The Southeast Polk tennis teams have spent the last couple weeks preparing for the season despite the challenging weather. Both teams have big goals they want to achieve and matches they want to win this season

Junior Kynzi Pate has been playing tennis for as long as she can remember and she is excited for the season. The sport has given her leadership skills, allowed her to step out of her comfort zone and play a sport she loves with her favorite people.

“Our goals for the season are to have fun, get better everyday, and to always be positive,” said Pate. “Tennis is a really fun sport, so we try not to take it too seriously, but as a team we try to be the best we can for ourselves and others, no matter the outcome of the season.”

The team has matches that may be against just one school, or multiple. There are also usually two invitationals during the season that last all day and have four or five schools involved. Players look forward to these the most.

“[Invitationals] are often very tiring, but in my opinion those are the types of matches that I look forward to all year,” said Pate.

The tennis season is relatively short and a sport that is easy to participate in if you just want to have fun with your friends and stay active. Junior Tyler Ciesielski is on the team and has enjoyed playing the last two years. He encourages everyone to go out for the sport if they have any interest because the practices can be really fun.

“During a normal practice we hit forehands, backhands, work on our rotations, serves, and returns,” said Ciesielski. “Start playing because you can always get better, it’s an easy sport to learn.”

The boys team’s next home match will be against Waukee and the girls will play at Waukee, both starting at 4:00 on May 3rd.