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40 | May 10, 2018 | The orland park prairie Sports<br />
opprairie.com<br />
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK<br />
10 Questions<br />
BOYS TENNIS<br />
Maratea for two: opposing coach and son enjoy tennis<br />
with Joey Jenkot<br />
Joey Jenkot is a senior swimmer/<br />
water polo player who is heading<br />
to Marquette next year.<br />
Which sport do you like<br />
better, swimming or water<br />
polo?<br />
I like swimming and water polo<br />
both but for different reasons. I like<br />
swimming because I like to race<br />
and compete. But the practices are<br />
brutal and the season feels like it<br />
goes on forever. I like water polo<br />
because of the team aspect. Everyone<br />
needs to be working together<br />
for the team to be successful and I<br />
like the reliance on teammates. If<br />
you’re lacking they can pick you<br />
up, and vice versa<br />
What goes on under the<br />
water that people don’t see?<br />
Under the water is the most brutal<br />
part. There is so much punching,<br />
kicking, grabbing, scratching,<br />
and kneeing. There is times you<br />
will get out of the pool with huge<br />
gashes the length of you ribs.<br />
What are you majoring in at<br />
Marquette?<br />
I will be majoring in engineering.<br />
Why did you pick that?<br />
Engineers have the ability to<br />
build a new world, and I hope to<br />
help build that.<br />
Do you have a favorite<br />
pregame pump-up song?<br />
My favorite pregame song is<br />
“Whatever it Takes” by Imagine<br />
Dragons<br />
JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA<br />
Do you have a hero, or<br />
someone you look up to?<br />
I have a few people I look up.<br />
My brother (Jake) is currently a<br />
Naval Flight Officer, and my father<br />
(Jerry) is a retired police officer,<br />
so they are role models to me.<br />
Is there a movie you could<br />
watch over and over without<br />
getting bored with it? And<br />
Why?<br />
“Saving Private Ryan”. I love<br />
World War II movies and this is<br />
one of my favorites. It has a great<br />
cast and story line. Also it has one<br />
of the best battle scenes of all time<br />
in the beginning.<br />
Any superstitions?<br />
Before most of my races I do<br />
the same thing behind the blocks.<br />
I would do jumping jacks and slap<br />
my chest.<br />
If you could have dinner with<br />
anyone — living or dead —<br />
who would it be with?<br />
Definitely Ronald Reagan. He is<br />
one of the greatest presidents that<br />
the US has ever had and someone<br />
I truly admire and would love to<br />
hear speak.<br />
If they made a movie about<br />
your life, who should play<br />
you?<br />
Tom Hanks. He has some fantastic<br />
films and I know he can do<br />
the job.<br />
Interview conducted by Sports Editor<br />
Jeff Vorva<br />
PHIL ARVIA, Freelance Reporter<br />
For his 64th birthday, Mike<br />
Maratea got a reprieve.<br />
At least, that’s the way his oldest<br />
son, Nick, felt about it.<br />
“I was looking forward to giving<br />
him a loss on his birthday,” Nick<br />
Maratea, a Sandburg sophomore,<br />
said of his father, the Andrew boys<br />
tennis coach.<br />
Nick was scheduled to play<br />
No. 1 singles Thursday, May 3,<br />
for the Eagles against his father’s<br />
Thunderbolts, but a heavy shower<br />
and more threatening skies forced<br />
postponement of the match until<br />
Monday, May 7, after this paper’s<br />
deadline.<br />
On Thursday, the family —<br />
Mike, wife Julie, Nick and younger<br />
brothers Luke, Jacob and Zack<br />
— headed to Miller’s Ale House in<br />
Orland Park for a celebratory dinner.<br />
At least this way, everybody will<br />
be happy at dinner.<br />
“Last year was tough,” Mike<br />
said. “Nick lost at No. 2, and we<br />
lost to Sandburg.<br />
“I’m hoping this year will be the<br />
opposite — Nick wins at No. 1, we<br />
win the match.”<br />
Regardless, an Andrew/Sandburg<br />
battle will be a special event<br />
for many reasons. Like Mike,<br />
Sandburg’s coach, Brian Ostrander,<br />
is a Bremen High School graduate.<br />
He played for Maratea’s Prairie<br />
State Games squad in the early<br />
‘90s, then got into coaching as an<br />
assistant under Maratea at Mother<br />
McAuley in 1994.<br />
Maratea started in coaching in<br />
