As the past two Augusts have come around, I have gotten prepared to manage the boy’s tennis team here at Cass. As someone who loves to play tennis, I made the decision in my junior year of high school to stop running cross country, and move to manage the boy’s tennis team after school instead. Managing the boy’s tennis team is so fun for me. I have become closer with a couple of girls and many of the boys since we all have to spend so much time together after school each day. 

Last year, I managed with Alexa Madrigal and Emma Geisler, but this year I get to manage again with Alexa and Katie Hurst. Each day at practice we have the responsibility of getting out the ball hoppers, jump ropes, and anything else the boys might need that day. We also get asked to fill up multiple water jugs as during the boy’s season it is much warmer than during the girl’s. Then in the middle of practices we will run drills for the team, such as drop feeding and playing the point out, or sometimes we even get to play against each other. 

During the days we have matches we have many more responsibilities. At home matches, we have to get the ball hoppers out for warm-ups, set the scorecards up, measure the net height, hang up the senior banners, open new tennis balls, and throughout the match, we have to keep score on how the team is doing. If we have an away match, the managers have to get extra water bottles, the medicine kit, and a ball hopper, and we have to keep score as well. 

Managing the boy’s team is one of my favorite things to do. I get to watch tennis every single day while watching each boy improve on the basics of tennis. It is so interesting to see the boys who came out as freshmen last year, who were brand new to the sport, look like completely different players with how much they have improved with just one season. My favorite part of the season is match days. I get to sit and watch tennis while talking to Katie and Alexa the entire time. I love when the team wins because all the boys get so excited and all come together to congratulate each other on their accomplishments for the night. 

Even though I love playing during girl’s season, I would say I enjoy managing a little bit more. I get to go out to tennis every day to hit, play points, and serve without the stress of how good or bad I am playing that day. I am improving my tennis game by playing against the boys every day because of how skilled they are. During girl’s season, I have the stress of an upcoming match I have to play in or the thought of how I am playing for my position on the team. Being a manager is one of my favorite parts of high school so far, just for the aspect of making new friends and getting to know more about the sport of tennis each day!