Rose basketball highlights
FRI.| 4-12-24 | ENTERTAINMENT
Ginger Evans serves up success her senior year
MON. | 11-9-20 | SPORTS
Senior Ginger Evans, one of the top players on the Rose tennis team all four years, has been the doubles conference champion all three years, her junior was a doubles regional runner up and a state qualifier who made it to the second round.
Evans started playing tennis in the fourth grade,which makes this her eighth year playing tennis. She played many other sports such as basketball and swimming before she discovered her love for tennis.
“I was trying to find a sport that I enjoyed, and continued trying new ones until I found tennis,” Evans said.
Evans invests a lot of time and energy into tennis. She plays for about ten hours a week outside of the season, and practices daily during the season. Entering the team her freshman year, Evans was awarded the team’s three seed in singles and advanced to the two seed her sophomore and junior years. She is projected to be the one seed for her senior season.
“I make sure to put forth my best effort in any match I play, even if it is outside of school and does not count towards anything,” Evans said.
To keep her tennis skill level at the top tier, she plays at a club year round during and outside of the Rose season.
“In addition to playing for Rose's team, I also play tennis at Baywood Racquet Club,” Evans said. “We have practices year round and have a junior match play league in the summer.”
The tennis pro at Baywood is Robert Warren. Over the eight years that Evans has been playing, Warren has influenced her greatly.
“He has helped me develop my tennis skills since I was young, and continues to teach me and inspire me to continue working to get better,” Evans said.
Tennis can be played individually against a single opponent or between two teams of two players (doubles). Evans prefers to play doubles over singles.
“I like doubles better than singles because it involves even more coordination and strategy than singles does, providing me with more of a challenge, which in turn helps me grow as a player,” Evans said.
Picture edited by Emmy Ingalls
“Playing with a partner is also beneficial because we are there to encourage each other to keep going, even if we want to give up.”
Evans played doubles with Maryah Stokes for her freshman, sophomore and junior years. Last year they were the top doubles team in the conference, the Regional Champion Runner Up, and advanced to the second round of the state championship.
“I learned many valuable doubles and teamwork skills while playing with Maryah,” Evans said. “Even though she graduated last year, I hope to continue to grow those skills as I play with a new doubles partner in the upcoming season.”
Before COVID-19, the women’s tennis season occurred in the fall. This year, the season was moved to the spring. The men’s tennis season is also in the spring, so this year the two teams will be playing around the same time but will not have the exact same schedule. The women’s season is from April 12 to June 11 and the men’s season is from March 1 to April 30.
“Our season is not completely combined with the men's team; however, we do have an overlap of a few weeks with our seasons,” Evans said. “We are currently practicing once a week to prepare for the season in the spring, and that practice is both the men's and women's team.”
As a player who loves the game and wants to extend this love and passion to others, Evans has a goal this season that will improve more than just her own game.
“My biggest goal I have for tennis this year is to work with new players on the team to practice doubles strategy and hopefully develop as a doubles player through this practice,” Evans said.
After playing tennis for more than eight years now, Evans has learned more from tennis than just the rules of the game and how to become a better player.
“The most important life lesson that tennis has taught me is that winning is not everything,” Evans said. “Yes, winning a match is fun and exciting, but what actually matters is how you use that win or loss to grow as a player and become even stronger.”
