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Action Sports Spotlight - BCC Tennis

By Brendan O'Reilly
July 22, 2010 Updated Sep 16, 2008 at 6:37 PM EDT

" When I first saw her I thought she was somebody's mom. And then we played and she beat me and I was like, what? She's good."
In fact Colleen Hanzes is somebody's mom. The 48-year-old freshman is the proud parent of a college graduate and a a current college student.
And with the nest now empty, she was ready for a challenge.
Coach Collin Crawford says, " You know she approached me before the season started and said she was going to be taking some classes and wondered if it was ok if she tried out for the team, and I said absolutely, yes."
" He was very positive about it, very positive. It was a good feeling. "
With the blessing of her family, she then enrolled in college for the first time, taking 12 credits of computer classes.
She's learning to balance the schedule of a wife, student and college athlete and her most important role of mother.
" She's our team mom"
Jamie Mishoe says, " She was playing a match and the girl she was playing had a asthma attack and she said her mother instinct kicked in"
Colleen says, " It just threw me and I wanted to help."
" First she made sure she was ok and then she was like, why didn't you have your inhaler?" " Yeah I asked her, Don't you think that should be by your water bottle? She probably didn't appreciate that."
Two matches into the season, Colleen is undefeated in both singles and doubles, having only dropped a few games.
Her coach says that's due to a powerful forehand and great instincts at the net, something he says is all the more impressive considering her collegiate debut was an extra 30 years in the making.

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