Sophomore Luis Gilbert waiting for the ball to drive a flat backhand shot towards opponent. Photo archived
With the start of Spring, the Spring sports have also began, one of which being boys tennis. This year Mark Gagnon is going to be coaching the team for his second season, and stated how “last season was a teaching season, it was [his] first year with the sport so it took a bit of learning to get the team to full steam” but this year “more students will sign up and participate.”
Last year the team only had about 15-20 students playing for the team, but this year, Coach Gagnon is hoping that the number will be more like 25-30. One of the key new contributors to the team is Seshasai Nemalapuri, also known as Naveen. Nemalapuri is a seventh grader at the Linden STEAM Academy, but despite his young age, he is one of the seven of starters in the singles match. When asked about Naveen, junior Luis Gilbert stated that “Naveen is looking great this year. He has been playing forever and will be a key asset to the team.”
This year, the tennis team will be competing in the Northeastern Conference (NEC) for the second year in a row, after leaving the Greater Boston League (GBL) two years ago. Gilbert has been playing since his freshman year and is now in his junior year now, still playing for the team. He shared he “will still be playing his Senior year” and “last year was fun overall, hanging out with [his] teammates.”
This season seems very promising for the tennis team, not only because last season was Coach Gagnon’s first year coaching the tennis team, but this year the team already knows what to expect and they won’t have to go through any of the learning stages anymore. Also, there was only one senior on the team last year, so there won’t be a big impact on the team because the loss of players due to graduation. Junior Thomas Tran stated that “Coach Gagnon liked to call last season [their] feeler season.” and that “[he] thought that [they] would come out less scathed, but [he] thinks it’s great fuel going into this upcoming season.”
Last season was more of a developmental season, so the team ended the season with two wins. However, the losses the team received last year were “not blowouts” as Coach Gagnon stated, and went on to add “most of the games were actually quite close, and for the developmental season, [they] were pretty successful. Along with Coach Gagnon’s first year, it was also a lot of the players first year with the sport, so Coach Gagnon said that “This year there should be a lot more experience players.” When asked about last season, Gilbert agreed with Coach Gagnon, saying that “last year was a building year.”
With the introduction of a new Coach to the tennis team last season, there were bound to be a few things the team needed to improve on, but with any sport, the team always does well on some aspects as well. Tran also stated that “[he thinks [their] team had a great atmosphere” and that “[he really enjoyed the team [he] had around [him]”, but thinks that one of the biggest issues last year was consistency only because “there were a lot of matches that [they] really shouldn’t have lost.” Gilbert added that “[they] worked hard to improve, and bonded a lot last season.”
With a new season, the team also has some goals they want to set before the season begins. Coach Gagnon said that he would like “more wins this season” and “to try and get more people to participate and get the interest for the sport up.” Gilbert agreed with Coach Gagnon, saying that “[he] would like the team to win more than last year,” but he also had a personal goal for himself, which was “to improve [himself] overall and to secure third singles next season.” Tran said that “[he] wants to help support [his] teammates more” and explained this by saying how “last year there was this team dynamic where there was almost a gap between the veterans in the team and the new players.” One solution for Tran would be to “lessen that gap by being more open to rally with them, but at the same time, [he would] also like to make [his] practices worthwhile.”
Overall, the season this year looks very promising for the Malden High School boys tennis team. This year,the team is full of students who are interested in the sport and look forward to improving in order to achieve more wins.Last year was more of a developmental season for the team, because it was Coach Gagnon’s first year including many of the athletes so this year the team is looking to focus on winning more by using their skills learned last year and apply them to the sport this year.
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