The girls tennis team did not have a season last fall. There were no uniforms, scheduled matches, nor even practices. Just a quiet cancellation and a lineup of confused players wondering what happened. 

However, this spring is a new season, presenting a new opportunity: a coed tennis team, open to both boys and girls. 

But this isn’t a sad story. It’s actually the kind where something unexpectedly solid comes out of a disaster. Because now? There’s a coed team. Boys & girls. One team, And surprisingly…it’s working.

Tennis coach Mr. Presta noticed it was unfair that the boys had a season while the girls didn’t. After the girls showed interest in playing, he brought it up to the PSAL, and they agreed to create a coed team. 

However, he admits the timing last fall was rough. “The season starts in August, and by the time kids hear about it, it’s already too late. If we start pushing info earlier, like in June, and actually promote the girls team, this probably wouldn’t have happened,” he states. 

Sophomore Kayla Barbuto, one of the players on the new team, discovered signing up for tennis too late in the year. “I thought I was joining the girls team. Turns out it didn’t exist anymore,” Kayla said. “I would’ve liked an all-girls team, but it’s fine. The boys are respectful. We get the same practice time, and they don’t act weird about it.”

Despite the integration of boys and girls into one team, this may just be a one-time thing. Kayla believes that the girls should have a choice. Right now, though, the energy around this coed team is solid. What started with seven players is already up to sixteen. “Every other day, someone new shows up.,” Coach Presta said. “We’re building something.”

So while the girls didn’t get their team in the fall, they’ve now got rackets in their hands, matches prepared, and a second opportunity to ‘ace’ this season – this time with a few extra teammates  bound by the same passion.