She left the marching band in order to get into a more active sport. Under her friend’s influence she decided to give tennis a try, to her surprise she’s actually pretty good at it. 

    Briana Maldonado made the junior varsity tennis team her sophomore year. The tryouts were in Jan. which she attended. Although she went to every after-school practice, she wasn’t officially on the team. 

    “I thought they were going to make us play matches for the tryouts, but instead it was just like any other normal practice, ” Briana said. “We just practiced forehands and backhands and practiced our serves.”

      The difference between tennis practices and marching band practices was very obvious for Briana. She seemed to enjoy tennis practices much more than marching practices.

      “Marching band was very fun, but I didn’t enjoy the practices because they weren’t fun and I think you should be able to enjoy practicing what you like”, Briana said. “Now that I’m in tennis I find the practices much more enjoyable and fun”.

       Quitting marching band wasn’t such an easy choice for Briana. She wondered if she would be able to do good in tennis as she did in the marching band.

      “At first I wasn’t so convinced and confident in myself and my decision,” Briana said. “But as I went to more and more practices I realized that I had made the right choice”

       The practices weren’t the only part of tennis that assured her she had made the right choice. Briana’s favorite part of tennis is the tournaments that she has every week.        

      “Tennis tournaments are extremely fun and bring out the competitive side in me,” Briana said. “Not only do I enjoy the competition, but I also enjoy the whole experience of the tournaments. I’m talking about hanging out with my friends, marching band competitions were more stressful and chaotic than tennis tournaments”. 

        These tournaments give Briana the opportunity to get better at tennis and give her the experience to hopefully reach her goal for her two years left in high school.

       “I hope to improve and get better at this sport I truly enjoy”, Briana said. “Making varsity seems so far away, but it’s one of my goals that I hope to accomplish in my high school experience”.