By JAMES BROWN
Glasgow News 1
Danielle Carver said tennis is a life-long sport. That’s why she wanted to be the coach of the sport at her alma mater Caverna.
“Me and my mom continue to play,” she said.
Carver graduated from Caverna in 2015 and played on the high school tennis team beginning in the eighth grade. The high school racquets had been silent for at least six years.
“I think the last team was 2019,” she said.
The job opening for a tennis coach was posted in 2023 and Carver applied for the position in November of that year. She got the job in April of 2024 and began building a team.
“I had four that were interested in playing,” she said. That led to hosting summer clinics and teaching the fundamentals of the game in preparation for the 2025 season.
For Kaitlyn Pyles, tennis seemed like a good sport to get her outside and active.
“I wasn’t really big into sports. I did cheerleading for along time, [but] I wanted to play tennis for a while, so I decided to join,” she said. “It looks like a really fun sport and it keeps you active and going.”
Palin Heacock said her twin brother, Elijah, got her into the sport.
“He sadly passed away recently. I’m going to keep playing for him,” she said. “We both started [on the team] together, so I am going to finish it for him.”
Heacock said the sport “is vey fun and you get to hang out with a lot of people, and it’s interactive.”
The team consists of six girls and three boys and has had one scrimmage. Pyles and Heacock both laughed and said playing against another team for the first time was “scary.”
“We have a small team and we’re a small school,” Heacock said.
“And they had a lot of people on their team,” Pyles said.
Carver said with support from the school and the community, the equipment is available for anyone who wants to join the team.
“We’ve had racquets donated. We’ve had balls donated,” she said. “Anybody who wants to play can play without worrying about the cost.”
Heacock and Pyles have been trying to recruit their classmates.
“I think people get scared to try new things, but it’s fun,” Heacock said.
“I feel like everyone should try something new and I feel like this is something that will get a lot of people together,” Pyles said. “It’s a sport a lot of people play.”
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