Girls’ tennis defends the court
The anticipation rises as the final ball is served and the crowd eagerly awaits to display their cheer of victory for the final point. Peeking into the girls’ tennis match, teammates are seen giggling and cheering from the sidelines. On Aug. 30, the girls’ tennis pre-league season kicked off to a tight scoring match against Foothill Technology but lost 8-10.
Rachel Hu, senior and co-captain, looks forward to being back out on the court to face down tough opponents. She has been playing tennis since fourth grade and has grown up loving it. “It’s so fun to get out of school and go play tennis instead of going home and just sitting doing homework all day,” Rachel Hu said. “Honestly sometimes when you’re frustrated, you can just go up to the courts, hit a bunch of serves and it helps you improve at the same time and you get to release all your anger at the world onto the ball that you’re hitting across the court.”
Due to the rising heat wave, players like Makayla Hu, senior and co-captain, worry that the high temperatures will affect their play. “[This season’s] been pretty good except that since the heat has been kicking in, I haven’t been playing my best but other than that it’s been pretty great,” Makayla Hu said. Aside from the heat, she has faith that the team will do well this season as they have paired up many strong doubles.
Sometimes all it takes is a little pressure from parents to end up finding the perfect sport, for example, Chloe Um, sophomore, who heads into her first year on varsity. “Being on the team has definitely benefited me with my skills because I can tell our coach cares a lot about each person and works really hard to make sure everyone does their best and works on what they might not be as good at,” Um said.
Although athleticism may seem like the key to playing a sport, Makayla Hu has found that although she isn’t the most athletic, tennis has provided her with the opportunity to have fun and stay active throughout the years, as she practices every weekday from three to five. “Practices usually consist of warming up and stretching and then playing a set or two against other people on the team, and then sometimes the coaches would also go around and drill each court on whatever they wanted to be drilled on,” Makayla Hu said.
As she goes into the role of co-captain, Rachel Hu hopes to uplift the team in practice and become a role-model for the younger girls. “[I try] to keep a positive attitude about practice, matches, and what-not because honestly it just helps uplift people when they feel like complaining,” Rachel Hu said. “I think that that doesn’t help you improve so I generally just try to encourage everyone on the team. Last year our team captains were so inspiring, they set the bar really high and I’m just trying to match that. Knock on wood, hopefully [the season] goes really well and hopefully we make it to the playoffs.”
