Among the many spring sports you might have overlooked is tennis. There is an existing JV and Varsity tennis team. The tryouts this year took place in March, and for the first time in a very long time, six freshmen made Varsity. The freshmen were Tatum Saltsman, Byrdie Norton, Harriet Dunckel, Lily Peirson, Piper Coon, and Riley Shneiders.
First, I talked to Saltsman, who was previously a swimmer in the fall who also made the varsity swim team as a freshman, “The experiences are pretty different because the teams are both really different sizes so it’s been different being able to get to know the people and see how the team works. To prepare for tennis, I did a lot of preseason training that included different classes and lessons with my coach. I’m really excited for the season, but it’s gonna take a lot of hard work to get where I need to be. I’m looking forward to being able to get to know more of the team and experiencing matches and practices with them.”
Next, I talked with the varsity tennis coach Mr. Waldman to hear the behind the scenes of the decision making process that led to the choices made for the varsity squad, “We’ve seen an increase in our tennis population and strength of our tennis players coming from the middle school, so it’s not really a huge surprise when we get some freshman because it’s a sport where it’s not unusual to have freshman make varsity but we’ve never in the last 20+ years have had more than five or six freshman. While there’s a lot of growing to do, it’s really amazing to have so many. So the decision really comes down to myself and the co-varsity coach Jill. We evaluated the players and they just came out super strong this year. Having six freshmen now is going to have a huge impact because hopefully they stick around and grow with the program. These are kids who will play year round, these are kids who will continue their efforts to improve the game not only for the sake of themselves but also for the sake of the team. What’s unique about that is it helps build the program and make it that much stronger.”
With that continuous practice with a high skill level just freshman year, these players will be very talented by their senior year. This will benefit both the team and oneself.
He then goes on to talk about the tryouts themselves and what the coaches look for, “We do a pretty extensive tryout system. It’s almost an entire day that were indoors at a club and we have four to five different coaches two of which are actually certified tennis pros and the other three are all certified coaches. We take a really close look at all of our players and then we monitor and evaluate them based on their basic strokes and abilities from forehands, backhands, volleys, overheads but most importantly we’re looking for how consistent they are.”
Although they still have a lot of preparation ahead of them, it sounds like everyone is eager for this season after talking with the coach and freshman players. The addition of these players is amazing and will definitely bring new opportunities and impact the future of the team. On behalf of BHS, goodluck to our tennis team!