The weather has been rough on most of the spring sports, but it has possibly been toughest on boys tennis.
The Shawano Community High School team played only two of its seven matches scheduled in April.
“You start at the end of March and go a whole month and we only played twice,” Shawano coach Tom Webster said. “That’s been really tough psychologically. Momentum-wise it’s tough in so many ways. I hate to blame the weather, but it’s been awful.”
Practices, too, were disrupted. With the Shawano Community Middle School tennis courts frozen over well into April, the team was forced to practice in the Olga Brener Intermediate School gym.
“The bounce of the ball is much quicker,” Webster said. “In some ways that’s good, but when the guys finally got on the court, the new guys that haven’t played, it’s just a whole different game outside.”
In the past, Shawano would at least get a match in against Marinette, which has indoor tennis facilities. This year, though, Marinette did not have enough players for a team.
The Hawks don’t have any problem with numbers, with more than 30 kids out for the sport.
“I think I’ve had guys on my team that are really good recruiters who have talked to other guys and gotten them interested,” Webster said. “That has helped us out a lot.”
The scheduling delays also threatened the team’s postseason prospects. In order for a singles player or doubles team to qualify for the WIAA Division 1 tournament, they must have played at least six matches.
That could disrupt the plans of at least two players, the No. 1 doubles team of seniors Tom Cumberland and Austin Steinbach
“Their goal is to get to state,” Webster said. “There are a lot of incredible singles players, even in our subsectional. They really wanted to go to state together, they worked hard all winter and that was their goal, so they decided to do doubles.”
Cumberland was the Hawks No. 1 singles player last season, while Steinbach played doubles last year with his brother, Adam, who graduated.
Unlike many Shawano players who play only during the season or are just learning the sport, Cumberland and Steinbach play year round.
“They were really ready at the start of the season,” Webster said. “I think good things can happen for them. … They’ve worked hard.”
Patarapol Chittanorak, an exchange student from Thailand, has taken over the No. 1 singles spot.
“He had an amazing match on Tuesday when we played Menasha,” Webster said. “He won 6-1, 6-2, against a pretty good player. He’s played since he was 7 years old. He took a couple of years off, so he was a little rusty, but he catches on quick.”
The coach said the senior is quick and has really improved his serve in the last two months.
“He’s a fun player to watch,” Webster said. “We were lucky to get him. I’ve told him, when you are playing No. 1 singles, you are playing really good players, but he’s always up for the challenge. He has a really good attitude.”
Juniors Zach Soper and Cole Reuter, who played doubles the last two seasons, have switched to singles this year to help the team.
“They graciously agreed to give it a try,” Webster said. “They are really improving at singles, and that’s a whole different game.”
Senior Connor Neumann-Sleeper is the fourth singles player. The No. 2 doubles team is juniors Dalton Parson and Sajen Knueppel. The No. 3 doubles team is juniors Ted Mickelson and Rolando Colon.
The team has been able to get a couple of matches in during the last two weeks and will have a full schedule ahead of the WIAA Division 1 Bay Port subsectional May 27 in Green Bay.
“Each time we play, they’re getting a little better,” Webster said. “In the next 2 1/2 weeks we have nine matches. We’re going to be playing a lot of tennis.”
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