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Le Jardin Tennis Team Nets First ILH Championship Title

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As a relatively new kid on the block in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, the Le Jardin girls intermediate tennis team didn’t always get the opposition’s best effort - until this season, that is.

“I told the girls it’s a sign of respect that they (opposing teams) are playing their (top) lineup,“coach Windy Cummings said. “Before, they didn’t even know who we were.”

Cummings and the Bulldogs have been in the celebration mode of late after capturing the ILH’s small school championship - the school’s first in tennis since joining the league four years ago. Le Jardin went 7-2 for the season with their only losses coming to long-time ILH powers Punahou and Iolani.The Bulldogs also ended their season in impressive fashion when they won a riveting match with Mid-Pacific,which had entered that day’s action tied with Le Jardin for third behind both Iolani and Punahou. Le Jardin’s success looks all the more impressive given that the school is without its own tennis courts, meaning all of their matches must be played on the road.

“We have a high bus budget,” Cummings said with a laugh.

Cummings, who competed at both Castle and the University of Hawaii during her own playing days, just finished her fourth season with Le Jardin. Before arriving at the Kailua school, she coached at Punahou where it was common to have “50 players at tryouts to fill 20 spots"in order to field a pair of Intermediate teams. Le Jardin, which has approximately 700 students total, has only one Intermediate team (ages 12-14) and isn’t normally blessed with huge turnouts at its own tryouts. Of the girls intermediate team’s 11 members, six were beginners when they came to the program.

“We have only a couple of weeks before our first match, so in rules,” Cummings said. “They’ve committed to working hard, and a lot of the players who were with us last year stepped it up. We’ve been able to introduce tennis to a lot of good kids who can now go on and play. All you need is one other person to play tennis. You don’t have to call 10 people.”

Cummings sees the overall interest in tennis in the Windward community as a boost to Le Jardin’s own program. While they always have newcomers to the sport,the program also attracts its share of seasoned players.

“We’re lucky in that here we have a lot of kids who are playing outside at Kailua Recreational Center or the Kaneohe Marine Corps base or the Kailua Racquet Club,“she said. “We usually have a core group of kids who have played.

“The big difference this year was our depth,” she added. “The lower half of our team won matches,which helped the team win matches. One thing we always tell them is that everybody’s point counts the same. That was a major goal - to teach them the team concept instead of just being individuals.”

The Bulldogs featured Taylor Freeman, Kara Knight, Keilani Bonis Ericksen, Hannah Sherrill, Natalie Strong, Rachel Larsen, Kortney Duarte, Malia Batey, Zoe Coffman, Angela Stenberg, and Nikki Caspers, whose win at second singles put the academy over the top in its big win over Mid-Pacific.While Cummings will lose Freeman to the varsity next year, the other 10 team members are expected to be back in the fold, giving the Bulldogs an opportunity to build on their success of this season.

“My ending speech is always the same,“said Cummings.“I tell them to keep playing tennis and not to just play three or four months a year.”

LE JARDIN NOTES:

The Bulldogs’ ILH title in tennis was the second league championship for the school during the 2007-08 school year. First-year coach Greg Le Saint led the boys intermediate team to an undefeated (10-0) season recently en route to capturing the ILH Division II title.Team members were Wilson Macleoud, Sean McWhinnie, Oliver Donkervoet, Joshua Kava, Kelvin Akamine, Sam Spengler, Carson Parr, Ryan Tokishi and Cameron Robb. In the fall, the boys varsity water polo team claimed second place in the ILH behind Punahou, and third overall in the final season tournament.Head coach Eric Billington was voted Coach of the Year in Division II, while Le Jardin’s Trevor Owens was selected as the ILH Most Valuable Player. William Durnin and Ian Barrett were both First Team selections,while Daniel Liu received honorable mention. Boys varsity basketball coach Reed Olaso was named the school’s interim athletic director recently.