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50 | May 10, 2018 | The tinley junction Sports
tinleyjunction.com
BOYS TENNIS
Maratea for two - Andrew coach and Sandburg player enjoy tennis
PHIL ARVIA, Freelance Reporter
For his 64th birthday,
Mike Maratea got a reprieve.
At least, that’s the way his
oldest son, Nick, felt about
it.
“I was looking forward
to giving him a loss on his
birthday,” Nick Maratea, a
Sandburg sophomore, said
of his father, the Andrew
boys tennis coach.
Nick was scheduled to
play No. 1 singles Thursday,
May 3, for the Eagles
against his father’s Thunderbolts,
but a heavy shower
and more threatening skies
forced postponement of the
match until Monday, May 7,
after this paper’s deadline.
On Thursday, the family
— Mike, wife Julie, Nick
and younger brothers Luke,
Jacob and Zack — headed
to Miller’s Ale House in Orland
Park for a celebratory
dinner.
At least this way, everybody
will be happy at dinner.
“Last year was tough,”
Mike said. “Nick lost at No.
2, and we lost to Sandburg.
“I’m hoping this year will
be the opposite — Nick wins
at No. 1, we win the match.”
Regardless, an Andrew/
Sandburg battle will be a
special event for many reasons.
Like Mike, Sandburg’s
coach, Brian Ostrander, is a
Bremen High School graduate.
He played for Maratea’s
Prairie State Games squad
in the early ‘90s, then got
into coaching as an assistant
under Maratea at Mother
McAuley in 1994.
Maratea started in coaching
in 1979 with the girls
team at Oak Forest, went
from there to McAuley in
’91, has coached the Andrew
girls since 2004 and picked
up the boys job in 2012. He
also had a stint as an assistant
to Ostrander (Mike’s
brother, Dave, is now on
Mike (left) and Nick Maratea share a passion for tennis. Mike is Andrew’s coach and Nick plays at Sandburg. The Andrew/
Sandburg match scheduled for Thursday, May 3, was postponed. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
Ostrander’s staff) and is an
assistant at Moraine Valley.
“It’s always fun when
Mike is around,” Ostrander
said. “He’s very energetic
— younger than his years.
It was very easy to gravitate
into what he was doing because
it looked like a lot of
fun.”
Tennis has always been
that for Maratea, despite
growing up in Midlothian —
not exactly a hotbed of tennis
in the 1960s. Or ever.
“I lived a half-block from
the tennis courts,” Maratea
said. “We were messing
around there one summer,
and I found out I was better
than all my buddies.”
In 1971 and ’72, Maratea
led the only two state-qualifying
teams in Bremen history,
winning the district
singles title both years. He
played one year, with eventual
touring pros Tim and
Tom Gullickson, at Northern
Illinois.
“I had the fire in the belly,”
Mike said. “And I was
patient.
“Nick’s technically a lot
better than me. I was just
tougher.”
Nick took his lumps playing
mostly first singles on
the Sandburg varsity during
his freshman season. He’s
bouncing between doubles
and singles this season, but
was slated early at No. 1 for
the Andrew match.
“That’s kind of a show of
respect,” Ostrander said before
invoking Mike’s nickname.
“The Wolf demands
respect.”
Nick’s game is beginning
to do so as well.
“This is the first year Nick
has taken on an identity,”
Ostrander said. “He has really
started to improve. He’s
gotten a lot more competitive.”
While Mike preferred
a steady, defensive style,
Nick’s game is different.
“He tends to take a lot of
risks,” Mike said. “He’s got
a big serve, a great backhand...of
course, ever since
he was 2, I was feeding him
backhands, because he could
only hold the racquet with
two hands.
“His forehand needs
work, and he needs to learn
patience.”
To the degree that a
16-year-old can, Nick agreed
with his father.
“He’s a lot wiser and
calmer,” Nick said. “I like
to hit the ball hard and get
to the net. He’s more about
making the point.”
If he plays singles in
Sandburg’s own sectional
later this month, Nick
would have a tough path to
the state tournament, given
the top four finishers in last
year’s sectional were underclassmen.
The doubles draw
might be more open, considering
the state qualifiers
last season were two pairs
of seniors.
“For this year, I hope to
do well in conference and
sectional, but it’s really hard
to make it to state,” he said.
“Stagg and Marist are really
tough. But eventually, I
want to get to state.”
A member of the student
council who also played
on the freshman basketball
team, Nick was unwilling to
concede Mike’s fire burns
hotter than his.
“Not at all,” he said. “I
get really angry.
“I’m just not exactly the
same as him. Back in the
day, they did things a little
different.”
Granted, on-court behavior
at all levels has mellowed
somewhat since Ilie
Nastase begat Jimmy Connors
begat John McEnroe.
And Mike conceded, given
his full-blooded Italian ancestry,
“I get a little animated.”
He wanted to keep that
to a minimum for the Sandburg
match.
“I try to abide by the 100-
foot rule,” he said. “Nick
says he hears the small
comments I make no matter
where I am.”
And Nick doesn’t mind.
“I’ve always loved tennis,”
he said. “I was always
into it.
“That’s something me
and my dad share — a passion
for tennis.”