By Jaci Schneider, Opinion Editor
Through the slats in the window blinds, the tall, strawberry-blond head of George Carstens can be seen bobbing with laughter as he leads a female friend in a South African dance. Behind him, barely visible through the thin streams of light drifting out into the dark night, sits Casper Steenkamp, his tan face and green eyes intent on the friend he is talking with.
This is an unusual weekend for Casper and George, who spend most of their free time on the tennis courts, practicing, giving lessons or playing in tournaments.
But in their time off the court, as intensity of the game disappears, the two laid-back roommates like nothing more than to spend time with their friends and share something of their home with them. Dancing is one of those things.
Since home is more than 2,000 miles away, they do what they can. Of course it helps that they live 20 feet down the hall from each other and know each other as well as family.
George, tall and lanky with reddish hair and a ruddy complexion, looks nothing like Casper, who’s more compact with dark, curly hair and chiseled features; however, something about them makes it obvious that they’re more than just teammates.
George, sophomore business major from Stellenbosch, South Africa, grew up in a mountain valley town outside of Capetown, the home of Casper Steenkamp, junior business major. The two tennis players first thought of each other as rivals when they met about 10 years ago, but after attending the same high school for five years and playing on the same tennis team, they became best friends.
Getting here
Now they’re all each other has from home. If George yells something in Afrikaans while playing tennis, Casper understands. And no one else quite feels the thrill of watching a close Saturday afternoon rugby match as the two roommates.
But the friends came close to spending their college years apart.
Although both George and Casper played tennis at a prestigious South African high school in Stellenbosch, one Casper lived at in dorms for five years; they knew they had a difficult decision to make after graduation.
“In South Africa you can’t play and study,” George said in his proper-sounding South African accent. “It’s just too much.” You either dedicate your time to school, or you dedicate your time to tennis; balancing the two isn’t possible.
So they had to choose: Stay in South Africa and decide between college and tennis or move to America and do both.
They both decided to apply for scholarships at schools in the United States, and Casper received a scholarship to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where he began school and tennis in January 2003. George, however, decided to wait until the fall semester to begin school in America.
George chose to attend ACU without even seeing campus, but his consolation at the time was that he might get to spend time with his friend Casper on weekends.
Meanwhile, after a semester at Tech, several factors weren’t working out for Casper, so he looked into transferring to a smaller school where he would play more tennis; also, the Christian atmosphere of ACU was attractive to him.
“I knew that George […] was going to come to ACU in August, so I was also having the option open,” Casper said. After a conversation with tennis coach Hutton Jones and a visit to campus, Casper decided to make the switch.
So George and Casper began school at ACU together in the fall of 2003, George as a freshman, and Casper as a transfer.
“It actually worked out perfectly,” George said. “It’s almost like I was forced to come because it was like God worked out the plan.”
Casper agrees. “I believe that is something that was above our control,” he said.
Settling in
After a full year at ACU, both George and Casper said life at college and in America has exceeded their expectations.
“The first two months were pretty hard,” George said, “just getting used to the training schedule and new places and new friends. But afterwards it was almost like a dream come true. We had a great tennis team, and I made great friends, and I learned a lot, so much, spiritually, emotionally about myself.”
Although the transition wasn’t easy, George said it helped to have Casper here with him.
“We know almost everything about each other,” George said. “We can talk about everything.”
And they do talk-in Afrikaans, their native language, which is related to Dutch and English and sounds strangely foreign and familiar all at once to English ears. Speaking together in their own language is one thing, along with dancing, that’s helped them keep some of the South African culture alive in America.
The tennis players will often clear a space in their living room or move out to the back porch to teach their friends the simple dances they learned in South Africa. George especially enjoys twirling, two-stepping and waltzing with a partner to any kind of music that happens to be playing.
They also like to cook South African dishes to enjoy together and to share with their friends. Their roommate A.J. Smith, junior political science major from Pampa, said he never knows what he’ll find on the stove or in the refrigerator, whether it’s some variation of pasta or pancakes for dinner.
Another South African custom the roommates keep is watching rugby together. They used to have to depend on friends to tape the matches for them, but now they have cable at home.
“Every Saturday we make time to watch a rugby game,” Casper said. “While we were in America the World Cup of rugby took place, so that was a really big thing for us, so we made time late in the evenings just to watch the rugby games.”
Smith said he tries to get into rugby with the South Africans, but he can’t find the excitement they do.
“When they watch rugby they jump up and down on the couch and scream,” Smith said. “They’re crazy and keep things interesting.”
The South Africans’ tennis coach, Hutton Jones, has also noticed their dedication to rugby.
“My biggest thing is trying to convince them that rugby isn’t a sport,” he said with a laugh.
The “real” sport
When not dancing around their living room or jumping on the couch about a rugby match, George and Casper dance and jump around their opponents in tennis.
Last year Casper played in the No.1 position for the Wildcats as a sophomore and was a regional and Lone Star Conference Champion. Casper and his doubles partner, Jason Ray, ranked No. 13 in doubles in the nation.
As a freshman, George usually played in the No.3 or No.4 position and was a dominant and steady player on the team, Jones said; he won more than 80 percent of his matches.
Although George recently had surgery on his shoulder, which he didn’t tell anyone about until showing up at home in Abilene with a blue sling on his arm, he’s back on the courts for the season, which began this month.
“They’re both good under pressure,” Jones said, “and I really feel like neither one of them has reached his complete game.
“George is very solid,” Jones added. “His temperament on the court doesn’t go up and down. Casper is little fierier – a little more gritty. He’s like a linebacker on the tennis court.”
Although the friends don’t usually play on the same doubles team, they still spend a lot of time on the court together.
“We know each other’s games so well that we can help each other in tennis,” Casper said. “We enjoy playing against each other because it brings out the best of each other’s games.”
Even though George and Casper are best friends off the court, they say they still like to beat each other.
“We get serious on the court and want to beat each other really bad.” George said.
But when they play, they make it a point to treat each other with respect, something their coach has noticed. Jones said he sometimes has trouble finding good tennis players who are selfless and team players, but in George and Casper, he said he found what he was looking for.
“We do respect each other a lot on the court; we show a lot of respect,” Casper said. “It’s a sport – it stays the same. It doesn’t matter who you play.”
The respect and friendship keep George and Casper close, and allow them to watch rugby matches together and dance with their friends late into the night.
