by Ashley Jones
One thing head coach Jeff Lewis is looking forward to this season is building the boys’ team. Their team consists of younger players including freshmen and sophomores. Gaining experience is key for this season. Lewis is also looking forward to teaching tennis to newer players. The girls’ team has good juniors and freshmen. Lewis’ juniors are playing really well. Practices are very important. Varsity practice starts right after school and JV starts an hour and 15 minutes after Varsity. Practices consist of a short court warm up, 5 minute training skills, 1-2 technical areas to work on, and a scrimmage at the end. Their season is typically 10-11 weeks including district and state. There has been changes to Hamilton’s team due to the coronavirus. Lewis stated, ”They only interact on the court, masks are worn on the bus, and they wash their hands frequently. They don’t share common equipment.” The coaches have been vaccinated. Missing last season was hard for this team. Some of Lewis’ players have no tournament experience. “Most of them missed a year of experience,” Lewis added.Their first match of the season has already happened. Both boys’ and girls’ teams are going to be fun to watch this season. A lot of learning and growing is being done by the players. There are a lot of new players filling up the roster this year. It will be exciting to see the growth done by these student athletes.