The fall season is fast approaching for high school sports. Football practice officially got underway on August 17 while all other fall sports begin their practices on August 24. Before things start to ramp back up, Ithaca High School held another fun event for the community.
On August 15, the Ithaca Central School District (ICSD) Athletics Community Doubles Tennis Tournament took place on the newly-resurfaced tennis courts. In total, 17 doubles teams participated and were split up into two groups: a competitive bracket and a community/recreational bracket. The quarterfinals used a pro set format, meaning that the first team to win eight games and win by at least two games wins the match. The semifinals and finals went to the traditional best-of-three sets format.
The competitive bracket final featured some familiar names for Little Red tennis. On one side, recent graduate Jonah Jacobstein joined forces with his father Adam to form team “Ninety Pound Hammer.” They faced off against rising sophomore Henry Bopp and rising junior Luke Flores, known as team “Double Trouble.” The Jacobsteins’ natural chemistry helped them come out on top 6-4, 6-3.
As for the community bracket, the doubles pairing of Seneca Thomas and Dewi Rainey prevailed, while Ayaka Yorihoro and Ethan Yang took second place.
Jonah Jacobstein capped off his time with the Little Red by making the state tournament alongside fellow senior Orion Patie in doubles. Although he won’t get the chance to play for the Little Red on the new courts as he heads off to Dartmouth College next month, he thoroughly enjoyed playing against his old teammates and was a big fan of the new color scheme.
The color is indeed the most notable change to the courts. The old surface was green in the playing area and maroon in the outer zone. But the new surface mimics the U.S. Open courts with a blue playing area and a green outer zone. Bopp admitted that while it felt different at first in terms of the pace of play, he’s certainly looking forward to playing on his home court for the next three years.
“Out of all the surfaces I’ve played on, this may honestly be my favorite hard court yet,” Bopp said. “It was definitely a little slower than the previous surface, which meant Luke and I had to adjust our game and be more patient with certain shots. At first, it took a little getting used to, especially when it came to timing and figuring out how the ball would react off the court. But once we got a feel for it, we adjusted appropriately and were able to play our game.”
Bopp played a massive role in organizing the tournament and got the word out to the community through the team’s social media account. He has taken strong initiative as only an underclassmen. As one of 12 freshmen on the boys team this past spring, Bopp dazzled with a singles title at the STAC championships. He’s almost exclusively played singles throughout his brief time with the Little Red, so the transition to doubles was a challenging but ultimately rewarding experience.
“It was definitely an adjustment having to rely on someone else to hit shots for me,” Bopp said. “Luckily, I had an incredible partner in Luke Flores, who I could trust completely. It’s funny how different singles and doubles really are, even though at the end of the day, they’re technically the same game. The mental side to doubles and singles are also totally different. You have someone to reassure you during doubles. In singles, you’re alone, although shoutout to Coach Helen [Evans] for always giving me fantastic pep talks during my singles matches.”
This is not the first time in recent memory that the courts have gone under renovation. A new fence was put up around the courts a couple of years ago, but there were hairline cracks on the acrylic surface. It only took a two-week process this month to carry out thanks to Chenango Contracting, which also installed the turf at Moresco Stadium in 2021.
This also is not the first time that IHS has hosted a “pre-season” event. Last year, new Director of Athletics and Wellness Kari Burke and Assistant Director of Athletics and Wellness Shane Taylor held a “Walk And Talk” on the Moresco Stadium track to welcome the community. Having played tennis for the Little Red and coached at the school for 16 years, Taylor knows how powerful the sport can be in terms of bringing people of all ages together.
“It really is a lifelong sport,” Taylor said. “There was an article recently in the New York Times about how you live 10 years longer if you play tennis. It’s a healthy sport. It’s a fun sport, and we’re doing a lot to get more kids involved. Last spring, Coach Helen and I ran a tennis clinic with the boys and girls teams. We had over 70 kids, pre-K through second grade, out there playing tennis just as an introduction to the sport and a love of the game.”
