Girl’s Tennis here at Toll Gate

Captain of the Tennis Team, Svetlana Stepanova, speaks a little on some pros and cons of being a female athlete and choosing tennis as her sport this year at Toll Gate.

It’s no secret that the world has made female athletes go through tougher challenges than the male athletes go through, but what kind of treatment are the girls’ sports teams here at Toll Gate receiving? Svetlana Stepanova is a senior here at Toll Gate. She told this reporter that she is a member of the “French club, previously in the Italian club, president of Best Buddies, student council treasurer, captain of the math team, president of the art club, yarn club and captain of the tennis team.” It’s easy to see that this young lady strives for excellence and nothing less. I had the chance to speak to her to ask her a little about how her team is treated and if she believes it balances out with the treatment other teams receive. Here’s what she had to say, “In general, I think there is definitely more promotion for football, for example, than any girls’ sport. I just think there is so much about the boys’ teams in the morning announcements or the advisory ones.”

Toll Gate is very good at promoting its sports teams, when they are not tennis. Tennis is one of a variety of sports which we never really hear about over the PA system. Although Toll Gate should work on the promotional part of the girls’ sports teams, there are also some things they do pretty well. According to Svetlana, “Mr. Grimes and all those other people, they always come to our matches. For example Mrs. Caluori also made an effort to come to our matches. They’re supportive of our team, they’re just not very promotive. But they are very supportive of us.” People like Mrs. Caluori and Mr. Grimes have always been right there with the Girls’ Tennis team. They have always made efforts like these to make it to events which are important to the student athletes.

On that note, let’s take a look at other teachers and staff members who have influenced Svetlana in her tennis-playing career. “I loved Gary Gorman. He was fun and he was kind of passive aggressive. So it was kind of funny and he was pretty good at tennis. So that was a nice thing to have on the tennis team.” Teacher and member of the Athletics Department, Gary Gorman, is one more person who was truly influential to the girls on his tennis team. He taught them valuable lessons, bettering their abilities in tennis as well as being humorous and making the girls laugh, all while winning matches together. When asked what it was like with the different team members and coaches Svetlana has played with, she noted the variety in her tennis career here at Toll Gate, “Well, variety is a good word because I played in all 3 divisions…fun honestly, it’s a lot of fun…I mean gratification is also a good word, there’s a lot of satisfaction in playing on a team because you make a lot of friends and winning isn’t the biggest part of it. Honestly it’s just good to have a good team.”

Alongside the fun and amusing parts of being a tennis player, Svetlana has also experienced a few bumps in the road to playing tennis alongside a good team. “When the coach isn’t nice, or willing to make an effort to communicate with the team and be kind to them, that’s a really bad aspect of being on a team. Another bad aspect is when there are other underlying problems which make communication impossible. A huge part of being on a team is definitely communication.” She noted that communication is definitely key to working together and forming lifelong friendships with the other girls on the team. When difficult coaches and lack of communication make it difficult for there to be a strong team involved, it makes playing tennis daily harder than it needs to be.

This year’s girls’ tennis captain has experienced all the different facets of Toll Gate’s athletics system. When asked what kind of skills playing on a team for Toll Gate has given her, here’s what she had to say, “Probably perseverance because sometimes when you’re playing a match it just goes on forever…so you just have to keep going at it and you can’t give up because it goes along with your mental strength so if you give up, then you’re done even if you are a better player.” Over time, Svetlana has become one of the greatest athletes to play for Toll Gate. As a senior, It is time for her to leave her Toll Gate days behind, and go on to do great things in her life. However, before her time is up, she has some advice for the up-and-coming female tennis players for Toll Gate High School, “Don’t be afraid to join a team. Even if you don’t know how to play the sport, you’ll make friends really easily and if you’re not good, it does not matter. If you join during your earlier years of high school you’ll have enough time to learn [the game], and you’ll be fine, if that’s what you’re insecure about. I say join a team even if you can’t play the sport really well. I think it helps a lot too, you make a lot more friends, and connect with people. It’s a great form of branching out, and stepping out of your comfort zone.”