And so it begins – the 2026 high school spring season in full force.

What’s in store for us here in the Nashua area? Let’s take a look at a few things:

First, if you’re going to watch a high school tennis match, and figure you might have a chance to catch it toward the middle, think again. Yours truly made that mistake early this past week. You see, a new rule adopted by the NHIAA Tennis Committee has eliminated the “Ad” points, so it’s called the “No Ad” rule. When a match reaches deuce, that will be the only time as the next point will win. In other words, you don’t have to win an individual game by two points.

Wow does that speed things up. We can remember heart-stopping doubles matches in some high school tourney finals, including when Alvirne beat Portsmouth for the Division II crown in 2022, and when Souhegan beat Portsmouth last year for the same crown. It’s a lot of fun, but yes, you are there awhile.

“I think it’s going to be a challenge for some players to adapt to the new rule, having played whole seaons with that scoring,” Hollis Brookline coach Celestino Eddie Sepulvino said after his team whizzed by Alvirne in just a little over an hour last Monday. “That said, it’s something that we’re ready for and preparing them for as we enter the season. Not in favor or opposed.”

There are other coaches, word is, that aren’t happy with it. As one coach said, “I enjoy tennis the way it is supposed to be played.”

So what’s the thinking behind it?

It’s to help those schools – say, like Bishop Guertin – that only have three or four courts and matches take a good three hours because you have to play six singles, then three doubles.

“It makes it easier for the matches to finish on time,” one coach said. “And if you have rainouts and teams have doubleheaders, those can go on for a really long time. That logic make sense.”

And the word is it will stay that way for the postseason as well.

How do we feel about it? The time factor is huge. That’s a pro new rule. The con? It’s almost like making baseball two strikes and you’re out, three balls and you walk to first. One compromise would be to go back to regular “ad” in the tournaments, but that would be changing horses in midstream. It would confuse the players, and the idea of the sport in high school is to teach the game.

Thus, we will bite the bullet on losing quicker matches for the good of the game. Keep tennis the way it was meant to be played.

—- If you get a chance read the comments in this weekend’s story on/by new Nashua North softball coach Jamie Trudel on what’s been wrong with softball in Nashua in general, as well as at North, over the last few years. Softball needs an indoor facility in the area dedicated to the sport so pitchers can develop in the off-season. It needs more coaches. What’s happened to North over the last half dozen years has been, to be polite, unfortunate. Trudel, who has coached in youth circles in the city, sounds like someone who wants to see that change and get the Titans competitive again.

Here’s the deal in girls softball: A pitcher has to have velocity and control, and in this sport, that takes a lot of practice. And while a pitcher develops that, the ball is going to be put in play quite often. Thus there have to be players who know the game well enough they can field, know which base to throw to, etc.

Trudel knows this. He wants to build a program. Let’s give him the support he needs so the players can enjoy the game even more. That being said, hats off to all the North players who have taken the field, kept at it, and represented your school and the game despite the results.

— OK spring coaches, you’re up. These are your programs, and you should want to promote your teams and get the word out about your players, win or lose. So we ask that you send in your results to tking@nashuatelegraph.com very soon after every game, win or lose, because there’s always a player who may have done something positive that can be mentioned. Just a few sentences emailed on a smart phone. Many, not just yours truly, will appreciate it.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X, formerly known as twitter, @Telegraph _TomK.