What one of the Lady Panthers\u2019 most experienced players found were four courts dotted with new faces, including that of Athletic Director Christopher Kelly, who took over as head coach just before the start of the season.<\/p>\n
Kelly, who played tennis recreationally while he was in high school and after he graduated from college, said that his ascension to the team\u2019s top spot became necessary after nobody in the community expressed interest in the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of interest (in a team) from the girls, so we put an advertisement up on the school website, and we didn\u2019t have any takers,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI wanted the girls to be able to have a season, so I figured I\u2019d step in and coach as best as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help overcome his inexperience, Kelly has divided his team into two practice groups, which he refers to as \u201cthe pros\u201d and \u201cthe rookies.\u201d He then mixes experienced players with newcomers in hopes that everyone can work together and improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been having a lot of the freshmen work in on basic drills with my seniors,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThat way, I can delegate some of the minute coaching responsibilities to (upperclassmen).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(Kelly) doesn\u2019t know much about tennis,\u201d senior Angel Veach said. \u201cI think we know more than he does. We\u2019ve been helping the freshmen learn how to serve and hit forehands and backhands. We\u2019re teaching them the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the upperclassmen that Kelly expects to lead this year\u2019s team is Battle, who played No. 4 doubles as a sophomore, No. 2 doubles last season, and expects to compete for the top singles spot this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to cover a lot more area because you don\u2019t have a partner covering half the court for you,\u201d said Battle, when asked about the challenges associated with playing singles. \u201cYou have to be really good at knowing where to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other players likely to compete for singles spots include seniors Kayla Carver, Ronee Dennison and Alyssa Utley.<\/p>\n
Kelly said that Veach could also be in the mix for a singles spot, but the four-year veteran, who played No. 3 doubles last year, indicated that she would prefer to play with a partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to play doubles again because I like working with another player,\u201d Veach said. \u201cYou have a teammate to help you, and it\u2019s easier to call lines that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
M-CHS will open its season with home matchups against Gallup and Delta on March 11. The Lady Panthers will then square off against rival Durango High School at home on March 14.<\/p>\n
Asked about his goals for this season, Kelly said that he hopes that his players will improve and enjoy a positive experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first goal for the season is to have a season,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cMy second goal is to have these girls have fun and get some experience. I want them to have some time to work with each other and learn from each other. For me, it\u2019s all about having fun and trying new things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
one of the Lady Panthers\u2019 most experienced players found were four courts dotted with new faces, including that of Athletic Director Christopher Kelly, who took over as head coach just before the start of the season. Kelly, who played tennis recreationally while he was in high school and after he graduated from college, said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,36,346,3809],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-67763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67763"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=67763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}