A Journey From 3.5 to 5.0 in Three Years (Part Two)

What does it take to rise quickly in the ranks? Join us as we sit down with Gin, a remarkable tennis player who skyrocketed from a 3.5 to a 5.0 player in just three years.

Her journey isn't just about the climb but also the hurdles she faces at the higher levels, particularly the lack of local weekday teams for players like her.

We also hear Gin's craziest story and most memorable moments. Don’t miss this episode!

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Transcript

Carolyn 0:04

Hi, this is Carolyn and I'm here with Erin and this is part two of our episode with Gin. Gin got bumped from 3.5 to 5.0 in three years. If you'd like to learn more about her background, please check out part one. But here is part two where she starts off discussing

Gin's Emotional 5.0 Rating Bump

Carolyn 0:20

her reaction when she found out she got bumped to 5.0.

Gin 0:23

Both when I bumped to 4.5 and then this year, um, Erin knows because I called her that morning. I did the um, I'm a coach at my club, and so I did the safe play thing through USTA, so I got the email early and I sobbed when I got this most recent bump. You know, I and I know that maybe sounds silly because I know, you know, I am, I do, I am aware that it's a privilege to even talk about being at that level and, you know, really a special thing, but it changes your life. You know, it has changed my um something that I've come to really love and that something that has given me a lot in my life is, you know, tennis. And I and I started it as a daytime when my kids were at school activity, and it has, I mean, given me friendships and um health and just I mean, so much. And it and and that is now gone. And so I'm I'm having a hard time, even right now. I could sort of cry, like kind of coming to terms with that.

Erin 1:15

So Yeah, because we've talked about there's a pathway from two five and up, but not once you hit that 5-0 level, right? Yeah. So do you not have a team at 5-0 right now?

Carolyn 1:25

So in our area, or are there teams? Are there teams, I guess.

Gin 1:29

There are teams. Um in our area,

No Easy Pathway At 5.0

Gin 1:31

and I'm sure this is very different depending on where you are, but um in our area, there there are not teams like you all know that, you know, a lot of us play in the different local um, you know, I mean, we call them Eno and Carrie. And in our area, you can kind of travel not far and play. So a lot of our friends play on, you know, two teams in Raleigh, two teams in Kerry, and an Eno team. And uh, you know, so you kind of can build all these teams that you're playing on. And and so for Five O there is not Durham, Carrie, there's none there. Um, and so there's only one Raleigh team. And also in the other uh um brackets you can play 18 and 40, because I am well over 40. Um but in in uh 5-0 there is not a 40. So it is only w it is one league and it plays on Sunday afternoons. I had already made the decision I did not want to play on weekends because that's when I'm with you know that that I did not start tennis to be another thing on the weekends when my own. I started tennis to be what I did during the day. So yeah. Did you appeal? I did. I I took my time with it. I did not hit it right away because I just wanted to make sure, because you know, USJ is very clear about you can't undo an appeal. So I just thought, you know, I want to make sure this is what I want. I mean, it is it may be something I would never achieve again. I just want to make sure. But the more I thought about it and talked to friends that week, I I was like, no, I the I I'll uh what am I thinking? And so I did hit appeal and it was denied.

Carolyn 2:50

I hit appeal this year too at 4.0 and it was denied. I know.

Gin 2:53

I think it's that's uh you know, I heard Aaron say the thing on the podcast last podcast about that, and I'm the one that said that. I think if you battle cancer, you should be able to say, I want to be this level. USTA should make that happen. Carolyn's like, I'm coming back as a two-five. Yeah.

Carolyn 3:08

I know, right? You can come with me, Gin. We'll do it again.

Gin 3:11

I mean, I'm really I I mean this, maybe y'all are gonna laugh at this, but like I feel like a 4-0 at heart. Like that's where that's how I feel. Like I feel like a 4-0.

Erin 3:20

Yeah, you should see her play. Shouldn't look like a 4-0.

Carolyn 3:24

Yeah, I'm sure. Uh, that is kind of uh you because you don't hear these stories that often of somebody making it to 5-0 and then not having opportunity to play. Opportunities.

Erin 3:35

Yeah, it really does. So, like I said, there's a really good pathway, and USTA has done an amazing job of getting people who have never touched a racket.

Carolyn 3:42

You know, there's a 3-5, 3-0, 3-5, 4-0.

