Hinsdale Central’s Bloom takes game on road

Updated: June 21, 2011 2:58PM

Sam Bloom doesn’t have much time to enjoy the summer.

With nearly a tournament every weekend, it has already become a busy summer for the Hinsdale Central senior, who finished sixth in the state boys tennis tournament last month.

Bloom arrived home Sunday evening after driving home from Kalamazoo, Mich., were he attended the Midwest District team tournament. Bloom and his teammates from U.S. Tennis Association’s Chicago District won the title as Team Illinois. It was a very successful weekend for Bloom, who went 4-0 as a singles player and 4-0 as a doubles player with recent New Trier graduate and Stanford-bound Robert Stineman. Stineman won his second consecutive state singles title at the state meet.

“It’s always good to get those wins since you don’t know the competition,” Bloom said. “It’s good to have some wins under your belt. Confidence comes with winning eight matches on the weekend. The good field helps at the same time. You don’t want to lose that (confidence).”

The focus for Bloom right now is on competitive tennis. Perhaps at the end the summer, he will take came college visits to some of his top choices: Northwestern, Notre Dame, William and Mary or Michigan.

Sam Bloom’s older brother, Augie, recently completed his first season at Princeton after leading Hinsdale Central to three consecutive state championships.

Bloom was the only Devils tennis player to represent Team Illinois. The team also included recent state doubles champions David Packowitz and Ross Putterman of Stevenson, and singles players Jason Brown of Deerfield and Ben Quazzo of Latin.

“It’s a big summer. (Recruiters) will be everywhere at these tournaments,” Bloom said. “That will help my make my (college) decision. It’s an important summer.”

Bloom is headed to Indianapolis this weekend for the Midwest 18s Closed. Future tournaments include the National Open 18s in Lexington, Ky., a national tournament in St. Louis, the National 18 Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, Fla. and the biggest tournament of the summer: the season-ending Boys 18 and 16 Nationals Aug. 5-14 at Kalamazoo, Mich. That event is known as the “Nats at the Zoo.”

“It’s both mentally and physically (draining),” Bloom said of the summer schedule. “In the team Midwest tournament today, you finish today after you started Friday. On Sunday, we played in the semifinals and final.”

The early stages of the tournament included four matches a day in either singles or doubles. The tournament was held outdoors in grueling heat so players need to be well conditioned.

“The team aspect is what I like,” Bloom said. “(Quitting) is the most selfish thing you could do. You’ve got a team to support.”

Bloom has known Stineman since the up-and-comers were 12 years old. The two never met in the state meet on May 28. Bloom went 6-2 in the tournament and suffered losses to Brown and Quazzo.

“We have good chemistry and play well together,” Bloom said of Stineman.

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