As Brett Finger looks back on his first two years as the head JV women’s tennis coach at City High, he recalls most fondly the victory against rivals West High School this past spring. Coach Finger finds the positive atmosphere of the team to be the most impressive aspect of the team.

“A couple of girls had music always playing, which made it very upbeat. There was never a day where I didn’t hear somebody complimenting somebody else’s outfit. Everybody knew that people were learning and getting better, so nobody got down on somebody for making a mistake. Always saying ‘get them next time’ or ‘we’ll do better next time,’” Finger said.

Many players on the tennis team this year were freshmen who didn’t know the rules of tennis, their young age leaving time for plenty of improvement in all areas. The team put in hard work throughout the season, even on days when the weather left them unable to practice outside. On those days they could be found learning the rules of tennis on the floor of Mr. Fingers’ math classroom, tape lining the floors in a formation of a tennis court.

“We started the season with a lot of people who hadn’t played a lot of tennis, some have never played tennis. And so that was one of the first hurdles that our team had to get over,” Finger said.

Mr. Finger has goals for next year to build upon the foundation he built with the team this year.

“I think we can make big steps again next year. Hopefully, it will get them [underclassmen players] all back and spread the word that this is a fun place to be so we can draw some more talent,” Finger said.

While new talent is always needed, Finger points out some strong performances within the upperclassmen this year playing scored singles and doubles.

“Lilia Naso was a really great player for us, she won all but one of her matches this year. Other top performers were Jaynie Mottinger, Claudia Wanjira, and Isabel Polfleit who had a couple of victories throughout the season,” Finger said.

Only in his second season of coaching, Finger was impressed with the players who were always willing to work hard and accept advice to improve their playing.