Nazareth Academy girls tennis team wraps up successful season
LA GRANGE PARK, Ill. — Led by head varsity coach, Jane Veldman, the Nazareth Girls Tennis team had one of their best seasons this fall. Veldman has been a part of Naz Girls Tennis for nine years–this being her first year as Varsity Head Coach. Prior, Veldman coached the JV team. As a life-long tennis player, she played as a child and served as a tennis counselor during the summer months as a college student.
A true lover of tennis, she considers herself a “tennis ambassador”. “Tennis is a source of friendships and fitness. It’s a lifetime sport that encourages healthy competition,” shared Veldman. “It’s unique in that it’s a one-person sport. So you are essentially competing against yourself.”
Where the Varsity team is her main focus, Jane expressed the importance of a well-supported JV team. Nazareth employs two JV coaches which is an amazing resource that assists with and improves recruitment and retention of players and creates more opportunities for the girls to have a spot on the team. Typically, a JV player is a freshman in high school and without extra support, cuts may need to be instituted. “I hate to cut girls as their first experience,” shared Veldman.
Under Veldman’s leadership this year, five out of six varsity members qualified and competed at the state level this past fall; last year, the team had two players compete. “We did better than expected this year. It was great to finish the season so strong!” shared Audrey Moster, Naz Junior and varsity player.
Moster is the youngest of four, two of whom also played Tennis at Naz. She enjoyed watching her sisters play the sport and was also motivated and inspired to play herself. As a doubles player, Moster’s favorite thing about the game is making strategies with her partner to fight back from a loss. Emphasizing the importance of good communication between partners on the court, Moster shared “Positivity is the main thing. We need to cheer each other on and have confidence in one another.”
Both Moster and Veldman concur that confidence, comradery, respect, and positivity are of the utmost importance in Tennis. Even though those things don’t necessarily guarantee a win, Moster added that “going in with a bad mindset does not set you up to win.” This positive attitude is not a surprise either, as Coach Veldman’s style promotes the notion that you are always learning while playing. “You want to lose matches sometimes because you learn more. But you can’t get beaten down.” Moster cultivates her coach’s spirit through this advice for younger players, “keep working on your game and believe in yourself.”
All in all, it looks like Naz Girls Tennis is set to succeed next year, and only time will tell. However, with the positivity and confidence of this team, all signs point to great things!
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