LOS ALAMITOS, CA – Tennis is a sport that requires good reflexes, agility, and coordination. In the case of girl’s tennis, it takes a great amount of strength to keep pushing the odds. Girl’s tennis has been winning match after match so far this season, and most of the excitement stems from the superstar seniors on the varsity team.
The 11 star seniors that make up the Los Al’s varsity tennis team are Katie Chen, Katherine Coates, Allyson Crosby, Mia Everett, Gabrielle Garcia, Claire La, LeAnn Lee, Jessica Leung, Janelle Liou, Madeline Pinches, and Jordan Shen.
“Six have been on varsity since they were freshmen, so it’s a really special year because they’re all graduating,” said Ms. Kibtya, who has now coached tennis for seven years.
A typical day for the team consists of two-hour practice sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays during sixth period. All of the girls also have lessons with coaches or academies outside of their normal practices that they have been attending for years. On top of this, all of the girls are challenged by their demanding four or five AP classes.
Even with balancing their classes on top of tennis, the girls talk consistently throughout the season about what they want the team to be like, which helps put them at ease. With the season ending by Halloween, Ms. Kibtya hopes to make sure that the girls are still having fun while dominating at matches.
What Ms. Kibtya loves the most about coaching tennis is that she has been able to change how tennis is viewed on a larger scale by adding single and double matches, for example. With the help of the girls, she has created a larger community of friendship and hard work.
“We have made a team sport out of an individual sport,” Ms. Kibtya said.
Ms. Kibtya also wants to make sure that the girls are aware that balance is important. Especially with the girls’ win at league last year, she hopes that they know that balancing tennis and school, as with anything in life, is no small feat. Both Ms. Kibtya and assistant coach Ms. Gahungu hope the girls can establish a common goal and work towards that goal together.
“[I hope the girls can remember having] a love of a game. Like [Coach Kibtya] said, it’s an individual sport, but at the high school level it becomes a team sport, and there’s camaraderie that’s built there,” Ms. Gahungu said.
The girls can agree that one of the best things about playing for Los Al is that they all are close; they eat lunch together and hang out after school. Similarly, they can lean on each other for support while having fun. Two stars on the team, Coates and Lee, have been playing tennis for years and find that tennis is the perfect outlet to release stress and to exercise.
“I started playing when I was six, and then I took a couple breaks. In total, [I’ve been playing for] maybe seven years,” Coates said.
“[I started playing] in middle school. My dad also played, and we would play together,” Lee said.
Both Coates and Lee believe that tennis has immense team spirit, all while allowing them to embrace who they are on the court individually. They also love tennis because of the fact that both Coach Kibtya and Gahungu are very empathetic and do not judge them, they said.
“I think this year has been so much better for me. Everybody is so supportive; not just in tennis, but in life in general,” Coates said.
“It’s really fun to play games, and I like playing on a team and with my friends. I like practicing and seeing myself improve,” Lee said.
Playing for varsity demands extreme drive and focus, but the girls believe that playing for Los Al is an incredible experience. Coates enjoys lineup, which is when the girls are each called as a way to rally support. Lee said that playing with her doubles partner and seeing them start to win after losing is her favorite moment.
“It’s been fun. There’s definitely been ups and downs, but I think it’s all worthwhile,” Lee said.
“I really love it,” Coates said. “I think that we’re a really nice team. We definitely have the most pride in ourselves, the most confidence, [and] the best sportsmanship compared to other teams.”
