Trying out for a sport is already tough on a lot of student athletes, but making the varsity team can be even more difficult. However, this is not the case for freshmen Caren Uribe, Jahday Drewery, and Goldie La. These three players are the first to play out of the starting lineup for the CHS Girls Varsity Tennis team. Each of these individuals have been playing tennis for a long period of time. Their achievements have led them to believe that anything can happen if they put in the time and dedication.
Uribe has been playing tennis for six years and had been training with a coach, but now practices with the CHS varsity team and her father every other day. After watching a few of her father’s tennis games, she gained an interest for the sport. The moment Uribe realized she wanted to play tennis was when she first started hitting on the court. She is looking forward to getting to know her team more since she is one of the only freshman on the team. Uribe is also determined to help bring her team to victory in every match they play.
“There are times where I have my downs, but I try my hardest to be confident when we go against hard teams in our league,” Uribe said. “It’s fun, people think it’s boring and that it’s for old people. It’s actually fun if you put your heart in it and play with friends. It takes mentality and focus.”
Drewery has had many years of experience playing tennis as well as Uribe. During her four years playing the sport, she has managed to sweep the court with her athletic performance. She in no way was thinking about trying out for the freshman team; She aimed towards varsity from the start. Drewery had played tennis before but not competitively. Like Uribe, Drewery grew a liking to the sport and wanted to try it out too. Luckily, her father found a coach who started training her when she began playing. After long sessions of practice with her coach, her progress and passion for tennis began to grow.
“My family always played but not competitively,” Drewery said. “We’d just go out and play on the tennis courts by my grandparents house, and then my dad actually found a coach that was practicing at the Claremont tennis courts and he asked about it. We decided to practice and find out if I liked it, and I did.”
La, like the other two players, is undoubtedly an avid tennis player. She has been playing tennis competitively for five years. La’s father would always watch tennis on TV while her mother would encourage her to start playing. After a few clinics, she started playing competitively and going to tournaments which helped her improve on her technique. La is encouraged to help make tennis more prominent and wants to get across that tennis is not an easy sport.
“I think people should know you don’t just whack the ball; it actually requires a lot of skill to play tennis,” La said. “It’s a pretty intense sport because you’re out there on the court alone playing against another person, unlike sports like soccer or basketball. Being on the CHS team is just such a good experience.”
These three freshmen were able to prove to themselves that they could make the team only if they worked for it. One thing these players all have in common is their determination and passion for tennis. Each of them have specific goals to become better not only as athletes, but as students of CHS as well. They still have a season ahead of them, which gives them time to pursue and achieve these goals in no time. With practice comes progress, and progress makes perfect.