Boys’ Tennis prepares for season
The spring season is here and one of the sports practicing their game is the boys’ tennis team, under the direction of head coach Richard Kick. Awaiting the start of the season, the boys arrive at the NPHS courts after school to practice.
Many of the boys on the team have been playing tennis for years. Jared Gillespie, sophomore, has been working a racket since he was eight. “I tried swimming and soccer and then I tried tennis and I really liked it so I decided to stick with it,” Gillespie said.
“I think it’s just a good ability to hang out and play tennis with the people out here,” Eugene Cho, sophomore on the team, said.
Coach Kick himself started playing tennis after college, “I played in leagues and actually did a United States Tennis Association league (USTA), where we went to the state championships and won and then went to the national championships,” Kick said.
As for coaching, he enjoys “looking at students who come out here with almost no background, very little experience, and by their senior year, they’re very good, competitive tennis players.”
Gillespie describes his experience on the team as very welcoming. “It’s a really good environment, all the guys are super nice and supportive, and there’s a lot of good people in the league so you get a lot of good practice.”
Kick believes that this bond formed between his players is due to the challenging tasks they encounter together: “We go through difficult circumstances, and under the toughest circumstances you find out when people are really trying to help you.”
Before practice the players like to get themselves pumped up and prepared for their game: “Sometimes I listen to music, not really anything in particular. I just think about my strategy and if I know who I’m playing I think about what I can do to nullify their strengths,” Gillespie said.
During practice the boys play each other to increase their skills and prepare for their opponents. “We usually play matches. We have a lot of people and not that many courts, so we usually do doubles. Occasionally we get to play singles,” Gillespie said.
Even though practice is fun and full of exercise, Cho said, “going to the practices is very time consuming and there’s a lot of other things I could be doing.” The players do enjoy the sport, but time management is key to conquering all aspects of academic and social life.
According to Kick, tennis is appealing to anyone. “(Tennis is one) of the very few sports that you can play when you’re tiny, five, and you can play when you’re 95. There aren’t many sports like that, so I’d definitely recommend it to everyone.”
