NPHS boys’ tennis serves the season in
The highly anticipated French Open tennis tournament kicks off on May 19 in Paris, France. In the meantime, NPHS boys’ tennis begins their own season with their opener on Feb. 13 against Ventura High School. Both Junior Varsity and Varsity Tennis teams are trained under head coach Richard Kick and hope to succeed in the 2025 spring season, especially within the Marmonte League. Players Cameron Downes and Clark Liang hope to accomplish these goals along with personal aspirations for their junior year, with the help of NPHS Tennis’ coaching staff.
Richard Kick, head tennis coach and mathematics and computer science teacher, anticipates seeing the culmination of his players’ growth throughout this season. “I am very much looking forward to seeing players that have started their freshman year having very little experience, relatively low skill set, and now becoming some of the best players we have on the team,” Kick said. Bringing together players of various skill sets and experience, Kick hopes to witness this unification. “Seeing [formerly new players] lead the team along with people who have tremendous amounts of experience and a high skill set altogether competing in the Marmonte League [is] going to be very exciting,” Kick said. Kick acknowledges his role in aiding his players in developing problem-solving skills, which are crucial for the sport. “So that’s what [I want to] help students do is realize they’re out there with all their preparation; no matter what the preparation was, they are gonna get challenges they didn’t expect,” Kick said. “Watching them deal with those and then helping them better deal with those in the future is a very rewarding part of tennis.”
Cameron Downes, junior and JV player, trains this season with the goals laid out by Kick in mind. “Mr. Kick, the coach, focuses on the most serves and being aggressive at the net, because… that’s how you start at each point,” Downes said. “And there’s a specific way he wants you to hit the serve, which he calls ‘kicking it,’ which is kind of funny because that’s his name.” Downes hopes to move up the ranks to the varsity team, which only has a few spots. “My personal goal is to be able to play at the varsity level, since there’s three doubles teams and three singles teams. So that means [there are] nine players each game that play varsity, unless [there are] players who sub in and out,” Downes said. Downes uses this goal to motivate himself to train. “The goal of eventually being able to play varsity and being able to actually score points for your team because JV doesn’t get as much playing time, really, so being able to actually play at the top level and being able to win for your school is a big motivator,” Downes said.
For some athletes, the drive behind their sport includes going pro or playing in college, but all athletes have different goals. For Clark Liang, junior and varsity player, his motivation lies in the matches themselves and the atmosphere created. “I am motivated by competition. Although competition is good, it can have a really negative effect if you take it too seriously so I also try to stay motivated by improving and having fun,” Liang said.
Liang finds joy in team camaraderie and encouraging his teammates, which helps boost the team’s overall morale. “The best way to boost team spirit is just cheering when your teammates are playing… [it] really helps [because] tennis is a really mental sport [and cheering] helps you stay positive,” Liang said. Like any team, their top priority this year is to win as many matches as possible. Liang finds that the key to winning this year is confidence and swiftness at the net. “The main goals for the tennis program this upcoming season are to basically be more aggressive at the net and be more confident in general,” Liang said. “It’s essential to be aggressive and have solid volleys. Having more confidence in general also just helps, because it just helps you play better.”
This season, the tennis team has over 13 home matches and encourages students to come and view the athletes’ hard work. “It is good to publicize the amount of effort and the amount of real dedication to the tennis team our players have this year, and we always encourage people to come out along the benches behind the courts and cheer us on. The players really react positively to that,” Kick said.
