If you ever considered doing a sport at the start of the school year, tennis is the right one for you! Recently, there have been more newcomers in this sport than last year. Girls Tennis is a fun and easy sport for P.E credit, and tryouts are held before the school year. Practice is after school until five o’clock. Players compete against other schools, meet new people, learn a new sport, and have fun at the same time.

       So why should you join tennis? If you’re new, you need the skills before trying them out. They offer tennis camp over summer, where you can practice, and sharpen your skills for tryouts. The teams are divided into the newbies, (Junior Varsity) and Varsity, the long-time players. If you have free time after school, looking to do something productive and enjoyable, then joining is another great way to manage your free time beneficially. 

     If you are thinking of joining, but feel shy, scared, or even intimidated, there’s nothing to worry about. Everyone on the team is nice and welcoming, you would feel right at home right away. “I’ve been playing Tennis for about half a year now.” Jasmine Tran states, “I was going to join freshman year, but I was too scared. I was going to join sophomore year, but I was still too scared, so I finally did it this year. I was scared of the girls…I was very intimidated.” She added, ”Tennis is really fun. I like my team. Any girls who want to join tennis, please join! I will join tennis next year because I really like tennis in general and I want to make the most out of my remaining year.” Dayrin Diaz, a junior player for the JV team, commented, “I would absolutely recommend anyone to join tennis! it’s a really fun sport to play and very amazing, and I would join next year because Jasmine is too.”

   The SEMHS girls tennis team played 4 games against different schools during the school year. The JV team had a close match against Monrovia High School. It was a near tie, with the Lady Eagles miraculously winning the last match and ending it in a tiebreaker. For their first game against Schurr High School, the team also t

riumphantly won with a score of 13-5. However, the Varsity team lost. “Schurr High School was the hardest team I went up against,” Jasmine remarked. “Their Varsity singles 1 is really tough to beat.” 

        There are days when it doesn’t go too well. Varsity and JV both lost their second game against San Gabriel, JV leaving with a score of 2-16. Jasmine got furious over the thought of losing. “I’d be annoyed!” she said. “ I would go on rants about how I lost for like an hour straight. Beforehand I would search up their school’s score, and see that they lost recently, so I thought I could beat them. Then I lose.. and it surprises me how good they are! I would be really hard on myself after losing competitions though, and get stuck on why I lost, and replay it in my head.”  Dayrin also added, “When I lose a match, I would feel devastated, but I would remind myself that I did my best so it was just to have fun.”

       Recently, however, on September 24, 2024, the JV and Varsity teams won their game against Mountain View High School, earning the Varsity team their first win. The JV team had an away game, with an impressive score of 15-3. The team was thrilled with their victory. Varsity scored a total of 13-5, with both JV and the Varsity team dominating the court. Furthermore, on October 4, the Varsity Lady Eagles victoriously won against the Arroyo High School Lady Knights. Their singles players, Jasmine Tran, Desiree Hernandez, and Zoe Vasquez were able to win two out of their three matches, and the doubles team bagged a handful of wins too. Their win is truly an impressive feat, especially since Arroyo is renowned for being good at sports.

       So far, the girl’s tennis team at South El Monte High School has had devastating losses, but many victorious moments.  So what will it be? Should you join tennis? The choice is yours!