The snow is melting, birds are chirping, and spring is finally arriving. For athletes at Loy Norrix, this means it’s time to prepare for seasonal sports.
Women’s tennis officially started on March 9 and the students have been conditioning for a couple of weeks now. There are many new players on the team who are playing the sport for the first time. The first competition is on March 20^th.
“Over half the team has never played before, so we are mainly working on the basics and continuing to improve for next year,” said Art Williams, tennis coach and government teacher.
Katryn Walsh, Emily Worline, and Maddie Olech, are the team captains. They have all played tennis for multiple years and will help guide the new athletes to learn the skills of the game.
“I like the leadership role I have on the team this year because it’s nice to kind of take charge, and you have more opportunities to meet people, and they are more open to meeting you because you’re in a place of power,” said senior Emily Worline.
There are 12 varsity spots and the rest of the players are on junior varsity. Tennis is a no cut sport, so this year the JV team will be bigger than it has been in a long time.
“This is the biggest season yet. There’s about 25 girls trying out, and last year we barely had a varsity team,” said junior Maddie Olech.
There are two different kinds of matches in tennis, singles and doubles. If you are playing a singles match, it is just a one-on-one game. If it’s a doubles match then you have one partner all season and the two of you go up against another set of partners from the opposing team.
Olech has been playing tennis since she was nine, although she wasn’t too serious about it until high school. She used to play doubles matches, but she was recently switched to singles.
“I like playing singles because I don’t have to depend on someone else. Doubles is more fun but singles are more serious and competitive,” Olech said.
“The way I look at it, the most important thing is that everyone is having fun and just enjoying the sport,” said Williams.