Tigers' JV Tennis Team Finds Common Ground in Competition

[Editor's note: The following was submitted by Laura Kastilani, a student journalist at Notre Dame High School Belmont. If you would like to share your school's sports stories, email the editor at joan.dentler@patch.com.]

By Laura Kastilani

The Notre Dame Junior Varsity tennis team played in the annual tourney at CSM on September 14th, 2013. They played from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m, arriving at 7:30 a.m. to take some practice shots. The ten girls battled local teams from Valley Christian and Mercy Burlingame. Each player in the tourney had three matches.

Teammates were always supportive of each other. They cheered for their teammates while they waited for their next game to start.

"Even though the tournament took the entire day, it was well worth it. I had some tough competitors, but I tried my best and was able to win some of my games. I was really tired in the end, but my teammates cheered me on, and that energized me to keep going. When I heard my teammates calling my name, I was really happy to have my teammates watching me and seeing my work at practice pay off in the game," Brooke Bagot said.

“I think everyone who was on a break took the time to cheer for their teammates. It felt really good to be cheered on because I knew someone was rooting for me, and it helped me gain a sense of community of the team,” Christina Chu said.

The girls also found a common ground with their competitors and created friendships.

“Tournaments are always fun because I always play a really good group of girls that play tennis competitively and have lots of nice shots. But most of all, tournaments are special because in the end, we all have something in common, the love for the sport,” Samantha Cole said.

At the end of the tournament, medals were given out to winning teams at the awards ceremony.

“The highlight of the tournament was the awards ceremony. When our 2nd doubles team, Jennifer Spence and Jennifer Schultz, was called up for the first place award, I was really happy because both girls played so well and really deserved it!” Cameron Catalano said.