Erin 3:45

There's all those programs for like, just jump on a court and we'll for $40, we'll give you a racket and the coach and six weeks of training. And, you know, so they have all this, and then there's a, you know, learn to play and then a learn to play in a league. Um, you know, this whole really they've done a good job of that pathway. But there are a lot of areas in our country that don't even have a lot of four fives. They just might be smaller. We're really lucky. We live in a very competitive, very, I think we're the number two in the country now for the amount of tennis players we have in our area or something. But it's like us, Atlanta, you know, you name a big city, you know, there's a lot. I mean, we've had people reach out that are like, can you ask UST, can you ask USTA to combine men and women's? We don't have to call it mixed. Maybe we could have like three guys and a woman on the court, just because they just don't have the opportunity to play. And here we are, like Jin said, we've got 18 over, 40 over in our area. I mean, in our club, we've got 55s, 65s, 75 year olds. They've got all those leagues plus all the different areas that we could travel to. So Jin, unfortunately at 5-0 is just out of those options.

Carolyn 4:49

You're just too good, Jin.

Gin 4:51

You've gotten too good too quickly. And you know, I I mean, thank you. I that's part of what I'm struggling with too, is that I don't really feel like it. So, you know, but I, you know, I I did have the win. So I guess I've got to accept it. And uh, you know, I would also be remiss. I I left out, I kind of glossed through my 4-0 year. And I did, I will also say, you know, we're talking about what I did. I did take a lot of lessons that year, and so I can't, you know, leave out. I mean, some phenomenal coaches really taught

How Gin Improved So Fast

Gin 5:17

me a lot. And so, you know, that was a big part. I did that mostly during the year that I was a four-o. Was blessed to be able to do that almost weekly, and that was incredible. In fact, Aaron and I, um and our other friend who's also been on the podcast, Canada. Um, yeah, did a Jersey friend. Yeah. Did a group lesson and then I did some private. So that was also incredibly helpful.

Erin 5:37

Yeah. And and I know we've said it, but it it it's not just natural ability. She worked really, really, really hard at working out constantly, you know, like she said, nutrition. I mean, she kind of did it all, and she just did it so quick. A lot of people say they're gonna commit to doing that, and it maybe they do it, maybe it takes them years, maybe they dabble in it. Jin really went full force into it. And she's just very, very quick. She has amazing footwork from her other sports.

Carolyn 6:04

I mean, we there's professional athletes that play tennis and they, you know, 3-5, 4-0. They're not getting bumped to 5-0. So that shows how much you worked, how hard you worked, how much you've done. Even though you are a phenomenal athlete, there's other professional athletes that play tennis now, and they're not getting bumped to 5-0. Well, thank y'all. I appreciate that.

Erin 6:25

Yeah, there's a few on our area. We interviewed a baseball player, I know a hockey player. They're both they're playing tennis and very, very good. Very ridiculously good. Yeah, four, four to four to four five, but not getting bumped to five.

Gin 6:38

It's really fun for me to watch the different sports that people come out of and watch how it appears on the tennis court. You know, you've got the volleyball players who are just like crazy net people who look like they, you know, they look like they're they I mean, they love being up there at that net and putting that ball away. And then you've got, I mean, we have at our club, when you just said hockey, that's what made me think of this. And I played her this morning, so maybe that's why it's fresh on my mind. But we have somebody who played hockey, ice hockey, and her and she was a keeper, goalie. Um, and whatever, I mean, her the way that she slaps at the ball in these crazy arm movements looks like a hockey goalie. And but it comes back at you in the craziest spin that you ever will see. And and it's very effective. She's a very, very good player, and um, and you know, just fun to watch, you know, a soccer player. And people will say, What sport did you play? You know, because they can tell there's something there. Um, and I think that is the maybe the running and the footwork. Um so yeah, it's fun to watch the different the to see the different sport, the different athletes and um how it looks on the tennis court. That is fun.

Erin 7:38

Yeah. Carolyn gets in trouble because she was a basketball player and she was like, just run up to the net at any point.

Carolyn 7:46

Like when I shouldn't.

Erin 7:47

Like anytime not. So she's like she's like, time to get to the net.

Carolyn 7:51

I'd rather be at the net than add the baseline. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I just run to the net.

Gin 7:56

Willy-nilly, whenever. And I and I run, I do the opposite. I get, you know, the coaches yell at me all the time, especially in singles, but you know, I'll go hap to midway up and hit a ball and then backtrack, you know, but I want to be on the baseline. Uh yeah. Get as far away from the net as possible.

Erin 8:09

Me too. It's like there's a magnet on the baseline, it just pulls me back. Okay. So since you have now played UST league USTA leagues and a zillion matches in the last three years. Is that all you've been playing? 2020. Yeah. 2022. Yeah. And one almost all of them, too. Yeah. Um, do you have a craziest story that you can tell our listeners?

The Wildest Match Story

Erin 8:33

People love to hear about the crazy.

