Ellie Yoho is now a junior at Hart High School. This is her second year playing for the tennis team.
Yoho would have liked to join Hart High tennis her freshman year, but was recovering from an ACL, MCL and meniscus surgery on crutches and was relearning how to walk.
She is very dedicated to tennis and practices one and a half to two hours everyday. That totals to between eight and nine hours a week, plus practices.
“If you want to be good at anything, you have to put in the work,” Yoho said.
The most nerve-wracking thing about tennis matches according to Yoho is missing the ball.
“It’s about precision and timing and lining it up with the rest of your body. And if you just full-on miss the ball, it’s the most embarrassing thing ever. And messing up is so frustrating,” Yoho said.
The hardest part of playing tennis is doubles, because if one person messes up, the pair suffers as a whole.
“You have two very distinct roles, and you are the only ones responsible for the point or the set. So if one of you messes up, it’s all on you, and you have to learn how to take that,” Yoho said.
At the end of the day, Yoho reminds herself that playing tennis is just a game. It’s something fun to do, not something that needs to be stressed over or taken so seriously.
“We’re not fighting a war or anything. It’s just something friendly to get out there and to be active,” Yoho said.
August 31, Hart High School’s girls’ tennis had a match against Valencia High School. Valencia is one of the best girls tennis teams in the league, but Hart High School won with a final score of 6-3.
This game was Yoho’s favorite because she and her partner Danielle proved to the other girls that they were not messing around.
Yoho only picked up tennis two years ago. Previously, she led an active lifestyle through soccer, track and cross country.
“[I started to like tennis] when I realized how nonchalant it is, and the pressure is really diminished when you are playing with all these different girls. And I saw how nice the team was, and it made me want to pick it up,” Yoho said.
But Yoho doesn’t want tennis to be the only thing that she does for the rest of her life. She wants to major in Biology, her real passion.
Her biggest role model is her older sister, who is currently in college. Yoho’s sister is one of the reasons she wants to major in Biology.
“She definitely influences me to be the best person I can be. She is the exact person I got my love of biology from – she’s majoring in it. And she is also the one who influenced and motivated me to take advanced classes,” Yoho said.
Yoho’s advice is to let the silly mistakes happen and go with the flow. It makes you feel more human. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, and never listen to drama or change yourself to fit in.
