trevorthorpetravels

Thorpe Tennis: 2015 Year in Review

Barbara Hallquist DeGroot Celebrity Coach Laguna Blanca Summer Tennis Camp Another great year is in the books and I am thrilled by the progress my students have made in 2015. I’m already excitedly looking forward to raising the bar again in 2016, but before we get ahead of ourselves…

A few highlights from the year at Thorpe Tennis:

Worked with 63 different players from age 8 to 52.
Spent over 1,000 hours on-court teaching lessons and coaching high school matches.
Directed a second successful year of the Laguna Blanca Summer Tennis Camp, oriented towards middle schoolers and incoming freshmen interested in playing at the high school level.
Coached Laguna Blanca Boys’ Tennis to an 13-3 regular-season record and won a CIF playoff round for the third consecutive year.
Led Cate School Girls’ Tennis to what was likely the most successful season in team history, going 13-1 during the regular season and making the CIF D2 Quarterfinals.
Coached an unheard-of six Cate girls to Tri-Valley League All-League 1st Team and received Coach of the Year Award.
Completed a two-year project with Edward Cho at Cate, helping him achieve his goal of going from JV to Varsity singles starter
Began utilizing photos and slow-motion video within lessons to give players another angle for understanding their game.
Helped Julia Gan finally break the top-400 in the country, while also winning the Tri-Valley League Singles Championship and getting widely recruited to play college tennis. We even made her an awesome recruiting video!
Had the pleasure of watching senior students matriculate to fine schools such as: Cal Poly SLO, St. Andrews, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, and University of Colorado at Boulder.
Expanded community interaction with my students, their families, and other supporters with 28 blog posts that were visited by 1,800 people and viewed 5,000 times. This year also featured many photos of players in action that are free to download and share!

Thanks to all of you for being part of my tennis family. It is my passion and pleasure to be part of yours. Here’s to another great year of tennis in Santa Barbara!

Trevor Thorpe

Cate CIF Run Halted by Strong Murrieta Valley Squad

Cate School faced Murrieta Valley yesterday in the CIF D2 Quarterfinal Round and, sadly, we came out on the losing end (4-14).

Murrieta Valley had too much firepower in singles, sweeping all nine sets. In the first round, it looked that Julia Gan was going to work her magic one more time, going up 3-0 against Jovana Kuljanin, who is ranked #148 in the country and will be playing D1 tennis under scholarship next season. In the end, Gan fell 5-7 in a very close set. From there, it was all Murrieta Valley in singles.

Doubles play was much more even, with Cate’s talented #1 team Summer Christensen/McKenna Madden taking two-of-three. Eva Herman and Janice Ng continued their strong post-season play, winning two sets as well.

In the end, we just came up against a stronger team. There’s nothing more we could have done. My girls made me very proud today, not just in the way they battled, but also in the way they carried themselves. The Murrieta Valley coach remarked to me that our team was the nicest and most sportsmanlike opponent they had faced all season. I can think of no better way to face this defeat.

For Julia Gan, Jackie Cai, and the doubles team of Christensen and Madden, the season isn’t quite over yet, with CIF individuals still ahead at the Cate School on Monday, November 23rd.

For those of you who are interested in the quality of opponent we faced in this match (besides the fact that their school is 12-times the size of ours), here are the top 5 players from Murrieta Valley, who combined to win all 12 sets they played: Jovana Kuljanin, Alana Andrews, Faith Pearson, Kelsey Lajom, Ashley Nishimoto

Cate Downs Oak Park Eagles 12-6, Advances to CIF D2 Quarterfinals

Cate has taken a 12-6 victory in Oak Park this afternoon and now advances to the CIF D2 quarterfinal round.

In singles, Julia Gan swept, beating two very high-level tournament players in Sasha Romanova and Sylvie Van Cott. Jackie Cai also came up with a big win over Romanova and played Van Cott to a tie-breaker in the final round. Cai finished 2-1 on the day.

Perhaps the most crucial moment of the match was Gan’s first-round win over Romanova, which was taken in a tie-breaker, 7-5. I think that win put Oak Park off-balance, because they’re used to sweeps from Romanova and Van Cott. It was pretty clear that Romanova was shaken from the first set while playing Cai, who ended up winning her set against the Oak Park #1, too. Continue reading “Cate Downs Oak Park Eagles 12-6, Advances to CIF D2 Quarterfinals”

Cate Girls’ Tennis Advances in CIF with 14-4 Win

Cate beat Trabuco Hills 14-4 today, at home, in a match very different from last year’s first round. In 2014, Cate had to beat Fullerton in a wildcard round (at Fullerton) in order to reach a first-round matchup against #2 Murrieta Valley (away again). That worked out to two 12+ hour days of travel and competition that left the team exhausted.

