In the Locker Room with. . .

Don “Juan” Hunsinger and Adam Shoemaker

Don Hunsinger and Adam Shoemaker, the head and assistant men’s and women’s tennis coaches respectively, have high expectations for their teams. As long as they have their ice cream, they’re ready to rock n’ roll day in and day out.

So guys, who exactly picked out the women’s team’s short skirts?

DH: [Sophomore] Alaina [Fotiu-Wotjowicz] picked out the skirts and the dresses. I absolutely have total confidence in their fashion consciousness.
AS: Sounds good, coach.
DH: I think they have a sense of what the most elegant statement is when they play on the courts.

How is your season coming along?

DH: Well, the women haven’t really been tested yet, and the guys have played. They didn’t decide to show up against Malone College, though. They played as if other beings were in their bodies.

Adam, why so quiet?

AS: I always let him speak first.

Okay. So why are you so dressed up?

AS: I work in admissions, too. 
DH: He just knew that you were going to interview him and he wanted to make a good first impression. Why don’t you get a haircut, Adam?
AS: I’m just lazy, coach. I want to be like ‘Sunshine’ [first-year soccer player Jesse Kipp].

Have you guys been surprised by the dominating play of [junior] Sara Jesse?

DH: No, not really at all. She’s really a good player.

How do you two get along, on and off the court?

DH: I continually learn from Adam every day.
AS: You’re so full of shit.

What do you guys do when you’re not coaching?

AS: Well, because of Coach Hunsinger I know where every Dairy Queen from here to St. Augustine, Fla. is. 

So you like ice cream?

DH: Absolutely. We love ice cream.

Adam, I see you’re eating McDonald’s now. Where’s the Dairy Queen loyalty?

AS: Well, I didn’t have time to run down there. But they do have the best ice cream.
DH: Yeah, and Miller’s Ice Cream, too.

Miller’s?

DH: Yeah, it’s a small ice cream place in Firelands. We learned last time we went there that [Jeff] Miller [Sports Information Director] and [Assistant Director of Admissions] James [Onwuachi] couldn’t handle the strawberry sundaes. It was so embarassing.
AS: They’re wimps. We were so ashamed of them.
DH: They were completly lacking in the area of culinary expertise.
AS: Yeah, or lack thereof.

Who are your favorite tennis players?

AS: I can vouch for Hunsinger and say that his favorite player is Gabriella Sabratini, and that Anna Kournikova is close behind.
DH: No, actually my favorites are Carl Erickson, Ousna Diop, Adam Shoemaker and Louis Miller.

So do you guys play golf?

DH: No, I don’t have much time to.
AS: I’ve only played once or twice.

Do you have fun on your spring breaks?

DH: Well, we try to, but we had to bring the baseball team’s bats to them last year. 
AS: Yeah, and we got to sit through a fun lightning storm at a game of theirs in Tennessee.

So Coach Hunsinger, how many sports have you coached here at Oberlin?

DH: [Laughs] Well...[thinks for a few mintues]...I’ve coached men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, football, baseball and men’s track.

No soccer?

DH: [Laughs again] Definitely not. I did recruit Adam for football from soccer, though. He had a great sense of where the ball was.

So Coach Hunsinger, I hear you like action movies?

DH: Well, I’m a soft-spoken, mellow guy who likes opera. 
[Adam points to the Godfather posters on the wall.]

You know, he really likes opera.