We just wrapped four days of TAPPS State Tennis Championships, and I’m convinced Texas and TAPPS grows some of the highest‑character kids on the planet (all 650+ of them)!!!
From the kid who’s still learning that "love" doesn’t mean a hug…
to the one who walks on court like their Baylor scholarship is pending approval. We have some REALLY awesome players and ALL of them are INCREDIBLE PEOPLE!!!
“Wait… we play to 4 points but also 7 points but also 10 points?”
“Do I switch sides now? How about now? Now?”
“What is a match tiebreaker?”
and the classic…
“When will the courts be dry?” (asked approximately every 14 seconds while it was STILL raining).
THANK YOU TO ALL THAT HELPED PUSHED WATER (Parents, Players, Coaches, TAPPS Staff!
YES, we had multiple rain delays, restarts, wet courts, impromtu squeegee training sessions, and more problem‑solving than my brother Les Bessellieu covering 10 courts with a dying walkie‑talkie and many very confident coaches. And through it all, the officials stayed steady, calm, patient, and somehow still laughed at mine and Ed Price’s stories, most of which Audie has heard more times than he’ll admit.
Somewhere in the middle of all that motion, kids sprinting, parents pacing, nervous coaches, tennis officials sweating through their polos, a TightLine truth floated to the surface while I was sitting at the tournament desk talking with my little brother Bryan Bunselmeyer (Director/GURU of TAPPS).
The same truth I’ve learned a hundred times sitting in the boat waiting on a catfish that refuses to be rushed:
It’s not a race.
You are not ahead.
You are not behind.
You are here.
ENJOY what God has given you.
And that’s the part most people miss:
The kids who lost early but learned something important.
The officials who squeegeed so many times their smartwatches thought they were training for a marathon.
The parent who finally unclenched after a third‑set tiebreak that aged them a few years.
The freshman getting their first taste of TAPPS State Tennis, eyes as big as the huge TAPPS inflatable tennis ball.
And the seniors… And the seniors… the ones I’ve watched grow up… taking that last walk off a TAPPS court, trying to keep it together while the rest of us quietly feel the weight of it.
Nobody was ahead.
Nobody was behind.
We were all just here, in the middle of a great TAPPS Tennis Championship that was messy, meaningful, unpredictable, and absolutely worth it… the kind of moment you know God’s fingerprints are all over.
Just like TightLine Catfishing:
You can’t rush the bite.
You can’t force the moment.
You just show up, stay patient, and let the good stuff happen when it’s ready.
So wherever you are today, on a court, golf course, on a dock, walking the dog, or just catching your breath after a long week:
You’re here.
Enjoy it.
Make the most of it.
That’s TightLine.
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