Game. Set. Seniors.
By Ashton Slaughter
Last March, before quarantine, before self-isolation, before the whole world flipped upside down, I found myself in a bit of an awkward situation. I was sitting at the Owasso tennis courts cheering on some of my friends and classmates, when all of a sudden there was a bit of commotion amongst all of the players, parents and coaches. This sudden commotion was caused by text messages announcing cancelations of upcoming tournaments due to COVID-19. Immediately, the thought turned to the state tournament, the holy grail of all tournaments. As everyone realized their season was in question, the seniors had to start facing the harsh reality that they may be playing their last matches that day. Here we are now, with the new tennis season just starting and the rest of the team having a much different outlook on the sport they love.
“We had high expectations… we were just starting to play the best we’d played all year. When our season got cancelled, we were all pretty devastated,” says senior tennis player Sonnie Simons, who can’t help but think about what the team could’ve done last spring.
Photo of Sonnie Simons, taken by Mike Simons
“I think it gave us a lot of perspective going into this season, we’re all just grateful to be playing again,” continues Simons.
The expectations continue to mount for Simons, who has moved up to the best doubles division in the 6A class with her partner, Sydney Swift. This is causing the girls to face harder competition than last year, in which they were in the lower Varsity division.
“Obviously I’ve grown up a competitor, so there is always the goal of bringing home hardware at the end of the year. However, it’s a lot harder this season because of the higher competition we have to play,” says Simons when talking about her personal goals and expectations for the season. It was clear Simons knew it wouldn’t be easy, as she said that her and Swift had found themselves finishing very high in every tournament last season, which isn’t a given this year.
When talking with another senior tennis player, Kennedy Forero, it’s clear that her shortened season last year gave her new perspective as well.
“Of course I want to make it to state with my team, but also since it’s my last year playing I want to have fun whether we win or lose,” says Forero, who shares the same grateful feeling as Simons.
Forero continues with, “Coming back from not playing in a year definitely has its difficulties, but it has been so rewarding to play.”
The team also had to adjust in ways they can connect as well, Simons mentioned to me that for years the seniors have talked about wanting to do things outside of tennis as well.
Simons says, “We’ve implemented team dinners, Christmas parties and other activities to bring us closer together. I feel like this year we’re not only teammates, but we’re friends.”
Forero also spoke to the different ways the team has spent time together, including team-yoga and socially distanced workouts.
It’s fair to say that these girls, along with the whole tennis team, are taking every moment of this season in, as they now know what it feels like to have it taken away from them without warning. This new perspective has given them a much different outlook on the year, along with giving them extra motivation to compete at a higher level than ever before.