Tennis Team Varsity All 4 Years of High School — Senior Year Experience
I have been my school’s tennis team varsity #1 player for all of my years in high school. This year, I had new things to balance in my life, such as a late ending club tennis summer season and an upcoming SAT.
Because I still wanted to practice tennis but also balance the precious time I had left to study for my August SAT, I chose to practice with my competitive club team, where there were extremely good players, for the remainder of our club season (which was ending soon).
Thus, I discussed with my coach a plan where I practice at my club solely and then after my SAT test and club season ended (which was only until the end of August and our season started mid-September), I would spend all the rest of my practice time here. He wasn’t too thrilled with my proposal, but we came to a compromise, where he said that if I did that, I would have to play everyone on the team to get back to Varsity 1.
At first, I was confused because the process seemed long (and our season was starting soon) so I expressed my concern.
I explained that I could see his viewpoint of keeping the ranking of the ladder “fair”, but it could make more sense that I just played Varsity players so that the ladder would be set earlier (looking at it from a logical standpoint, it was only because I’ve been playing in Varsity 1 position the past 3 years, otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested this idea).
But, I was never one to back down from a challenge. I knew it was going to be a long and arduous journey, but that’s what made it satisfying.
So, for the next few weeks, I played straight sets with everyone on the team (19 girls), except for 2 who were out due to injuries. At first, the games were relatively easy due to the experience differences, but then the games got progressively longer and more difficult.
But, I kept my optimistic view and kept going.
To me, nothing good in life comes easy, so this whole process was testimony of that. Looking back, I definitely appreciate the outcome of my discussion with my coach and me standing up for myself, because although it didn’t end in my favor, the decision ultimately benefitted my playing. I am also proud of myself for standing up for my beliefs. Similarly, it also gave me the necessary experience to compete against other schools. It helped me with gaining the right mindset of approaching a match, feeling like there’s a long journey ahead, and taking it on one stroke at a time.
Mishel 4–0 (JV)
Tamar 4–0 (JV)
Emily K 4–0 (JV)
Selina 4–0 (JV)
Lavanya 4–0 (JV)
Avishawd 4–0 (JV)
Shantala 4–0 (JV)
Dristi 4–0 (JV)
Amalia 4–0 (JV)
Amrutha 4–0 (JV)
Lily P 4–0 (Varsity)
Sayuna 4–1 (Varsity)
Jillian 4–1 (Varsity)
Jiya 4–0 (Varsity)
Jaden 4–1 (Varsity)
Lily J 4–1 (Varsity)
Emily J 4–1 (Varsity)
Angela 4–0 (Varsity)
Megan 4–0 (Varsity)
Ananya DNP-illness (JV)
Kate DNP-injury (JV)
