Normal West girls tennis: Learning and competing together
NORMAL, Ill. — Normal West girls’ tennis has a stake in the tennis world as local leaders. Their team adopted the motto “First Time Season,” after they won the first regular season and Conference Tourney championship in school history last year.
Head Coach Steve Wulfers has a straightforward view of preparing the girls for matches and honing their skills. To him, “The Marines say it best: ‘Be all you can be.’ The obvious key word I use is ‘help.’ Tennis coaches help players grow and perform. We work on tennis strokes, mental approach, and encouraging a love of the game and of competition.” While he recognizes that coaches, parents, and friends all contribute, it is up to each individual player to take others’ help and advance as far as they’re able.
Drawing not only from the Marines but also from a basketball coach from his youth, Coach Wulfers has adapted his coaching style to pull the whole team together. He recounts, “My basketball coach cared for every one of his players. He was tough, but not overbearing. He never favored his star players. Instead, he would encourage his second team to really push the first team.”
Coach Wulfers has a long legacy of helping tennis players. He’s been coaching for “a long, long time. I did nine years at Dexter Missouri in the 70s and 80s and it’s been five years at Normal West.” He also parented three tennis daughters. Each Wulfer daughter played all four years of high school and collegiate tennis. He does the math: “That is 3 x 8 = 24 seasons. Guess I did not get enough, so now I am coaching and watching even more matches.”
One of the keys to the Wildcats’ tennis success has been keeping their summer camps and practices focused on improving tennis skill fundamentals. Once the strokes are mastered, they move forward by improving physically and mentally.
When it comes down to it, Coach Wulfers hopes that his players leave West with fond memories of learning and competing. He explains, “All of us have ups and downs—we much learn from both. Our coaching staff wants everyone to enjoy the total experience.”
The team went through a rebuilding phase after losing two returning players this season—one to knee surgery and a senior who is prepping for her first year as a D1 softball player. Despite this “down” that Coach Wulfers primes his players for, the season has been a success in many ways. Normal West tied for first in team points at the BHS tournament, something that had never been accomplished in West’s school history. Plus, their support system thrived. Between assistant coaches, Normal West parents, and retired coach Phil Nevilles (known as a Normal West historian of sorts), the girls can learn from and lean on many supporters. Coach Wulfers feels good knowing, “I am not their only ‘helper.’”
Some standout players in recent years have been doubles partners Madeline Gentry and Emily Kettering (who’s currently a D2 freshman player for McKendree University). They became the first doubles team to earn All-State honors in school history.
According to Assistant Coach Gary Gentry, “Though tennis is an individual sport, we function as a team and therefore each player is only one cog of the wheel. I personally feel our entire team is deserving of recognition that seldom is given to the sport of tennis.”
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