When Coach Winter started coaching tennis at MHS three years ago, he would have never imagined the quick growth and improvement of the program.
After leaving Stevenson and coming to MHS in 2022, Winter recalls only nine girls attending the summer tennis camp. This year, a record thirty-six girls attended–twelve made it on varsity, and four are freshmen, another record.
During tryouts, Winter was thoroughly impressed, and noticed the hard work the freshmen were putting in. He explained that, “When it came to tryouts, I felt they had the potential and they really wanted to work and improve.”
Winter had the tennis team’s future in mind when he put the girls on varsity, and believes “the opportunity for them to grow together and compete and challenge and practice against top-ranked players will only make them better in the future.”
Freshman Tina Adinku, one of the four on varsity, had just finished practice when she found out she had made the team. “I was tired after practice because I was still technically trying to earn a spot but I was happy,” she recalled.
Her love for tennis is simple–“You know how some people like to bake? I just like playing tennis,” Adinku said.
The team practices every day of the week except for Sundays and competes in multiple matches a week, playing against top teams like Stevenson, Libertyville, and Lake Forest. Adinku’s goal for the season is to win at least once against every school they play.
“Tennis is a challenging sport, and as an individual sport, you’re sort of on your own island, and it gets tough out there,” Winter shared. But here at MHS, the girls don’t have to carry that burden alone–they have each other. “We have eight returning players, and they’ve welcomed the four freshmen in and made them feel really at home and at ease,” he said.
The team already has team-bonding activities planned, with a date already set for a day of pickleball and Great America. The girls are ready for an awesome second half of their season, where they’ll be playing in the best conference in the state.
