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Senior Spotlight:
Tennis Journey: Triumphs and Lessons Learned
May 15, 2024
Image provided by: Eli Minot
Eli Minot’s, a senior at Menasha High School, started tennis through Parks and Rec in elementary school, which sparked his interest in the sport.
Tennis has been in Minot’s family for a long time. His aunt played tennis through high school and college, and his uncle coached tennis.
When Minot began high school tennis, he said it was “VERY humbling”. At his first tennis practice he did not think he would have learned too much or needed many improvements. But he was very wrong. He soon realized this gave him a lot of motivation and the idea of “keep learning and trying to improve”
A few things Minot learned playing tennis is to focus on the things you can control– even if your opponent has a good shot. This helped give a good view of life in general where things can happen and they might be out of your control, and all you can do is control your feelings and reaction to them.
In any sport there are challenges and barriers to overcome, and in tennis Minot dealt with controlling and learning how to “lose with grace”.
“If you are truly determined to be committed to the sport… you can get down on yourself after a loss,” Minot said.
Minot said how you should take a step back, sit down, and see what you can learn after the game. While it can be hard, the reflection can also be very rewarding.
Image provided by: Eli Minot
Players can also reflect on what your opponent does during the game. The MHS tennis team quickly learned this lesson his freshmen year. The tennis team didn't have enough players for the varsity team that year. They had a team of seven, with all but one who was a freshman. So the tennis team had a lot of tough matches being played against “bigger, faster, older, and more experienced players,” he said.
Minot made sure to turn each game into a positive experience and learn from that experience and figure out what he could improve on.
Minot has a lot of good memories from tennis, though his favorite memories were when he was playing doubles with Payton VanDinter, a senior at MHS. VanDinter and Minot were double partners for about three years, and that has been fun.
“The moments when we are both locked in, hitting good shots and hyping each other up are some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing tennis,” Minot said.
One of Minot’s biggest achievements was getting second-team all-conference, when he was a freshman. Even though he was not the most skilled on the team, getting that award gave him a lot of motivation. The award helped prove to himself that he had a lot of potential and would be able to improve.
Minot also had a lot of support, but his biggest support comes from his parents and friends when it comes to tennis.
“My parents have shown up to nearly every tennis game and have probably seen me lose more time than they can count. But despite this, my parents still show up!”
Minot will attend UW-Stevens Point in fall. He plans to major in Elementary education. He might play tennis for fun or attempt to join the UWSP tennis team, but at the moment he doesn’t plan to play tennis in college.
Minot’s advice for the underclassmen who wants to follow in his footsteps in tennis is:
“My advice to anybody wanting to play tennis is this: Just try it. Lots of people avoid trying new sports because they are afraid they will be bad, or won't know anyone on the team. However, every player has things to learn and improve, and some of the nicest people I know are on the tennis team so you are bound to make a few friends.”
by David Arriaga
May 15, 2024
The Jay's News Nest
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