“I tried carrying the weight of the world, but I only have two hands.” — “Wake Me Up,” Avicci

At the Dos Pueblos High School tennis courts on Sunday, our annual Boys Tennis Mix-and-Match Doubles Fundraiser finished well, like our historical season this spring. In addition to the hard work of our team, the immense community support of our program carried us through our winning season. Together, we made things happen.

Again, we are grateful to Yogurtland (Amanda Oh and family), which has sponsored us for the upcoming season. Participants came from the three Channel League schools as well as from the various clubs and city courts. Before the tournament started, we had instructors and coaches warm up the players for 30 to 40 minutes. Also, we received generous donations from everyone, even from those who could not play in our tournament.

Every year we honor a Charger enthusiast; this year, we gave a “shoutout” to Ralph and Dale Kistler, longtime DP boys tennis supporters. As for the competition,  “Come on,” “Let’s go” and laughter could be heard from all of the courts. We gave the “mature” players and younger players the option of partnering with a pro. After seeing them play, they could have easily held their own without one.

In some of the rounds on some of the courts, we used green-dot balls (usually reserved for 10-and-under competition). Of course, matches on those courts ran longer than on other courts. We finished the tournament with an exhibition match between our Channel League doubles winners, Patrick Corpuz and Miles Baldwin, and Jeff Villano and Ricky Echanique.

Throughout the tournament, we could also hear cheers and commentary from our little mascot, Alex Casady, proudly wearing his Dos Pueblos tennis shirt. He did go on court to be ball boy for his parents. After the tournament, we enjoyed sandwich platters and cookies from Subway.

I want to thank our team, fellow coaches (Allison Golledge and Alexei Prilepine), Amanda Oh and parents who did major setup and cleanup. I also acknowledge our local instructors, who contributed to our fundraiser: Hughie Stratman, Jeff Villano, Ross Skinner, Ricky Echanique, Alexei Prilepine, Peter Kirkwood, Sammer Aziz and Austin Trevillian.

I thank you all. “We are family.” Way to go, Chargers!

— Liz Frech coaches boys’ tennis at Dos Pueblos High School.