Solution for OCSI tennis, on outside looking in: Post-Far East exhibitions
Published: October 29, 2012
Chances are very bleak that Okinawa Christian International’s fledgling tennis program will be admitted to next week’s Far East tournament at Kadena Air Base, even though it should. They're on the waiting list in case one of the 16 teams in the field drops out.
Tough being 17th in a 16-team field.
Two of its players, Okinawa Activities Council boys district singles and doubles champion Kei Tokeshi and girls singles star Catherine Funakoshi, are very capable of making deep runs in the tournament, along with Tokeshi’s doubles partner James Durham.
Shame, really, that they can’t play. Not just for them, but for the Far East field. To be the best, you have to beat the best, and to beat the best, the best have to be in the event.
So, they can’t play in Far East?
How about after?
Put Tokeshi and Funakoshi up against the singles champions in post-Far East tournament exhibition matches. Not very long matches, just one eight-game pro set each. They wouldn’t count for anything, but it would more than answer any question as to their worth as tennis players and OCSI as a tennis program.
What harm could it do? And how fun they would be to watch?
