With the new tennis season coming up, CHS was in need of a new varsity Girls Tennis coach. As a result, Kathy Settles was appointed coach because of her extensive knowledge and experience. Settles has played tennis for almost her whole life and continues to coach college teams, such as the Claremont Mudd-Scripps Women’s team.

“Coach Settles is super nice, no matter how silly my mistakes are. She just makes practice and being on the team a great experience,” senior Bita Kavoosi said.

Settles began playing competitive tennis at the age of eight, and attended college at UC Irvine where she continued to play. Afterwards, she worked in the Men’s Professional Tennis Tour for 10 years in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Settles later moved to Claremont where she worked as the Claremont Mudd-Scripps Assistant Women’s Tennis Coach and Recruiting Coordinator from 2006 to 2012. To add to her accomplishments, she is a certified Professional Tennis Registry Teaching Professional, a difficult title to receive. Settles has won four United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Husband-Wife Clay Titles where couples form a doubles team and compete against other couple teams. Last summer, she won the Husband-Wife and Mother-Son tournament at the 99th Annual La Jolla Championships with her husband Paul and her son, junior Christian Settles.

“Coach Settles gets along with the girls really well. She comes with a lot of experience under the belt because she is a college coach. She has taken charge, and I think the team is going to benefit and progress farther as a whole,” JV coach Mark Anderson said.

When Settles saw the girls play, she believed that they had potential for greatness but needed to work on a few skills to help their game improve. Therefore, she decided to use practices to focus on technical issues, singles and doubles strategy, competition, and fitness.

“All the girls on varsity are dedicated students who understand the hard work it takes to excel in the classroom and on the courts and they are committed to getting better. They are a great group of young women who represent CHS, themselves and their families well in the midst of competition,” Settles said. “They enjoy being together and play an important role in supporting each other. I have really enjoyed working with them and look forward to helping them have an awesome high school tennis experience.”

For most teams, the arrival of a new coach requires an adjustment period; however, when Settles came to CHS, her style of coaching tennis was easily integrated. Settles has learned a lot from her time on the professional tour and from the Claremont Mudd-Scripps team, and she hopes to pass her knowledge onto the girls varsity team. The tennis team is very happy that she was chosen for the position, and they hope to have a great season with her.