Park played their ninth match of the season on Sept. 17 against Chanhassen ending in a loss of 1-6. Overall, the program has had 3 wins so far this season. Matches typically last for roughly one to two hours and sometimes have been played in intense 80-degree heat.
Assistant coach Greg Holmbeck said the program’s focus is on making sure players are healthy and well energized throughout long, hot matches to keep motivation high and good performance up.
“We talk a lot about the basics of eating right and staying hydrated. Also using the changeovers as breaks to get what you need, if you need food, if you need water,” Holmbeck said. “We can chat with players and then kind of see how they’re feeling, see if they need anything.”
Sophomore Lola Grimm said good communication with teammates and staying present helps her stay motivated throughout matches.
“Talk to your teammates around you and stay in the moment,” Grimm said.
Senior Sarah Tirado said as a captain, she focuses on being encouraging and keeping everyone’s spirits high because of its effect on performance.
“I make sure to always encourage my teammates and make sure that they’re mentally feeling confident about their match because that really carries over into how they play,” Tirado said.
Holmbeck said the program prioritizes practices upfront and makes good use of canceled matches to break up the long weeks of back to back matches. He said utilizing the time after matches to have important discussions is a way for expectations to be heard, whether it is coming from players or coaches.
“We did front load practices. And we also know that the weather is never a sure thing in tennis, so it’s turned out that we’ve had four match weeks, and that’s really hard, but we do get practice in on Fridays,” Holmbeck said. “We go over things after matches, things that we see the players are doing right, and things that we want to work on.”
Tirado said having so few practices, and so many matches can be mentally taxing, however, she said she still manages to have fun.
“It is kind of annoying to not have any practice and it is kind of mentally draining at times to have matches everyday, but also matches are super fun so there are definitely pros and cons,” Tirado said.
Despite having more matches than practices, Grimm said she is still able to get in good practice and focus on finding a good rhythm when she gets tired throughout the week.
“There are enough practices, and there’s a lot more matches than practices, so you kind of like practice at matches,” Grimm said. “We get tired throughout the week, but we all also can find the groove of doing well and just keep doing well as the week goes on.”
Holmbeck said the program has been competing very well so far. He said he has high hopes for the remainder of the season.
“They’ve been competing great. They have made great improvements, both technically, and mentally and strategically,” Holmbeck said. “I want continual improvement and continually playing better—we want to see a gradual and a solid line of improvement.”
Tirado said she hopes for individual and team improvement as well as many more wins to look back on and overall success within the program.
“I hope that for the remainder of the season the team can continue to improve as players and as a whole and that we can win as many matches as possible,” Tirado said.
Park girls tennis team’s next match will take place on 4:15 p.m. Sept. 23 against Richfield at home.
