Ron Rogala is a funny guy. Funny how?
Well, funny enough to keep his Fenwick girls tennis charges relaxed but simultaneously focused, which is paying off in the win column and has his players poised for bigger things with the IHSA Class 2A playoffs looming, where they will be in the Oak Park and River Forest sectional.
“If they are laughing and loose, it helps them perform better,” said Rogala, in his second year at the helm. “Sometimes it’s the silliest thing … asking them if their cat died. I have to try to get to know my players, what’s important to them.”
It might sound like a sitcom, but the Friars are dead serious about winning, sitting at 9-6 overall and 3-2 in the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference. The team had a nice stretch in mid-September, beating league opponents DePaul Prep and Providence and winning the York Duke Quad in the space of four days. That was shortly after winning the Niles West Invitational, which Rogala said was “a pleasure” to secure.
Here’s how versatile Fenwick is: Junior Emma Louderback at No. 1 singles and senior Katie McCarthy at No. 2 cruised easily to win their matches against DePaul Prep and Providence, then joined forces to win No. 1 doubles at York 6-3, 6-1.
The Friars can win the close ones, too. Consider the DePaul Prep 3-2 victory and the same score a week earlier over St. Francis. In both cases, the No. 3 doubles team of senior Olivia Perez Zuleta and junior Maeve Bonakdar were the last ones off the court and recorded wins that propelled the Friars to victory.
So who’s in the limelight for the Friars, the players who may have been in the background on a senior-laden team a year ago but have stepped up this fall?
For Rogala, there is no doubt.
“I would award that to the entire varsity team,” he said simply. “You can put all eight faces and they have all been successful. We have done very well as a team.”
Jokes aside, Rogala has been a tennis coach for 35 years, including at Elmhurst College and leading United States Tennis Association teams that were wildly successful.
“My approach is simple,” he said. “Who do I have in front of me, emphasize their strengths and their weaknesses and make them laugh. Every player on the court has strengths and weaknesses.
“It’s my job to help them recognize opportunities,” he said. “Sometimes players on the other side are becoming frustrated and angry, so they are playing against themselves and an opponent. I point it out to my players and emphasize with all of them that whatever they have that day, that’s what they’ve got.”
The Friars’ schedule won’t be easy heading down the stretch of the regular season. They travel to Mother McAuley on Tuesday (after deadline), then go crosstown to participate in the OPRF Invitational on Saturday.
The following Saturday is the GCAC tournament, and the week after that is Class 2A sectional competition.
Bear in mind that Fenwick won the Class 1A state championship two years ago and is poised to make a lot of lives miserable in sectionals and beyond.
That’s fine by Rogala. He’ll be watching intently and probably cracking a few well-timed jokes.
“I have to listen and watch and frankly, during the match, [I say], ‘Tell me what you’re doing well,’” he said. “All you can do is focus on the moment. Just work on it. What I tell them all is, try to place your first serve into their weakness.”