3 Min. 52 Second Read –
WHAT A WEEKEND!!!
While many saw where the A.C. Flora Boys Tennis Team won their 2nd straight 4A State Championship, I had the opportunity to be right in the middle of the action.
And. It. Was. Awesome!
My Flora tennis journey began a couple of years ago when our Finley was a part of the J.V. team. It was a fun team to be around and, if you know me, I kinda get into my girl’s athletics.
Fast forward a few – If you told me some years ago that I’d be Richland One certified (I call it bona fide) and riding the school bus to schools like River Bluff and Chapin with a bunch of high school and middle school kids, with a giant cooler full of Chic-Fil-A sandwiches beside me Ida thought you be CRAAAAY!!
Some of my good friends may be wondering, “I mean…Franklin sure is into this. Can he play freakin’ tennis? Is he any good?” Well, in my bias, not particularly. I can hit a thousand balls back just fine. That said, I relate to the kids easily, and I can tell that I’m easily approachable.
Don’t worry y’all.. I don’t teach technique! Also, apparently, I’m loud.
The matches were fun to watch. Singles courts 3-5 were over pretty quickly, respectively, and our doubles team was an absolute buzzsaw on Saturday. As the morning progressed, our #1 & #2 Singles matches were doozies. That said, even though the overall match was over, and Flora had earned the State Championship trophy, our boys hung tough to secure two more victories for a 6-0 final.
Guess what!? Even though every kid was chomping to get to the Championship Lacrosse game across town (The Flora LAX experience prolly deserves a post, itself), the Flora student population that swelled as the matches went on, stayed until Jude secured his final volley winner, and blasted a ball over the crowd’s heads in victory. It was great!
Let me let this sink in – The Flora Boys finished the season at 27-0, defeated all of their 5A opponents, and all of the Charter & Private schools, including schools from North Carolina. To further the resume, they defeated the Lower State representatives 6-0 to win the championship…Again.
BIG THANK YOU! to Flora Athletics and the team for having me. It was fun working with the JV squad and then joining the big dogs as the playoffs progressed.
I also need to shout out to Amy Martin, Paige Haas, and Debbie Blair for allowing me to join them as we roamed the fences together this year.
This is for another blog post, but Amy Martin has really put together a winning culture at Flora tennis, and is the Queen Bee of an elite High School sports program.
Now that I’ve typed that last sentence, it reminds me to shout that A.C. Flora is currently the home of the Girls & Boys State Championship Tennis Programs, simultaneously.
If you’re reading this and have girls that enjoy playing competitive tennis and are thinking of being a part of the program, if they aren’t already gearing up for the fall season, now is the time to start hitting!!! Coach Lindsay Creech, get ready! 🙂
Thank you and GO FALCONS!!!
Franklin Jones
