It is January 23, 2010 in Sandpoint, Idaho and tennis is alive and well!

Sandpoint High School is an athletic powerhouse…So far this year: State Finals in football, State Champs in both boys and girls soccer, Conference and District Champs in volleyball. Sandpoint is perennially strong in wrestling, track and baseball. In short, Sandpoint athletes are a focused group.

Tennis is no exception. The Sandpoint Bulldog tennis team was the 2009 Conference and District champion and finished 4^th at the State Tournament. Tennis in Sandpoint follows a long and outstanding tradition. In fact my son, lost in the finals of the U-16 Sandpoint City Tournament back in 1993.

2010 marks the tenth year of tennis at the high school as a varsity sport. Idaho is one of the few states that offers varsity tennis to both boys and girls in the same season (Spring). This affords the opportunity to offer mixed doubles as one of the official events. Tennis is the only sport where boys and girls can compete together as team. Mixed doubles is not played at the varsity level in college, but as we all know, it has always been a very competitive event on the professional tour. (A varsity match consists 3 boys singles and 3 girls singles; 2 boys doubles and 2 girls doubles; 2 mixed doubles).

As defending champions, the Sandpoint team has been honing their skills all winter playing indoors at the North Park Tennis Center in North Spokane. Special thanks goes out to John Gant, head pro at North Park for, not only allowing us to practice at his club, but also to drill the sox off our kids. He has been great!

I held off moving to Sandpoint while my kids were in school because of the short tennis season here. This is no longer the case and, as head tennis coach, I am honored to work with these kids and get them as much court time as they can handle. We are looking forward to putting another strong team on the court in 2010 as evidenced by their superior work ethic and focus.

Bottom line, if you are a tennis family and have kids who are planning a high school tennis career, Sandpoint is no longer lacking. Call me! Tennis is my passion and I would love to fill you in on what is going on around here.

The Sandpoint motto: We don’t rebuild…We reload.