This time around, thanks to a stellar regular season that warranted the #5 seeding in CIF D2, Cate got a home match against Trabuco Hills in the first round. Continue reading “Cate Girls’ Tennis Advances in CIF with 14-4 Win”

CIF Playoff Picture: Stellar Season Validated with #5 Seed, Solid Draw

After going 13-1 during regular season play and dominating the Tri-Valley League Individuals Tournament, Cate has received the #5-seed in the CIF Team Playoff Tournament.

We begin our playoff tournament with a home match on Wednesday at 2pm, with the winner going on to play on Friday at 2pm. Our opponent will be the winner of a wildcard round between Trabuco Hills and Fullerton High.

Cate knows plenty about this, as last year we played Fullerton High in the same wildcard round, winning an 11-7 match. We went into the next round against the #2-seeded Murrieta Valley the next day, tired from our efforts, but put up a respectable 6-12 score.

This time around, we’ll have the opportunity to play the tired team at Cate. Should we win on Wednesday, the likely opponent for Friday would be Oak Park. We match up very evenly against them, so that could be a lot of fun! Then, based on seeded teams winning, we would earn a rematch against none other than Murrieta Valley.

First things first, and that’s the match on Wednesday. We’ve had a chance to de-stress a bit, as you’ll see below, but tomorrow’s practice will be all business. There’s plenty left in this season if we hit the courts with our best!

Coach Thorpe Receives Tri-Valley League “Coach of the Year” Award

While some would consider this a small award, it’s a big honor for me and I’m going to talk about it! This sport, my teams, and my players are my absolute passion. To be acknowledged by my peers in the Tri-Valley League as Coach of the Year is validation of that passion and what it can do.

I know that tennis is just a small part of most of my players’ young lives. That said, I also believe that a tennis court is the perfect place to develop the competitive drive, ethics, and self-awareness it takes to be successful on the many playing fields of life. Continue reading “Coach Thorpe Receives Tri-Valley League “Coach of the Year” Award”

All Six Cate Players Make All-League 1st Team in Tri-Valley Individuals Tournament

Yesterday, Cate finished the regular season with a 17-1 victory over Laguna Blanca, despite substituting our top three players out after round one. The team finished with an 13-1 record (8-0 in league play), but today, we took this incredible season to another level.

Each school in the Tri-Valley League fielded two singles players and two doubles teams, with the top three singles players and top three doubles teams to receive All-League 1st-Team Honors. Today, all six Cate players finished in the top three of their respective categories. Continue reading “All Six Cate Players Make All-League 1st Team in Tri-Valley Individuals Tournament”

Tri-Valley League Individual Tournament Results: Cate Dominates!

The Tri-Valley League Individuals Tournament was held at Cate today. All five teams (Cate, La Reina, Carpinteria, Malibu, Nordhoff) were represented by two singles players and two doubles teams each.

In what was expected to be a competition dominated by Cate and La Reina, Cate proved their strength with both singles players and doubles teams advancing to the semifinals and securing all-league honors. Continue reading “Tri-Valley League Individual Tournament Results: Cate Dominates!”

Cate Girls Win Another Close Match on Parents’ Weekend

It was another nail-biter on the Cate Mesa over parents’ weekend! With the score tied 8-8 and two doubles sets left to play, we needed from our #2 or #3 doubles teams, who had both gone 0-2 so far on the day. After three-and-a-half hours of play, both teams ended up getting their first win of the day, making the final score 10-8. Continue reading “Cate Girls Win Another Close Match on Parents’ Weekend”

Cate Completes Clean Sweep of Tri-Valley League with 13-5 Win Over Malibu

With just two non-league contests left (Simi Valley, Laguna Blanca), Cate has now completed the Tri-Valley League sweep with the 13-5 win over Malibu High School. Cate girls’ tennis moves to 11-1 (8-0) on the season with the win today.

Freshman Sarah Polowczak had an excellent day, going 3-0 with Summer Christensen. For Christensen, the sweep meant that she has gone undefeated in league play this year with a 22-0 record.

Eva Herman and Janice Ng swept their three sets of play today, strengthening their case for a high seed in next week’s Tri-Valley League Individuals.

In singles, Julia Gan completed an undefeated league season today as well, going 2-0 and confirming herself as the #1 singles seed for next weeks individual tournament. Additionally, Jackie Cai took three convincing set wins for the Rams in singles play.

Cate plays next on Saturday against Simi Valley at 2pm for parents’ weekend!