Tennis season has begun and already expectations are set high. Both tennis teams have big goals of winning the State Championship. The girl’s team however, also really want some more players.
The gap in size between the two teams makes the situation more complicated. The boy’s have about ten players officially signed up and the girl’s team has seven. While the difference in numbers might not seem particularly significant, in a smaller school, every team member matters.
Hannah Calonje mentions that having so few girls on the tennis team can get pretty awkward when they have a match with another school that might bring their top ten girls. To make it fair, Calonje mentions that either some of the other team’s female players don’t play at all, or “our girls have to play three times, which can get pretty tiring.”
Calonje also shared another reason for having so few girls. It’s not just that there are fewer people, but also that they don’t keep a lot of the freshmen who join throughout the years. This makes bonding among the players more difficult, which can harm the dynamic of doubles. However, Calonje hopes that the new freshmen will continue playing and form a strong, solid bond that will help the team grow more in subsequent years.
“You have to know the mind of the person you are with,” Calonje explains about playing doubles. “You know [your partner] is going to get this ball because they always do. You have to know everything about them,” and when you can’t bond with your team, then doubles can get complicated. Because of these factors, Calonje says she wishes there were mixed doubles and that she could play with the boys.
However, mixed doubles would not necessarily help the female players. John Henry Clashman, a senior on the boy’s tennis team, explains that if the boy’s and girl’s tennis teams were combined, then “more players would be excluded because varsity spots would be cut down. “There are six varsity spots for both teams,” Clashman states, “so that is 12 varsity spots total. If the team were co-ed, there would only be six, which would exclude many of the female players.”
This sentiment was also reiterated by Wilder Cooke, another senior on the boy’s tennis team. Cooke reasons that there would be fewer spots for girls because, in general, there are fewer girls than boys playing tennis. “I don’t even really know why that is,” Cooke mentions offhand, knowing that some girls are just as talented at the sport.
Stryder Rodenberg, another senior on the boy’s team, states that there isn’t “a segregated practice. Both teams practice together, we have the same coach and go to the same matches. We just don’t play together.”
When it comes to student expectations, specifically for the boy’s team, Leo Gruenstein and Clashman both say they aren’t “entirely sure what students are expecting,” but Gruenstein mentions that for the players themselves, “it is expected for [them] to win the State Championship” this year. Clashman also states that expectations from students may be high because the boy’s team “has historically been” one of the best sports teams at TGS.
Gruenstein believes that the team “has worked really hard to win and [they] believe it is a realistic goal. We’ve come so close before,” Gruenstein chuckles. “We are kind of sick of just getting close.”
Drew Messing adds that “last year the boys made it to the state semifinals. Wilder went to the state finals…” Cooke interrupts saying he expects to win this year. “Stryder and I,” Messing continues, “won the doubles together for the 1A division and we want to improve on that. We want to win it all, which I think is a realistic goal. Our team has not lost a regular season match in the past three years. We’ve been undefeated, so we want to translate that into a state championship win.”
Gruenstein mentioned that in order to keep this goal realistic he thinks players should “practice the way [they] play. Have great intensity,” he advises. “I can hit the ball hard in practice, which is great and all, but how do I translate that into a match?”
While those are the goals and expectations for this year, the boys are unsure of what’ll come next year. “Three of our top six players are seniors,” Rodenberg says. “It’ll be a completely different dynamic,” Messing follows. Rodenberg has some advice for the freshman players on what they should do to make sure the team stays undefeated over the next couple of years. “Just come out this year. Get the experience in. And keep playing throughout the year...some people just play during the season and then stop, but they should always practice. Even if it’s just hitting the ball around for a couple of minutes, or against the wall, it will keep them in the game.”
Calonje also has similar future goals for the girl’s team. She hopes the incoming freshmen “keep practicing and stick with it,” and that there will be as many girls on the team as there are boys. But for now, both teams have their hearts set on a big win for TGS. Go Hawks!
Written by Kira McNeill