A preview of the upper school boys tennis team.
As is the wont of the spring season, the world is crawling with sports. Happy people, baseball players, Settlers of Catan… This particular article highlights the Upper School Boys Tennis Team.
Coached by Mr. Tom O’Brien and Assistant Coached by Mr. Terry Downs (who will make a guest appearance later in this very article- stay tuned!), a heaping load of boys trudge day after day to the green-plastered courts to whack and to whomp and to wallop about, all for the sake of recreation, perseverance, and fun. As Nithin Guduputi ’24, of the Barstow School Varsity Boys Tennis Team said well, “I like tennis.”
Practices commenced for the season on Monday, February 27, 2023, with sweat-drench-ed shirts and breathing-strained breaths. The date was chosen with the utmost of care, as it happens to fall on International Polar Bear Day, National Susan Day, and Dominican Republic’s Independence Day. As you can see, it is a most important day. The members of the team are not, though, merely random people the coaches picked off of the street. Freshman Sanjeev Adma ‘26, who is beginning his Barstow high school tennis career on the Varsity team, said that “[he] has ten years of experience.”
What is tennis, you might ask? None of the interviews collected for this article clarified what it really is; it might as well be a cover for an international society of mongoose bone chewers. But, from what was gathered, it appears to be a “good workout”, as Sanjeev Adma ‘26 said, “fun”, as Soren Gupta ‘26 said, and “outside”, as Mr. Downs, the assistant coach, said.
Mr. Downs, who, besides being the assistant coach, is also an Upper School biology teacher (which will be a relevant piece of information in the following sentence). He said, “I see coaching as just another form of teaching, and I just love teaching. Plus, I get to be outside and do what I enjoy.”
Didi Chionuma ‘26, acknowledged that tennis was something he “actually likes.” He, as well, has been “playing since [he] was six years old.” Tennis has been described to the uncultured B-Line staff as a species of ping-pong, though a species of ping-pong feeling rather bloated after a great feast.
Their season is looking shiny already, as nothing too drastic has happened yet (even though the season has yet to begin). No mutilated limbs, no puddles of tears, and, reassuringly, no fish. Assistant Coach Mr. Downs said, “I think we’re going to be a really strong team, Varsity and JV [junior varsity, that is]. I look forward toward showing the skills we have against other schools.” Whether or not he realized that he was speaking in near-rhyme (as “forward” and “toward” sound just about splendid together) is a separate matter, so don’t bother asking.
Tennis, whose popularity skyrocketed in the past few years due to the phrase “tennis shoes” (which, my boot, has nothing to do with tennis. Said Rachel Jacobs ‘26, “I have tennis shoes, although have never, by widdles, played actual tennis (I have played ‘hold-a-tennis-bat-and-pretend-like-I-am-interested-in-the-game’ tennis though).” Tennis shoes are called “sneakers” (a word much more fun to say) by the more dignified, “trainers” by the Brits, “athletic footwear” by the professionals, and “gym shoes” by the deepest of darkliest sea-slugs (who are splendid creatures, mind you).
Anywho, tennis or not, not or tennis, tennis will one day rule all our weasels and strip us of our jobs (it sounds like a suitably dramatic way to end this article). The tennis players would appreciate you a great deal if you went out of your way to support them.
Making a Racket: Boys Tennis Heads Towards Success
Boys Tennis: Concluding an Era of Love
The Upper School Boys: Menacing, Fuffenising, …and Tennising?
