With spring on the way, Chamblee Tennis has officially begun its 2022 season. Practicing twice a week with matches also occurring about twice a week, the team is looking to build on the success of past seasons.
“Chamblee has a history of being a pretty strong program in the region that we’re in, as well as making the state playoffs,” said coach Jennifer Tinnell. “In 2019, both the boys and the girls won the state championship. In 2020, of course, the season was canceled, but last season, the girls made it to the third round of the state playoffs, the boys made it to the second round, so the team is historically pretty strong.”
However, the team still sees their most recent successes as a rebuilding effort.
“We were really good [in 2019], had a lot of good players and it was sort of a dream run for both teams. But that year, we lost a lot of really good seniors,” said boys team captain Andrew Pietkewicz (‘22). “So we’ve kind of been rebuilding over the past couple years. This year, we’re just looking to try to have a good result in our regular season, and then maybe win a couple rounds of state as well.”
While other teams may put a larger focus on drilling skills, Chamblee practices feature more conditioning.
“I focus on conditioning because a lot of other programs don’t,” said Tinnell. “And when it gets to the end of March, April, May, and [the weather] starts heating up, conditioning can change the outcome of a match. So yes, we definitely focus on conditioning.”
This focus also allows the team to make the most out of their limited practice space.
“We are limited on-court space, we have three courts and having more than about five or six players on a court at a time is hard,” said Tinnell. “There’s only so much you can do on one tennis court. And I do think we are pretty good at getting drilling in tennis skills, but when we’re not together, they absolutely are expected to go out and drill, go out and have practice matches, go out and hit on their own.”
This structure allows the players to refine their technique on their own.
”Most players practice on their own or have their own private coach,” said girls team captain Allison Lvovich (‘22). “So when it comes to drill coaches, there’s a lot of noise, a lot of conflict between them. You don’t want your drill coach saying one thing and your private coach saying another, because then you’re like, ‘Well, who do I listen to here?’ So I think drill coaches tend to stay away from really giving technique tips.”
The individualistic nature of tennis sets it apart from other varsity sports at Chamblee. Despite this distinction, however, Chamblee Tennis wins and loses as a team.
“It is considered a very individualistic sport,” said Tinnell. “It’s hard for the kids that play year-round to then have to make the adjustment to being on a team, […] there are certain individuals that might have a lot of success, but for us to advance in region and state, we have to win as a team.”
Players find that the team structure of high school tennis has pros and cons.
“It’s interesting because you have, in a way, more pressure on your shoulders because you want to win for the team,” said Pietkewicz. “But I think I actually feel less pressure just because we all motivate each other during the matches. […] In regular tennis if you lose, you lose, but if you lose while playing on a team, you still have a chance to win. So I think it’s a little bit different because you win as a team and you lose as a team, which is not how it usually is for tennis, but I think it’s fun.”
Since two of the five lines played in high school tennis are doubles matches, team chemistry is very important.
“It takes a lot of strategizing with the players and the coaches to figure out who should play singles and who should play doubles with who,” said Tinnell. “And fortunately, the team is meshing really well. Boys together, girls together, and then we also try to do as much practice coed as we can. So I think they’re doing really well, but yeah, the doubles teams especially need to be together as much as possible.”
The team has a challenging schedule ahead of them, but that can be a good thing, said Tinnell.
“The schedule that I set up is definitely very competitive,” she said. “There’s typically about two or three schools just within the region that are pretty tough, so I purposely set up hard matches because there’s something to be learned from harder competition. I know that it makes us feel good to win, and I want the team to feel good. But I also want them to have a sense of the other talent that is out there in the state. There’s just always room to improve, and winning with no competition doesn’t really hold a lot of value.”
At the end of the day, the Chamblee tennis team is doing their best to help each other succeed.
“Coming onto the team three years ago as a freshman, I saw it a lot differently than I do now,” said Pietkewicz. “And I think it’s really cool now, seeing the same freshmen coming to join the team. I want to make them feel comfortable on the team and see them fulfill their maximum potential.”