Back from the brink: Bartlett tennis program rebuilds from ground up

Two years ago, Maren Chadwick waited in the rain with her mom on the first day of tennis practice at Bartlett High, not knowing her coach had quit and nobody else was showing up — not even another player.

The Golden Bears tennis program was in shambles. There was no coach, and one player was hardly a team.

It looked like 2014 might be the end for a tennis program that hadn't fielded a full team at the conference tournament since 2007 or won a regular-season meet since 2010.

Instead, the opposite was true. In stepped Allen Clendaniel and Lindsey Holmes — two coaches with the belief tennis can be a sport for anyone and even Bartlett could turn into a winning team.

Two years later, Bartlett has a 30-player team complete with a JV squad, Chadwick is poised to finish as one of the better players in the state, and the Golden Bears are winning matches. Bartlett is 3-3 three weeks into the season.

"I think Coach Lindsey and Coach Allen are a big part of how the team is put together, 'cause they are not really tough-love coaches," Chadwick said. "They really like all the teammates and want it to be fun for us.

"So, I think that's what makes tennis so appealing to people is that our coaches make it fun and the people on the team make it fun too."

Initially, Clendaniel was going to help Bartlett as an assistant coach like he'd been doing for kids for years with the Alaska Tennis Association. But when Bartlett's coach quit, Clendaniel was asked to lead the program.

"It was sad, it looked like Bartlett was going to cancel their season that year," he said. "It just seemed so unfair."

Clendaniel brought in his friend, Holmes, to help. Then they started recruiting.

The Golden Bears lost every match in 2014, but they finished with 10 players — still four short of a full team.

Growth took baby steps at first. In the offseason, Clendaniel and Holmes visited freshmen fairs and other sports' practices to promote tennis. Players spread the news by word of mouth.

"We just tried to tell everyone to join the team," Chadwick said. "If one of your friends joins, someone else will join. My brother joined because I was in it and then he had three friends join because he was in it, so it (grew from there)."

Last season, the Golden Bears finally fielded a full team halfway through the season and broke a 55-meet losing streak by the end of the season.

"We had our amazing victory of beating Eagle River 5-4 in a 10-point tiebreak in the final match to snap a 55-match losing streak," Clendaniel said. "I actually went back and calculated it because it was so exciting."

Clendaniel said the turnaround happened in part by not focusing specifically on winning matches. Beginners were thrust into varsity matches against players who had been playing for years, so they had to focus on small goals.

In a tough 2015 region tournament match, Clendaniel told Chadwick to focus on trying to return 10 balls instead of winning the match. She didn't win, but she met her goal of returning 10 balls.

"It helps you find victories even if you're not winning," Chadwick said. "You can play two sets and lose the sets and you can have (still) won some games, so you can win in little ways instead of winning the entire match."

Now, in the third year with Clendaniel and Holmes, players who started as beginners are winning varsity matches and newcomers to tennis can start on the JV team where they can ease into the sport.

Senior Timothy Alex started playing last season and won his first high school match this season with doubles partner Thane Hatcher.

"(During) my first year last year, we barely had enough to field a boys team and we were still trying to recruit more payers," Alex said. "That's why I started also recruiting some of my friends to come out.

"It was tough, but I'm open to new experiences. It was fun."

Clendaniel said the team's goal this season is simply to field a full team for every match. So far so good.

And as the Golden Bears continue to meet their small goals, the Ws will likely follow for a team that just two years ago was almost history.

"It just vindicates the hard work that the kids have put in, the risk in trying a sport they've never played before," Clendaniel said.

"To see after two years we're competing and beating the schools that have been the powerhouses, or at least competing with them, it's really rewarding."