Kennedy Moore, junior, competing in a women's tennis match. Photo credits: Watauga Yearbook
Alina Ramey, Staff Writer for The Powderhorn
Watauga High School offers excellent opportunities for students to try new sports and experience a welcoming team environment. Among these sports, Watauga Women’s Tennis provides students with the benefits of a challenging activity while fostering close friendships.
“It's made me a stronger person on and off the court. I’ve learned a lot of resilience and how to deal with people I don’t necessarily agree with or get along with,” said Hatherly Armfield, senior. “It’s given me an appreciation for teamwork. Even in a sport that’s seen as independent, we still work cohesively to have a strong team and to have strong scores.”
Much like swimming, wrestling, and cross country, tennis is primarily an individual sport. Team members often play single matches, which are one-on-one competitions against another team. While doubles matches are an option, they are much less common.
“You’re just playing with yourself, or in doubles, with only one other person. Being able to cheer each other on while you’re still on the court is really important, and I think it helps build that stronger connection,” said Kennedy Moore, junior. “The girls who aren’t playing in a match, sitting there, watching, and cheering us on the whole time is what really helps connect our team.”
Tennis is as much a mental sport as it is a physical one. Players have to remain focused, even during the most challenging games.
“I feel like tennis has really enhanced my patience as a person. Going into a match, it’s not like other sports where you have a time limit, your match can last anywhere from 25 minutes to three hours,” Armfield explained. “You have to be mentally and physically prepared for that to happen and you have to learn how to encourage yourself throughout. You can’t talk to your coach the whole time or to your teammates, so being able to pick yourself up when you’re losing or when you’re down has helped me off the court as well.”
Despite the successes, the team has also faced many challenges. The tennis team was largely impacted by Hurricane Helene, but were fortunately able to finish the season strong.
“Coming back from the hurricane was really difficult because you go from a time of being so volunteer- and recovery-focused to getting back on track to winning a championship,” said Armfield. “We had to realize that it was still something that we wanted to work for, and we were able to do that.”
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