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The Fab Five

With the minimum number of players, quantity is not an issue

By Captain Courtney Mroch

The girls from Team Tennessee --or the Fab Five as we came to call ourselves for USTA League Tennessee State Championships -- still can’t believe we won the 2.5 level to advance to 2012 USTA League Southern Section Championships. We were tickled to even make it to the state tournament.

For one thing, it was half the team’s first time playing USTA period, and it was only the second season for the others.

To add to that note, Nashville almost didn’t have a 2.5 USTA league for the 2012 spring season. Luckily, at the last minute, a few other teams pulled together.

Still, we barely squeaked out a victory to win in Nashville. We were tied 5-1 with another team, and ended up beating them by stats with three individual wins.

Next thing you know we were on our way to Memphis. Or were we?

That’s where the Fab Five moniker comes in. It has nothing to do with our playing ability and everything to do with the fact that we barely had enough players (five) to make the minimum team requirements to play at the state championships.

Little did we know the Fab Five would make a clean 5-0 sweep of things, all thanks to our tremendous doubles teams of Susan Simmons/Lisa Tipps, and Christy Levet/ Rebecca Patterson. The only thing we knew was we'd have to stay tough. There would be no breaks. We would be playing every match.

That left me to play singles. It wasn’t exactly our plan (Susan also plays singles), but we didn’t want to break up the winning doubles mojo, especially when we realized we had a chance at winning the state championship. We did win State, and now we’re delighted to be on our way to USTA League Southern Section Championships.

We all came to tennis for different reasons. I took my first lesson in August of 2009. It was only a little over a month after my last radiation treatment. I was diagnosed with Stage 2 non-Hodgkins lymphoma on December 31, 2008. I’d spent the first seven months of 2009 doing chemo and radiation to cure it, and I was still basically bald. I showed up to my first lessons wearing a bandana to cover up my fuzz head.

Tennis was always something I wanted to try, but had never allowed myself to. When I had cancer, I made a list of things I’d like to do if I got a second shot at life. Taking tennis lessons was one of them.

I never expected to play competitively or be on a team, and I sure as heck never expected to be captain of a USTA team that went to the Tennessee championships where I played a weekend full of nothing but singles matches. But let me tell you, to get to spend time with the Fab Five like that and to have this memory? It’s another blessing I’m very thankful to cancer for giving me.

 Team

 Tennessee Women’s 2.5

 Home Courts

 Nashville

 Captain

Courtney Mroch