Before summer even had the chance to wind down, devoted Powell Panthers headed back to the courts for the 2018 Tennis season.

That’s right, with three weeks of summer vacation to go, the tennis season was in full swing and players are already preparing for regionals.

And if you think that’s a racket, keep reading.

You may think tennis is just another sport, but let us share a few interesting points you may not have been aware of.

Ever notice the fans at a tennis match?  No screaming. No chanting. Instead, you will hear an occasional clap and possibly even a high five.

You see, tennis is considered a refined and gentle game.  A game that requires finesse and control.

“It’s a formal sport and I completely believe in that. If it’s a formal sport it’s supposed to be quiet during the points. If you make a good shot it’s good to cheer on your team, but during the points it should be quiet,” senior Shayla Shoopman stated.

To prove this point even further all tennis matches begin in love, or in layman’s terms zero, zero. The scoring then goes to 15, 30, then 40. What’s that?  Did you hear “deuce”? That’s the tennis world just saying that the teams are tied.

In tennis you won’t see a line judge out there calling the shots. And you definitely won’t see a screaming referee out there telling you when to begin play or calling out the score.  As soon as you walk onto the court it’s on you. You and your opponent are to decide who serves first, whether that ball was in or out, and what the score is of the game.

“It’s really discouraging, if you hit a ball [and] you know that they’re going to call it out anyways. What’s the point of playing if they’re not going to be good sports and be honest in the way that they play?” Shoopman said about playing teams who make poor line calls.

Injury with a partner? No problem. We’ll just sub in an alternate player on the team but if that’s not an option someone from the opposing team could work too.

Junior Jay Cox had first hand experience with this when we hosted Rawlins.

His partner, sophomore CJ Brown, twisted his ankle during the match. That left Cox without a partner. Both coaches decided to take one of the Rawlins players and put him in to be partners with Cox.

“It was very interesting…I was trying to be encouraging, but I had just met him. So it was hard to be full on encouraging, but he was still my “teammate”,” Cox said.

Panther tennis will conclude conference this week then prepare for regionals and state. “We have an awesome group of tennis players this year… I feel like there is a lot of promise for Powell tennis in the future,” Coach Brandon Preator said.