The day after America changed, David Ball huddles with the rest of the BYU men’s tennis team on an outdoor court in Provo. An email has arrived from the athletic department, announcing that their season has been canceled. But Ball, a senior, isn’t ready to leave the court where he spent four years chasing his dreams, wondering if it’s time to let them go.
It was nice to practice outside, now that the weather is finally nice enough. Ball leans against a thigh-high chain-link fence, 5-foot-11 and the lightest member of the team. He’s been playing tennis since he was 4, like his two older brothers. He has a broad smile, thick eyebrows, and the kind of looks that get people elected.
He calls his mother, who typically invites the team to the family home in Palo Alto, California, whenever they play nearby. “I guess you can cancel that team dinner,” he tells her.
This season already started out rough. The team struggled to a 5-7 record two weeks before. That’s when Ball and his doubles partner Sean Hill, also a senior, plotted their comeback. “If we can get this win against Utah,” the pair agreed, “I think we can turn the corner.”
And they did. The Cougars swept the Utes, just like they planned, turning their season around in a day. Or so it seemed.
“We finally figured it out, you know?” David says. “Which is a shame.”
So now, he sits on the court, flipping through the memories he made here. He looks at his teammates, from Jack Barnett of Australia to Mateo Vereau Melendez of Peru, and wonders when — or if — he’ll see them again. He talks to his coaches and tries to picture the future.
Earlier he walked to practice with two friends, seniors on the baseball and basketball teams. They knew it was over, and lamented all the athletes who would never get a chance to show their grit. They shouldn’t be forgotten, he reasons.
And neither should he. That’s part of what calls him back to the court.
So does the camaraderie. Younger teammates urge him to give it one more go. His father reminds him he’ll never be on a team like this again. “There’s power in that,” Ball admits.
There’s also power in guaranteed gainful employment — a rare commodity right now. Last summer, he interned at Zoom, “of all places,” and before COVID-19, he was close to signing a job offer with another software company. But now he has a decision to make.
Eventually, Ball will start an Instagram account called Untold Athletes to share what stories he can. The NCAA will give seniors like him a reprieve, a chance to come back next year. And Ball will wonder if he should put one life on hold for another, while he’s stuck at home like everybody else.
But for now, all that’s certain is the sun falling across the court.