to succumb to the aerial bombardment of the Harlingen Cardinals and Hawks. First up to bat, we see Daniel Bracken. We are not dissapointed. One begins to feel for whoever foolishly dares to step into his domain. Taller and even more powerful than the last time we reported on him, Daniel Bracken hits his forehand...BOOM! Did he say, "Boom" or did I just think that automatically? His opponent tries to get it to his backhand..."BAM!!!". Bracken wins 6 -0 and we move on to cover someone else.

"Hey, there's Benette Holder on the far court", someone next to me shouts. I follow the crowd to check out the match. Benette Holder is definitely in the running for THE most improved tennis player we have seen all season. His strokes are confident, methodical, well-thought and powerful. Armed with a consistency that is virtually non-existent in this tournament, he constantly frustrates his opponent. Holder is now the "holder" of a great gift as he sees the court open up in front of him. He does no wrong. His opponent throws his racquet. It does not help his cause. He throws his racquet a second time....a third...a fourth, all to no avail. Holder wins his first match 6 - 0, 6 - 0. His opponent takes his racquet and places it into his bag, then proceeds to throw the entire bag across the tennis court and exclaims, "This is the worsed day of my life!" Benette Holder's next opponent would fair no better as he took him down in straight sets not giving up a single game. The force of his opponent's forehands, hit hard and wide, would not phase Holder, with his much improved movement. As I steadied my camera to take pictures of Holder, and the other players, I kept hearing: "Good shot, Benette!" As we moved on to the other players, we could still hear much deserved cheers for Benette Holder.

Haley Swanberg would run through her opponents with her consistent backhand and vicious forehand. Just when her opponent thought she hit a good shot, Swanberg's hard training would pay off with her running around her backhand to hit and incredibly powerful and flat inside out forehand winner. And, when her foe thought she had her all figured out, she would hold the stroke until the last minute and blast it down the line for a line drive that was impossible to return. Haley danced around the court almost effortlessly. She would drink water on change overs more to keep her fueled, not because she was tired. We wondered if she gets nervous. "Way to go, Haley!", we hear from her friends and relatives as they sit and stand and pace nervously. Swanberg would not disappoint.

As we went around making the rounds and taking pictures of the athletes, we saw the Tarpons go down to LaFeria. La Feria is always a tough contender to beat, and we hope to bring you more on the Lions and Coach Hernandez. St. Joseph would give a valiant effort under the watchful eye of their coach.

Moving on to the Harlingen South High School (Home of the Hawks), we got to see their new tennis facility. Wow! Not only do they have lights, but their is a nice middle area where one can walk and see the matches on either side with plenty of room for chairs and cheers. We saw the boys mighty Harlingen Cardinals beating La Feria and the Hawks taking on all challengers and disposing of them no matter how hard they hit.

From there we went on to Victor Park where we saw Mia from La Feria taking on a girl from Pace. Mia's powerful serves and steady footwork allowed her to easily end the match in thirty minutes. Chris O'Reagan was playing mixed doubles and was cheered on (and put down) by all his friends that were sitting and watching him by the fence in close promixmity. Alumni from recent graduates were even represented and posed for our cameras - even teaching us what their good side was!

Last, but not least, we would head to Vernon Middle School in time to catch the St. Joseph girls doubles take on the LaFeria Lions. Both teams went back and forth with parents and coaches mobbing us to please post pictures of their daughters and players on the website. No problem! We were met by Mr. Perez, father of Sarah Perez and he led us over to where she was playing doubles against Hannah High School. The mighty Hawks and Cardinals would prove, once again, that hard work pays off. They easily thwarted all prospective "nay-sayers", as they easily out-classed the competition by miles. Sarah Perez would hit some shots with tremendous power but held back quite a bit due to the lack of skill on the other side of the net. "Does she lift weights at home?", I ask her father. "No, not really", he replied. "She lifts weights as part of the tennis program with her team, but she has always been naturally very strong. Sometimes we would wrestle around and, let me tell you, she can push me around pretty good....and I'm a big guy!", he continued. I think, "One of these days I need to feature Sarah and get an interview". Soon. I know. I know. We've been saying that since September.

I return to the tennis center in time to take a picture of the girl's Hawks doubles holding their trophies and leave for the evening. Three days later the boy's singles finals would take place. It would be, not surprisingly Daniel Bracken against a Harlingen Hawk. That Hawk would be the much improved and written about Benette Holder. Holder would come out firing on all cylinders taking the first set 6 - 4. Daniel Bracken would recieve some good instructon from Coach Tanamachi and would take the next two sets and the match. The final score was 4 - 6, 6 - 3, 6 - 1. Daniel Bracken would say it best, " Good job". Below are some pictures of the tournament.