By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
Spring is upon us, and with it comes the eagerly anticipated return of outdoor sports for Walpole High. As of Monday, March 18, the Spring sports teams have kicked off the preseason and are preparing for a thrilling and challenging season. In this lookahead, we’ll delve into the boys' tennis season with head coach Shawn Gough.
The sound of rackets slicing through the air and the ball ricocheting off the courts will soon be echoing through the spring air in the coming weeks ahead. Although a young team, the Walpole boys will be picking up right where they left off from last year. Coming back after a 13-7 record, the boys will continue to build their confidence on the courts in hopes of making it another step further into the postseason.
Leadership for the Walpole boys this season will be senior captain Michael Boland. Head coach Shawn Gough expressed his confidence in his senior captain this year Boland and expressed the great qualities he will bring to the team.
“Michael is our team captain, and he was voted team captain by his teammates at last year's banquet, so he's obviously under respect not only of his coaches but of all his peers as well. He's kind of like that diamond in the rough that, you know, coming in as a sophomore he had no idea really how to play tennis and we weren't really sure what we were going to get out of him but he's got such great strong leadership qualities in him. He conducts himself on the court in such a respectful manner, he's a solid student, academically, and he's also a tremendous person,” said Gough.
It is a quick turnaround for the team’s preseason as their first match is set for Wednesday, April 3, where they will travel to Weymouth High. Head coach Gough believes that with the right mindset that he and his assistant coach relay, of just letting the boys play, be poised, and have fun will lead the team to great success this season.
“We really don't have an etched-in-stone theme, but we pretty much have a continuous common personality, you know, kind of like that, among our relationship with our coaches and our team. And I think what it really is is that we're just saying, just relax and enjoy the game. That's how we coach. We coach, just relax, enjoy the game, but work hard to improve,” said Gough.
The Timberwolves made it to the Sweet 16 round of the 2022-2023 season. With every season, there is a lesson to learn and gain experience from to put into practice for the season ahead. Coach Gough shared that the team’s lesson from last year is to be patient when it comes to doubles.
“The lesson learned was that doubles are where you can greatly improve. Just buy into our system of play. And that being said, what I mean is, we play a very patient way of doubles. Our technique, our style, and our strategies, are a lot of patience and it's very difficult for young kids to buy into that. So, for example, early in the year, we lost to Milton and Framingham, and it was because we couldn't close out a doubles match. And the second time we played both of them later in the year, we beat them both easily in doubles because the kids bought into our system of patience. And so that is one of the things that really led to our success last year, I think that as the season went on, our doubles teams were so incredibly strong. Those were our most consistent points. And going into this year, we're going to have a lot of young kids that are going to be playing in the doubles we're expecting,” said Gough.
Want to see the team in action? You can cheer on the boys' tennis team as they go head to head in a pivotal match against Milton High on April 10 at 3:45 PM.
