Spring sports have just begun and The Tempest caught up with the girls tennis captains, seniors Lindsay Rand and Sophia Serwold. 

Why did you want to be a captain?

Rand: “I wanted to be a captain because both of my sisters were captains, and played tennis for about 11 years. I liked the title and responsibility to be with the team and be a part of the team. And make it a fun environment, like I was excited to do that.”

Serwold: “I really like tennis and I started playing in 6th grade at Klahaya. I feel like it just made a big impact on me through all the friendships I’ve made. 

How has tennis impacted you?

Rand: “Tennis is a good game because it’s very, very mental. It’s really hard and very easy to get in your head, so I think tennis has taught me to be more patient and not kind of lose it.” Serwold: “It’s definitely made me better at thinking before I do things, specifically when I’m playing.”

How do you prepare before a match?

Rand: “I just don’t talk to people. When I’m playing, especially on the court I try not to listen to other people. But I love when my teammates cheer me on and I love the support, but I don’t really feed into it.” 

What has being a captain taught you about leadership?

Rand: “So far we’ve had a lot of responsibilities and a lot of things to get done especially with our coach. But it’s also definitely like taught the two of us that it’s easy to make it fun and it’s not such a scary thing.”

Serwold: “You definitely have to be adaptable because random stuff happens all the time so you have to be ready to make a decision.”

How is your team doing so far?

Rand: “This season it’s really good. I think we have five new players to varsity which our coach didn’t really expect. But he was really excited to add five new players to the team. We have a lot more people challenging for singles, which is really good. All of the singles challenge matches that we’ve had so far have been tough.”

Serwold: “Really good. I’m super excited because last year we were pretty good too. We were undefeated the past two years, but this year there’s like five new girls on it that are like crazy.”

What advice would you give to a future captain or teammates? 

Serwold: Listen to everything Moreno says, and make sure when you’re at the matches that you’re cheering everybody on. Even if you don’t know them too well, because when you’re playing it is definitely stressful. So having people there watching your match definitely means a lot and kind of helps bring the team together.”