“Serving Up Success: How Tennis is shaping My High School Experience”
Growing up, I always had a keen interest in sports. There’s something exhilarating about getting your whole body moving, and it helped me focus on other activities. In kindergarten, I played soccer in various I9 leagues in South Florida. However, after developing a skin condition from overexposure to the sun, my parents suggested I try indoor martial arts. So, I started taking Taekwondo lessons, which I continued through middle school.
Once my skin condition resolved in fourth grade, I wanted to try another outdoor sport, although I continued with Taekwondo. My parents enrolled me in a baseball camp, which I really enjoyed. But a sudden move to Austin from South Florida disrupted my outdoor sports activities. I persisted with Taekwondo, but baseball in Texas was way more competitive than in Florida. During this time, I made friends who introduced me to basketball. Basketball was fun and we played almost every day most of middle school days leading up to Covid. We even had a court installed at our place in Texas and we had neighbourhood kids join me at times. I joined private leagues and made it to the second round of middle school tryouts, but I didn’t make the team. The feedback I received was that I wasn’t efficient in making mid-court plays.
At that moment, I realized that although I loved sports, I had a relatively tough time with team sports. I was determined to take up a sport in high school, which I can consistently be a part of. Despite winning cross-country events in middle school, I felt I needed a sport that balanced individual skills with being part of a team. That’s when tennis came into the picture.
Sometimes in life, the greatest discoveries are the most unexpected. Tennis was one of those discoveries. The sport wasn’t unfamiliar to me before eighth grade (I had watched Grand Slam events on TV) but it never registered as one I could play. Towards the 2nd half of the 8th grade, it dawned upon myself and my friends the importance of finding a suitable sport. My friends suggested Tennis and we began to learn tennis by teaching each other. We spent weekday evenings, weekends, and holidays at the neighboring courts. Although we had weak fundamentals, we progressed together.
Initially, I was skeptical of the sport and only went to the courts because my friends dragged me along. But soon, I started discovering that there were aspects of the game I was well-suited to. Tennis didn’t require immense physical strength but rather a keen eye and an understanding of technique and strategy, which I felt I had a good grasp on. Losing with close scores fueled my desire to improve. I’ve always been very competitive, but I only channel that competitiveness into areas I’m passionate about. As my passion for tennis grew, so did my competitive nature. We kept playing, and I started winning. The cyclic effect of competing with my friends pushed us all to improve. We even scheduled 5 am sessions before school, much to the shock and disbelief of my parents. To supplement these early a.m. sessions, I asked my dad to take me to late evening sessions.
Towards the end of summer (prior to starting my freshman year), I joined a tennis academy where I got my first coach. The sessions helped me tweak my techniques and deepen my understanding of the game. I started to develop a bit by bit more comfortable with the game, and was now feeling confident of making it through the high school tennis trials.
By the fall of my freshman year, I did eventually made to my school’s JV team. With only a handful of boys on the team, I quickly became the number one boy on the team from a school ratings standpoint. Competing against other schools was challenging, and I distinctly remember my first high school match against another local school (Vista Ridge), when I lost 0-8. Despite the loss, I was determined to improve and start winning. I continued private lessons, stayed after regular practice to serve, and hit with others nearly every day. I truly became obsessed with improving.
In the meanwhile, I learned about United States Tennis (USTA) and Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR) Tournaments from my tennis academy. I enrolled in several of these tournaments, many of them out of town including a few in the Houston area and a few near San Antonio and Fredericksburg, Texas. This began what I felt was a golden period. I started winning many of these tournaments. The number of medals, either as a winner or as a finalist, kept increasing. My ratings (USTA and UTR) improved tremendously. At one point, I had a win streak of 16 matches. USTA matches also helped with my school game and my freshman year culminated in winning second place at the district freshman tournament. I got the confidence of my coaches, and I was one of their favorites and they clearly hinted that I would make the Varsity team during the Sophomore year.
However, as any seasoned tennis player experiences, slumps happen. I came across tougher opponents during my early Sophomore year, and a loss here and there started demotivating me. I stopped regular practice, and my ratings started to stagnate and even drop a bit. Sports really tests you. For one moment, you are on Cloud 9, and next time, you are searching for form. What I learned truly from the experience is that ups/downs in sports (and I was told, largely in life) are normal and each of them offers a learning experience. The key is not to lose determination and focus and to revisit the strategy.
In sophomore year, once I made the varsity team I started focusing on practicing against better players. I also changed my private coach who actually took me back to work on basics. I sought help from my school coach and team members. Although my performance didn’t show immediate results, I know that my skill level was significantly improving. I did not have much to show in terms of school wins and/or tournament wins during my Sophomore year, but I continued to practice and more importantly, started having fun.
By junior year, my skills and ratings were higher than ever. The academic coursework was intense, and thereby I decided to forgo USTA/UTR tournaments and instead focus on the school season. More importantly, I wanted to contribute entirely to my Varsity team. Through the Fall season, I ended up winning fifteen district singles matches and lost only one. Our team advanced, beating the prior champions (Cedar Park) to become district champions for the first time since 1994. We continued to win, becoming area champions and regional quarterfinalists before losing in the regional semifinals. The fact that my winning percentage significantly contributed to my school tennis team breaking a long-standing record felt incredible. I was awarded the First Team Boy’s Singles and Second Team Boys Doubles award in addition to being named to the Academic All District Team during the end of Junior year recognition ceremony.
Through my journey with tennis to date, I learned some key lessons. I learned that I need to be persistent and resilient, especially during challenging times. I also realized that every loss is an opportunity to learn and improve. In addition, the joy of the game is just as important as the competition. The support of parents, friends, and coaches can make an incredible difference. And finally, nothing comes close to helping the team achieve new records. Contributing to my team’s and school’s success was the icing on the cake. Tennis has not only shaped my high school experience but also taught me invaluable life lessons that I will carry forward.