NL_090717

newlenoxpatriot.com Sports
the New Lenox Patriot | September 7, 2017 | 41
LW Central girls tennis fundraiser a smash
T.J. Kremer III
Contributing Editor
The phrase, “like herding
cats,” was originally coined
by Electronic Data Systems
and was meant to mimic what
is was like to manage senior
programmers, but the phrase
was just as apt for some of the
youngest participants at Lincoln-Way
Central girls tennis
fundraiser on Aug. 27. However,
all that controlled chaos
resulted in a sea of smiles and
money raised to help the team
purchase new equipment,
training and treats throughout
the hard season for the dedicated
players.
The Knights opened their
courts to anyone able to pick
up a racket and get some
one-on-one instruction from
members of the junior varsity
and varsity teams. And
the community responded
by packing the courts at LW
Central, swinging freely and
having a good time.
Sisters Taylor, 8, and Gabriella,
10, Bush each got
a shot to learn from a pair
of freshman tennis players.
When asked what she was
learning that day, Taylor responded,
“tennis.”
Gabriella expanded on the
answer a little further for her
sister.
“I’m learning forehands,
backhands, overheads and
drop serves,” the older sister
proudly recited, happy she
remembered the name of the
last technique.
Their instructors for the
half hour, Micaela Cesta and
Alexandria Rees, appeared
to be enjoying the time as
much as the young girls.
“The fundraiser is to get
people out in this community,
to come and take their
kids or themselves, to learn
that tennis is a great way
for them to get accustomed
to something they’ve never
done before,” Rees said.
“Like my dad says, “When
you teach someone something,
you learn twice.’”
Getting people hooked on
that joy from tennis is really
the other main goal of
the fundraiser, according to
Susan Schneider, head girls
tennis coach at LW Central
In the six years they’ve
been putting on the fundraiser,
Schneider said she’s
seen girls inspired to join the
team after spending part of
an afternoon learning from
them.
“It’s really nice to be able
to get people to come out
here and fall in love with the
sport of tennis,” Schneider
said. “[People] of any age —
we’ve got some 3 year olds
[out here] — all the way up
to adult; people in their 90’s
are still playing tennis, and
it doesn’t matter what their
ability level is, we just want
people to go out an play.” “It’s
a lifetime sport is what it is.”
The Knights are offering
spirt-wear and other merchandise
to those interested
Micaela Cesta and Taylor Bush (foreground, left to right), along with Alexandria Rees and Gabriella Bush (background, left
to right) go over some of the basics during Lincoln-Way Central’s girls tennis fundraiser.
Photos by TJ Kremer/22nd Century Media
in contributing to the girls
tennis team. Email sschnei
der@lw210.org for more information.
RIGHT: Andy Ventress
(middle) of South Suburban
Tennis Association gets the
younger participants ready
for some tennis drills. SSTA
helped out this year not
only with instruction, but
also provided prizes for a
free raffle that was held at
the fundraiser.
Golf
From Page 43
“Junior Brian Sterling and
freshman Sean Curran ironically
are the little brothers
of the program,” Pohlmann
said. “Both share the honor
of following of their sisters’
tradition of great high school
golf. As Brian follows Kathy
and Kelly Sterling and Sean
follows [current junior and
defending Class AA state
champion] Grace Curran,
both families are fantastic
examples of how golf allows
for quality family time and
teaches great lessons along
the way.
“We have a collaboration
of juniors looking to contribute
as well. Jon Soldan,
Noah DeVries and Danny
Bolek will all be looking to
fill out our lineup when we
get ready to head into state
competition.”
For Lockport, the top four
scores against the Knights
were freshman Ben Sluzas
(36), followed by juniors
Nolan Weis (38), John Elsen
(41) and John Weis (44).
“The boys have been playing
better all year and just
had one of those days,” said
Eber of the matchup against
Central. “I fully expect them
to bounce back and shoot
better next time out. I was
very pleased though that
Ben and Nolan could put a
really good pair of scores on
the board tonight against a
really good team in Lincoln-
Way Central.
“We focus a lot of time on
short game and that let us
down, We failed to get up
and down when needed and
had some bad penalty shots
which hurt us [against Central].
But I know one thing
though, these boys will work
and they will be better.”
In the SWSC Better Ball
Shootout three days earlier at
Balmoral Woods, the Porters
placed second as the team of
Sluzas and John Weis shot a
1-under 71 to finish fourth as
a group.
Both teams saw plenty of
each other to end last week
and this week. Both the
Knights and Lockport ended
last week on Saturday, Sept.
2 at the H-F Co-Ed Classic
Invitational at Lincoln Oaks
Golf Course. This Saturday,
Sept. 9, they are both in the
Providence Invitational,
which starts at 7:30 a.m. at
the Sanctuary Golf Course in
New Lenox.