MILL HALL - In terms of sports, you are talking about apples and oranges.
Even then, at least you have two fruits of pretty much similar spherical shape.
Maybe a better example is a pineapple and banana.
Article Photos
Seven senior members of the Central Mountain tennis team were honored at the team’s annual senior match yesterday in Mill Hall. The match, though, was suspended with Mifflin County because of rain. Pictured are, front from left, Joey Miller, Logan Bechdel and Ryan Stanza; back row, Stephen Lageman, Colby Peters, Nhan Tran and Ethan Hunt.
It's hard to compare tennis and wrestling.
Although Central Mountain senior Joey Miller decides to give it a try.
"In tennis, you have to be patient and wait for them to make mistakes," said Miller, who was a two-time state qualifier for Doug Buckwalter's Wildcats. "You don't always have to be on the offensive. In wrestling, you are constantly shooting, always on the offensive. That's probably the biggest difference."
These days at Central Mountain, it's not uncommon to see wrestlers grabbing tennis rackets in the spring and walking on the court with head coach Pete Wert.
In 2012, Wert has three grapplers on his tennis squad: Miller, classmate Logan Bechdel and freshman Gavin Caprio.
Last year, state qualifier Logan Struble decided to come out for the squad.
"The last four years, we've had at least one wrestler - if not more," Wert said. "They bring a different attitude and mindset to the sport. They know how to compete when they get here, so that's not an issue. It's more about the techniques of the sport. They are great to have around."
Miller and Bechdel were two of the seven seniors honored yesterday at the Wildcats' senior day match against Mifflin County on the blue courts. Joining them were Stephen Lageman, Colby Peters, Nhan Tran, Ethan Hunt and Ryan Stanza.
Unfortunately, the winner of the day was Mother Nature as she dropped a heavy downpour on the courts about one hour into singles' play. The match was suspended, and it's unlikely that it will be made up in the future.
Yet, Miller and Bechdel had the opportunity to play in front of the home fans for at least an hour on their senior day. The two lined up at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, taking on Eric Brought and Cody Donaldson, respectively.
The blue courts weren't an unfamiliar sight for the wrestlers.
"We played tennis a lot over the summer, so we thought it would be fun to try out for the team. It's my senior year, so I decided to try out," Bechdel said.
That seemed to be the attitude of the trio.
Go out. Enjoy the sport.
More importantly, just have a good time - win or lose, balls scraping the lines or banging out of bounds off the fence.
"We came out to have fun," Miller said. "We really love to play tennis, and we used to play it a lot over the summer. We thought it would be neat to try it."
Of course, wrestling has become almost a year-round sport in most areas of Pennsylvania.
And with the success of the Central Mountain program in recent years, most of the wrestlers strickly train all year for the winter to roll around.
"With wrestling, it seems like you are training all year for it, and when the season happens, it happens," Bechdel said. "Wrestling is so strenuous at times, it's nice to get on the tennis court for a different chance of pace. We just want to have fun, and enjoy my last events of my senior year."
"With wrestling, it's tough because you are always working on something with the summer workouts, the offseason workouts, preseason drills," Miller said. "This time, we had an opportunity to play."
The two exchanged laughs as they were switching sides yesterday.
The black and red scores on the flipcard near the net didn't necessarily matter on this day.
It was just pure love of the sport.
"What they find out after a while is some of them wish they would have tried it sooner," Wert said. "I know with Logan (Struble), when he got here and really got into the sport, he found out that he was pretty good at it. It was a good sport for him to try. Just watching them play, I think that they genuinely enjoy it and have fun with it.
"I was really surprised when they came out this year. I wasn't expecting it. It was great to have two seniors like Joey and Logan because of that leadership. And it was great to get a freshman like Gavin because it allows him time to improve and get better. We are just pleased they are here. They are great kids, and it's always good to have nice kids associated with your team."
Central Mountain still has two league matches left this season. They play Huntingdon and Tyrone next week at home. A victory in at least one of those matches will give the Wildcats the outright Mountain League title.
