By Ivan Loh (Boys’ Captain) and Sarah Chan (Girls’ Captain)
What comes to mind when you think about tennis? Is it just chasing a ball with a racket? Non-tennis players like to crack this joke, and it couldn’t be further from the truth. Tennis is a beautiful game which puts every aspect of an individual to the test. It is a holistic sport which builds players physically, mentally, and emotionally. When playing a game of tennis, every muscle works hard. Your legs explode to sprint for the ball while your abdominals join your arms to whack the ball at your opponent. Additionally, don’t forget the mental muscle: tennis is highly strategic and requires a sound tactical mind.
What is tennis? To put it simply, it is about hitting a fuzzy ball back and forth between two sides. To win a point, you just have to hit the ball such that your opponent cannot return it.
That only scratches the surface of the game though: tennis is all about how you achieve that! There are thousands of ways to play a point out for the win: moving to the net to volley, making mind-bending shots that get the crowd roaring, or simply outlasting your opponent. All these are executed with precision and grace, but this does not happen overnight. Your skills are the fruit of your labour during training, a fruit sweeter than any other if you put in maximum effort. Of course, we don’t forget to have fun! Training is a balance of serious work and having fun, so come prepared for both.
During training, we start with hitting practice before moving on to gameplay. At the end of every session, we spend roughly 15 minutes on physical conditioning. Training happens twice a week, with one session on Wednesday from 8-10am, and the other on Friday from 5-7pm. During competition season, we will train for 3 hours instead of 2. On top of that, we also play during non-official training times, organising our own team sparring sessions to ensure we are in tip-top condition and have some fun in the process.
A highlight is playing in the National School Games in April, a memorable experience spanning approximately 1.5 months. The thrill and excitement of this competition bring out the best in us as tennis players, and bring our team closer together as we support one another through the ups and downs of this period. As a tightly-knit team, we have a culture of sharing meals after every training session, something you can look forward to if you join tennis—we’re not just a CCA but a family!
Come for our trial if you’re interested, where our head coach will evaluate your proficiency in tennis and level of fitness. We hope to see you on the court!
