Top photo captions: Donovan Catholic junior Dalton Bassinder didn’t start tennis until prior to his freshman year, but hard work has propelled him to first singles, where he won seven of his first eight matches this season. Courtesy photo
By Rich Fisher, Contributing Editor
Grandmas possess the wisdom that maturity brings, which means they often know what’s good for their grandchildren.
“Yes, they do,” agreed Dalton Bassinder, who plays first singles for the Donovan Catholic, Toms River, tennis team. In only his third year of playing the sport he had a 7-1 record entering an April 30 rematch with Long Branch.
The junior did not pick up a racket until his summer after eighth grade. He grew up as a swimmer and baseball player but had an awakening prior to his freshman year thanks to fraternal grandmother Lynn Bassinder.
“She’s been playing for 40 years and when I was younger, she would always try to get me to do it but I was playing other sports,” Bassinder said. “She talked me into a couple lessons and I loved it, and I started playing.”
In ninth grade he was just trying to develop his game and learn the basics, but was good enough to earn Donovan’s second singles slot. He struggled in matches, going 3-9, but for a nine-month player that wasn’t too bad.
He began taking lessons with teaching pro Ryan Carty at Toms River Country Club and some natural ability combined with technique started to pay off.
“He’s a really good coach,” Bassinder said. “At first, it was more mental. I would lose a lot of matches from just mentally not being there. Last year we worked on that a lot, plus developing the skill and this year I’ve been feeling pretty confident.”
As a sophomore, Bassinder won his team’s stepladder matches to claim the first singles flight, and was pitted against some of the Shore Conference’s top players.
“I definitely surprised myself, but I had a good feeling because I was playing three or four days a week with (Carty),” Bassinder said. “Since playing with him, I’ve been doing way better.”
Dalton held his own at the top spot last year, going 6-3 while winning matches anywhere from two sets to three-set marathon tiebreakers.
Last summer he played tougher competition at the Atlantic Club in Manasquan. He didn’t play in any Middle States sanctioned tournaments, which is something he hopes to do this summer.
“I want to get a ranking,” he said. “All the people I’ve been playing have 10 years of experience and I only have three, so last year I was just trying to catch up by playing a bunch of times over the week.”
He maintained his first singles spot this spring and won his first six matches before falling to Long Branch’s Alejandro Torres on a day he wasn’t feeling great.
“That kid is a very good sophomore and Dalton was sick but he played,” Donovan coach Thomas Connerton said. “He was hurting. He played a tight first set (losing the first set in a tie-breaker) but just didn’t have anything left.”
Bassinder added that, “I was off, I couldn’t get any first serves in. Mentally it just wasn’t there.”
But in the overall scheme of things, the honor student with a 3.3 grade point average has made rapid progress.
“He’s gotten a lot better since last year,” Connerton said. “I think by next year he’s gonna be pretty legit. I think he’ll make individual states.”
Bassinder is a tall, rangy lefthander, which gives him an advantage with the spin his shots produce. His biggest strengths are his serve and forehand.
“I have a pretty good backhand but most of my kill shots are with my backhand,” he said.
As for his serve, Bassinder has three different tools in his box.
“Being a lefty, I love doing that slice serve wide with the spin; and it goes to their backhand,” he said. “That’s always been one of my favorite shots. I also have just a regular flat serve and sometimes I’ll mix in a kick serve.”
Connerton feels that Dalton’s biggest improvement from last year is his steadier play.
“He works on his movement and strength,” the coach said. “The big difference this year is he’s just more consistent; [it’s] night and day from last year.
“He’d have a great match and the next match he wouldn’t do it, especially from his serve. He cleaned that up a lot. He has the big shots, has the slices. He’s pretty versatile. He’s growing into himself a little bit.”
So, too, has his faith. Bassinder attends St. Joseph Parish in Toms River and enjoys the team prayers.
“It definitely helps me get into a calm state in mind before matches, and in life in general,” he said.
It also keeps him grounded.
“He doesn’t act like a diva, he doesn’t act like ‘The One,’” Connerton said.
“He’s a leader at practice; he takes the time to work with other kids,” the coach continued. “That is the number one quality as he brings to our team. At practice he’ll see something that somebody’s doing and he’ll ask me ‘Do you mind if I go over and work with whoever and fix his serve?’ I’ll say yes and he’ll go spend an hour with the kid. That’s tremendous.”