Tennis is a very important, and exciting part of my life, and will remain that way for a long time. It has taught me to be mentally and physically fit and to always expect the unexpected. Whether the ball lands in or out, you always have to be prepared to make good decisions to win the point, and even if you don’t, you have to try again, just like in life. I recommend everyone to play tennis, whether you are an expert, or you don’t even know which side of the racket to hold. Another perk to playing tennis is that it’s a non-contact sport. If you are against getting bruises, tennis is your new best friend. The worst case scenario is a ball to the face, and it shouldn’t hurt too bad, hopefully. The moral of the story is, play tennis, you will thank me for it. You will meet a bunch of awesome people, make some great friends, and learn excellent life skills.

That’s about all the words of wisdom I have to offer today, but I have one more topic to talk about: the 2016 girls JV tennis conference! If you try out for the tennis team and end up doing pretty well, then you get to participate in the end of the season conference. Multiple schools pool their top JV players of the season into a fun, competitive tournament. It is the last match of the season, and its gives the players a feel of how much they improved from the start to the end of the two-month time period. This year’s JV conference took place on September 24th, 2016. I was fortunate enough to play in this year’s conference, so I will tell you about my experience. It started at nine AM and ended at various times for various girls. If you win a match you get to progress forward. If not, you are done for the day. I came in second place in the number two JV singles matches. At the end of the day, it was a very rewarding, and exciting experience for me. Although, I’m sure everyone that participated felt the same way. I’m already looking forward to next year’s season. Thank you to Coach Joseph Soddy, and the entire girl’s tennis team for making this season a great one, and for pushing me to become a better player.  

The schools that won the 2016 Girls JV Conference, and how North High School did:

# 1 Singles- Samantha Carroll took 2nd place; Oshkosh West took 1st place

# 2 Singles- Adithi Reddy took 2nd place; Neenah took 1st place

# 3 Singles- Maddie Platten took 3rd place; Neenah took 1st place

# 4 Singles- Fatima Ali took 4th place; Neenah took 1st place

# 1 Doubles- Andi Salm/Carley Katzman took 2nd place; Neenah took 1st place

# 2 Doubles- Maddi Klepps/Ale Cardenas took 9th place; Fond du Lac 1st place

# 3 Double- Appleton North took 1st place with Taylor Tomoda/Carmen Danz