The ball paints the line as a thump echos through the court. The Crowd cheers as the match ends and the team advances. Players celebrate with warm hugs and hard high fives. The Captain cheers in disbelief as a dream comes true.

Bowie High School is full of high spirited teens eager to get out and play.Some even play outside of school with leagues and teams for extra experience for the sport.

Gilberto Camacho, also known as Gilby, is the number one boy on the Bowie tennis team as a sophomore, competing at International tournaments since he was just a kid.

“When I was eight years old and lived in Seattle, I came to Austin to play the Little Mo International tournament,” Gilby Camacho said.

Gilby had talent and had taken an interest in the sport as soon as began playing.

“I noticed when he grabbed a tennis racquet and a tennis ball and started to hit, I knew he was going to have a passion for the sport,” Gilbert Camacho, Gilby’s dad said.

Gilby is well liked and is always trying to help others on the team focus and be the best player they can be.

“Gilby is supportive during a match, like whenever I mess up he helps me move on and focus on the next point. I would say he’s a good doubles partner, he has a good doubles eye,” Carlos Canepa said.

He is heard to be a great doubles player, but maybe too good to play against.

“I enjoy playing doubles with him because he is a good doubles player, especially at the net, but I hate playing him in singles because I hate slicing and he is really good at it,” Canepa said.

Just recently Gilby traveled around 1,200 miles away to compete in a national tournament with his Usta tennis league.

“Nationals was in late October and I had to fly by myself to Palm Springs, California where nationals was this year,” Gilby Camacho said.

His team had to win other major tournaments in order to be able to compete at Palm Springs.

“They had to win sectionals then regionals here in Texas. It was tough winning in sectionals they had some close matches,” Gilby Camacho said.

Gilby being only a sophomore in high school is playing and competing with middle age men who have been playing a lot longer than him.

“There are about 15 players in total, only about 10 went to nationals. And most of them are 45 year old men with only me a another junior on the team,” Gilby Camacho said.

Although Gilby gained many experiences on the team, he still enjoys playing on his own team here at Bowie High School.

“The people are definitely more mature on the league but, I have a lot of fun playing at Bowie, we love to joke around and we always have a lot of fun,” Gilby Camacho said.

Gilby has been playing tennis for a long time and been able to maintain a great stance in all aspects of the game.

“From the beginning Gilby always made me proud of his tennis, not only for his amazing skills for the game but also for his great attitude in and out of the tennis court,” Gilbert Camacho said.

After playing tournaments continually weekend after weekend, Gilby began to grow out of all the competition, but never grow out of the sport.

“Well I have already