On March 1st, Coach Stephen Whipple and Coach Brandon Preator held the first tennis practice of the 2025 season. Since spring tennis is used as a preparation for the fall season, only freshmen, sophomores, and juniors came to the courts ready to hone their skills and prepare themselves for the competitive season.
As the week went on, the students began to get back into the swing of things, and were excited to improve despite weather conditions affecting their ability to get out on the court. Unfortunately, practice was cancelled during the first week due to these weather complications.
“It is very fun,” freshman Reina Hansen said. “[But] sometimes it can be really windy or way too cold.”
Wyoming weather doesn’t just affect beginners either. Junior Phu Nguyen says that weather is one of the biggest hurdles when it comes to spring tennis.
“I feel like if it’s windy, then it’s gonna be harder to serve or just hit a shot,” Nguyen said. “The visibility can be something big too.”
Despite the weather struggles, the students have all enjoyed being out on the courts. Students have different ideas about the purpose of spring tennis, but all agree that it’s a fun experience.
“[The purpose is] to perfect people’s imperfections and just kind of help them get better at the game,” junior Anna David said. “Because no seniors play, and it’s kind of just like we’re already planning for the fall season.”
Other students feel the spring season is more about teaching new players to the game than bettering the experienced players.
“I think spring tennis is a good way to get introduced to the game and to learn fundamentals,” Nguyen said. “Spring tennis is just for newer players.”
Overall, both students and coaches are very excited about the upcoming fall season, especially after the tournament on April 11th. The girls played against Red Lodge in a mini tournament with Cody.
“It was good to see Red Lodge for the first time ever, and I think they had a great time too,” Whipple said. “It’s always fun to play Cody. They’ve got some really competitive players all the time, and it’s nice to play against those guys…I saw a lot of great tennis matches.”
The coaches were excited, and said that they’re looking forward to the fall season. Both feel confident that the team will perform even better than during previous seasons.
“We’re gonna be pretty salty, actually, if the people don’t come out that are supposed to or that we’re planning on coming out,” Preator said. “I think we’ll do pretty well next fall, probably better than we did last year. I’m very excited for it.”
Preator hopes to continue to grow the team, leaving with some advice.
“For those of you who are reading this article that aren’t in tennis, you should really think about joining tennis,” Coach Preator said. “You will never regret it.”
