The 2026 HHS boys tennis team has begun district play, and one of the main headlines continues to be the first-year players on the team. Six of the team’s nine players had never played on a tennis team before this season. Among those players is junior Shea Gibson, who joined the team because there was no varsity baseball team.
“I joined this year because I needed to stay active and there was no varsity baseball team, so I opted to choose tennis to have a little bit of fun. My brother Louis played all four years of high school, so I thought it would be fun to continue the legacy,” Gibson said.
Senior Edwin Martinez, another first year player, has played football for all four years of high school, and expected tennis to come naturally, but that has proven false.
“Football is really different from tennis. It’s a lot more technical and football is a lot more brute strength. Football is also a little technical, but not nearly as much as tennis. It’s still new, but I like learning, and I’ve been getting better, so I’ve been having fun,” Martinez said.
Junior Cristian Alvarado also joined the team to put more bodies on the team, and has earned himself the fifth spot on the ladder. He has worked hard to get to the top of his game, and better all aspects of his performance.
“Since it’s hard to work out everything at once, I’ve focused on just improving on one thing. I started working on my serves, and they have improved, but right now, I’m just having trouble with forehand and backhand since I couldn’t prioritize them early on, but I have confidence they will get better,” Alvarado said.
According to senior Joel Friebe-Makinto, tennis is just as much a mental game as it is a physical game. Playing by yourself, it is easy for players to get in their head when they are going through a rough stretch of a match.
“Motivation is super important and just making sure I don’t give up on myself to make sure I play my best every match,” Friebe-Makinto said.
Even through all the improvement, there are still plenty of challenges that come with being a first year tennis player, for Gibson, as for anyone, losing is especially hard.
“It’s never good to lose. Especially when it’s by like eight points each match because that just kills confidence. So just working at having that confidence to keep pushing forward and just know that there’s a win coming soon has definitely been the hardest part so far,” Gibson said.
The team has started the season with a 1-2 record, and hope to win some more matches before the end of the season. Each person has a distinct goal for the season, but for Alvarado, he continues to view the season as an opportunity for him and the rest of the first year players to try new things and be a part of something bigger than themselves.
“My main goals for the season are to do great with the team, better myself, lift up my teammates, win some matches along the way, and be able to lead the seniors to their last big year of tennis,” Alvarado said.
