Boys’ tennis focuses on future leadership

Coach reflects on impact of seniors

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Senior captain Oscar Laing returns a ball in their game against Armstrong Cooper. Laing and doubles partner Jared Zirkes were eliminated in the first round of individual Sections May 26.

Alec Pittman and Atticus Raasch

Looking back on how much the players improved over the season, head coach David Breitenbucher said he feels the seniors had a big impact on the attitude of the team.

“Oscar Laing was captain with Adam (Johnson) and Oscar always came to practice everyday with a good attitude. Oscar is great and has a great, optimistic attitude,” Breitenbucher said. “Jared Zirkes played number 3 for us and I like having Jared around, he is just kinda quirky in his humor and everybody likes having him around.”

Senior captain Oscar Laing said his role as captain this year helped him better lead the younger players.

“I thought (the year) was pretty good. It was a rebuilding year so helping the new guys was really important to me and helping the team bond (was too),” Laing said. “It was more of a leadership role for me this year than previous years.”

Senior Jared Zirkes said although the season required a lot of effort, he will miss the ability to compete each day.

“I will probably miss just playing every night. During the season you have the opportunity to be constantly playing, especially matches, which is something that is hard work but totally worth the work.”

According to Breitenbucher, junior captain Adam Johnson filled the role of captain extremely well.

“Adam was one of the captains this year and Adam did a lot. Not only did Adam improve his overall tennis game, but I think he has come a long way with his maturity,” Breitenbucher said. “As far as next year, Adam is going to be a captain again, he did such a nice job as a junior that I think Adam has the qualities (of a great captain).”

Junior player Collin Perkins said the positivity and calm brought to the team by the seniors will be greatly missed next year.

“(The seniors are) really good guys, they really bring this energy to the team. Oscar’s always cracking jokes and so is Jack Wheeler and Jared,” Perkins said. “In general they did “In general they brought a relaxed team, whenever someone was down those guys brought us back to earth.”