Sports Odds and Ends
The Minnesota tennis team goes west this weekend to compete in the San Diego State University Invitational, from September 29 – October 1. It’s the second tournament of the 2023 fall season for first-year Head Coach Lois Arterberry.
At the 2023 Gopher Invitational the weekend of Sept. 15, Minnesota finished with a 12-6 record in doubles and 14-4 in singles against North Dakota, South Dakota, Northern Iowa, Marquette, Omaha, and her former school St. Thomas, where Arterberry once was head coach before the ‘U’ hired her last spring. We caught up with the school’s only Black female head coach during the home tourney.
“We got a couple of new players. I was able to sign two girls right away,” noted Arterberry. “We’re heading in the right direction.”
Lately, the sports catchphrase for success is “culture.” Creating a successful culture is important to Arterberry, who has nearly 10 years of coaching experience along with being a student-athlete in her native Grenada and later as a three-time SWAC champion at Southern University.
“I think for us as a coaching staff,” the Gopher HC said, “it’s really important that we set the foundation culturally, and that’s something I’ve done throughout my career. I sort of pride myself on building a solid foundation in terms of the culture, one of togetherness and just doing things as a team at all times.”
A recent example occurred during the Gopher football home opener that she, the coaches and players all attended. They all gathered around their coach’s phone and watched Coco Gauff compete, winning the US Open, en route to a Gopher victory .
Arterberry conveniently used this as a teachable moment: “It’s a huge impact to obviously see a young [Black] female to be able to play at that level,” noted the head coach. “I tried to tell my student-athletes that you have to be like that on a daily basis.” She specifically pointed to the 19-year-old Gauff’s “grit.”
“You can model whoever you want as an athlete. But just know if you want to get to that level, there’s going to be certain things that you’ll have to do,” she said. “You have to be open-minded and be willing to change those things,” said Arterberry referring to Gauff’s accomplishment.
“The last year she started working with a new coach. And the impact he has had on her in one year, I think kind of inspires our girls.”
After San Diego, the Gophers have a couple more events before the fall season concludes in November. But for Arterberry and her two assistant coaches, there’s little time to rest.
“We’re constantly recruiting,” she pointed out. “You’re never done recruiting. We’ll go out and travel whenever we get breaks during the year, during the fall semester. It’s a constant process.”
The ongoing recruiting process goes on while Arterberry strives to rebuild a Gopher team whose 2022 season was cut short in April, because of too few healthy players. They had to forfeit their last five matches.
“I believe that once we set that foundation, the tennis portion of it follows, if we have a team that works together with one common goal,” said Arterberry. “Every single day, we literally try to make this place one that the student-athletes look forward to coming to every single day.
“So, we create an environment where they feel like they can come and get away from class and get away from all the craziness that happens in their life on a daily basis,” said Arterberry.
“I think the challenge, as we move forward, is obviously to continue to build a competitive team that will be able to compete in our conference.”