A RECIPE FOR PERFECTION

 

By Mike Buchanan

 

Caroline Capute went undefeated in her four-year high school career. But it wasn’t easy – perfection never is.

 

The accomplishments jump out at you: Undefeated as a freshman, again as a sophomore, again as a junior, and then capping it off with a flawless senior season; a final high school record of 33-0; four IAAM B-Conference #1 Singles tennis championships; most matches ending in the area of 6-0, 6-1 scores.

 

As a sports fan, stop and think for a second – how often do you hear of a team going undefeated for a season?

 

Rarely.

 

How about for four straight years?

 

You’d have to spend a day scouring the record books.

 

The St. Frances girls’ basketball team, the closest thing to a dynasty in the IAAM, has won five straight titles, but has lost games along the way.

 

There were 179 varsity teams that competed in the IAAM last year in team sports, and another 80 this fall.  Not a single one had an undefeated season.

 

Absolute perfection is extremely rare in team sports.

 

On the individual/team sport side – such as tennis, swimming, cross country, track and field - it would be far more likely for an athlete to go undefeated, but even there, a swimmer or a runner rarely wins every single meet or race in one season, much less four straight.

 

Most people – and athletes – have an off-day now and then.

 

But not Capute.

 

How did she do it?

 

Her “recipe for success” is a combination of natural talent, an ongoing passion for her sport, a strong inner-drive to excel, a positive attitude, consistent parental support, hard work and great coaching … and more hard work.

 

When following sports year-round, you sometimes stumble upon that story that needs to be told; Capute’s story is one of those.

 

After the recently completed IAAM tennis season, I had the opportunity to sit down with this delightful young lady and find out what drives her to excellence.

Here are some excerpts from our Question and Answer session.

 

Q:  Caroline, when did you get your start on the tennis court?

A:  I’ve been playing since I was 12. My parents had me in and out of various summer camps, from art classes to different sports. Tennis kind of stuck. I always wanted to hit more after camp.

 

Q:  Many above-average players start earlier, about four to eight years old. Has the late start hindered you?

 

A:  Not really, I’ve been playing catch-up.  After that summer, I bugged my parents to start taking lessons and have been at it ever since.

 

Q:  In 25 words or less, can you tell us about your experience at Friends?

 

A:  I’ve loved it. I’ve been here for 13 years, since pre-first grade, basically my whole life. I’ve loved my teachers and made a lot of good friends, we’ve been through it all together and it’s been an amazing experience.

 

Q:  Who were your high school coaches?

 

A:  Susan Flynn was my coach during my freshman year and Bob Campbell for the last three.

 

Q:  I’ll add a recent comment from Coach Campbell here.

 

A:  “Caroline has been a joy to work with.  Even though she is the best player, she is always team-oriented, supporting her teammates.  She could have had more wins, but if we had an easy match we would sometimes hold her out, it made no sense having an opponent take a lopsided loss, and it allowed another one of our players to compete at #1 Singles. Caroline not only went undefeated in the B, but also won every match against A Conference opponents,” added Campbell.

 

Q:  Caroline, what about B Conference versus A?

 

A:  We went undefeated in my sophomore year, as a team not just me. They discussed moving up to A, but there were a few girls graduating and they decided at that time it would be best to just stay in B.

 

Q:  Coach Campbell tells me that most of your matches over the four years were not very competitive, most often something like 6-0, 6-1 scores.

 

A:  Yeah, the two closest matches were with Annie Wu and Lindsay Katz, both from the A Conference.

 

Q:  Despite all the wins, you come across as rather humble and unassuming about all the success.

 

A:  It really isn’t about the wins and all; it’s more about the competition and the friends you have on the team.

 

Q:  So true.  Since you do not seem comfortable talking about your own accomplishments, I’ll offer this question out to your proud father.  Arnold, can you tell me about her more notable matches?  What happened in those?

 

A:  “She played as a sophomore against Annie Wu, who won the #1 Singles in A two or three times.  Caroline won the first set and appeared to win the second and with it the match, but there was a score mix-up.  Instead of match over, play kept on and Wu won the second set and then the tie-breaker; there were some complicated circumstances in the scoring.  And she also played Lindsay Katz (this year’s A champion) in her sophomore year and Caroline won, I think it was 7-5, 6-0.”

 

Q:  Because of the scoring discrepancy, let's call that one match a draw and move on.  Another question.  Quite a few upper-echelon tennis players do not even play in high school, as it can actually hurt their game rather than help it, and focus solely on tournaments.  Caroline, did you consider that?

 

A:  No, not really. When I played as a freshman, I made some good friends, and another girl had quit and it really upset some of the girls on the team.  I didn’t want to do that.  Plus, I wanted to feel like I was supporting my school athletically since I don’t play other sports. 

 

Q:  When you never taste defeat, does winning get routine?

 

A:  Oh no!!  Not at all. I get plenty of losses outside of high school, more than enough to keep me grounded, because I play a lot of tournaments where a win for me is not nearly as common.

 

Q:  What about these tournaments, where are they?

 

A:  Last year I played at least one per month, sometimes two. Most of the sectional ones are in Virginia or DC.  Nationally, I’ve been to Arizona, California, Atlanta lots of times, Memphis, Alabama.

 

Q:  I called your Dad the day before Thanksgiving, and you were in Ohio for a tournament.

 

A:  Yeah, our holiday trip was another tennis tournament.  We had Thanksgiving dinner the day before at a relative’s house.

 

Q:  What about colleges for you?

 

A:  I’ve applied early-decision to Willams, it’s in northwest Massachusetts. They’ve consistently been in the top five of Division 3.

 

Q:  What made you choose Williams?  And why D3 instead of D1?

 

A:   It wasn’t as much about money or tennis as it was priorities. Academics has always been my number one priority. For many of the girls on the tennis circuit, it’s the other way around, tennis is number one. Division 3 tennis won’t rule my whole life, I will have more time for academics and still have time to enjoy the college experience.

 

Q:  Your coach told me that you are ranked No. 12 in the Mid-Atlantic and No. 195 in the Nation.  Being one of top 200 players, you could definitely play at the Division 1 level.  Will you miss that challenge?

 

A:  No. The higher level D1’s take the highest players, like in the top 15 or so. If I went D1, I might not play or it might be too much of a time commitment.  D3 was just the better fit for me.

 

Q:  Did you consider other schools?

 

A:  I went to a Yale Showcase and got a lot of e-mails from coaches.  As I went through the college process, I made official visits to Emory, Amherst and then Williams.  I might have kept looking, but I just fell in love with Williams. They have a great Sciences program, which is what I may pursue, possibly Pre-Med or another science.  Plus, Williams sets aside 4:00-6:00 every day as a time you can get your sports in with no academic conflicts, there are no classes or labs or anything to have to work around.

 

Q: I’ve heard from your Dad and your coaches about your incredible workout routine.  Can you tell us more about that?

 

A:  Well, we’ve been doing this about three years now.  Everyday during the school year, except when I have practice or matches in season, my Dad picks me up at school at 3:00.  We drive an hour to the Tennis Center, and I workout there for three hours, and another hour to drive home, so it’s five hours every day.

 

Q:  That’s incredible commitment for any athlete.  I’m going to let that one sink in for a minute for readers – how many out there give five hours a day to your sport?

 

A:  I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love tennis.

 

Q:  I’ll throw this question out to your Dad.  Arnold, tell me about Caroline’s car routine.

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