By Kadynn Porterfield and Ella Carney
Claire Yang, ’19, was just nominated to be the athlete of the month by the Visalia Times Delta and she said, “I didn’t even think I would be on the roster.”
Yang’s first thought when she found out she was a nominee was, “It was very interesting because usually people who play sports that are more aggressive like football.” Tennis players are not usually considered for things like this. Overall she feels that it is very cool that a tennis player is on there for a change. She has worked very hard over the years.
She tries her best to practice at least 2 or 3 hours a day but if she cannot she is either playing in a tournament or will just simply go outside and hit balls with her brother or dad. Yang started playing tennis when she was about 7 years old, so she has been playing for about 9½ years now.
Her motivation to start playing and still is, her dad. He has helped her a lot and she wants to play so she can almost show off the sport her dad taught her. She also simply wants to keep getting better at the sport she loves and is wanting to play for a scholarship in college next year.
What Yang loves about comepeting is how random the outcome of the game can be. You never know what will happen during the matches. Yang loves the thrill of getting a point and how intense it can be sometimes.
She loves how her coach teaches. Yang states that she is not afraid to say what’s on her mind and is willing to work as hard for them to achieve the bigger goal. The league is quite weak so their goal is not to just win league but valley as well. She shows them to not go for the smaller stuff and that it is easy so they should try to go for the bigger stuff and see what happens.
“I feel very old.” She remembers when she was a freshman and made varsity. She can’t believe she is a senior now and is so used to the level of play. She plans on playing tennis in college as well. She does not yet know where she will be going for college but is still applying with an open mind of where she will be next year for school.
Ella Carney
Ella ('22) is in her third year writing for the Redwood Gigantea. She is the managing and scheduling editor, looking over all of the posts that student writers produce. She also has a passion for writing. You can reach Ella by email at ella.ca7786@vusd.us
Tags: girls tennis, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, rhs, visalia ca
Great story, I am very glad that you two made MVP of the sports section!!! Keep up the great work!!!
Sorry, I made a mistake!
Great story, I am very glad that you two made MVP of the sports section!!!