On Friday, October 20th, Kingsway’s Girls Tennis ended their season with a match at Cumberland with a record of 11-8. This season began with around 30 girls to fill 26 spots for both Varsity Coach Drew Laverty and JV Coach Nick Fiocco. The girls chosen to play underwent a series of mental and physical challenges. Annabelle Williams, 1st singles senior said, “The thing that was the most challenging was probably finding the strength to keep going mentally throughout the matches but also making sure that the whole team was able to bond together.” From mental wars to physical injuries, each girl could say this season started off with difficulty. However, these challenges only allowed the team to grow in a greater desire to play and win as this was evident to the coaches. Coach Laverty stated, “The girls this year had our best season yet.  I am looking forward to the team we have next year and moving closer towards competing against better teams in both our conference and the county.”

This year there were girls of all grade levels who came to play.  As the season continued, each girl showed an expansion of comfortability within group chats, pasta parties, and even as little as the snack bin. Annabelle Williams also stated, “My relationships with the girls changed throughout the season from feeling like we were all strangers to becoming almost like sisters; it’s crazy to think that some of these freshmen, sophomores, and even juniors look up to me when I see them as equals and nothing less.” The effort put into the team spending time together made each girl play full out as they were invited to be themselves. This was then complemented by the vibrant personalities of both coaches.

While the girls are prominent on the tennis team, their skill is a reflection of their coaches’ teachings. Coach Laverty has shown his love for tennis through his desire and determination to coach each year, some players reflected. He said, “Playing tennis at a young age I was very competitive and when I started training younger players while I was in college, I really became passionate about the coaching and teaching aspect of tennis today. To have a coaching staff with such wide experience with the sport itself only makes the team stronger as it evidently did during this season.

When the girls underwent a series of mental difficulties, both Coach Laverty and Fiocco were there to provide encouragement from a play of sympathy and experience. Despite some hardships for players and coaches, no one remains ungrateful. Coach Laverty also stated, “I am so grateful to have the chance to be the coach for both the boys’ and girls’ teams. If anything, I learned this past year that life is just too short; to be out on the courts every day teaching and instructing brings me both great joy and happiness.”