Baffled by back-to-back-to-back bag tags.

2022 was the year of serious Imposter Syndrome. At this point in my tennis journey, I was playing a decent amount, but I was still feeling pretty unsure about whether I was playing tennis or tennis was playing me. While I was having fun, I definitely wasn’t very good, and I was still losing more than I was winning.

The Spring ALTA season of 2022 started the last weekend in March, and I was put in the line-up at line 5 for the second match of the season, and Elise and I took a win 6-1, 6-3.

The next week, I played with Elise again, and while we lost 3-6, 5-7, the team still won the day overall. My last match of this season was also a loss: 0-6, 5-7.

The season ended and I’d only earned one win, so I was feeling a bit dejected. At this point, I wasn’t checking the stats weekly or calculating our chances at playoffs (like I do now as a captain) so you can likely imagine my surprise when I heard we made playoffs.

Not only that, but we were the Division Winners, earning my very first bag tag!?

Elise and me after our second match, Smoke Rise CC

What’s the hype around bag tags?

You may be wondering why Atlanta tennis players get so excited about a bag tag. These are coveted mementos for ALTA players. So much so, that other associations like T2, Ultimate Tennis and USTA have all followed suit. The bag tag is common on swim team backpacks and golf bags, but made it’s way to tennis via ALTA in 1982. Considered the “Currency of ALTA” these are a tangible and audible way to mark your tennis wins in seasons past. It’s part bragging rights and part intimidation tactic. The clacking of these plastic disks strikes fear into opponents as players approach the court for that weekend’s match. Players who have been in the game for a while will often be touting bag tags from the 90’s on their bags. “ABC” says my husband, Taylor - “Always be Clacking”.

Read more about ALTA bag tags at netnewsmag.com

I really didn’t feel like I’d earned that first bag tag. It was my second season of ALTA, with only one win out of three matches played the whole season? Plus, fewer than 5 cumulative wins across my whole first year or tennis… I felt like I was a tagalong on the rest of the team’s success.

I surely didn’t feel like I deserved it. And, I felt like the rest of the team was improving at a much faster rate than I was.

I got put in the lineup for the first playoff match at Line 5. After a tough 3-set match, we lost 7-6, 1-6, 4-6, and the team did not proceed to the next round of playoffs. At this point, I genuinely felt like I should have to return my bag tag.

That summer, I was recruited by my friend Julie from T2 to play on a USTA Team out of Sugar Creek. While it was a bit of a trek from my house, I was eager to play more tennis. Their coach was quite zealous and strategically divided the large group of 2.5 players at Sugar Creek into teams based on skill level. They were also super transparent that not everyone on the team would play, as they were aiming to win the division. At this point, I was feeling a bit more confident, as I’d had 2 more T2 seasons under my belt, between Spring ALTA and Summer USTA, having doubled my wins from my first year in just a single T2 season with Elise.

It was a hot summer, with one match ending with an ambulance being called. I played two season matches with this new team, winning both matches. The first I was playing line 2, scoring 6-4, 5-3 with the opponents retiring due to heat stroke, the second taking a decisive win (AT LINE 1!) with a 6-2, 6-1 score.

We made it to the playoffs, and although I lost my first playoff match 2-6, 4-6, the team took the win to advance onto the second round. My partner and I lost the second match in three sets, 6-0, 6-7, 1-6. Admittedly, things got a bit heated with my teammate as we disagreed about line calls, and it didn’t end as I’d have liked. However, the team made through to the next round it with an overall win.

I wasn’t available to play any additional matches the rest of the season due to travel, but I returned home to a fun surprise.

Admittedly, I felt a little bit better about this one, and maybe more like I’d earned it. I mean I took a win at Line 1! Although, my less-than-stellar playoff performance still left me feeling like an imposter. My wins had helped the team make it TO playoffs, but I performed so poorly under the post-season pressure that I certainly didn’t help the team make it to City Finals.

Regardless, I’d made much more of a contribution I could be proud of this season than my first, and I excitedly scheduled a State Finals play-date on my calendar for May of 2023. (I don’t know why the 2022 Tag/Towels say 2023, something about how seasons run?)

I returned to my ALTA Team out of Chastain Park for Fall ALTA, and embarrassingly, I had agreed to co-captain the team before getting the opportunity of a lifetime to spend 5 weeks traveling in Europe to attend the wedding of our dear friends in France and take the honeymoon we didn’t get to have due to Covid19. Needless to say, I was not a great co-captain, but the team was super understanding and agreed I’d be silly to let this opportunity pass.

Elizabeth and me after our win at Roswell Park

Luckily, I returned for the last 3 matches of the season, and was able to play. My first match back was a super close match with Amanda, going 5-7, 5-7 in both sets. While we lost, the team took a win overall. Match 6 of the season I played with my friend from work, Elizabeth, who I’d recruited to the team. We won after another close scoring match, with a score of 6-4, 7-6, and another team win. After Chimney Spring’s Line 5 forfeit the last match of the regular season, our team also took the overall win. That was 3 team wins in a row.

I bet you can guess where this is going. Super hands-off season, out of the country for more than half of it? You got it —another division win — another bag tag.

Elizabeth and I then got to play Line 5 in the first playoff match as well, going 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, helping the team earn another W to advance to the second round of playoffs.

I was grateful to be a part of another winning season, and it felt surreal on top of the rest of the year I’d been having with tennis. However, I knew it had hardly anything to do with me and my playing. I was winning more, sure, but I really felt like we were winning off the back of my partner’s skill and our opponents’ mistakes. Not because I was playing like a winner.

I felt like an imposter who didn’t deserve the accolades my teams had been winning. At this point, my match win-rate was 37.5%, not a statistic I felt I could be proud of.

It was only once I started playing on a team with Coach James that I was able to look back on these experiences with more positivity and understanding of tennis as a team sport. He pointed out that a loss means I contributed to the team’s wins by taking on a doubles pair that may have allowed for a more favorable matchup for my teammates to be able to take a win. So in the moment, sure, I felt like a big imposter. But as my understanding of team tennis grows, so does my ability to look back at 2022 and be grateful for all that I learned and how much I grew & improved my game.

I learned what I was willing to tolerate and to better stand up for myself. I became a more confident player and a more confident person that year.