Malagasy tennis club rivalries

Apparently my very light trash talk about the tennis club rivalry we had back in Tana was well received by some and not so well by others. I send a message video to my cousin Andry for his wedding where I was referencing to our childhood glory days of playing decent tennis. Specifically, I was pointing out how we got lucky one day and pulled an upset that still make me smile to this day. A little background to recap: our tennis club ( my cousins and I) is a small club (COT) on the outside of Tana (Ilafy) that he is known for the landscape more than their athletes. Everyone knows each other ( family atmosphere if you will). Other clubs such as ACSA ( downtown) and ASUT ( university) usually collect the best athletes and are the farm school for aspiring tennis pro ( Dally Randriatefy used to play for both clubs). Most tananarivian people who played tennis did so either in ACSA or ASUT ( Hence the hate mail I got lately :) ). So it was a big deal when an interclub match-up was organized between the youth of ASUT and COT. I was 12 at the time and we were all b/w 10 and 18. Everyone on our side played 3 singles and 2 doubles because we had 3 times less players. We were supposed to be wiped out by the big school who had 5 Malagasy top players (men and women) from each age categories. What do you know ? In our version of "Hoosiers", we won 21 games to ASUT 18 as all 10 of us played at least once the best game of their short career :). It prompted the opposite dejected coach to say: "we have quantity but you have quality". I kid you not; that day is still, until now, one of my favorite childhod memory :) Of course, we got trashed on the rematch a week later but no one can take a away the last 20 minutes of that day where all 10 of us cheered on at the courtside our 10 year -old cousin (Lalaina) clinching the victory for us. So when Andry gave the "thumbs up" as I mentioned that memorable day for us, it meant a little more than just a silly tennis game or making fun of ASUT fans. It was celebrating "growing up in Tana" with all the cousins and enjoying every bit of it ! So to all ASUT and ACSA loyalists ( one is family now ) out there, you guys are alright:) but once in a while "le petit poucet", the underdog, comes out on top and I am sure even you guys can appreciate that :)

Tags: Malagasy tennis, singles and doubles, ACSA, Randriatefy, club rivalry,