Coupeville Sports

Jazmine Franklin (front) and McKenzie Bailey blossomed as tennis players under the guidance of Ken Stange. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The mission is complete … for now.

Ken Stange recently wrapped an 18-year run as Coupeville High School tennis coach, leading the Wolves through two seasons most years.

As he marinates in his “retirement” down at Bailey’s Corner Store, he’s sharing memories, deep thoughts, and (maybe) clues to where the bodies are buried.

A nine-part odyssey inside the mind of the man, the myth, the always-entertaining net guru:

My first girls season, in the spring of 2006, was much like my fall season with the boys, in that the players were short on experience.

Eighteen kids showed up that spring, which was double that of the boys in the fall.

Most of them had never played a competitive tennis point in their lives.

We lost so many matches that year.

They were excited, though. Much fun was had at practice, and several players were working diligently on their games.

Looking at the team photo from that season, more than half the kids were 10th and 11th graders from the classes of 2008-2009 and they ended up having long and productive high school tennis careers.

Those kids set a standard that future players would follow and eventually exceed.

They took ownership of the team and held each other accountable.

There were two players who stood out … players who decided to make tennis their sport.

They made tennis cool.

They worked hard, won bunches of matches, and even went to state during their junior season.

Hannah (Merrell) Bush and Megan (Monroe) Mindemann showed up that first year and they loved it. They put 100% of their athletic focus on tennis.

They recruited friends and got younger athletes to join.

They were the mothers of my incarnation of the CHS tennis program.

They set the example that other players would follow and when future leaders emerged, Hannah and Megan took them under their wings, and the process continued for a very long time, with each leadership group passing the torch to the next group.

Big wins and tasty ice cream — the Wolf way. (Photo courtesy Ken Stange)

The line of leadership lineage of the CHS girls’ program is long.

Hannah and Megan, along with Ashley Sanders, passed the torch along to Jordan Akins and Jessica Blanchette, who passed it along to Amanda d’Almeida.

There were more: Jacki Ginnings, Wynter Thorne, McKenzie Bailey and Jazmine Franklin, Valen (Trujillo) Printz, Sage Renninger and Payton Aparicio, Avalon Renninger and Tia Wurzrainer, Genna Wright, Abby Mulholland, Noelle Daigneault, and finally, Helen Strelow.

I’m sure that with both the boys and the girls, I’ve missed a few.

The net guru works on his tan while his crew prepares to kick some fanny. (Photo courtesy Ken Stange)

It seemed that for a long time, the level of play increased from year to year.

That made coaching the girls’ team extra fun.

With the girls, there was a season within the season, in that the kids were always competing for spots in the lineup and looking to get better than the person or pair in front of them.

That kind of mentality gave us lots of wins and league titles.

Despite the in-team competition, the girls also genuinely cared about how everyone else did.

They always remembered the team component that existed within individual sports.

Kids were willing to play a different spot in the lineup to better ensure a team win.

With that kind of attitude, I’m not surprised by the numbers the girls put up during my time as coach.

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