PEABODY — Sometimes in times of a crisis, it’s not a friend who bails you out, it’s a rival that steps up and saves the day.
Such was the case last week for the Peabody boys tennis team, which turned its program around with help in a big way from the Tanners’ newest best buddies at Danvers High.
Last week, the Tanners were in serious jeopardy of having to disband the team for second time in the last three years after three of the original seven players who tried out for this year’s team quit, putting the future of this year’s team in question.
The good news, however, was the Tanners’ request to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) to form a co-operative team with Northeastern Conference rival Danvers was approved, thereby ensuring that boys tennis will be played in Peabody and Danvers this spring, and turning what traditionally has been bitter rivals into fast friends.
By agreement, Peabody will serve as the host school with home matches being played on the newly resurfaced courts at Peabody High and the teams wearing Peabody blue.
“We found out this week that the co-op with Danvers is going to happen,” said Peabody coach Maureen Kelly. “We also picked up one more Peabody freshman so together we have about 12 athletes. We had our first practice together last Thursday, so it’s just great that someone was pulling the strings for us and made this happen. Without it, both programs would likely have had to fold, so this guarantees that boys from both schools will have the opportunity to compete. We are all excited about being able to perhaps pick up our first win on Monday at Revere.”
Peabody athletic director Bob Bua said the co-op was a logical solution to keeping tennis going in both communities.
“Hopefully it will be the way to keep the program alive and give the kids the chance to play,” he said. “A lot of the kids as it is were beginners just learning how to play tennis, so for them it gives them an opportunity to try the program. It kind of happened pretty quickly when Danvers only had a few kids sign up so they reach out, and of course we only had a few kids sign up as well, so it kind of made sense. It all kind of came together last week and I know we are are thrilled that it did so the kids can keep playing.”
