One of Lafayette’s many amazing sports teams is the Tennis team.

Tennis is played on a rectangular court with a net running across the center. The aim is to hit the ball over the net, landing the ball within the margins of the court, and trying to make sure your opponent doesn’t hit it. You win a point every time your opponent is unable to return the ball within the court.

To win the game, you must win a certain amount of sets (best of three for women’s matches, and best of 5 sets for men’s matches). Winning a set is simply the first player to reach 6 games, but they have to be clear by at least two games. If your opponent wins five games, you must win the set 7-5. If the set goes to 6-6, then a tie break is played, and the first player to seven points wins. Players need equipment like rackets, tennis balls, and plimsolls to participate.

The tennis team began in February with tryouts.  All 20 members of the team practice at Lafayette’s tennis courts every day after school until 5:30. Their coaches are Bryon Wilson and Chris Griffith. Griffith is the female head coach and Wilson is the boys coach. Some of the athletes on the team are Michayla Gatsos, Ailenn Conner, Anushka Mukhopadhyah, Amane Fukaya, Anna Nakagaki, Fuka Nakagaki, Anastasia Hinton, Tevy Toleman, Madeleine Lepley, Kaiqi Wang, Haruna Masuda, Sharlene Wang, Jacob Oklaey, Conard Adams and  Matthew Shein. These athletes do drills such as bounce offs, back and fourths, and shots to improve their skills.

Bounce offs is a drill where players practice serving to their partner by bouncing it on the court. Back and fourths are where two players stand opposite corners of the court and hit the ball repetitively back and forth until a point is scored. Shots is a drill where a ball machine shoots tennis balls at players, and they move along the court to hit back the tennis balls.

Helena Weiss, tennis participate, has a few words to say about her experience, “The tennis team is so close to my heart. After winning district last year and being pushed so hard to do so, I really would never give up this wonderful sport”.