The University of Mississippi Athletics
On Serve with Ricardo Jorge of Men's Tennis
1/25/2017 | Men's Tennis
While most of the Ole Miss campus was still enjoying a few more weeks of semester break, the Ole Miss men's tennis team returned to campus the first week of January and headed out to Honolulu, Hawaii to begin the 2017 season. The opening two weeks of the season were successful in more ways than one. Go inside the team's trip to paradise with senior Ricardo Jorge.
Aloha,
When coach (Toby Hansson) first told us that we were going to Hawaii for 10 days we were all excited, but could never have imagined how great of a trip it would be. Going to Hawaii to play tennis while representing Ole Miss was a dream come true and we made the most of the experience.
While in Oxford it was cold and raining, we had the opportunity to practice and work out in great weather. It was the best way to prepare for the ITA Kick-Off in College Station this weekend.
We had a great start to the season with wins against players from LSU and Duke as part of the Rainbow Warrior Classic, and then a solid win (7-0) against Hawaii in our first dual match.
It was important to get those wins, but also because it was Devin's (Britton) first match as an assistant coach.
The only unfortunate thing about the trip was that we were missing one of our teammates. Filip (Kraljevic) could not join us, because he was dealing with health issues and had to stay in Croatia.
We had an amazing time off-court, but for that to be possible, we had to start our days early to get our workouts and practices in. From 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., we would be on the court and in the gym working on our tennis and fitness.
Throughout the 10 days, we had the chance to visit some amazing places in Hawaii. We climbed to the top of Diamond Head where we could see almost the entire city of Honolulu. We went to the Manoa Falls Trail, we visited one of the most beautiful beaches in Lanikai and went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. Another highlight included a trip to the North Shore where we spent the afternoon at the beach and watched a surf competition.
All these activities made the team more motivated to work extra hard on the court. It was neat to see the entire team always together having a great time either at practice, lunch or even at the beach playing spike ball (a game that our strength coach Josh Cyr introduced us to).
We had an amazing time in Hawaii and this trip had a great effect on the team. We are more than just teammates; we are a family. We came back more united than ever, everyone is playing better, and we could not be more ready and excited to compete again.
We would like to thank the Ole Miss Athletic Department for allowing us to begin 2017 in such a beautiful place and kick off our season the right way. Be sure and follow us this weekend as we continue our season in College Station at the ITA Kick-Off (qualifier for National Team Indoor). We play SMU in the first round, Saturday at 11 a.m.
Hotty Toddy,
Ricardo Jorge
