Tennis: New Horizons
Sydney Bell (11) receiving a hit in her singles game against North County.
October 5, 2021
With a new tennis season comes a lot of changes. Some of these changes include but are not limited to new players and a new coach. So far this season many of the girls have shown great dedication to this sport. Overall, the players are satisfied with how this season has gone.
This season four new girls joined the team, making eleven players total. Among those new players is Clara Basden, a freshman who plays for varsity. She has grown up playing tennis with her grandma, who was a previous Ladycats tennis coach 20 years prior. Clara shows a lot of promise and skill when she plays. Lucy Pham (12) says, “Clara has a lot of talent for tennis, and she’s going to improve more throughout the years since she’s only a freshman.”
One major change this year is the new coach. Coach Maddie Rehkop is a tennis alumni from Fredericktown. While this is her first year coaching, she has proved she’s the right coach for this team. She has put in hard work and dedication to help this year’s players improve. Coach Maddie, as some players call her, has shown enthusiasm and care when coaching this season. When asked about how this season has been, she said, “It’s a good experience, and I love to see how these girls have improved over the season. Some of these girls have never picked up a racket before until this summer and I’m proud of them.”
Personally, I don’t know much about the sport, but their racket handling looked pretty professional to me. Tennis may seem like a relatively calm sport but when you’re standing in the fence pretending to know how to use a camera, it’s pretty nerve wracking. Not only was I worried about my own safety, I also had the camera to worry about. While it was an experience and a half taking photos, getting to know some of the players was something else. They’re overflowing with personality, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to them. Moral of the story, they’re incredible people with a lot of talent.
