Friday, October 30, 2009
The Smoke Signal
www.thesmokesignal.org
21 Sports
Two Different Backgrounds, Two Great Tennis Players By Grace Han & Joy Xu Staff Writers
Recent Argus Athlete of the Week Junior Natsuko Takayanagi is in her first year on the MSJ Girls’ Tennis Team. She was introduced to the sport by her parents at the age of seven and gradually improved through daily hitting sessions with her dad. Since then, Takayanagi has blossomed into a formidable force, currently ranked about 340th nationally in the United State’s Tennis Association’s (USTA) under-18 division and 29th in Nor Cal. Takayanagi grew up in Fukui City, Japan, participating in local leagues to gain more experience. In 2008, her family moved to America, where she joined the USTA and competes in various tournaments each year.
During the off-season, Takayanagi trains with Coach Richard Tompkins while working to model her game after favorite player Kim Clijsters. She hopes to be able to play in college one day, either in the US, or back in Japan. As expected, Takayanagi has set some lofty yet acheivable goals for herself this season. Besides helping MSJ make NCS as a team, she wants to compete in doubles (partnering with Senior Stephanie Quan). Takayanagi also hinted she would love the opportunity to battle two-time NCS singles champion Jamie Pawid of Castro Valley. However, her main focus this year will be to attain a spot in USTA’s Junior Orange Bowl, an international tennis championship that is held in Florida, and consists of the world’s
top players. This tournament has previously attracted players such as Juan Martin Del Potro, the current Men’s US Open Champion. In her career, Takayanagi has experienced many noteworthy moments, but none more memorable than at a tournament in Fresno last year. Her match was scheduled to start at 2:30, but due to difficulty locating the tennis courts, Takayanagi didn’t arrive until 3:00. To compensate, her opponent was given a 3-0 game lead to start the match. But of course, nothing could stop Takayanagi as she stormed back to win the set 7-5, and eventually win the match. As the season continues, Takayanagi looks forward to helping MSJ reach and do well in the NCS tournament. ▪
To further her education, she switched to a tennis academy in Sacramento. By then, she was a sponsored top 10 player in North California’s 16-year-old age group. Not too long afterwards, she decided to step outside of her comfort zone even more; she took an ambitious step in her career by choosing to attend a Tennis Academy in Valencia, Spain. Many professional players have trained at that very same school; Marat Safin and Dinara Safina, the well-known brother and sister duo who were both number one in the world, attended the academy. Sher boarded with a Spanish family for two years, training vigorously for up to six hours a day. She quickly became a superb player, playing professional matches in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) and the ITF. Unfortunately, she suffered a thumb injury and decided to return to the US. Sher’s attitude includes an impressive training ethic of dedication and hard work. When asked about her favorite playing field, she said that she preferred clay., even though
the ball is very slow on a clay field, leading to more running and fatigue. She continued to say that “playing and training on clay is like playing tennis on a whole different level – you have to train harder and there’s no room for laziness. On hard courts, many players can get away with lack of endurance, but on clay you really have to run and hit.” When talking about her experience at MSJ, she was optimistic and said that it was a “great change of scenery for once. All the girls on the team are really supportive and nice; they helped being at Mission a lot easier.” As for future goals, she hopes to attend UC Berkeley and to continue playing tennis actively. “What are the team goals?” She laughed as she answered, “The team goals are to win every game, and be 7-0, and to kick some butt at NCS.” The team has not disappointed so far, having won every single match this season. Next time there is a Girls’ Tennis match, take a few minutes to check them out, because this year’s line-up and team chemis-
try are extremely strong. It’s hard to predict the future, but with such an excellent team, the other teams at NCS had better watch out, because the MSJ Girls’ Tennis team is coming ready to play hard and win. ▪
Natsuko Takayanagi
staff writer raymond zhong
Namrata Sher For some people tennis may be just a game, but for Senior Namrata Sher, it is a way of life. She has been homeschooled throughout her teen years, choosing to attend selective tennis academies instead of leading a normal teenage life. This year is actually her first year at a high school. She’s currently number one on the Girls’ Tennis team and is ranked in the top thousand of the ITF (International Tennis Federation) for juniors. Ironically, when Sher first joined the sport, she didn’t want to play. However, after about a year of training she fell in love with the sport and began training more intensely. Her first step was to attend a group tennis community in Oakland. The head coach had both diabetes and cancer yet devoted all his time and money to training players, paying for many underprivileged students out of his own pocket. Sher attended daily and quickly became an excellent player.
staff writer jordan zhang