Tennis is a sport known worldwide for its exhilarating games, fast–paced matches, and tournaments on a global scale. But sometimes it’s not about players like Serena Williams or Roger Federer.
Athlete Riley Sack has been improving his tennis game all summer with coach Tim Treat, working on his serves backhands and strategies. “I’m really proud of how much I’ve grown,” says Sack. He even won most improved player because of his hard work. He also hopes to advance to a singles position on the team and wishes to continue playing after high school as well. Sack is just one example of the extraordinary tennis Doherty has to offer.
Hatfield is one of the calmer players on the team. He recieved the ACE award this season which stands for Attitude, Concentration and Energy. At one match against Mesa Ridge he and his opponent went on for almost four hours due to a tiebreaker. Even though he did not win in the end, Hatfield persevered and didn’t give up, showing polite mannerisms to every opponent, coach, and teammate every day.
At Regionals the team did the best they could, and the upperclassmen on the team said they competed the best we have in a long time. #4 doubles (Cayson Castle and Rylan Gufarotti) and 3 doubles (Robert Taylor and Jonas Crampton) even won their placement match and drove up to Boulder again at 6:00 am the day after. The two teams ended up win winning 4th place each with medals.
In the end out of the 9 teams Doherty went against overall, they always came up empty handed. But no fear. They have many things other teams don’t. If you look at Coronado, all of there singles positions are seniors and all of their varsity players are upperclassmen. And if you look at Doherty our 1 singles (George VanArnam) is a sophomore, fand urthermore our 4 doubles player is a freshmen (Rylan Gufarotti). These athletes have at least two years and they will be stronger than other teams soon.
Head Coach Shepard said, “I look at success through my partners.” Two of our coaches were also once Doherty Spartan athletes. They must be doing something right if our players are coming back.
Looking at this season we might not be as good as Serena Williams or Ben Shelton, but one day with the dedication of our coaches and teammates we can persevere and start winning some team trophies.
