On the metal benches off to the side of the tennis courts, under the warm afternoon sun, lies a box filled to the brim with snacks: from granola bars to goldfish, fruit snacks to clementines. With rackets in one hand, the entire team crowds around, an array of hands reaching into the box.
“We have a very big snack culture,” junior and Women’s Varsity Tennis Captain Chloe Lin said. “We have a snack box that everyone contributes to, and I think it’s a good way for everyone to contribute something to the team.”
The snack box isn’t the only important team tradition that Huron’s women’s varsity tennis team has. To allow the players to get to know the team better, they hold a bonding event before their first quad, where Huron and three other schools compete against each other on the weekend.
“[The best bonding experiences are] not when we necessarily go out to do a specific activity, but when we’re just in a space together,” Lin said, “because instead of focusing on an activity, [we] get to know the people we don’t really know and actually talk with each other.”
The tennis team’s community is not only tight-knit and supportive, but it also helps players get to know other Huron students well, especially for Lin, who came to Huron from a non-Ann Arbor middle school and struggled slightly to get acclimated to high school tennis.
“I came onto the team not knowing many people, not really knowing how high school tennis works,” Lin said. “[But in] tennis, I found a good community, and they’re very welcoming. I got to meet new people, people that are on the team, and then they introduced me to new people, so it was nice.”
This supportiveness isn’t limited to just the players: it also carries over to the relationship between the captains.
“This is my first year as captain and, especially with the transition between coaches, it was kind of difficult – communication, figuring things out,” Lin said. “But I’m captain alongside two other people, so we all support each other and try to help each other out. Like, if one of us is too busy and can’t do something, then we have someone to cover us.”
Other than helping manage daily practices and setting an example for other players as the captain, Lin is also looking forward to future competitions with the team.
“The biggest overarching goal this year is to get to states because the majority of our team last year was seniors,” Lin said. “We were feeling a little unsure about this year, but the turnout for tryouts was really good. We have a lot of players, and I think we can make it to states if we really give it our all.”
