Q&A: James Carter

James Carter got a late start to his tennis career. He never picked up a racket until he took a tennis class at Victor Valley Community College. After refining his skills in the class, Carter tried out for the Rams tennis team as a walk on. Although he never made the team, Carter didn’t give up either. He attended practice when he could and continued to refine his skills.

“I never gave up on the thought that I could be better,” Carter said.

Carter, who recently was named coach of the Barstow High School girls tennis team, hopes to bring that same optimism to build up the Aztecs' tennis program.
 
Q: How did you get involved with Barstow tennis?
A: I guess I was in the right place at the right time, is the best way to put it. I’m just very interested in getting involved in coaching in the first place. It was the first (sport to have an open position) that was kind of interesting to me.

Q: Did you get a chance to watch Wimbledon?
A: Oh yes I did. It was an amazing final there. Probably the best final I’ve ever seen. Nadal and Federer just put on a good show.

Q: Who were you rooting for?
A: Federer — so my guy lost in the end. He is kind of the guy I follow at this point. It’s just amazing to watch a guy dominate a sport. He’s kind of like the Tiger Woods of tennis.

It looks like there is another guy in town now. He beat him on his best surface so it’s going to be pretty interesting to watch that unfold over the next year.

For tennis, I think that is exciting. Whether you are in high school, trying to be coach of tennis or you watch the sport, it’s been going down hill I think because not to many people watch.
I think that final is going to put tennis back in peoples’ minds. You talk about that final, I went to practice on Monday and everybody was asking me about it. That was kind of cool.

Q: What did you think about it as it was unfolding?
A: You’ve got to admit, it’s one of the most amazing things to watch two athletes play through it. That was the longest match in men’s history. They were playing just as good if not better (than the first set) in the fifth set.
For a guy to lose that match, was he really a loser? Did he really lose? He came in second. He didn’t lose anything. That was a great match. That was really a lot of fun to watch.

Q: Even on the women’s side, there were some good matches. Will use any of that as examples for your team?
A:  At this point I would say my team is not anywhere near the level of some of these athletes, but I did ask that they watch some of these matches so they can see some of the skills that are being used. Right now we are in a real crunch for skills. The girls are really doing their best trying to get in shape, but at the same time we are lacking a lot of skills.

I just don’t think tennis was ever taken seriously at Barstow. They played because it was at the right time. It was the first sport in the fall. It was a way to stay in shape.

The fact that I came back on Monday and they were all talking to me about the final means  they did listen to me and did watch. They watched the Venus and Serena final, which was an awesome final to watch, and followed that up with the men’s side. I don’t think it matters if they watch men’s or women’s, as long as they are seeing the skills and what you can do with the shots.
Watching is to learning — now we got to do it.

Q: Easier said than done, right?
A: We are working on it. I have lofty goals in mind. I hate to lose so that’s probably a problem I will have this year. I’m going to have to learn to build the program. Everybody wants to win, but we’ve got a program to build here too. We need to get more people interested and find those athletes that do play tennis that don’t go out for the team because they don’t think it is a big thing at our school.

This interview was conducted by Sports Editor Matthew Peters. For more questions and answers check out the Desert Dispatch Sports Blog at http://barstowsports.freedomblogging.com. Look every Tuesday for more Desert Dispatch Q&As.