Gin 8:35

Yeah. You know, I have a lot of, I think what I have is like a lot of crazy stories. I mean, you know, I feel like every week um Aaron and I are texting and telling each other about crazy stories, but then it's like when you try to think of like the one crazy story to share, that's when it gets hard. I, you know, one that comes to mind um for me is um that I was playing a play. I I had lots of things happen that first year that were funny to me, like um, you know, a player that, and we're this is three five, you know, adult recreational tennis, and a woman came out and was switching rackets every changeover, and she had like 20 bag tags, you know, from all her championships, and you know, was just very undone over that she was losing to me and and and and yelled at me, you know, you are not a three-five, and you know, some thing a lot of things like that happened over the years. But the one that I guess I was gonna tell you about is that I had a player, we were playing very competitive singles match, and uh she she was doing well. She was ahead, and um, and then I kind of had a little comeback and she she she cried. She came to the net at one of the changeovers and and literally had tears rolling down her cheeks and said, you know, I I would really like to go back to the way that we were playing at the beginning. You know, I really do not like when I was beating you. Yeah, it I'd really like to.

Carolyn 9:47

Can we play that way instead? Yeah.

Gin 9:48

And and I really do not. And it was very sincere, and I really do not like this anymore. And and I kind of just thought to myself, like, you know, what do you want me to do? Like, I, you know, I that's all I need to know. Like, I mean, this is a tennis match, you know, like I'm gonna keep going the way I am. So um, and I think it was being just crazy obnoxiously consistent hitting balls, you know, maybe even with less pace to the middle of the court kind of thing. And um, I beat her. But that was that was bizarre to me that she thought that would be an effective strategy to cry.

Erin 10:17

And to ask someone, you know, I'm gonna try that next time. When I'm winning and then I fall behind, maybe like I get broken. I'm gonna go up and ask my opponent, hey, could you like do all the stuff you were just doing when I was beating you and stuff? That's so that's crazy. That's pretty nutty. I wonder if she remembers that she did that.

Carolyn 10:34

Hey, Erin, have you ever made someone cry? I've never made anybody cry. Oh, I've made I've made back to me. I interrupted Aaron.

Gin 10:41

No, I don't know. There have been several other I've made a lot of people cry. I think I'm just very frustrating to play against.

Carolyn 10:46

But does that make you feel awkward at all? It would make me feel awkward. Like why would people do that?

Gin 10:52

Do you think they do that in men's tennis? Never. Um I think I'm frustrating. I think that um, you know, I think it's very frustrating to play a type of player who just gets things back a lot. And and I think I've I mean I've had people say, you know, I hit it, I'm I'm hitting them out because I feel like I've got to get it on the line or you're gonna get to it. And so I think it's just, I mean, uh, you know, I think I'm just I'm frustrating. So I I do, I do people do cry. I'm just that's just nuts. I've cried too.

Carolyn 11:27

We're women, you know.

Gin 11:29

Gin, so can you also tell us your most memorable moment on the court? Um, yes, I'm a huge fan of this podcast, and so I knew that question was coming. And so I think probably I have to say, I mean, there have been so many, as I'm sure everybody, you know, would say, and and absolutely, you know, our state

Best Tennis Memories Plus Nationals

Gin 11:46

championships and um those have been incredibly special, and I've gotten to be, you know, a part of several at this point. But um, I'd say there have to be two. And one is that I actually won a state championship in high school. Our tennis team won the 2A, which if you're you know from North Carolina, you know what that means. Right. But if you're not, it means that it's a small school, you know, we're from a small town um state championship. And, you know, as a as a whatever I was, 16-year-old, that was just so exciting. And um, you know, to have all the parents there, I just I mean, um it was just really, really special. And we had tried, we'd made it to the final for three straight years. And um, so to win that match was um ha you know, it has to be among my top tennis moments, even though it was a long time ago. And the other one was, I guess, playing at nationals. Um, you know, that that I'm sure is something I'll never experience again. And um, even though we didn't win, I believe we finished fifth. Um, that was also still, you know, just a highlight, you know, to say I did it and it was really fun. Yeah.

Erin 12:47

I've never even made it to regionals.

Gin 12:49

It's hard. It's really hard.

Erin 12:52

We would have made it to regionals several times if they had regionals. True. We did win the state championship in singles several times. Um, but Gin was also like so amazing at nationals because she was kind of our marketing girl and pushing our podcast and wearing. Thank you so much for doing that. She was wearing our sticker on her shirt while she was playing. So she was giving us some, you know, giving us some love all the way at nationals.

Carolyn 13:16

Should we have had Jin doing that? Because she's making people cry. True.

Gin 13:19

I did not make anybody cry at nationals. I think it was okay. I played against lovely people.

Carolyn 13:26

We really appreciate Gin coming on the podcast. If you're aware of any other person like Gin who climbed the rankings really quickly, please let us know. You can message us on our website, which is secondservodcast.com. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the courts soon.