Spring sports are starting, and that means tryouts have begun. Girls’ tennis is a perennial winner, with county titles year after year. This year they have a rookie coach, yoga teacher Victoria Barry. She replaces former coach Mateo Cevallos, a former player here.

Barry is relatively new to the school. She enjoys teaching yoga and providing an alternative perspective to traditional gym sports like baseball, basketball, football, tennis, weightlifting, volleyball and track and field.

Barry has never coached tennis before, but has played for fun occasionally. “I am excited to coach the team as it will be a fun learning experience for me. I want to make the season as fun as possible and make it a team building experience as well, along with winning counties,” Barry said.

The season starts in March, and matches begin quickly. “I’m excited for the first match, but I am also nervous because I do not know how things go and I’m worried about ranking the lineup. However, I feel confident that once we get into the season, everything will start to come together and we will have a successful season,” Barry said.

Tryouts begin today after school, at the Frost tennis courts, due to the boys’ team holding their tryouts here. “I think the most difficult aspect of tryouts will be organizing all the girls together and sharing court space as well, as lots of girls practice after school with their own individual coaches,” Barry said.

Usually, at tryouts a coach can get a sense of how the year will go. “When Coach Cresham asked me to coach the team, I knew that it had some very good players on it and that I would not be starting from square one.”

Coach Cresham is also confident in the young rookie coach and has all the faith in the world that she will succeed and lead the team to victory. “She has great energy, and she is also young and will bring new ideas to the table. She is also a good athlete and cares about the students, and is serious in her goal to create student athletes and not only focus on the athlete part of the student,” Cresham said.

Cresham has had to coach both teams in past years, and is excited to have someone new aboard and continue the culture that she has established. “I am excited to work with her and can not wait for the season to begin,” Cresham said.

Overall, students are excited for the change to the program. As the season approaches, athletes are preparing for tryouts as they have in the past in hopes to impress the new coach and their fellow players.