At Central, the boys tennis team is currently going through a major period of change.
The varsity tennis team is made up almost entirely of seniors, with the exception of one junior. Due to the impending loss of so many seniors, the team sees this year as a sort of rebuilding season.
The singles players on the team are Finn Dineen, Jimmy Reay, Lachlan O’Keefe and Colin Simmons, and the doubles players are Ryan Rouse with Atticus Gentleman and Erik Nieto Garcia with Ricardo Orozco, the only junior.
Simmons, the number one singles player on the team, is one of the players who is having to set an example for his younger counterparts.
“It’s a different environment, being more of a leader on the team,” Simmons said.
Psychology Teacher Robert Tucker has been the head coach of the boys varsity tennis team in his current stint since 2021, but he has experience coaching the team on and off for about 15 years. He is also the junior varsity coach for the girls tennis team.
Part of creating an improving environment for the current JV team is practice with the varsity team. When coaching the team, Tucker tries not to differentiate between varsity and JV.
“We all work together as a team. We’re trying to develop those younger kids to take the place of the varsity kids,” Tucker said.
The size of tennis teams has been decreasing all around OPS, but Tucker hopes that the rising popularity of the sport will change this fact in the future, and he wishes there would be more access to tennis in OPS elementary and middle schools.
“The popularity of tennis is on the upswing again, so hopefully we can start to get more people involved, give some attention to tennis here in Omaha in terms of expanding on courts, opportunities for kids to play, those kinds of things,” Tucker said.
Due to a low ranking, the team could have some big challenges during the state tournament. Central’s players haven’t had access to tennis as long as other teams, so Tucker and the players are attempting to craft a scenario where that is no longer the case.
“They’ve been playing their whole lives so some of the matches are tough. I’d say it’s the same thing for a lot of players on the team. Inexperience all around compared to most schools,” Simmons said.
With the season coming to a close Simmons is hopeful for Central’s future in tennis.
“I see more people coming out, and I’d expect in turn more experienced tennis players in the district,” Simmons said.
