Winning Drought Comes to an End
The Harlingen Men's 3.5 team won their season opener after a totally winless past season. We caught up with Jorge Salinas, last season's captain (and this site's webmaster) to ask about their first win. Hope you like my first interview. - J.D.
RGVT: How does it feel to have your first Harlingen win in three years?
JS: Felt pretty great, actually (laughs).
RGVT: What do you think the problem was last season, that you guys couldn't pull out a single win?
JS: Wow, you get right to the point. Well, most of the team were not true 3.5 players. It was a last minute thing. Sam (Martinez) and I had played on the Brownsville team the season before that, because no one wanted to be captain of the Harlingen team. The past season, Sam had already given a comittment for himself to Zeke (of the Brownsville team) and a tentative one for me. Don (Harlingen HEB Tennis Center Pro) approached me, and we decided Harlingen had gone too long without a team. We had to start somewhere, so we recruited a bunch of players. Most of them, however, had no match experience and some were even at a 2.5 level. They came up quickly though and that season saw most of them bumped up to 3.5.
RGVT: You don't blame yourself at all?
JS: Hey, take it easy, man. (laughs, but I don't). Naw, I did the best I could with what I had. By the end of the season we were even winning some courts. All the other captains noticed and they all said we were a team for the future. I don't think they were just being gracious either.
RGVT: So, what is so different this season?
JS: We have a new captain for one (laughs), John Gingerich. It's his first time, but being a captain isn't that hard. I help him when he asks plus Sam, who also used to be a captain, is also on the team. He and I feel pretty good about being back on the Harlingen team. In addition, the guys are a lot better now and we have some new players that are really good too.
RGVT: The guys that got bumped up, have they really improved that much? Or was it just that they had a good doubles partner?
JS: Funny you should say that, because, yeah, they have improved that much. We take clinics with Don and he even would tell us to call him after the match to see how we did. The first guy to get bumped up was Israel Vega. He played singles and got a couple of wins for us. There was this former team member that told him he wasn't a true 3.5 right before his match a couple of times, but even that didn't deter him from playing his best.
RGVT: One of your own guys?
JS: Yeah (shakes his head). He isn't on the team anymore for negative stuff like that. These guys are all professionals and we don't want to associate with that kind of negativism. That's another thing that is different this season, we don't have that influence. And, it has really paid off.
RGVT: So, you kicked him off the team?
JS: Nah, he kicked himself out. After a while, no one was willing to play with him and he is nowhere near good enough to play singles. He even didn't show up to our last match of the season, because he wanted to watch a tv show. I had complaints from everyone on the team about him. We also, added Gabe, Marco, David and Ray. All great players that are dangerous in whatever team they are on. Warren is also healthy again, and we went out of our way to make sure he was back on our team. They all have very positive attitudes.
RGVT: What else is different?
JS: Well, just the clinicals we have been taking and we actually take what Don tells us and we remind each other. Not in a bad way or always doing it or anything. Just every once in a while. Ray will come up to me and say something like "keep your head down" or I'll tell Israel to lead with the bottom edge of his racquet on volleys or something. I think that plus everyone being more experienced now.
RGVT: You played doubles or singles in the match?
JS: I played doubles with Sam Martinez. We won 6 - 4, 7 - 5. I don't think I had ever played that bad, but I pulled out some decent shots in the end. Sam played awesome. Israel Tevino almost pulled out his first singles win! Here is a guy that was probably a 2.5 at the beginning of the season last year! Now he has moved up two NTRP ratings. I don't remember the scores, but I know that Warren and Daniel pulled out their doubles and Ray won his singles match.
RGVT: Anything you would like to add?
JS: That's it? Um....not really (laughs). This has just been wierd to be interviewed for my own website. Hey, it's great to have you onboard with us, J.D. You ask some tough questions. Thanks so much.
There you have my first ever interview with this or any website, folks. I will be helping out RGVtennis.com with some of the more hard-hitting stuff. "Talk" to you soon. - J.D.
