With the season for the boys tennis team heating up, the players are hard at work to win matches for both themselves and the team.
Senior Devon Stamback and the team have various pre-match strategies they use to warm up or while they watch others play.
“We do have something where we high-five each other’s rackets every single time anything happens,” Stamback said. “We throw off the other team because they’re so confused.”
The players work on different drills and scenarios during practices.
“Before practice starts, we just hit around, just get the shoulders warm,” senior Gabe Kohls said. “Then we go into either drills specific for doubles or singles. Doubles and singles work on cross courts and placement.”
Head coach Nathan Stevens runs players through more specific drills.
“What I try to do is, when I know the teams that we’re going to be facing, I try to either develop or find drills that are going to help them develop either skills or a mental plan for the teams that they’re going to see in the next meet,” Stevens said.
During a meet, matches could go on for quite some time.
“Normally, a tennis match takes place between like 45 minutes to an hour, but sometimes if we are playing to nine, it takes like an hour and a half to finish,” Stamback said. “At tennis matches there’s somewhere between four and six schools there. So normally there are not enough courts for teams. We have to wait around for a little bit for a match.”
Kohls’s favorite thing about tennis is the ease of access to the sport.
“It’s a satisfying sport; it’s one of those things that once you get into it, it’s so easy to just play,” Kohls said. “There’s so much variance; it feels easy, but also there’s such a high skill ceiling that you can always push yourself.”
Steven’s favorite part about coaching is seeing a side of students he does not see in the classroom.
“Kids are different when not in the classroom,” Stevens said. “It’s like, I had you in class for a year, and I never knew that about you. Then being able to watch them develop as players and develop their teammates; It’s a lot of fun to watch that.”
