by John Sorce
Special to The Leaven
The Leaven e-newsletter is introducing a new series every other week featuring a sports team from archdiocesan high schools. This week’s team of the week is St. Thomas Aquinas girls tennis.
OVERLAND PARK — This has been a season of transition for the St. Thomas Aquinas girls tennis team here.
The Saints have a total of 26 girls out for tennis this season, with nine of those at the varsity level.
But only two were varsity players from a year ago: the first doubles pairing of junior Eleanore Grace and sophomore Hannah Mulder.
Petra Shinn has been involved with the tennis programs at Aquinas since 2010. Her assistant, Laura Thompson, heads up the JV team.
With a solid turnout on the JV squad, the hope is to spark an intrigue for the sport and give the girls some experience before moving up to the varsity level in future years.
Senior Libby White and sophomore Catherine Heap quickly emerged as the team’s top singles players, and senior Emily Proctor and sophomore Della Harnden have stepped up to become their second doubles pairing.
“The girls have grown together as a team and have been competing at a very high level,” Shinn said.
Shinn has noticed the girls grow in camaraderie as a team as the season has gone along. That has also had a trickle-down effect on the JV girls, which bodes well for the team’s future.
“One strength our girls are showing is their support for each other,” Shinn said. “They constantly show that at practice and competitions, and we have started to notice this behavior at the varsity level is starting to spill over to the JV level.”
Shinn enjoys teaching her players lessons they can take with them into their everyday lives.
“It is very important for me to have well rounded teenagers on my team,” Shinn said. “We teach them life lessons such as communicating well with others, taking on responsibilities for the benefit of the team and representing their school and themselves well.
“I feel honored and privileged to be able to influence these young ladies.”
What separates tennis from some other sports is it can be played at a high level through much of a person’s life.
“Tennis is a superb activity that can be played throughout your life with lots of different people,” Shinn said. “I have made lifelong friends through this sport.”
Shinn hopes her players will create similar friendships that will go with them beyond the court.
“We want to offer our players an intimate setting at the high school level where they can make friends easily,” Shinn said.
The team competed at the DeSoto regional on Oct. 10, where White qualified for state as a singles player as did the doubles teams of Grace and Mulder and Proctor and Harnden.
