Samantha Li/Staff reporter
This year’s tennis season started on April 7, with 7 matches per school among Coquitlam districts. At Gleneagle’s first game against Riverside, the team lost at 5:6, but the coach thinks it is a good try and they would keep up with practices.
Unlike last year, the tennis team started their training session earlier and is more focused on preparing for the tournament. “Last year it was more casual, because of Covid, there wasn’t any competition or tournament, but this year we have a school-to-school, district-wide tournament, so our team is more competitive this year,” said Yamada Etsuko, educational assistant and tennis team coach.
For some students, this is their first chance to play a tennis match in a school team, most of them are holding a positive attitude towards the tournament and are hoping to learn some new skills.
Paula Lochte, grade 11, said that “my goal is just to have fun since this is her first competition. To me, it is more about the experience rather than winning”. Eunice Roh, grade 9, also said “I adapted to the team well, and I want to gain something game tips from the upcoming tournament since I never played tennis matches on a school level before.”
“I am really excited about it, as first I didn’t want to go to the competitions but when it comes to signing up, I am actually interested right now and I am looking forward to it,” said Tina Hashemi, grade10, who has been on the team for two years. “The thing that I want to put the most focus on is just to try my best, and hopefully Gleneagle wins.”
There would be eleven matches in total, the school that wins six matches would go to the next stage. Etsuko wishes to finish the season with at least third place in the district and possibly make it to provincial.
The next match for the team would be with Pinetree on April 12. Etsuko said, “it is kind of nervous starting this season, but it is excited playing against other schools. We have a couple of strong players, and I think 5:6 is not a bad result for us to start.”