By Tabitha Redder/managing editor
Racket-bearing students across the district now have a new place to serve.
“We’re sort of a team but technically a club,” Tennis Club coach and health and physical education associate professor Tim Sebesta said. “We’re out of NE Campus. That’s where the club is founded, but if there’s not a club at another campus, students can participate in this club at NE.”
In his quest to establish a competitive tennis club, Sebesta found NW adjunct instructor William Kaing was also trying to start one, and the two chose to create a unified team hoping to attract players from all campuses.
There has always been a tennis club on NW Campus, but recent interest in the activity grew after Kaing hosted an intramural tennis tournament in September, leading to the idea of forming a club.
“I was supposed to have a tennis class, and things just didn’t work out. Things fell through. So I figured students didn’t really have time for class, but they’d have time for practice and on weekends just to have something to do to go to tournaments,” Kaing said. “I felt that was the better route to go.”
With a $1,200 grant from the United States Tennis Association, Sebesta pieced together the beginning of a tennis program.
“Since it’s competitive, we typically look for students who played high school tennis or USTA tournaments because the other schools we play against, that’s what their team will be made of,” Sebesta said. “We’re not going to turn someone away, but we usually encourage someone to take a tennis class.”
Tennis Club president Wes Edwards had previously played USTA tennis before he was recruited from a tennis class on NW Campus.
“The tennis teacher connected me with him, and that’s how we got it started,” he said. “I think the team has a lot of potential. I’m excited to see what we’re going to be up against.”
One challenge the club is currently eager to overcome is a gap between male and female participants, with only three women on a team of over a dozen.
“We play the World TeamTennis format, where men and women play and the scoring is based on how the men and women do, so it’s beneficial to have just as many men as women,” Sebesta said. “Right now, it’s off a little bit. Hopefully, we will be able to attract more women from the other campuses.”
The club currently only has students from NW and NE campuses, but students from any campus are welcome to join.
Although the club is competitive, Sebesta realizes the club is also a recreational extracurricular activity.
“You make it what you want to be. If you want to have fun with it and just continue the high school tennis experience, that’s fine by me,” he said. “If you want to be competitive, that’s fine also. The main goal is to have fun and represent the college well.”
In late November, the club will participate in its second tournament of the semester at Texas Christian University.
The Tennis Club practices 3-5 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at the NE tennis courts.
