Precision, unwavering spirit, and hard work are essential to success and improvement in the game of tennis. Blessy Alkuino, Varsity Singles 1 on the girls’ tennis team, demonstrates these qualities on a daily basis as she balances her demanding practice schedule with her rigorous course load as a junior.
Although her love for tennis has grown exponentially after joining the high school tennis team, her initial interest started at the young age of six years old. Blessy’s father, who was also her coach, spent hours every week teaching her and her siblings the fundamentals of the sport as well as quality sportsmanship– all of which contributed to her success on the high school team. There, she began to develop the basic skills and communication that she needed to participate in many competitions outside of school as well.
The varsity girls tennis team coach, Lance Wu, adds to this point, describing how Blessy, ” listens to what [he has] to say, and proceeds to incorporate it into her model. She is highly coachable.” Blessy’s attentiveness and willingness to learn from her mistakes does not stop with her receptiveness to feedback, but has also significantly improved her skill. Coach Wu describes that “her greatest strengths are her speed and her inside-out forehand…[he’s] often in disbelief at some of the balls she gets to.” He emphasizes that her spot at number one is well deserved, and that her skill and role as a big sister to the rest of the team does not go unnoticed.
The high school practice schedule for girls tennis can be extremely demanding at times, as games can last until 7 pm and practices last for two hours after school almost every day, so motivation is sometimes difficult to come by. Fortunately, Blessy finds much of her strength to continue from her matches against difficult opponents, primarily because “no matter how much [she] practices, there’s always room for improvement, so the best thing to do is to simply practice more and keep improving.” After difficult matches, she often reflects on the mistakes she made as a learning experience rather than a testament to her skill.
Additionally, after leaving the game after her match is over, Blessy always remembers to stay behind and cheer for the rest of the team. Even if she is injured, she will remember to make time to cheer for them at the top of her lungs, and only leave after all the matches are finished. In this sense, Blessy’s skill is not simply prominent in her techniques, but in her sportsmanship abilities as well.
Overall, Blessy’s experience as a tennis player has not followed a certain trajectory. There have been ups and downs to her journey, and she hopes to continue growing in her abilities as she plays in college and beyond. In fact, she is competing to participate in her first USTA Junior Tournament after many years— indicating that her tennis journey is likely far from over after she graduates from Wilcox.
