The pop of a ball off a racket, the powerful swing of a serve and squeaking shoes — these are sights and sounds found on the tennis court. Back with a new coach, the White Station High School (WSHS) tennis team is preparing for their upcoming season.
This year, the WSHS tennis team will have their normal spring schedule. However, unlike previous years, the team is led by a specialized tennis coach. Jesse Boyd brings an experienced coaching background to this year’s WSHS tennis team. In addition to coaching at WSHS, Boyd also coaches part time at Leftwich Tennis Center with a wide range of ages and skill sets.
“I coach [at Leftwich Tennis Center] part-time a few nights a week,” Boyd said. “On the weekends, I’m running adult clinics and helping out with the junior development program. I work with tennis players who have never picked up a racket before at age five, or people who are 70 years old and wanting to get back out there.”
In past years, the WSHS Tennis Team was led by athletic director Mark McDonald. While the team still saw success under McDonald, tennis was not his specialty. Now, with the addition of Boyd, co-captain Aarav Ravva (11) sees an opportunity for personal and team progression.
“I think something that we will benefit from is that we’ll get actual tennis drills at practices and be able to accomplish something at practices,” Ravva said. “[We will] not just [do] mediocre drills, as a tennis coach knows what’s best for the players. I feel like a real tennis coach should actually be able to help all the players on the team and actually build the skills that we have as a team.”
Emma Wang (11) is another captain for the WSHS tennis team. She has a large influence on underclassmen, as she won the women’s singles state championship last year, and hopes to lead her teammates by example.
“Since I won state last year, I feel like a lot of people are going to be looking up to me, and I think leading by example is super important, [including] showing up to lots of practices and developing my own game,” Wang said. “I just want to be a good leader. If [anyone] has questions, they can always come to me.”
In addition to leading the team, Wang hopes to win the women’s singles state championship again. However, this will be no easy task, as she is prioritizing her academics, yet she plans to put plenty of effort into her upcoming season.
“My main challenge is balancing my tennis with my studies because of AP classes and taking the ACT and SAT,” Wang said. “There’s so much studying that I need to do. [It’s] hard to keep up with both at the same time.”
Wang isn’t the only person on the tennis team facing external challenges. Scheduling around activities and AP exams make practices more limited. Ravva hopes to motivate his teammates to get out on the court and stay consistent.
“I plan on preparing by making sure our preseason practices are [tight], making sure that all the members are attending and that we’re all putting 100% effort getting ready for our real season,” Ravva said. “Some of our biggest challenges are school activities, going through our practice schedules and games … I know we’re a spring sport, so we’re kind of mid-AP exams and end of course exams, so I know that will be a big barrier for a lot of people.”
For Coach Boyd’s first season, he hopes to build depth in both the men’s and women’s teams. His goal is to have both teams make the state championships.
“We’re trying to get a little more depth on the girls’ side and … the boys’ side, just trying to increase that depth in our lineup so that we can compete all the way,” Boyd said. “Our goal for both teams is to make it to state.”