40+ Mixed Team Has a Ball at Nationals in San Diego

White recalled Parmentier excitedly sprinting toward her moments after the final point of her nationals-clinching tiebreak.

“I kind of looked at her in disbelief and was like, ‘Did we actually do it?’” White said. “What was super cool about sectionals was everybody had a win. And everybody’s win really, really counted toward winning sectionals. Even if someone had a set win within a match loss, that could have come down to clinch it. That one match could have been the decider.”

Added Parmentier on the post-match celebration: “I was shocked at how joyful that was. You know, we’re middle-aged adults. The amount of joy we experienced when Katie clinched that tiebreaker — I mean, it was crazy. Just off the charts. I didn’t realize recreation sports could yield that sort of feeling.”

The 40+ 6.0 mixed team had a solid showing at the USTA League National Championships, which took place November 10-12 in San Diego. The squad went 2-2, collecting wins over USTA Florida and USTA New England. Thirteen of the team’s members made the trip to California to compete.

“Everyone played their hearts out,” White said. “Everyone is going, so everyone has the opportunity to play. We really focused on that. Everyone played their butts off basically to the last tiebreaker. … Everyone watched every single person’s match, whether they were playing or not. We stayed at three different hotels, but we spent a lot of time together. We spent a lot of our meals together. Everyone really enjoys each other’s company.”

Parmentier echoed White’s outlook.

“It was incredible, the support all the teammates gave to each other,” Parmentier said. “Everybody experienced such resilience. If somebody lost, they came back and fought their hearts out the next match. There was no fatigue over, ‘OK, this match didn’t go well.’ Nobody got in a bad mental space.”

White and Parmentier noted how kind everyone was throughout the nationals experience in San Diego, including during a pre-tournament clinic, in the food lines and even at a local grocery store. Parmentier said the fellow USTA Missouri Valley teams rooted each other on.

“I ran into USTA Iowa, and they had been following our results,” Parmentier said. “They knew we won our first match and were very much like, ‘Go St. Louis. Go Missouri Valley.’ Folks from all over the nation — in different levels, of course — were just really supportive and friendly. ‘Hey, if you make it here again you should try A, B and C.’ I was kind of floored by it.”

One of Parmentier’s closest friends lives in the San Diego area. So when USTA St. Louis wrapped up competition on its final day, Parmentier’s friend hosted the team for a beach party complete with barbecued food.

“Which was amazing,” Parmentier said. “We had such camaraderie. Now the team is like, we can’t compete at this level again together. How are we going to bring this forward, because we are such a great team.”

The appearance at nationals was the first for both White and Parmentier, who began co-captaining the 40+ mixed 6.0 team in 2022. After falling short in the section championships a year ago, White and Parmentier restructured the team a bit this go-round. White said the majority of the squad has participated in USTA leagues for only a few years, with no member a USTA lifer.

“We knew our team had the potential to go to nationals, but we knew how tough it would be,” White said. “It’s pretty exciting we reached our goals. I felt like we stayed true to ourselves as a team, which was more about camaraderie, playing everybody and not being cutthroat.”

And although White and Parmentier will need to split up the team for 2024 per USTA rules, the duo is hoping to run it back again at some point.

“Really, after this, I just want to make it happen again,” Parmentier said. “Now we have an idea. Just like sectionals — after experiencing it — we had an idea of what to expect and how to prepare for it. I feel pretty similarly about nationals. Don’t know if we could win the thing, but I feel more confident knowing what we know that maybe we could make it to the semis. It was a super great experience.”