Forever Pirates -- Camryn Mason
Our final tennis feature of the week is our second "Forever Pirates", featuring Camryn Mason, who played for the Orange Coast College women's tennis team from 2017-2019. She helped OCC win the 2019 CCCAA team state championship and in doubles play, she advanced to the state semifinals with teammate Shayee Sherif.
Growing up, tennis has been a huge part of my life. Through the sport, I've been able to meet some of my closest friends and people that have shaped who I am.
Initially, I had never chosen to play tennis as I wanted to play soccer as a little kid, but I wasn't able due to the time commitment that sport required on weekends. In elementary school, my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, which resulted in my uncle putting his life on hold and stepping in as his primary caregiver. Every weekend since, my sister, mom, and I would drive to take care of our grandpa, so our uncle could have a break. With our weekends devoted to my grandpa's health, tennis looked promising as it was one of the sports you can have a lot more control with your schedule.
In the beginning, tennis didn't seem like a "real" sport to me because it lacked a team aspect. At this point, I really dreaded tennis and didn't take it seriously since from what I had seen on TV, it was a boring sport where people just had to hit a ball back and forth. I couldn't have been more wrong about the game as it's A) not easy and B) couldn't be further from boring. Despite not liking tennis at the start, I stuck with it because I wanted to play better than my younger sister, Chloe, who was naturally more athletic. Eventually, I became grateful for being given the opportunity of playing tennis competitively. It grew to be a sport I love and will continue to play for the rest of my life.
It wasn't until the summer before my freshman year of high school that I started practicing almost every day because it was a great outlet to relieve stress. The practice paid off as I made the varsity team my freshman year. My senior year was my personal best, winning all of my league matches at the #3 spot and against all #2 seeds and all but one match against the #1 seed and was honored that year with the Larry Doyle Hall of Fame Award. I loved competing and I wanted to see where it would lead me. It was the last month of high school that I was still lost as to which college to attend. My high school coach arranged for me to get in touch with Orange Coast College's tennis coach, Chris Ketchum. I was really nervous upon meeting him, but I was soon put at ease with his easygoing and calm demeanor. He really is one of the nicest, most sincere, and dedicated people you will ever meet. After Chris assessed my playing abilities, he gave me a tour of the campus. I remember leaving with the feeling of relief and a sense of contentment like it was going to be a good fit for me, so I decided to play for Orange Coast College's women's tennis team.
I immediately clicked with my future doubles partner, Miri Inoue, who was an experienced player that trained in Australia. Hitting with her helped me improve my game and we worked so well together. We entered some tournaments prior to our tennis season then later reached the doubles semifinals in Ojai where they host the largest and oldest tennis tournament. This is where the best of each tennis division compete and we could watch the PAC-12 schools play for championships. Just the fact that we were able to travel and spend days away from home added to the fun experience. The whole town of Ojai and vibe of the whole tournament was nothing I ever experienced before and it was awesome to be a part of it.
The following year, our tennis team was even better and stronger. Our assistant coach, Kevin Springer and conditioning coach, Mackenna Henry, helped us with our intense morning workouts every week. As I've never been much of a morning person, I relied heavily on my teammates to make our A.M. workouts fun, and they never failed to do so. Together, we helped each other improve both on and off the court. I was lucky again to play doubles with another standout player, Shayee Sherif. This second time playing in the Ojai tournament was even more exciting because we were the school to beat. We were on a winning streak. As a team, OCC won our conference against the Southern California teams and we moved on to play at the team finals against the Northern California regional finalist, Foothill. At the CCCAA state team championships in Ojai we beat them and finished with an undefeated season, 22-0. I remember all of us rushing in and hugging each other after the last winning point was made and we earned the state title. It was one of the most rewarding feelings to see our hard work being paid off.
After winning our team state championships, Shayee and I went on to play the CCCAA women's doubles bracket and we beat the No. 1 doubles seed! It was the most unusual and unorthodox match we ever played in our lives. We were thrown off when our opponent made her double's partner stand in the double's alley so she could carry the match by herself. After winning that match, Shayee and I nearly made it to the CCCAA women's doubles finals, potentially resulting in an all-OCC doubles final, but fell short in the semis. An all-OCC singles final occurred between my doubles partners, Miri and Shayee, which truly showed I have had the best doubles partners possible.
Looking back on the moments I had with the team and winning the state championships were the most fun tennis memories I have. I've never felt more team camaraderie in my life than with my Coast team and I've been fortunate enough to meet people from around the world and made lifelong friendships because of OCC. I can't imagine having these special moments if it weren't for OCC's tennis program and its wonderful coaches, trainers, and staff.
I am happy to be a Forever Pirate!