1979 with the girls team at Oak<br />
Forest, went from there to McAuley<br />
in ’91, has coached the Andrew<br />
girls since 2004 and picked up the<br />
boys job in 2012. He also had a<br />
stint as an assistant to Ostrander<br />
(Mike’s brother, Dave, is now on<br />
Ostrander’s staff) and is an assistant<br />
at Moraine Valley.<br />
“It’s always fun when Mike is<br />
around,” Ostrander said. “He’s<br />
very energetic — younger than his<br />
years. It was very easy to gravitate<br />
into what he was doing because it<br />
looked like a lot of fun.”<br />
Mike (left) and Nick Maratea share<br />
a passion for tennis. Mike is<br />
Andrew’s coach and Nick plays at<br />
Sandburg. The Andrew/Sandburg<br />
match scheduled for Thursday,<br />
May 3 was postponed. JEFF<br />
VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA<br />
Tennis has always been that for<br />
Maratea, despite growing up in<br />
Midlothian — not exactly a hotbed<br />
of tennis in the 1960s. Or ever.<br />
“I lived a half-block from the<br />
tennis courts,” Maratea said. “We<br />
were messing around there one<br />
summer, and I found out I was better<br />
than all my buddies.”<br />
In 1971 and ’72, Maratea led the<br />
only two state-qualifying teams in<br />
Bremen history, winning the district<br />
singles title both years. He<br />
played one year, with eventual<br />
touring pros Tim and Tom Gullickson,<br />
at Northern Illinois.<br />
“I had the fire in the belly,” Mike<br />
said. “And I was patient.<br />
“Nick’s technically a lot better<br />
than me. I was just tougher.”<br />
Nick took his lumps playing<br />
mostly first singles on the Sandburg<br />
varsity during his freshman<br />
season. He’s bouncing between<br />
doubles and singles this season,<br />
but was slated early at No. 1 for<br />
the Andrew match.<br />
“That’s kind of a show of respect,”<br />
Ostrander said before invoking<br />
Mike’s nickname. “The<br />
Wolf demands respect.”<br />
Nick’s game is beginning to do<br />
so as well.<br />
“This is the first year Nick has<br />
taken on an identity,” Ostrander<br />
said. “He has really started to improve.<br />
He’s gotten a lot more competitive.”<br />
While Mike preferred a steady,<br />
defensive style, Nick’s game is different.<br />
“He tends to take a lot of risks,”<br />
Mike said. “He’s got a big serve,<br />
a great backhand...of course, ever<br />
since he was 2, I was feeding him<br />
backhands, because he could only<br />
hold the racquet with two hands.<br />
“His forehand needs work, and<br />
he needs to learn patience.”<br />
To the degree that a 16-year-old<br />
can, Nick agreed with his father.<br />
“He’s a lot wiser and calmer,”<br />
Nick said. “I like to hit the ball<br />
hard and get to the net. He’s more<br />
about making the point.”<br />
If he plays singles in Sandburg’s<br />
own sectional later this month,<br />
Nick would have a tough path to<br />
the state tournament, given the top<br />
four finishers in last year’s sectional<br />
were underclassmen. The<br />
doubles draw might be more open,<br />
considering the state qualifiers last<br />
season were two pairs of seniors.<br />
“For this year, I hope to do well<br />
in conference and sectional, but<br />
it’s really hard to make it to state,”<br />
he said. “Stagg and Marist are really<br />
tough. But eventually, I want<br />
to get to state.”<br />
A member of the student council<br />
who also played on the freshman<br />
basketball team, Nick was unwilling<br />
to concede Mike’s fire burns<br />
hotter than his.<br />
“Not at all,” he said. “I get really<br />
angry.<br />
“I’m just not exactly the same<br />
as him. Back in the day, they did<br />
things a little different.”<br />
Granted, on-court behavior at<br />
all levels has mellowed somewhat<br />
since Ilie Nastase begat Jimmy<br />
Connors begat John McEnroe.<br />
And Mike conceded, given his<br />
full-blooded Italian ancestry, “I get<br />
a little animated.”<br />
He wanted to keep that to a minimum<br />
for the Sandburg match.<br />
“I try to abide by the 100-foot<br />
rule,” he said. “Nick says he hears<br />
the small comments I make no<br />
matter where I am.”<br />
And Nick doesn’t mind.<br />
“I’ve always loved tennis,” he<br />
said. “I was always into it.<br />
“That’s something me and my<br />
dad share — a passion for tennis.”