A German exchange student takes up tennis again after a broken arm threatens to keep her off the court.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published April 18, 2004
ZEPHYRHILLS - It is a small world after all.
Catherine Vordemfelde loved tennis. Born and raised in Northeim, Germany, she picked up her first racket at age seven. But five years ago she broke her right arm, her serving arm, in a skiing accident. Even after she healed the pain was too much. That was it for tennis, Vordemfelde thought.
Until she came to Florida. Until she came to Zephyrhills.
Because it is here the 17-year-old exchange student has rediscovered the sport. She is Zephyrhills High's No.1 singles player and one of the top public-school golfers in Pasco County.
To hold a racket again, all she had to do was travel about 4,949 miles (7,964 kilometers).
"When I was young I was successful," Vordemfelde said. "It made me sad (to break my arm), but then I came here and saw that I can still play and win matches.
"Now I still see a chance that I could become something, that I could have a career."
A college career, that is, hopefully with a scholarship earned either here or in Germany.
There's no doubt she's an athlete. This spring the junior will earn two varsity letters and go home with four total. Besides tennis, she splits her time this spring with the track team, running the 400- and 800-meters. She was also on the swim team and was a guard on the basketball team.
On the court she has demonstrated a strong backhand and only lost her first high school match this past week. She's also learning to assert herself.
"I want to win districts," she said. "I know I might not do that, but I want to try. I want to try and make states."
In Germany she played tennis, golf and basketball. Because she splits practice with the tennis team, girls track coach Michael Stanton said she gets by on talent alone.
"She's a really good runner," Stanton said. "But it's mostly natural ability. I was very pleasantly surprised because she said she's never run on any kind of track teams in Germany."
The system of school teams is foreign to her.
"(In Germany) they have clubs," she said. "We have to show interest in a sport, then you do it all year long. ... Here you have only a season, three months, and then it's over.
"But I like it here very much. I like the sun and the very nice people and the school is nice. You can do a lot of sports and have good friends around you."
She has roots in Zephyrhills. Years ago her older sister, Tine, was an exchange student at Zephyrhills. Now Catherine is staying with the same host family, Clarence and Lea McKenney.
"They had a really nice family," Vordemfelde said. "I heard that the sun is shining all the time, so I knew it was cool."
Stanton has taught both sisters and visited the family in Germany.
"It's a little different over there," Stanton said. "They're very formal. Over there I'm more like "Herr Professor, thank you for coming to our house. We are honored to have you."'
Vordemfelde is unfailingly polite and especially attuned to American culture. English is taught at a young age in German schools, and Vordemfelde is skilled in it. But her teammates still laugh at her rare miscues.
"One time at track practice I said my shoe is open," she said. "But I meant my shoe is untied. But everyone was laughing."
When she and her family came to visit her sister in Zephyrhills, the entire family went on a tour of the United States, from New York to Las Vegas to Los Angeles, Hollywood and San Francisco.
But when it came time for Vordemfelde to be an exchange student, there was no doubt where she would go: Zephyrhills.
"My sister came here, and she couldn't pick where she would go but she got lucky," she said. "I do like Zephyrhills. I don't know why people want to go away from here. ...
