Tennis: I have only been a full-time tennis player for the past three and a half years. Before that I mostly played travel soccer, baseball and basketball.  However, during the Covid pandemic I began to play more tennis and fell in love with the sport. I finally convinced my parents to let me try a tennis academy in 2022. Ever since I have been entirely focused on two things – excelling at school and improving my tennis game. During the week I wake up every morning before six, commute an hour to JTCC, and then train for four or more hours. I then have another hour-long commute before I can begin my school day. Despite the long hours and time away from my friends, there is no hesitation to my response when my parents ask if I want to continue pursuing tennis. I am completely dedicated to becoming the best player I can be.

Unfortunately, my tennis journey has not been without setbacks. I did not hit my growth spurt until after most of my peers – I was barely 5’2” tall until late 2023. I have since grown 10 inches, but all that growth in a short period of time made it difficult to train regularly and forced me to withdraw from several tournaments. In particular, for the past year I have battled Osgood-Schlatters and related growth plate injuries to my Achilles and chest. However, those injuries are hopefully now behind me, and I am so excited to be able to fully train again and play a full slate of tournaments. And despite the injuries, as detailed below, I managed to win numerous 18U tournaments over the past year.