February 15, 2007
Leadership
It's always hard following up after Brent's emails because he is a fabulous and inspiring writer, but I would like to add a few of my own thoughts regarding leadership and the role I had at ATA.
Along with Brent, I also had a great conversation with Jack and some ATA players on their way back from a tournament last weekend. The question was: How would you describe your transition from a younger kid in the academy who looked up to the older kids as leaders to developing into a leader yourself who others looked up to? It didn't take me long to look back and remember those moments because they happen to be some of my fondest memories in the academy.
Although it seems like there is so much more to learn as a younger kid looking up to the older ones, the truth is actually that you learn just as much (if not more) about yourself and about others when you are in the leadership position. Like Brent said, "Being in a position to be a leader was the greatest opportunity that I had at the ATA." I 100% agree with that statement.
Believe me, it was fun, but it was also a challenge. As a leader, there are expectations that people set for you and ones that you set for yourself. You are in complete responsibility to not only strive to meet these expectations, but to also raise the bar and reach for higher ones. The sky is the limit!!! That is where it becomes fun. You never know how great of a leader you can be until you test yourself. I walked into ATA as a freshman and completely unexpectedly, I was awarded MVP at the end of my freshmen year by my fellow teammates.
After realizing how special it was to receive that award, I wanted to become the best leader that I possibly could. The next three years, I was able to enjoy the growth and develop of becoming that leader. I raised my own standards and always tried to be a leader on and off the court. And by doing so, I learned so much about myself. Remember that taking on a leadership position, is a very special role that will help you for the rest of your life. It did not stop for me at ATA.
To this day as a college tennis player, I continue to try and be the best leader I can and still learn more and more about what that means to me and those around me. It's an honor to be a leader.
Lindsey Pereira
Posted 6:32 PM | Comments () | TrackBack
May 17, 2006
Lindsey Pereira: Big Matches At NCAA Tennis Tournament
I just came from Durham North Carolina where I played my first couple rounds of the NCAA tournament. Luckily Boise State was also chosen to play at Duke, so I got to see Brent Werbeck play. We both experienced College tennis moments that I know we live and train for everyday and I just wanted to share them with you.
I played my first match on Friday against University of Alabama. After playing them early on in the season, the team knew that it was going to be a tough match. Starting out strong with a lot of energy, I won the first set 6-2. As the momentum started to shift, my opponent won the second set 6-3.
I went down pretty quickly in the third 3-0 and then looked over at one of my teammates win a great point and she looked over at me and said, “Lets go UVA, come on Lindsey.” I told myself that there was no way I was going to walk off the court without giving every point everything that I had. After some time, other matches had finished and the team was winning 3-2 with only Caroline (line 6) and I playing for the last point. I rallied back to 3-3 with the help of Brent cheering with all his Boise State teammates in the back of my court. That was when I had a flashback of Texas Cup. I had my teammates on the sideline, Brent in the back of the court screaming “LINDSEY P,” and then the random cheering from the rest of the crowd.
Soon after, my teammate lost her match and it was now down to me. I had to be the one to take the team to the next round. I knew I had my opponent where I wanted her at 3-3, until I fell on the ground in the back of the court and jammed my foot. She was getting tired and I felt like an injury timeout would have been more beneficial for her than for me, so I brushed it off and just dealt with the pain. I rallied back to 5-5 playing tough and making her fight for every point. I lost the next game but then fought to bring it into a 3rd set breaker. I went down 0-3 and 3-5, but knew in my mind that if I had to hit 100 balls these next 4 points I was going to do it. And I did, I played another 4 long points and won them all to advance UVA to the round of 32 against Duke.
The feeling was amazing. Those were the moments that I live for in tennis. I knew that all my hard work the last 10 years of my life- the morning workouts, the lessons, the practice everyday, the off court time and the specifics that I put into all of these were the reasons that allow me to experience special moments like the one that I had on Friday.
The following day, I had the opportunity to watch Brent do the same thing for his team and it made me even more proud. Brent and I trained together for four years at ATA and saw each other day in and day out put in the work to get to where we are today. We may not be at the top of our team’s lineup- but we get the job done at lines 5 and 6, advancing our teams to the next round, and enjoying every bit of it.
Good Luck with everything and keep working hard!!!!
Posted 8:51 PM | Comments () | TrackBack
November 23, 2005
Profile on University of Virginia's Lindsey Pereira
Posted 9:05 AM | Comments () | TrackBack
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