The wind roars through the ears of freshman varsity tennis player Tristan Stine.

From his daily tennis club and weekly practices at Bowie, Stine has prepared himself to excel in the 2021-2022 season. On his home court, Stine, determined to win, takes a ball out of his pocket and prepares for the next point.

Every year, the tennis season is split into two parts, a fall season and summer season. For both seasons, the team has the opportunity to play teams from other local schools and advance to the district level of playing. Through October 5-7, Bowie played at districts and received a third place for the team. Despite injuries received from the top four boys, Bowie tennis had to persevere and keep themselves in a good mentality to win.

“It was just challenging to keep the mental game intact,” Stine says. “Tennis is a mental game, so if you start getting down, you’re going to get worse. You have to keep the positive energy so you can play better.”

The emotion of a sport is often the deciding factor in victory. Players have many ways to keep themselves fit mentally, however when it comes to their body it can be even more difficult to ensure they are in top shape.

“I had an upper back issue, and I think I just overplayed and got this injury,” Stine said. “I wasn’t able to hit a serve, so I had to use an underhand serve, but I could play the rest pretty normally.”

Aside from Stine, teammates Satvik Raghunathan and Colin Doles received injuries during or after districts. Raghunathan, who hurt himself after districts, has an interesting way of processing the loss of progress that comes with an injury.

“It kind of sucks because you think about how you’ve lost a couple weeks or months depending on the injury,” Raghunathan said. “You think about how much better you could have been if you had not lost that time. It kind of gets to you a little, but you have to overcome it and play through it if you want to win.”

The end of districts marks the end of the fall season, and with this brings reflection. To improve, players must find their weaknesses.

“I want to just improve my consistency,” Raghunathan said. “I want to make sure my backhand is good because that was the problem for the fall season.” 

Stine, Raghunathan, and the team have had a successful first half of the year with new coach, Craig Powell, who is leading the team through practices starting November. With the improvements they need to make in mind, the team is delighted to know they made it this far.

“It feels great, because even though we’re struggling, it turns out to be good,” Stine said. “We all did well, so it’s a team effort. The team’s great because everyone supports each other, and I look forward to the spring season.”