Coach Erby loved to say, “ tennis is a lifelong sport,” and that sport will continue as Ms. Fukuda takes over the coaching of the girls tennis. She also experience as the swim coach.

“I don’t have experience in coaching tennis for a team so this will be my first official year coaching it and for now it’s been pretty fun so far,” said Ms. Fukuda.

At first glance Coach Erby might not seem that capable of playing or even teaching tennis. He however, had a lot of experience in teaching and playing tennis. He has been teaching tennis for a long time and has coached at many different schools, and city parks and is apart of several tennis associations.

On the other hand, Ms. Fukuda doesn’t have much experience, when it comes to teaching and coaching tennis. Though she does have much experience playing the game, which is very crucial in being able to coach a team.

“I like teaching tennis a lot… it’s fun to coach and it kinda brings me back to my days in highschool and it’s just fun to get out there on the courts” said Ms. Fukuda.

The team is mainly composed of beginners and a few have some experience, but most are novices. This puts them in a heavy disadvantage in their division, which includes local tennis powerhouses such as Narbonne and Carson High.

“We’re in a tough division or league, so my main thing is not how well we do against opponents but it’s how we progress throughout the year,” said Ms. Fukuda

As her first time coaching a tennis team, she wants to focus the most on, having the team progress.

Tennis is a very hard sport which requires “on point” timing, skill, movement, strategy and athleticism. A difference as small as a few milliseconds late, when hitting the ball can be the difference of a winning point or a losing point, which is crucial at the end of a set. Teaching tennis requires a lot of patience on both the coach and the student-athlete.

Continually, practicing and playing matches, will make the team better, and hopefully you’ll see the improvement of the team and Ms. Fukuda, as a tennis coach.