Last year, the tennis team lacked a coach. Former captains, now college freshmen, Jason Fang and Krithika Kameshwaran brought the team together, planned practices and organized matches without any adult authority, creating a collaborative environment, where, although there was less structure and organization, morale was high. Despite lacking a coach, the team achieved success in city championships with two players in the girls and boys divisions, respectively, winning first place though still falling short of qualifying for the state championship. The team’s looser, unstructured energy carried into the 2025–26 season. Though now, a coach stepped in to provide authority and planning — coach Mark McDonald. This rapid change created a great necessity for captains to take a more active role in providing a bridge between players and coach.
“We were in the team last year [so] we have to … adapt as new captains, because [Fang and Kameshwaran are] not the captains anymore,” James Jin (11) said. “So with the new coach, with new players, we have to adapt a lot.”
The new captains, Jin and Jaala Goodwin (12) have both played tennis for over five years and were chosen because of their seniority and experience, which has always been the procedure for choosing captains.
“Since he [coach McDonald] was absent for a year, he doesn’t really know the team really well,” Jin said. “We built a lot of chemistry last year because it took a lot of effort uniting the team without a coach. If people don’t show up to practice, [coach McDonald] will tell us instead of telling the students. So what he would do is he would say, ‘Oh, if they keep not showing up to practice,’ he’s going to take them off the team. But we translate that to them, so we’re kind of like the backbone.”
Having a strict coach step in has been a challenge for some. As much of the tennis team is involved in other extracurricular activities and have a demanding academic schedule, many of them are unable to show up to every practice and match, which has had greater consequences this year than last year, leading to a reduction in morale.
“I think in the short term … the morale does go low a little bit, but in a long term, [coach McDonald] still knows what he’s doing,” Goodwin said. “He’s coached very successful sports before. I think he puts us through a lot of mentally tough practices that will help build the team, although I feel like our chemistry of the team as a whole goes down slightly. This year, it’s not really like we want to show up. It’s like we have to show up, but at the end of the day we’re still going to be a pretty successful team this year.”
Jin also runs a nonprofit called Artflow with the help of Goodwin, and has sacrificed time from both his organization and the tennis team. With this in mind, they are able to understand and advocate for players that may have to miss some practices, as well as relay coach McDonald’s message that players should stop viewing practices as optional.
“I’d say [to be captain] you have to be willing to take initiative, you have to carry out the needs and listen to everyone’s voices,” Jin said. “Because when you’re a captain, you’re bridging between the coach and the players. You have to be able to listen to both sides, argue against which side whenever you see fit. And you have to maintain the balance, like that’s the biggest thing.”
Adjusted to their roles and to the environment with a new coach, the tennis team had two players win first place city championships, and the boy’s team won second in regionals. Next year, their goal is to reach the state championships and win.
“I’m excited for this year,” Goodwin said. “I mean, still, this is senior year, so I hope it’s gonna be a good year.”
