Tennis is a sport enjoyed by many around the world. That is especially true with the CHS tennis players. These current student athletes’ tennis experiences vary widely, but they all have their own reasons for playing tennis. 

Senior, Juliana Bach, has been officially playing for about a year. Bach said she mainly joined tennis because she was interested in learning to play the sport, “[It was] just general interest, and I thought it would be similar to badminton, and I played it casually [in the past]. I played badminton in the gym [too].” Bach specifically mentioned that she loves the mindset the game puts her in. “You need a really good mindset to play well. I also really like a nice hit, like you know, that crispy sound,” said Bach. 

Along with actually playing the sport, there is a lot of team bonding involved,  which is a large part of what makes the game fun for Bach. “I made a lot of friends through tennis. Thinking back, I don’t know how my life would be without tennis, because of all of the friendships and experiences I had,”said Bach. “So I think the impact it had on my life was pretty drastic.”

For Bach, tennis is at the top of her priority list. It hasn’t always been this way. In fact, she explained that if you had asked her to choose between tennis and swimming last year, she wouldn’t have been able to choose. But now, she feels a much stronger connection to the sport after having been in tennis for a year. 

Bach added, “Even if adding on another sport or activity, like tennis, makes my life difficult, I wouldn’t change it because I really like tennis. I would drop another activity to make room for tennis.” 

As her time as a tennis player progresses, Bach mentioned that in all areas of tennis there’s improvement to be made, like with any other sport. “In every aspect of tennis you can really improve,” said Bach. “[But] right now I don’t get to practice as much because I also do swimming.”

Additionally, senior Kayla Doan has been involved with the tennis team for about four years now. “It was just during school. I wasn’t super committed, [at first] so I didn’t play during summer that much,” said Doan. 

She first got started playing tennis because she was invited by her friends to do so. “They invited me to join the team with them. Our coach made me stay because there were many times where I wanted to quit,” said Doan. “I sometimes felt that I wasn’t good enough, plus it was a lot of work. It was a very intensive sport when I first started out.” 

Though Doan mentioned that it was a difficult adjustment for her when she first joined the team, it was an experience that was worthwhile for her too. Similarly to Bach’s experience, Doan added that the people she engaged with was one of the things she enjoyed most (and being able to leave class early for games). There were also many other team-bonding activities that made Doan’s tennis experience more exciting. “I like everything. I liked team bonding. During my freshman year, we went over to an upperclassman’s house, and we did Christmas stuff. We played games, ate a lot of food too. It was the earliest memory I have of being a part of the team.”

Doan understands from personal experience that joining tennis can be an intimidating thing to do; even then, she said that it was a pretty manageable experience. “Since I’m a senior now I want to set a better example for the freshmen,” said Doan. “I haven’t been doing this, but I’m trying to put in more effort [into tennis] from now on.” Staying in tennis also helped Doan work towards being consistent and committing to things.”

Starting a new sport can be a scary experience to jump into. With that being said, here are some words of encouragement from current CHS tennis players and the girl’s team captain:

Cece Nguyen (girl’s team captain), “We always have to start somewhere. Everyone that wants to play is worried about not knowing how to play, but in life, you always have to start somewhere.” 

“Try to do it with a friend. Just… do it,” said Doan

“I’d say to just join and try it out. The majority of the team didn’t know how to play or even picked up a racket before joining the team, and it’s really fun,” said Bach. 

If you are inspired to join the tennis team, the following advisors will be able to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have about anything tennis-related 

Girl’s Tennis Captain [email protected] 

Girl’s Tennis Coach [email protected] 

Boys Tennis Coach [email protected]