My Freshman Year on Varsity: What I Learned On and Off the Court

In August 2025, I made my high school varsity tennis team. That was the goal I had set before the school year even started: hit a 4.0 UTR and earn a varsity spot. I made the team with a 3.92 UTR, basically achieving 1.5 out of 2 goals (3.92 is close enough, right?). Once I made the team and got through the first two weeks of practice, school started, and I had no idea what was ahead of me.

During the season, I made some of my best friends, played alongside and watched players at a much higher level, and grew more than I expected. But I also let my grades slip and lost discipline off the court. In the final weeks of the season, though, I refocused and brought my mind back to where it needed to be. Everything I learned that season, the wins, the mistakes, the lessons, is what this post is about. My hope is that it helps other student-athletes and gives you something to come back to when things get hard.

Time Management

Once school and the season kicked off, the workload started rising fast. Not just homework and studying but practice, missing school for matches, catching up with teachers afterward, and still carving out time to decompress so you don't burn out.

Here's what my average day looked like: wake up at 6:50 a.m., hit with my coach before first period (I had a free first period), shower, get to school by 10:00, practice from 4:00–6:00 p.m., get home, shower, do homework while eating dinner, then sleep around 10:30–11:00. On match days, I wouldn't get home until 6:30 or 7:00 and the next morning I'd have to track down teachers during school to go over what I missed.

My schedule was packed. And the only thing standing between staying on top of it all and falling behind? Discipline.

The biggest trap? Telling yourself you'll "just relax for five minutes" on your phone when you get home from practice. Five minutes becomes ten, ten becomes twenty, and suddenly it's 9:00 p.m. and you haven't started your homework. Instead, use your shower and dinner as your real break, then get to work. Reward yourself with your phone after everything is done.

The other tip I can't skip: take full advantage of tutorial periods or any free work time your school offers. Use that time to talk to teachers, make up tests, and knock out homework so your evenings can be used for deeper studying, getting ahead, or catching up if you're behind. Don't waste that time. It's gold.

Work Ethic: Effort Is the One Thing You Control

Time management matters but your work ethic is what actually moves the needle.

I showed up to practice every single day, played every match, woke up early to hit with my coach, and kept an open mind when teammates and coaches gave me feedback. That part I was proud of. But off the court, I was scrolling on my phone when I got home, only doing the bare minimum for homework, and assuming my grades would somehow work out on their own.

They didn't.

I learned the hard way that effort has to show up everywhere not just on the court. If you want results in school and in your sport, you have to make the most of your time in both places. No one is going to do it for you.

Teamwork: The "Individual Sport" That Isn't

Tennis is, at its core, a solo sport. It's just you — or you and a partner — against an opponent. But on a high school team, it stops being solo real fast.

In high school tennis, there are four singles matches and three doubles matches per meet. Whoever wins more out of the seven wins overall. So even though tennis feels individual, team energy matters more than you'd think. If you're not playing, you're cheering. If you're playing doubles, you and your partner have to actually work together — not just coexist on the same court. And when teammates are struggling, you lift them up.

One of the moments that stuck with me most: my partner and I were playing doubles 2, and our match ran long — it was the last one still going on the court. Both teams were standing on the sidelines watching us. My first thought was, they're all going to see how bad I am. But they weren't judging us. They were cheering us on, especially as our match went to a tiebreak.

You also learn to take advice — even when you don't think you need it. During the last match of our season, my serve was shaky and tight. I kept falling into the ball and couldn't trust it. Between games, a senior on my team who played doubles 1 came up to me and said, "Jump up into the ball and brush it up — don't push forward." That simple cue changed everything. Now, whenever my serve starts to break down, I replay that moment in my head.

The Best Part: The People

I saved the best for last.

The friendships I made on this team are some of the bests I've ever had. A few weeks into the season, we took a trip to Santa Barbara for a team tournament six-hour drives, matches, meals, walks on the beach, late-night talks, and everything in between. I was rooming with three of my close friends, and that trip brought us even closer. Now, I genuinely can't imagine high school without them. Some of them are juniors and seniors, and we've already promised to keep in touch.

What makes team friendships different is that these people get it. They've been through the same grind: early mornings, match-day nerves, juggling school and practice. They're more relatable than they might first appear. And not every moment has to be about tennis. Our team dinner at BJ's? The whole conversation was about the Olympics, AI, college, and music with a lot of fun bickering mixed in.

A team gives you more than wins and losses. It gives you people. And that, honestly, might be the greatest thing sports has to offer.

Confidence Is Contagious

If there’s one thing this season gave me beyond the wins and the lessons, it’s confidence, and I didn’t even realize how much I had gained until the season was over. Playing alongside girls who were going through the exact same journey, feeling the pressure of the same moments and pushing through the same doubts, built something in me that no solo practice ever could.

Watching my teammates compete at a higher level stopped being intimidating and started becoming inspiring. Their belief in me, and mine in them, became fuel. And that fuel didn’t disappear when the season ended.

In my post-season matches, I’ve been playing with a freedom I didn’t have before, less second-guessing and more trust in my game. My UTR has climbed significantly in both singles and doubles, but the biggest change isn’t just the numbers. It’s the mindset. I’m stepping onto the court believing I belong there.

Confidence spreads when you surround yourself with people chasing the same goals and pushing through the same challenges. And once you experience that kind of confidence, it stays with you long after the season ends.