Rally for a friend

Sometimes staying on the sidelines is not an option.

When the West Valley girls tennis team opened practice for the 2006 season, they were confronted with sobering news: assistant coach Chris Flanagan’s wife, Wilma, had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing treatment.

“That’s what was so cool about these kids,” head coach Clay Nelson said. “When they saw that Chris’ family was hurting, they came together and said ‘We have to do something.’

“That’s the thing about this generation – they’re more than willing to step forward and do the work. There’s something about this 9/11 generation – they see a need and they do it.”

The team set out to quickly organize a fundraiser for Wilma Flanagan, a longtime librarian with the Spokane County Library District who organizes storytime programs for youngsters throughout the area.

“Some of the girls knew Wilma before they ever met Chris,” Nelson said. “And they’ve known Chris for a long time – he was their tennis coach at Centennial Middle School.”

The team, with help from the school’s boys tennis team, organized a fundraiser, Rally for a Friend, with the tennis teams from East Valley, Central Valley and University high schools at the Spokane Club on March 10. They raised more than $2,100.

Jeannette Thompson, a sophomore on the Eagles’ junior varsity, took the whole effort to heart.

“Jeannette knows Wilma from the library,” Chris Flanagan said. “For her, this was something more. I don’t know that Wilma would recognize Jeannette right away because kids change so fast. But then again, she probably would.”

“She really went above and beyond the call on this one,” Nelson said. “I’ll give you an example. We give out beads to help promote spirit – the kids nominate each other and it’s a way we help promote team spirit. Jeannette donated all of her beads to Chris’ daughter and made a special bracelet for her.

“She also did her own penny drive during school and raised a couple hundred dollars all on her own.”

“On top of that, everyone was coming around with donations from the people they loved and on behalf of people they loved,” Nelson added. “It was a neat thing.”

The team had T-shirts made up, with printing donated by Stadium Sports.

“The shirts had ‘Rally for a Friend’ on the front, and on the back it read ‘Serve it, hit it, smash it. Let’s not show cancer any love,’ ” Nelson said. “Scott Nelson from The Spokane Club donated the use of the facility and Perkins restaurant bought the tennis balls – tons of pink tennis balls out on the court for everyone.”

Flanagan was touched by the event – and was pleased with the 9 p.m. to midnight practice session.

“That was the first time we had to really get out and hit the ball,” he said. “It was kind of fun to see all those pink tennis balls – at least at first. After a few minutes, they got kind of dirty.”

Wilma Flanagan is recovering, her husband said. She returned to work at the library Tuesday.

“It’s probably a good thing for high school girls to become very aware of the dangers of breast cancer,” Flanagan said.

The team wants to carry on the fundraiser and already is planning for next year.

Nelson, to say the least, was impressed by his team.

“I love these kids,” he said “I told them that they’d already won before they ever stepped on the court with anyone else. Whether they win or lose, they’ve already had a very good season – and we’re playing pretty well right now for our final season in the Greater Spokane League.”

Selfless acts haven’t always been a hallmark of the program, the coach said.

“A couple years ago we had a lot of in-fighting – typical girl-on-girl stuff,” Nelson said. “After that, I started this thing with the beads. The girls nominate each other for them – when they see sportsmanship, when they see caring, when the see something above and beyond or outstanding stuff.

“We’ve been working on it. Chris and I understand that tennis is a lifetime sport. These girls aren’t going on to play pro tennis. These girls are going to be out there playing tennis with their friends, so we’ve really come at this from a bonding perspective. We encourage them to cheer for each other and help each other out. They have that feeling already and look what they’ve done.”