P-P-P-PRESSURE? WHAT PRESSURE? CHESTERTON NO. 3 SINGLES TENNIS PLAYER EMMA DOBSON DELIVERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT TO CLINCH UPSET OF NO. 17 LAKE CENTRAL AND CHESTERTON TAKES BACK DAC TITLE WITH 7-0 CONFERENCE SEASON

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

When the day comes that a human resources director sits across the desk from applicant Emma Dobson during an interview for a job she really wants, with any luck Emma will be challenged with these words: “At times, this job requires working under tight deadlines with a great deal riding on a project. So tell me about a time in your life that you demonstrated an ability to work well under intense pressure.”
And when Dobson finishes telling her story, the interview almost certainly will end abruptly with one word from the other side of the desk: “Hired!”
Pressure?
Oh, Emma Dobson knows all about pressure now and found out a little this past week about how she responds to it. Remarkably, well, thank you.
Dobson, 13 teammates and two coaches boarded one of those Special Purpose Vehicles decorated with the Trojans logo for a trip from Chesterton to St. John on Wednesday afternoon to see the Trojans’ No. 3 singles player finish the third set of a No. 3 singles match that started eight days earlier.
Her opponent plays for Lake Central, the state’s 17th-ranked team.
Making sure that all aboard the SPV didn’t spend all that time making the longest round trip in the DAC only to see her lose merely hinted at all that was riding on her performance.
The conference championship was at stake as well. Dobson loses, LC successfully defends its title and can lay claim to having become the elite program in the conference.
The No. 3 singles match was the only one still going when it was suspended for darkness with the team score tied 2-2, the match tied 4-4.
Dobson won her match, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and two days later, Chesterton won its third DAC title in four years with a 7-0 record by defeating host Michigan City 4-1.
Dobson made her team, her school and the entire town proud by delivering in the clutch. Had it gone the other way, even though nobody from any of those groups would have wanted her to feel like she let them down, that’s how she would have felt.
To feel as though you were there watching Dobson put the finishing touches on her poised performance, read the words of someone who was there, nerves and all.
Coach Tom Bour, a former sportswriter for his hometown newspaper, the Michigan City Post-Dispatch, writes about each of his boys and girls teams’ matches on Weebly at chstennis.weebly.com: “After three deuces, Dobson earned another matchpoint, and this time she floated a ball over the LC player who was attacking the net, and it just landed in the back corner and out of reach of her opponent. Game. Set. Match.”
And conference championship. Again.
Chesterton’s DAC title is its 10th: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2023, 2024, 2026.
The Trojans will try to secure their sixth consecutive sectional title and 13th overall next week at Valparaiso. The IHSAA releases sectional pairings today at 6 p.m. on IHSAAtv.org.
Bour let Dobson pick the destination for a meal on the way back to Chesterton. She didn’t hesitate: “We’re going to Portillo’s and I’m getting a chocolate cake shake!”
Add good taste to Emma’s list of admirable traits.
The pressure balloon hovering over her for the previous eight days finally popped, her thoughts liberated from the long stranglehold of the impending conclusion to the match.
“It was building up the whole week,” she said of the pressure. “As soon as I got off the court (the first time), my parents told me that I was the deciding factor, which I already figured out, 'cause we do a yell when we win: ‘Let’s go Trojans!’ and I only heard two.”
The pressure balloon made the trip with her back to Chesterton, to her house and to her high school.
“I was thinking about it during my AP test,” she said.
The desire to bring the conference title back to Chesterton wasn’t the only motivational factor. She wanted to beat Lake Central, which so few who follow tennis in the region figured was a realistic possibility before the schools met.
“I was like, I have to win so that we do it because they were very confident in their ability,” she said. “And they thought, you know, they were really good, and they took it from us last year. So this year, it was a really big match. So I was nervous. And I knew I had to do it for my team, so we could be DAC champs again.”
During the second SPV ride in eight days to St. John, Dobson was honest about the burden she was feeling.
“As we were going there, I was texting everyone: ‘I am so nervous. What if I let everyone down?’” she shared. “But everyone’s texting me and then even some moms were texting me and gave me cards and were like, ‘We’re cheering you on. No matter what, we’re proud of you.’ And I think that helped settle my nerves and made me realize I’ve actually got this, and then I just went in with a positive mindset and told myself I could do it.”
Bour and assistant Scott Garrison decided it was best not to coach up the teammates travelling with her on how to act on the ride. If they sounded too scripted, that would amount to a change in the normal routine.
“We didn’t address the girls on that at all,” Bour said. “They were pretty good, surprisingly. I was a little worried that they would put added pressure on her: ‘All right, Emma, it’s all on you.’ They did a really good job with that. To the credit of those 13 girls that I brought they did a great job of saying, ‘You’ll be great. Don’t worry. Trust your abilities.’”
The SPV ride brought normalcy to the day.
“It was the same as usual. We're all messing around,” Dobson said. “They all pull up an Emma soundtrack to keep the mood light. We were listening to music beforehand while we’re walking down to the courts.”
Once play started, she found the familiar voices soothing.
“I hear everyone saying my nickname: ‘Go Dobby! Go Em! So the energy was there. The support was there. I had my own little support team.”
And her opponent had a far bigger support team.
“For Emma to go over there under so much pressure, everyone’s watching you, the only court out there,” Bour marveled. “They also had two middle schools and their families all watching that court, waiting to play.”
The home fans instantly reminded Emma that she had entered enemy territory: “I get there, and I hear them all start yelling, ‘Let's go, Katie!’ as soon as I walk in.”
Emma warmed up with Bour and Garrison.
“Coach Tom and Coach Scott helped a lot,” Dobson said. “They talked to me during warmups, and I focused point by point, didn't let it get to me. I just focused on each point, and if I made a mistake, I just shrugged my shoulders and let it go. And then I would reset every serve.”
The coaches’ basic message to Dobson, the No. 1 singles for the JV last season, was to keep it simple.
“We were obviously concerned about the nerves because it can be tough to play tennis with a bunch of nerves. You tend to get real tight,” Bour said. “That’s why Coach Scott and I went into this preaching to her to stay relaxed, just get the balls back. Don’t even try to hit winners. Just roll it high over the net. Let her do all the work. And her opponent lost patience, tried to go for a little too much. Emma hit some great shots along the way too when that girl came to the net. Emma did a great job of executing the gameplan we had for her.”
At times of intense pressure, many athletes find comfort in concentrating on the fundamentals of their craft and that’s what Dobson did.
“I was really focused and I wasn't letting it get to me, and I just focused point by point, focused on footwork, focused on the little things, and I just let that keep me going,” she said.
Bour said that in the two games played on the eighth day, his No. 3 singles player made just two unforced errors.
“With everyone watching it was stressful,” Dobson said. “That was my first moment in sports where the whole team was relying on me for that one point. It was a lot, but with the support system and the help of everyone it was good.”
She came through in the clutch and earned her treat, a chocolate cake shake.
“Good thing I won so I that could have one,” Dobson said as she flashed the smile of a winner.