The first year of high school comes with many challenges, and for student athletes, joining a sports team can be one of the biggest. Freshmen athletes Sofia Castillo and Hannah Kaplan are trying out for the girls’ tennis team for the first time, and learning to balance competitive athletics with rigorous academics. Although the season has just started, these two players are ready to ace it this spring.
Castillo has started her season as a strong junior varsity athlete. As a new player and student to Newton South, tryouts were inevitably stressful, and the challenging weather added to that stress. Castillo shares that she was not impressed with her own performance, saying: “The wind definitely got in the way, so I think a lot of people were very disappointed in the way they were playing, including myself. We were all in it together, which makes it a bit better.” Now that teams are officially made, players no longer have to worry about tryouts. Castillo says the season has “been going great. [She’s] loving getting to know everyone on the team, and improving [her] skills alongside some of the best players [she’s] ever seen.” In these early days, she has established some personal goals for herself. Castillo intends to “build a community that [she] can work well with, so [the team] can be successful as the season goes on. [She] also wants to work to the best of [her] abilities so [she] can improve and hopefully make varsity next year.” Castillo also hopes to “find a good partner to play doubles with.”
Following tryouts, Kaplan was placed on the varsity team, an impressive feat considering the overall skill of our girls tennis team this year. Kaplan mentions that, “Tryouts were definitely competitive, especially with all these freshmen wanting to make the team. Fifteen freshmen were trying out, and fifteen girls had to get cut, which meant I needed to perform my best.” To make varsity, it meant that Kaplan had to outrank some of the returning upperclassmen. Moving away from tryouts and into the early season, Kaplan was initially, “nervous being the only freshman on varsity but, the upperclassmen have helped [her] adjust and feel welcome because they all have been so kind. [She doesn’t] feel like being the only freshman on the team has impacted a lot because [she feels] like a part of the community, and [has] made many new friendships.”
Clearly, both Castillo and Kaplan have been enjoying their time so far as new members on their teams, and intend to keep building their skills as the season progresses.
