FISHERS — On the tennis courts at Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate/Junior High, the HSE Middle School tennis team is in the midst of their practice.
Right next to them on the football field, the Mt. Vernon High School tennis team is doing anything but tennis.
The Marauders stretch. They run. They do burpees. They throw footballs and do drills from an entirely different sport. This is their reality for the entire fall tennis season thanks to the construction of new tennis courts at Mt. Vernon.
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The players use different words to describe the situation.
“Weird,” Reece Powell said.
“Really odd,” Justin Lemke said.
Perhaps the strangest part of all is the fact that it’s working. The Marauders, without ever stepping foot on their home courts for even a practice, let alone a match, started the year 11-1 heading into the Hancock County Tournament on Sept. 14. It was an event they hadn’t won in nine years.
They won, claiming county dominance by winning both the varsity and junior varsity tournaments.
“I wouldn’t say we’re nervous having to play an away match every time,” Jackson Dunlavy said. “We just go out there and we know our game. We know how we want to play and what we need to do to win the match. We know that if we go out there and we execute, we’ll get the win no matter where we are.”
When the school year started, the Marauders weren’t sure where they’d be practicing. They knew it wouldn’t be at their own courts, and they knew they wouldn’t be playing matches at their own school.
They really weren’t entirely sure what to expect, even after getting a helping hand from their neighbors at HSE.
“At the beginning, I think all of us were kind of questioning. We didn’t know if we were going to have a really good or really bad season,” Powell said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be in the middle — we knew it would be really good or bad. Since we’ve just put so much time into it, I think it’s turned out to be a lot better. We’ve conditioned so much that we just out-work our opponents. We just keep playing and keep working hard.”
The Marauders have to condition because they don’t have as much time on the courts as they are accustomed to. The courts at their new practice home are typically in use for the first portion of practice, meaning the Mt. Vernon contingent has to get creative.
There isn’t any time to waste, because they are on someone else’s time every day when they go to practice.
“I think what really made them buy in was us not actually being at our own facilities,” assistant coach Graham McMullen said. “We come out here and we have a set amount of time, every time. If we don’t get what we need to get done in this amount of time, then we’re not going to get any better because we can’t go home and practice.”
McMullen, who played at Pendleton Heights before going on to Wabash College and Butler University, came up with an acronym and a word the Marauders could rally around despite the unusual circumstances of the 2019 season.
It’s an idea he picked up from college. At Wabash, the acronym was WAF — Wabash Always Fights. With the Marauders this year, the word is GRIT — Greatness Resides In Teammates.
They rely on one another to get through all of the conditioning, to get through the constant travel and always playing on someone else’s courts. It’s helped bring this year’s team together and helped them bring home a county title.
“I feel like there’s a greater bond, and it’s like brotherly, almost,” Lemke said. “We’re all out there on the court fighting for each other, trying to win for each other.”
“It goes with something that Justin said about how we are such a close team,” Dunlavy, Lemke’s doubles partner, said. “We go out here and we’re working every day with our teammates, and we’re seeing everyone every day. Compared to last year, if you’re doubles, you may only see the doubles guys that we’re practicing with.”
They can’t get away from one another now, even if they wanted to. When school ends, they can’t just go outside, walk over to the tennis courts and start practicing. They have to travel together to practices. They have to take more bus rides together to away matches than they are used to.
The Marauders run together, they do drills together and then, when they finally get on the court, they can finally get down to practicing together. It’s a challenge, but it’s one they embraced as a group, in part because of the leadership of their captains, Powell, Lemke and Dunlavy.
“These guys bought in,” Mt. Vernon coach Gabe Muterspaugh said of his team. “This is one for all, and one for all. Every team cliché you can use. It starts with the leadership with our three captains. They’ve done a really good job of keeping everybody together.”
Before the season, Muterspaugh said he knew he was in for one of the most difficult coaching jobs of his career. He isn’t alone, though. He’s got his assistant coaches, McMullen and Jeff Brandes, who he leaned on during the county tournament to help his team bring home a championship.
The coaching staff knew they were in for a somewhat uphill battle this year, but they were ready for the challenge. They, and their team, have stepped up, claiming the county crown and blasting full speed ahead toward next week’s sectional despite being road warriors all season.
“You can’t do anything about that, but it’s how you react to it,” Muterspaugh said. “That’s what we kind of put in their minds. You know what? Let’s go. Nobody is giving us a shot this year, but you know what? Here we are.”