach Peter Mandeau. “Chris is a senior that is part of a group of five guys…[that has] been through four years of Harvard and been through a lot of battles together, and I can’t imagine Chris wants to miss any of the battles.”

Chiou’s doubles partner on Friday, freshman Gideon Valkin, agreed.

“[Chiou’s] been amazing,” he said. “He wasn’t going to come last week or play this week, but because we’ve had a few injuries and were a little worried, he decided to make the sacrifice and we’re all very grateful.”

Chiou won both his Princeton matches—the first, in the doubles competition, to clinch the doubles point, and the second, in singles, to clinch the entire match for his team. The actual administration of the MCAT exam—which Chiou took on Saturday—did keep him off the courts, however.

GET ON THE BUS

Last year, when Brown traveled to Cambridge to play for the Ivy Championship, the Bears brought 100 fans to crowd the Crimson bleachers. This year, as Harvard will be traveling to Providence for the match which will likely decide the Ivy crown, the Crimson is looking to equal that fan support.

“We want to meet or beat the 100 people that they brought last year,” Mandeau said.

There will be a bus running from Harvard to Brown and back again. For $5, students may obtain tickets which include round-trip transportation and admission to the match in Providence.

The tickets will be available through any Crimson team member or by calling (617) 495-2695 through Tuesday.

Brown is considered Harvard’s stiffest competition, and it is the only other Ivy to rank within the Top-50.