Serving up the potential for a great season is Warren Central’s girl's tennis team. With the start of the matches just around the corner, players are starting to practice and prepare for a competitive year. With different outlooks, and preparation methods the team is anticipating a victorious season.
Even before official practice had started, sophomore Karsyn Asher had been attending a tennis clinic on her own.
“Personally, I am playing three times a week at a high-performance clinic, where I play against top players around Indianapolis,” Asher said.
Asher is not the only player who has been preparing for the season in her own time. Junior Diana Cabrera has also been practicing and conditioning.
“I personally do indoor tennis once a week to prepare for my season, but as a team we are beginning to do conditioning to prepare even more for how the season will look like,” Cabrera said.
Some players are taking a different outlook on how to look ahead to the season. Betsabeth Davalos Romo does this by looking ahead toward collaboration and partnership within the team and herself.
“Teamwork and individualism play a role in how I prepare for a match because we like to talk about what strategies everyone can use as a team in each of our matches,” Davalos Romo said. “I personally try to pay attention to what I've been working on at practice and what I've been struggling with and try to fix them.”
Strategy and toughness are all ways in which players prepare for matches. When a strategy is formed and mental toughness is present a player's success rate can increase. Forming mental toughness may be challenging for some athletes, thus athletes may need extra encouragement and uplifting words.
“Encouraging your teammates both individually and together will uplift them and give them a better mentality for their match,” Makynna Oconitrillo said. “In our practices, we will help each other with our weaknesses so that we will better them and we will ensure that practice will only be filled with happiness.”
Along with beginning conditioning and practice, players are striving to work on areas they may struggle in in order to improve their playing and success.
“I would definitely want to succeed and focus on my serve,” Cabrera said. “It’s something very beneficial because that’s how you start every point.”
With the hope of winning multiple matches this year, excitement awaits, along with the drive and passion to win.
“I really would like our team to be able to get up on our feet and be able to win matches quickly,” Asher said. “During our season I felt like we never were able to win quickly and efficiently. Hopefully, conditioning will help the team achieve that.”