At the beginning of the season, the varsity tennis team had been split between two divisions, with the girls staying in 5A and the boys moving up to 6A. Though the boys will face bigger competition from larger schools, Head Coach David Gilpin noted that they already faced high competition from 5A schools.
“Our boys finished second at State last year, and according to OSSAA rules, if we place in the top four, two out of three years in a row, then we have to bump up class,” Gilpin said. “Our boys this year are in 6A instead of 5A consequently. Now we’ve since won a lawsuit on that and there will be a reversal, so next year we should be back in 5A.”
As the boys prepared for State, Gilpin found new ways to fit into the 6A division.
“We tried to schedule tournaments that had more 6A teams in the tournament to help with our seating at State and just kind of get an idea of where we fit in 6A,” Gilpin said.
Even with the split of divisions between the boys and girls, Gilpin highlighted the team’s fighting spirit.
Many of the varsity boys, including senior Carl Amaya, shared feelings of excitement joining the 6A division.
“It’s been a good season,” Amaya said. “So far, we fought, we’ve played. It’s definitely a shift from 5A. 5A is a lot calmer. 6A has tougher schools, but this year, we can bring up the competition.”
Since moving up to 6A, Amaya’s warm-ups have remained the same, but practices have changed.
“We’ve had more like school-focused practices because back then, we kind of practiced with the entire cohort of the Greens Country Club, and now it’s just like the McGuinness tennis team,” Amaya said.
Freshman Jack Griffith mentioned that he loves the 6A competition and his warm-up routine typically consists of following senior TJ Shanahan in stretching. While the boys and girls are separated division-wise, senior Chelsea Le shared her mindset in the tennis realm.
“I think it’s really important to have a very positive mindset and to make sure you work together as a team because a team is nothing without your other members, and this is not a one-person job,” Le said.
Le also shared a goal she had in mind for her last tennis season.
“I’m really trying to place at state this year,” Le said. “But no matter what, I’m going to make sure that we do our best and we make ourselves proud.”
Tennis can vary from person to person, as junior Georgia Grelle describes tennis as a mental game.
“You can be good at it, but if you have a bad attitude and a bad mentality, you’re not going to do well,” Grelle said.
Differing from her teammate Le, Grelle wanted to focus on gaining as much experience as possible.
“I’m not too focused on winning or losing,” Grelle said. “I’m just trying to get better because I’ve improved a lot recently and I’m trying to build on that.”
As the season moves on, Amaya emphasized the importance of having dreams in the sport.
“Recognize your dreams at a young age,” Amaya said. “And if you recognize your dream, commit to it. If you want to go big one day, you gotta practice every day, grind every day.”
