Jane Foster was disappointed when her tennis team lost its last match at the USTA national tournament in Tucson, Ariz. Of course she was. She just didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it.Shortly after the match ended, Foster was in her rental car (which had been packed with all her luggage ahead of time) and was on the road, driving across the state toward Surprise, near Phoenix, so she could see her daughter, Meghan, compete on the last day of the 14-and-under team national championships.
"It was like a three-hour drive," Jane said recently, "but the good thing is you can go 85 (mph) in Tucson, not like how it is in New York."
The driving was worth it. As excited as either mother or daughter would have been about making it to the national championships on her own, the accomplishment had a more special value as a shared accomplishment.
Meghan, who plays at Ursuline, reached nationals first when her team, out of Rye Racquet Club, advanced through sectional qualifying. Jane had even booked her ticket to fly with Meghan to Arizona for the Oct. 22-24 championship weekend.
But then Jane's team, a USTA 4.0-level team, made its run, and, suddenly, the Foster family had the chance at two trophies.
"It was exciting," said Meghan, 13, "because we both got to do the same thing."
Hoping to find a balance between being there for her daughter and not shirking her own team responsibility, Jane kept her ticket and flew out with Meghan. Her husband, Bill, came out from their home in White Plains a day later and stayed with Meghan while Jane went to Tucson to play with her team.
While the kids tournament was Friday to Sunday, Jane's team would only play on Sunday if it advanced to the final round of its bracket, thus setting up Jane's quick getaway once it was confirmed her team wouldn't.
"If we won, I was going back to the hotel and unpacking," she said. "If we didn't, I was out of there."
They didn't, and so she was, back to Surprise to be with her family. Tennis is a big part of the Foster life, with everyone — Jane, Bill, Meghan and her brothers, Liam, 11, and Kieran, 8 — playing regularly.
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