He calls it his “Wall of Fame” – a fence on Valencia High’s tennis courts covered in championship banners, honoring the achievements and accolades of the boys and girls teams.
Essentially, it’s a portrait of the Tigers’ history under Mike McCall, the school’s longtime tennis coach who has been involved with Valencia athletics in some capacity since 1983.
“Whenever people ask me questions about, ‘What year’ or ‘When did’, I have to go look at that wall,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t remember all those things.”
McCall didn’t need his cheat sheet to recall the last time he was honored as the county’s coach of the year. It was 1993, the year the Tigers lost in the CIF finals to Pasadena Poly.
Twenty one years later, McCall has again been selected as the Register’s girls tennis coach of the year.
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2014 ALL-COUNTY GIRLS TENNIS:
2014 All-County girls tennis team
Capo Valley’s Ta is 2014 girls tennis athlete of the year
2014 All-County girls tennis: second, third teams
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Strangely enough, it comes just a month after Valencia lost in the CIF-SS Finals to none other than Pasadena Poly.
“It’s still weird,” McCall explained, “coming in second and getting an award. … It’s such an honor though.”
The Tigers finished with a 19-3 overall record and was one of only two county schools to advance to a CIF-SS championship match.
As Division 3’s second-seeded team, Valencia made its first trip to a CIF Final since 2008 and it was a mere set away from capturing McCall’s fourth career title.
While the Tigers lost to Poly, 10-8, in mid-November, they actually won more total games than the Panthers, meaning one more set would’ve given Valencia the Division 3 crown.
“I told the girls it’s normal to be disappointed,” McCall said. “But when you look back at not only the match but our season, and you know you’ve done you’re very best, then ultimately you’ve been successful.
“I try not to focus too much on the winning and the losing. It’s more the effort, the commitment, the process of getting to that point.”
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
