‘Out of the coma’: COVID-19 nearly killed Rocklin tennis coach; now he’s back in the game

Dale Eckenberg doesn’t remember much about the start of 2022.

The Rocklin High School tennis coach was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 12 and spent 45 days in a coma battling COVID-19. While he can’t recall anything after calling out sick to work the previous day, his family endured the trauma. That includes his wife, Ashley, and children, Sydney and Sam.

“For my wife and kids, they’re the ones that had to live through that,” Eckenberg said. “They had to live through the fear and unknown. For me, I slept and didn’t know any different. ... We lost another teacher at Rocklin this year. My wife was going to his funeral, but also maybe planning mine.”

Eckenberg missed the boys spring tennis season, which included not being able to coach his son during his senior year.

“Once I got out of the coma, I realized my son was in his senior year, playing for the high school team, and I wasn’t out there watching and coaching him,” Eckenberg said. “It’s a great experience to coach your own kids. I was not able to do that. I saw my son struggling. They couldn’t see me in the hospital because of COVID restrictions.”

There was no doubt when he got healthy that Eckenberg would return to coaching. Eckenberg helped lead the Rocklin girls team to its fifth Sac-Joaquin Section championship this fall. The Thunder beat Granite Bay 6-3 in the Division l final.

The CIF Northern California tournament starts Friday in Folsom. The Thunder is one of eight teams competing and will open up with Miramonte of the Bay Area in the quarterfinals.

“There was never a question in my mind I was going to come back to coaching,” Eckenberg said. “The young people give me energy and life. They give me a sense of purpose. All of our students do that, but it’s a different experience when you coach a team.”

Rocklin is led by Sierra Foothill League MVP Nica Sobrepena and All-SFL players Erin Johnson and Lia Savage. Sobrepena and Johnson won the SFL and section championships in doubles.

“Everything we’ve been able to accomplish as a team wouldn’t be possible without Eckenberg,” Sobrepena said. “He’s always been there whenever I needed him to as a coach. In the beginning of the year, I dreaded the thought of a season without him. When I got the news he’d be able to come back, I remember stopping whatever I was doing and texting my teammates about how excited I was.”

As a team, Rocklin won nine of 10 matches in the section playoffs.

Eckenberg is a staple at the Placer County school. He’s been a geography teacher at Rocklin since 1998, and has developed friendships with teachers and coaches on campus, including principal Davis Stewart.

“He’s built a tennis dynasty,” Stewart said with a laugh. “It’s pretty incredible to watch him and just the positivity he’s put in his program.”

Stewart said there was widespread concern for Eckenberg throughout the school.

“We were sick,” Stewart said. “... We kept hearing his vital signs were good, and he would respond when his wife, Ashley, would talk to him. That gave us a lot of hope. It was our entire staff checking on him. To see him come back the way he’s come back is really nice. He loves sports. He’s always either listening to a game, going to a game, coaching or officiating. He’s always been like that.”

Reflecting on the past few months, Eckenberg says he lucky and thankful to be alive. He still has trouble breathing in high altitudes and his stamina isn’t the same as it once was.

That doesn’t mean he will back down from a tennis match if challenged.

“I can still hit a tennis ball,” Eckenberg said. “I just don’t know for how long.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 6:00 AM.